Luke 6:17 - 26

February 11, 2007 First Presbyterian Church of Dutch Neck

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. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
‘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.

‘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 what their ancestors did to the prophets.
‘But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
‘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.

‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

This passage from Luke sounds familiar. “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.” It sounds like a line from the musical Godspell, or more accurately, it sounds like the Beatitudes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in the gospel of Matthew. But as familiar as this passage is to us, it introduces us to an upside-down version of the world that is completely unfamiliar.

Our text for today is Luke’s version of the Beatitudes. This passage is not quite as familiar as Matthew’s version, which happens at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. For Luke, the Beatitudes are at the beginning of what is called the Sermon on the Plain, because in verse 17 we hear that Jesus “…came down with them and stood on a level place…” It could be that these were two separate sermons, one on a mount and one on a plain. It could also be that it was just one event, that we don’t know where it happened, and that Matthew and Luke simply had different memories of the event.

For Matthew, the Beatitudes only include words of blessing. Also, Matthew leaves us with ethical instructions – be poor in spirit, be meek, be peacemakers. For Luke, it’s a different story. Luke doesn’t tell us what to do – Luke tells us what Jesus has done. Jesus has healed all of us, and has turned the world upside down.

If we read the five chapters of Luke that came before the Sermon on the Plain, we might have been able to predict this of Luke. This is the same Luke who recorded the song of Mary back in chapter 1. Mary sang about God, “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” This song sang of a God who turned the usual order of things upside down.

This is the same Luke who in chapter 4 recorded the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Jesus went to the synagogue and read from the prophecy of Isaiah. It’s no coincidence that he read this passage: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He 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.” This prophecy tells of a messiah who turns the usual order of things upside down.

True to form, in the Sermon on the Plain Luke writes about a God who turns the usual order of things upside down. The poor, the hungry, those who weep, and those who are hated – in the culture of Jesus’ day and in our culture today, these are not the kind of people we want to be. These are people who are anything but “blessed.” The rich, the full, those who laugh, and those with a good reputation – in the culture of Jesus’ day and in our culture today, these are the kind of people we want to be. Why would we say “woe” or “alas” to these kinds of people? According to our culture, they’re the ones who have it all together!

The gospel that Luke proclaims sounds upside down to our ears. But here’s the thing: Jesus tips the world over in order to heal us. Because of the way Luke tells this story, we can tell that the Jesus who turns the world upside-down is the same Jesus who brings us healing. Right before he starts speaking, Jesus is busy healing people. He heals everyone who touches him, in fact. In the same way, Jesus heals all who are touched by him today. Our world is being turned upside down, but it’s being turned upside down by a God who loves us and is doing this turning for our own healing. By turning the world upside down, Jesus is actually turning it around to the way it was meant to be in the first place.

“Blessed are you who are poor, you who are hungry, you who weep now.” Over Christmas, I saw the film “The Pursuit of Happyness” starring Will Smith. In this movie, Smith plays Chris, a single father tries to get back on his feet financially after a failed business venture. He takes an unpaid internship in hopes of getting a highly competitive job. The story is sometimes comical as Chris runs all over San Francisco trying to make ends meet, and sometimes tragic as he and his son sleep in a subway restroom because they have nowhere else to go. This man is one of the poor, hungry, and weeping.

At the end of the film, Chris’ boss calls him into his office to offer him the job that he needs so badly. This moment in the film is poignant because it is so understated. Chris does not leap up for joy or scream out the feelings of relief that he must feel. No, a tear simply rolls down his cheek as he realizes the incredible feeling of finally being able to pay rent so that his son has a place to sleep at night. That final scene gives us a glimpse of the reversal that God proclaims. “Blessed are you who are poor, hungry, or weeping, for you will laugh and be filled.” Because we have a God who loves us, some of this dream is fulfilled today. But it is not completely fulfilled – not everyone’s story ends like Chris’ in “The Pursuit of Happyness.” We wait, hope, and pray for the day when all of the hungry will be full and all those who weep will laugh.

“Woe to you who are rich, woe to you who are full now, woe to you who are laughing now.” We who are rich, full, and laughing may find these words frightening, but they are actually words of healing for us! Jesus has turned our world upside down. Where does this leave us? We are left with his healing power. This power gives us our meaning and our salvation. This power gives us our very life. We are not valuable because we are rich. We are not valuable because we are well-fed. We are not valuable because we are happy or because people speak well of us. We are valuable because we are children of God who have been healed by the power of Jesus Christ. You don’t have to say, “I’m okay because I have the biggest house in my subdivision.” You don’t have to say, “I’m okay because I attend the wealthiest seminary in North America.” You don’t have to say, “I’m okay because I was the first one in my class to get the new Nintendo Wii.” The only thing you are left to say, since Jesus has turned the world upside down, is “I’m okay, I’m a person with value and worth, because of the gift God has given me in Jesus.” Let us thank God for the blessings we have, but recognize that our true value as women and men, boys and girls, is not found in what we have but in whose we are.

One approach to Christian theology is called “liberation theology.” This kind of theology was started in Latin America, and it draws on texts like this one in Luke. One of the key phrases in liberation theology is “God’s preferential option for the poor.” It’s kind of like another way of saying “Blessed are the poor.”

Now, some people misunderstand this to mean that God loves poor people but does not love rich people. This is not what liberation theology is saying, and it is also not what our text today is saying. Remember the healing that Jesus did before he began the Sermon on the Plain? Luke tells us, “And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.” Jesus healed all of them. Not just the poor. Not just the rich. All of them. God loves everyone, and the gospel message is for everyone. The Roman Catholic Church came up with a new phrase to describe liberation theology that gets more at the heart of what it’s about. The phrase was “God’s non-exclusive preferential option for the poor.” God hates inequality, but God love all people. Jesus says, “Blessed are you who are poor,” but only after he has offered his healing touch to everyone.

Jesus doesn’t heal us in the way that we expect. Jesus doesn’t heal us in the way that we want. But Jesus heals us in a way that is powerful enough to turn the world upside down and bring healing to everyone.

So where does this leave us today? If we’re poor, do we sit around waiting for our time of healing? If we’re rich, do we quit our jobs or feel paralyzed by some kind of guilt? Or, do we participate in the upside down redemption that God is working in the world? Some members of Dutch Neck went to a seminar on immigration a few weeks ago and learned about a segment of our population who is often poor and hungry. An insert in the bulletin this week tells us about the work that Church World Service is doing to provide tools and blankets for those in need. Another group of Dutch Neck members delivers food to the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen on the fourth Wednesday of the month. These are just a few examples. These people felt the blood rush to their heads and saw the floor where the ceiling was supposed to be, but they didn’t run away in fear. They recognized what was happening. God was turning the world upside down. To these participants in God’s redemption, upside down is starting to feel like the way it was all meant to be in the first place.