The God Bless Its

The God Bless-Its

 

Luke 6:17-26

Blessings on the poor, woes on the rich 

6:17 He came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon.

6:18 They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.

6:19 And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

6:20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

6:21 "Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. "Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

6:22 "Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.

6:23 Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven, for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

6:24 "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

6:25 "Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. "Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.

6:26 "Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets."

Today’s text is the Lukan version of what are classically called the “Beatitudes” teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Note that the crowd came for healings and supernatural deliverance from demons, seeking “the power that came out from him.” They got some of that, for sure, but they also got an earful. Jesus mixed morals with pleasure, something that has never been popular with “the crowd.” We like our pleasure sans morality, generally, as somewhere along the way, we’ve adopted the idea that pleasure must be edgy, lustful, even “evil,” if it is to be any fun. I suppose this is really nothing new, as otherwise, Jesus wouldn’t have felt the need to offer his corrective words over two thousand years ago. His assessment of what was good and right runs smack into the face of temporal, carnal, self-indulgent pleasure.

I had a guy in my first church, many years ago, who used to challenge me on something. He was a really good guy whom I quite liked, but he had a hangup over “deathbed” or “jail cell” conversions. He would say, “You mean to tell me that these people can enjoy carousing around, drinking to excess, chasing women (remember, this was a guy born in the 30s and it was 1985), and mocking God, then make a commitment to Christ at the last minute and go to heaven? That doesn’t sound RIGHT to me.” I would answer back, “Listen to yourself! You make it sound like those things are the only ‘fun’ things in life, and that somehow you don’t enjoy life because you don’t DO those things! You are a good, God-fearing man who loves his wife and family, had a great career, loves hitting the links, and are a dynamite Sunday School teacher.” I reminded him of the parable of the Prodigal Son, and how the elder son was angry with “the father” because he forgave the carousing, wasteful, younger son. He pretty much repented right in front of me. However, his “sin” here is more the norm than it is the exception. Don’t many of us think life might be more exciting if we could get away with a few things? I guess it’s just the “human nature” in us, or what theologians have classically called the “original sin” in us? Rather than beat us up with it, Jesus just tried to reframe our understanding of our setting in life, and how we honor God and others by behaving admirably in it.

I like to call these first statements the “God-Bless Its.” Maybe it goes back to my childhood, nightly prayer time, when I’d say the “Now I lay me down to sleep…” part and then finish with a bunch of “God bless” so-and-so, and just add names to the list. Late TV preacher Robert Schuller, of “Crystal Cathedral” fame, wrote a book about the Beatitudes in which he dubbed them the “Be-Attitudes.” He was panned for it by “serious” theologians and critics, but honestly, I kind of liked his idea. Its central theme was that these were not just “rules” for living, but a way of “being.” Paul Tillich wasn’t around by then, but I’ll bet he might have liked Schuller’s idea. And I like the way Jesus stated them: “Blessed are…”. It’s almost like, “You can do what you want, but if you do THIS, you will be blessed by God.” It doesn’t condemn, just offers a kind of loving “reward” for doing the right thing. Another story from many years ago…I had a friend who had a bit of a lead foot while driving, and yet he was a very committed Christian man. One day, as he was really romping on it because he was late for something, he told the story of how he said a little prayer for “protection” as he was speeding. He said that he heard a little voice in his head that told him, “Hey, I have sent a guardian angel to watch over you and protect you…but he’s back there doing the speed limit, so…” My friend said the experience slowed him down, permanently. I think about his story when I’m punching the MINI Cooper a little hard, but I confess it doesn’t always get me to let up, as it should!

So, back to what Jesus says in these “God Bless Its.” Let’s look at them:

"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Is Jesus trying to make poverty a virtue? Or is he just saying that there are poor people in the world, and that God’s blessing and “welcome” into the Beloved Community is always extended to them? I think the latter. And maybe even stronger, Jesus may have signaled that if God has a bias for any group, it is probably the poor and the oppressed, for their lot in life may not totally be a moral choice—or any choice, for that matter—of their own. 

"Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.” This is both a promise from God AND a moral statement about patience. The listener might be tempted to steal food, or engage in some kind of contraband to fill one’s stomach, but patience and the willingness to suffer for a season may be a pathway to God’s provision.

"Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” It would be many centuries before psychologists like Elizabeth Kubler-Ross would teach us about the healthy stages of grief. Jesus knew then that working through our pain would lead to healing in the soul, and even possibly being able to laugh about times past that brought us so much anxiety.

"Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven, for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.” Jesus well understood this truth, as he was experiencing this brand of revulsion and exclusion from the religious leaders of his day, eventually leading to his fatal victimization on the cross. As he shared knowledge of what was to be with God, he knew his disciples would also be persecuted unto death, as would countless saints down through the ages, for so had they persecuted the other prophets God sent to warn and guide God’s people. For them, Heaven would be a place absent these life-stealing treatments, and a place of honor for their discipleship and dedication in this life. “Rewards in heaven” were typical carrots on a stick in Mid-Eastern philosophy and theology. If we were to bring this into our modern age, we might say that our “reward” was eventually seeing the truth win out over serial lies, false promises, and manipulating rhetoric. We can certainly use a dose of this now, can’t we?

Luke’s version of the “God-Bless-Its” includes a list of countering, intriguing “woes”: 

"But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.”  Jesus would say something similar about those who bragged in public about their good works, saying they “have their reward,” as opposed to those who carried out their benevolence toward others in secret, who would receive their reward directly from God. In this case, as a counterpoint to the “God-Bless-It” addressing the poor, the rich have “negotiated” their own reward, begging the question if by being rich and hoarding their wealth, they have cut themselves off from God’s greater blessings that far exceed a big bank account or a large investment portfolio. 

Jesus has other “woes” addressing those who are full or those who laugh, especially in the presence of many of their sisters and brothers who are suffering, and his allusion is that they may be hoarding these “resources,” also. The final “woe” in this passage is the one that should add caution to any of us who profess to speak for God:

"Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets." The danger of the preacher or teacher is that we may fall prey to the temptation to speak in such a way that our audience’s ears are “tickled” by what we say, rather than encouraged, challenged, or moved by it to continue the transformation the Spirit of God wants us to experience by our faith in Christ. If we just say what people “enjoy” or are entertained by, we risk entering the domain of the “false prophets” who preceded Jesus. Personally, I love to preach and teach, as these have been two of my best gifts in ministry. I can honestly say I have worked hard to NEVER be guilty of “false propheting,” studying long hours in my two seminary degrees to facilitate well-resourced biblical interpretation as the “raw material” for sermons and Bible studies, praying unceasingly for guidance in being able to accurately and aggressively communicate God’s truth to the people I have served, and asking God for the courage to speak the “hard word” to folk when led by the Holy Spirit—or mandated by the scriptures—to do so. On the other hand, I’ve never forgotten what the president of our seminary, Dr. Carnegie Samuel Calian, told us in our Intro. to Ministry class: “There’s a fine line between being prophetic and being a jerk.” I know I’ve crossed that line more than a few times, but in purposing NOT to, I quickly retreated, in most cases, and this often required an apology to the one, or to the many. “Speaking for God” from the pulpit or the classroom lectern has been a stressful enterprise for me. In 36 years of ministry, I couldn’t even eat breakfast on Sunday mornings, as my stomach churned constantly until the preaching was completed for the day. I GET what Jesus meant by this “woe,” as, for a “natural” communicator/public speaker like me, it would have been so easy to perfect a delivery and message that would have cultivated popular appeal and garnered accolades from the “audience.” Responsible preaching is never “fun,” even when it contains “easier” or welcome content. A solid message about love and grace may bless the soul, but it also challenges its listeners to be accountable to the source of these virtues and to apply them equally to all of God’s children and not just to the ones who are “easy to love.” The same wonderful Christian man I mentioned earlier who struggled with the efficacy of “deathbed” conversions used to say to people who showed appreciation for his kindnesses, “It’s easy to be nice to nice people.” While he always meant it as an affirming compliment, it could also serve as a reminder that being nice to NOT so nice people was also a Christian virtue, and once that wasn’t so easy.

One final word on this passage of scripture beyond the “God-Bless-its”: It may be a good thing to regularly ask yourself why you are coming to Jesus. The crowd came wanting to benefit from the “power that came from out of him,” while Jesus had a different agenda in mind when they gathered. So it may be with us and with the church, if we are not careful. And in our service, it may prompt us to offer a WORD of witness and grace, even when folk come for our benevolence outreach. The message of God’s “Bless-Its” is ever important. Amen.