Scripture can be found here…
Scripture gives us four views of the life and ministry of Jesus—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and for us, this is the year of Luke. Luke is the gospel we will be reading for most of the year, and now that we’re a few months in, I’d like to take a moment to name some of the things that are special to Luke—ways in which this remarkable gospel is unique.
Luke tells of the birth of Jesus in an entirely original way. Matthew tells it differently, and Mark and John don’t tell it at all. Without Luke we wouldn’t have the census that sends Joseph and a very pregnant Mary on a long journey. We wouldn’t have the manger, or the shepherds, or the angels.
Luke’s is the only gospel that gives us a glimpse of Jesus as an adolescent: here, we encounter him at age twelve.
Only in the gospel of Luke do we find two of our favorite parables: the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan (watch out for the Prodigal Son in Lent, and the Good Samaritan in the middle of July).
Luke is the gospel of women. Luke often—far more than the other gospels—tells stories pairing men and women—Zechariah and Elizabeth, Anna and Simeon, even the Twelve and the women who support Jesus’ ministry with their money. Luke does this in parables, often telling similar stories with a man and then a woman at their heart. Luke does this in healing stories—the healing of the centurion’s servant, the raising of the widow’s dead son. More than any other gospel, Luke reminds us that the lives of women matter, and that they are disciples and recipients of Jesus’ healing and blessing.
And Luke is the gospel of the poor. No other gospel has such an insistent, persistent message of God’s concern for those whose lives are a struggle, and that they ought to be our concern as well.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, brings these last two themes together: Luke’s the only gospel to give Mary voice—we hear her in conversation with an angel, and with Elizabeth. We have a window into her own inward thoughts. Most of all, we have her remarkable song of liberation and justice, which we call the Magnificat, because it begins, “My soul magnifies the Lord.” Mary sings,
God has shown strength with [the divine] arm,
and has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
God has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
God has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty. ~Luke 1:51-53
The gospel of Luke bursts through time to remind us that the stories of scripture are alive, active, relevant to us, right now.
Today’s passage begins with a fascinating statement: Jesus “came down with them and stood on a level place.” This connects with Jesus’ mission statement from chapter 4, when Jesus reads from Isaiah in the synagogue:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because [God] has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” ~Luke 4:18-19
This gospel lets us know, from the beginning, that Jesus’ place is with the poor—from Mary’s song to Jesus’ reading from Isaiah to this moment when Jesus and the disciples stand, not away from the people, not above the people, but with them, on a level place. The people have come to be near him because they are all struggling—they want to be healed, they want Jesus to cast out the demons that torture them. They are trying to touch Jesus, to receive that power that emanates from him. And Jesus’ actions show us; this is what he chooses, throughout this gospel, the definition of the incarnation: To be on a level place with the people, to be one of them. Near enough to touch. Right there with those who are struggling.
Jesus addresses his disciples and the crowds with words that are familiar, yet different. Jesus speaks both “blessings” and “woes.” What does this mean? Is Jesus dividing the people up? Is this a sheep-and-goats situation? Or is there something else going on? [Spoiler alert: THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE GOING ON.]
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
“Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.” Luke 6:20-21
“Blessed” is a funny word. It’s tricky. It’s a hashtag! Instagram influencers show us their fabulous mansions overlooking Big Sur, and include #Blessed. But… we know that’s not what Jesus is saying. Rather, he is telling the people that, God’s eye is on the sparrow, and God sees their troubles, too. Maybe something like “honored.” Honored are you who are poor, for such as you the kingdom of God exists. It is yours. Mind you: Jesus isn’t glorifying poverty, and he isn’t minimizing it. Rather, he is saying, you of all people are most on God’s mind. As in Mary’s song of praise, Jesus reminds us that the gospel’s core message is one of reversals, a world turned upside down. You are hungry now? You will be filled. You are weeping now? You will laugh.
In a blessing particularly important to Jesus’ followers, he speaks of the cost of discipleship. You may be reviled. You may be hated. They will call you names. But be joyful, because what you are doing is at the heart of God’s kingdom.
Then we come to the more difficult part of this passage. In addition to blessings, there are “woes.” We have tended to read these as “curses,” which is what we think of as the opposite of a blessing. But this week I learned something fascinating abut that word, “Woe.” It isn’t a translation of the original language at all. It’s a transliteration of an interjection. The word in Greek is “Ouai.” The word in Aramaic or Hebrew is “Oy.” The closest thing we have to it in English is “Whoa,” with an H. It’s a word that is meant to stop us in our tracks. To make us say, Hold up. What? Whoa! Jesus says, listen to this.
Whoa! You’re rich? That’s your reward. Whoa! You’re full? You’ll know hunger. Whoa. Laughing? You’ll weep. Whoa! At the top of the pack in terms of popularity? You’ll know what it is like to be on the outs.
But hear me. Hear me, please. This is not Jesus dividing people into God’s favorites and everyone else. THIS IS NOT A SHEEP-AND-GOATS situation. Remember that word, “now”? As in, you’re hungry now? This whole passage is a recognition that each one of us, at some point, will be among those who weep, and among those who laugh. This is the human condition, the full spectrum of it. Some things are happening now, other things will happen later. Into every life rain must fall… though, Jesus also recognizes that some things, such as poverty, such as racism, are less fleeting, and more systemic. As everyone who has ever bounced a check and has had to pay the fee knows: It costs more to be poor, because when you don’t have money they take more from you.
And yet. It is also true that for many of us, we will know what it is to be up and what it is to be down. And God promises to be with us all, in all of it.
God doesn’t abandon us when the stock market is good and our portfolios are strong, but neither does God want us to think, “My portfolio is strong, so I don’t need God.” I I can honestly say that I have done some of my best, most heartfelt, and most consistent praying when I was in times of deepest sorrow and despair, and I have slacked off prayer-wise when things were fine. What if we took Jesus’ warnings to heart, and prayed our little hearts out when we were on top of the world as well as when we’re falling off the bottom rung?
Is your head spinning? My head is spinning. And that, my friends, is what it is to be in the topsy-turvy, upside-down kingdom of God that Jesus proclaims. Consolation to those of us in need; warnings to lift up our heads to those of us who forget that God is there when things are going well.
So Blessed are you. Blessed are you today, if you are struggling in any way. And Whoa! to you today, hold up! Take note! if you are under the impression God is only there for the bad times, or only for Sunday best. Blessed are you by the presence of God each and every minute of each and every good-and-bad-completely-human day.
Thanks be to God! Amen.