The Sermon
By Joe P

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit – Amen.  Please be seated.

This morning’s reading from Luke is part of what is called ‘The Sermon on the Plain’, and describes the experiences of Jesus and his ‘newly minted’ Apostles after He has chosen them.  They’ve spent time on a mountain, and on descending to the plain they find themselves surrounded by a large crowd of people wishing to hear from Jesus and also be healed; we hear that “power was coming from him and healing them all."

Luke described the crowd as being made up of disciples and a large group of people from all over the region.  News must have travelled about the new teacher who, as well as being wise was a great healer and could cast out evil spirits.  It’s worth noting that we now have a distinction between the Twelve – the Apostles who will follow Jesus to the end – and His disciples – who are people who’re following his teachings.

There is some debate whether the sermon described here by Luke is the same event as that described by Matthew in ‘The Sermon on the Mount’.  There is a clear link with between this part of the Sermon on the Plain – also known as ‘Blessings and Woes’ and the Beatitudes that are in the Gospel according to Matthew.  Other aspects of the Sermon on the Mount do turn up in the Gospel according to Luke, but in different places.  Luke has more of an emphasis on teaching that would mean something to Gentiles, where Matthew brings in more links between the New Covenant of Jesus and the Old Covenant represented by Mosaic teachings.  The plain answer is ‘No one is sure’ – after all, like all good preachers, it’s likely that Jesus would teach the same things in different places.

Looking at what we can gain from the teachings, does it matter?

Not really.

At first glance the core message from today’s reading is pretty black and white and will make most of us in this congregation a little uncomfortable when we read it.  After doing some healing, and casting out of demons, Jesus sets out His list of where God’s blessings will fall.

I saw it rather well paraphrased by another preacher, Debie Thomas as:

“Blessed are you who are poor, hungry, sad, and expendable.  Woe to you who are rich, full, happy, and popular.”

It’s a sort of mike-drop moment.  In a moment the world view of any self-aware and open-minded listeners and readers would be changed.  Anyone with a shred of integrity and personal honesty is forced to immediately question themselves.  I have to say, I loosened my collar and made the odd nervous cough at this point.

And then we recover ourselves, and our literal, 20th Century, world-weary brains start rallying for a counter-attack….

“Surely, Jesus isn’t romanticising poverty?  Is He somehow attempting to make the poor feel better about themselves by calling them blessed? Surely it can’t be good to be considered as expendable? There’s nothing good or blessed about being sad.  And what’s wrong with being happy and popular…come on….this turns the whole of our lives upside-down!”

Well, that’s the intention.

Let’s take a look at the pairs of contrasts here. Poor versus Rich, hungry or full, sad or happy, expendable or popular.  There’s an old saying ‘I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor, and rich is more fun.’  It’s true; I’ve had my ups and downs and can find very little good to say about trying to decide whether to eat, heat the house or buy cat food.  And if we look into ourselves honestly, I think that we’d all come down on the side of rich, full, happy and popular to define our lives.

And looking at our day to day lives on Earth, that’s how we define success.

However, if we look at things from the point of view of the Kingdom of Heaven, that way of living and thinking constitutes the most abject failure imaginable.

And we can tell that Jesus is talking about the Kingdom because of the way that He links both the lists – of blessings and woes – to prophets – a link that would be clear to his audience.

Jesus blesses the poor, the hungry, the sad and the outcasts and tells them:
“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.”

Those people are to be blessed because they are exhibiting the same state of life, the same situation and condition, that were experienced by the true prophets in history.

And similarly, the other traits of those who are not blessed, he associates with false prophets – something that in these post-truth days where we are exposed to ‘alternative facts’ at every turn we can probably empathise with!

The achievement of wealth, power, a full belly and popularity would often be associated with corruption, lying, playing a bit ‘fast and loose’ with the rules.  Jesus is reminding those who are fat, wealthy and happy to consider their situation, and how they got there.  Basically, are you working for the Kingdom of God, because if you’re not, all these worldly good things will be a weight around your soul.  It's not just a matter of wealth and happiness; it’s how you apply those gifts, how you align yourself with the Kingdom.  After all, there are many wealthy people who become followers of Christ – such as Joseph of Arimathea, Zacchaeus, and the members of wealthy families who become disciples of Christ as described in the Book of Acts.

It's probably easier for the underdogs in worldly society to follow God; their world is a raw, hard place with none of the cushions provided by wealth.  But wealthy people can still be moved by grace to behave in such ways that makes them blessed.
Today is Racial Justice Sunday – we are asked to reflect on the importance of racial justice, to give thanks for the gifts and beauty of human diversity, and to commit to end racism and acts of discrimination.  The ranks of the poor, the hungry, and the excluded and abused are full of those whose place in society is set very much by how society sees their race, creed or colour.  As disciples of Christ, we are expected to stand with these people, to move ourselves in our lives to a place where we too can be blessed rather than pitied in the Kingdom.

In the 1970s, Johnny Cash summed this up in a song called ‘The Man in Black’, which featured the words:
Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose
In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes
But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back
Up front there ought to be a Man In Black
We can all be that man or women in black, living the Christian Gospel as a reminder to ourselves and others that there are still those left behind; and that is unacceptable in God’s Kingdom.
Amen