Reflection on Luke 6:17-26

 

Luke 6:17-26

17 [Jesus] came down with [the twelve] 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.18 They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

 20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said: 

 “Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.  

21  “Blessed are you who are hungry now,

for you will be filled.  

 “Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.  

 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. 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.

24  “But woe to you who are rich,

for you have received your consolation.  

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.  

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

 

Reflection

There is one thing that I want you to keep in the back of your mind as we explore the “blessings” and “woes” in this scripture: I want you to keep in the back of your mind all of those normal, everyday folk like yourselves who gather around Jesus to be healed and cured of unclean spirits.  In fact, I want you to imagine that you are right there as Jesus descends the heights, stepping down the rocks onto a level plain, to be present with you, a person, like any person, with struggles, illnesses, and fears in life. 

“The good life belongs to those of you who are poor, for yours in the kingdom of heaven” (Luke 6:20).  That is what Jesus says. 

But, what you hear is, “The good life belongs to you; you who have been forced from your very homes by forces that you cannot possibly stand up against, and now you and your children are forced to beg for a place to stay and scraps of food to eat.  You will be given not just a house, but a kingdom: God’s kingdom.

“The good life belongs to those of you who are hungry now, for you will be filled” (Luke 6:21a).  That is what Jesus says.

But, what you, as a hungry child hears is, “You will be living the good life, you who sees your friend snacking away on a chocolate dessert, lovingly packed away in their lunch pale by their Mom, while you eat the disgusting school meal because you know it will be the only meal you get, because God is going to fill your belly with good things.”

“The good life belongs to those who are in deep grief now, for you will laugh” (Luke 6:21b).  That is what Jesus says. 

But, what you hear is, “The good life belongs to you, you who have tried to hold it all together for the good of the family when all you want to do is curl up in a little ball and die because you cannot imagine how life can possible go on without the one you love, for your lungs will fill with laughter again.  God will see to it.

“The good life belongs to 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” (Luke 6:22-23).  That is what Jesus says.

But, what you as a lonely and bullied child in school hear is, “You will be living the good life, you who gets pushed and called names, even by the good kids in school, all because you refuse to mock and bully them back, being taught by your family and by God to love always, you have a safe place with Jesus where the lowly are raised up and the bullies are brought low.

You are there as Jesus walks toward you, speaking as he goes, and you watch the healing of people right before your eyes as he walks through the crowd; like a parting of the now healed who run off in joy. 

Finally, Jesus reaches his hand out to you.  Jesus has intentionally descended the heights, to come down onto the level plain to reach out to someone such as you, and bring healing to all hard working but struggling people.  The good life is given even to someone as lowly as you.

Keep that love and hope close to your soul, and do not lose them as we now delve into the “woes” that follow, because this love and hope is really, really important.

Once after worship, at another church, I talked with a man who puffed on a cigarette outside the church door with a disturbed look on his face.

“I have a question for you,” the man threw my way as I exited the church.  “I think it is great that Jesus blesses the poor and the struggling and the excluded.  I would too.  But, the problem that I just can’t shake is all of the ‘woes’ that Jesus gives.  He seems to be cursing all sorts of people: people who have money, people who are happy, and people who are well liked.  I come to church to hear about our loving God, and I did hear that today, but right after that Jesus seems to start cursing people and sending them to hell for being well off and happy.  And, I know it’s not you pastor; you are just preaching what is right there in the Bible.  But, to tell you the truth, my job pays me well.  I am respected at work.  And, quite frankly, I am happy most of the time.  Is Jesus saying that I’m going to hell?  I ran away from a terrible church that preached a God that curses us a long time ago. I don’t need that.”

“But woe to you who are rich…Woe to you who are full now…Woe to you who are laughing now…“Woe to you when all speak well of you” (Luke 6:24-26).  That is what Jesus said.

And, that is exactly what this man heard.  These “woes” quite honestly shook the man to the core.  And, I understand where he is coming from.  Countless are the times that I have heard stories of people who have fled from an image of God as punisher who brings curses to burn us, a rotten and disposable people.

This image of God is very much alive in the imaginations of people and pastors out there.  So, to many of them, the good news of Jesus’ forgiveness and never-ending love of the sinner (which is the essence of the gospel message…which is the message of the cross) is always a welcome and freeing word.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is at work, saving people from such assumptions about who God is and what God does.  But, that was the very problem for this guy, because the one seemingly doing the cursing was Jesus himself!  And, it is right here in the Bible.

What this man needed, was a little good old fashioned Bible study.  That is right; Bible study is not only a device of torture, inflicted upon children by evil pastors of fun-less-ness.  Sometimes, those very words can truly bear the good news of Jesus Christ, and through it Jesus can save.

When delving into the Bible together, the man realized that he had made a really big assumption.  He assumed that “woe” means “cursed.”  And, that is totally natural because when bad things befall us even today we hear people say “Woe is me!”  But, in the Greek, “woe” does not mean “cursed.”  And, if “woe” does not mean “cursed,” then that means that Jesus is not cursing anyone here.

What “woe” does mean in the Greek, and this is a little hard to get at in the English, is something like, “Watch out!” with a strong hint of grief mixed in.  It is an exclamation that something bad is happening or, more to the point, something bad could happen.  And, when you read these “woes” in this way it sounds kind of like this:

“But watch out all of you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.  Watch out all of you who are full now, for you will be hungry.  Watch out all of you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.  Watch out all of you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:24-26)

Reading the “woes” in this way just makes a lot of sense because it speaks of a deep truth: anything can happen in this world.  Anything can change. 

You cannot rely on your wealth or job because the stock market could crash tomorrow or someone could just swoop in and eliminate your job and it could all be gone. 

You might not be hungry today, but you have no idea what will happen tomorrow.  You or your parent’s job could be gone, or a massive famine can wipe out all of the crops and dry up your gardens. 

You might be laughing today, but you know that tragedy can, and probably will happen tomorrow to someone you dearly love. 

And, just look at the highly regarded celebrities of today.  They say just one wrong thing and their career is on the rocks.  Your reputation is just one self-inflicted, idiotic remark away from dissolving like a fine mist in the sun. 

Remember at the start when I asked you to imagine being one of these struggling people on the flat plain who sought to be healed by Jesus?  The truth is that any one of us could be that person at any time.

“I have been that person before,” the man said as he puffed on his second cigarette.  “Many times.  You know what is interesting?  During the times I struggled, I think that I prayed that Jesus would pull me through more than any other time in my life.  I think that I trusted Jesus more in those times.  Maybe, that is what Jesus is getting at?  I need to think on that one pastor.”

And, as Jesus wades through the crowds, healing people on all sides as he approaches you, Jesus looks at you, his disciple and says:

“The good life belongs to you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. The good life belongs to you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. The good life belongs to you who weep now, for you will laugh.  The good life belongs to you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets” (Luke 6:20-22).

And as Jesus reaches his healing hand out to you, you close your eye, trusting that Jesus can heal you too.  You pray that his heavenly power will flow into you also.  You trust that Jesus can make all things new for you as well.

Then you feel the warmth of his hand and the warmth of his healing power.  You also feel the love and respect with which he regards you as he comes down from the heights to be with people such as you. 

We are not just normal, everyday people after-all.  We are the children of God and Jesus approaches us and shows us the love and respect that the world cannot.  The world divides, but as followers of Jesus we are a people who approach everyone in the world with this healing sort of love and respect.  We especially see Jesus with the poor, the hungry, the weeping, and the excluded, and we cannot help but stand with Jesus and with them on the level plain where all are treated with dignity.