Reflection on Luke 6:20-31

Luke 6:[17-19], 20-31 (NRSVue)

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. 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 [Jesus] 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.

  ²⁷ “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; ²⁸ bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone takes away what is yours, do not ask for it back again. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

 

Reflection

The gospel story was supposed to be shorter today, but I just had to include the part that talks about Jesus coming down and standing on a level place with a multitude of people coming from various regions to surround him and find healing and wholeness through his power.  That picture is the image that I have of heaven where people of all different shapes, sizes, ethnicities, and personalities gather together around their savior.  That moment on the plain is a heaven on earth moment; a moment when the values and concerns of heaven leak down onto the earth for us to see and experience. 

And who exactly are the people who gather from the various regions for this heaven on earth moment?  Well, the Bible says that they were struggling people who sought out Jesus’ teachings and deeply needed Jesus’ healing.  The Bible says, “They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.  And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them” (Luke 6:18-19).

“Healed all of them” (Luke 6:19).  

When I think about my dad during his last days, how frail, weak, and in pain he was as he lay in that borrowed hospital bed in the middle of the living room, all I can remember is thinking, “Soon this will all be over and you will be healed.  You will be with Jesus and you will be well.”  “Healed all of them” (Luke 6:19).  In no way did I want my dad to leave, but at the same time I wanted nothing more than for him to touch the healing power of his Savior and be one with the heavenly chorus of the healed.  In heaven, the formerly sick and formerly healthy gather together, the formerly excluded and formerly included gather together, the formerly poor and formerly rich gather together around Jesus who has made all things new and well again.

Back to our heaven on earth moment there on the level plain, the place of equality, the place of togetherness, the place gathered around Jesus where the values and concerns of heaven leak down on the people.  Listen closely to those values and concerns as Jesus begins to teach. 

I find those values and concerns easier to take when set to music.

Blessed are you poor, yours is the kingdom.

Blessed are you who hunger now.

Blessed are you mourners, you will find laughter.

Blessed are you when you’re reviled.

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, your reward’s great in heav’n.

The good life belongs to those who Jesus gathered with him on that level plain.  The good, kingdom life, belongs to the poor.  I cannot help but think about the parable that Jesus tells from Luke 14:12-24 where a man holds a great feast and those who were first invited, the wealthy and well-off, do not come.  So, Jesus says that the man extends to invitation to the poor, crippled, lame, and blind so that they can feast at the banquet.  The good life belongs to them. 

“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” (Luke 6:20-22).

I wonder if we have forgotten who Jesus blesses in this age where our culture forgets the struggling, reviles the poor, and excludes the stranger? 

A few years ago, there was an immigrant who found herself stranded with her child in our community.   She and her child had been brought here from South America by her abusive husband, who abandoned her and the child with nothing.  She had nowhere to go.  She had nowhere to turn, except to her brothers and sisters in Christ. 

What I find fascinating about her situation is that the first pastor to whom she reached out was a very old school, conservative guy.  This guy expected his wife to listen and follow.  He expected much the same from the members of his congregation.  You can guess what he thought about immigrants.  But, when this mother and child showed up on his doorstep, he welcomed them into his home and ordered his wife to start cooking.

“That is very generous of you” I mentioned to him one day.

“Blessed are the poor, hungry, and weeping,” he simply said.  It was a heaven on earth moment, where the values and concerns of heaven had leak down onto this man of faith.  The sight of those four (pastor, wife, immigrant mother and immigrant child) gathered around the dinner table was a small glimpse of what we will get to see when we join the saints gathered around our Savior and feasting together in heaven.

Of course, Jesus does not stop his teaching at the blessings, and neither does my song.

Woe to you rich, you’ve found your comfort.

Woe to you now who are full.

Woe if you laugh now, you will mourn and weep.

Woe if all speak of you well.

Return to the Lord and turn from your ways.

You’ll find arms wide in heav’n.

Here is the thing.  In the parable of the man who throws a feast that I mentioned just moments ago, those blessed with power and riches are invited to the feast.  In fact, they are invited first; their blessings demonstrating all that God has entrusted to them.  They are invited to sit at the table and feast.  The sad thing about the parable is that they exclude themselves from the banquet. 

And when I say “sad” I truly mean it.  The Greek word that Jesus uses when he pronounces his “woes” on the rich, the full, the laughing, and the well-regarded, is a word that strongly exclaims grief and lament.  It expresses a powerful sadness at someone’s unfortunate choices and the troubling consequences that their stone-hearted choices will cause.

“I’m so lonely” the man shared.  He had done it to himself, of course.  He admitted that he got extremely mad at his family because of their willingness to love and embrace someone he hated.  They welcomed this person into his family, and he got so angry that he chose to push them all out of his life.  His entire family was gone.  He was resolved in his decision until Christmas came.  “Who will I eat with?  Who will celebrate with me?”

“You can go to your family.  I know they will accept you,” I said.

He looked down at the floor and simply cried.  He could not imagine groveling.  Nor could he imagine feasting with the one he hated.

“Why didn’t they choose me?” he cried.

To him, Jesus has some tough words: “Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28).

They are tough words for me as well at times, but they are swallowed much easier when they are sung.

Do good and love all those who curse you,

Bless those who hate, give them pray’r.

Give to all people who would take from you.

Maybe they may learn to care.

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy,

Your reward’s great in heav’n.

After-all, there is this feast to which the Lord invites us.  It is a feast to which the Lord hopes to invite the well-off and the poor, the morally great and the sinner, those laughing and those weeping, those loved and those hated.  The heavenly feast includes all of those various people because Jesus desires that they all be there, not because any of them deserve it.  Jesus simply loves them all.  Jesus simply desires that they all be gathered together like on that day on the plain, where he came down to the level of everyone else and gave the gifts of teaching and healing.  Jesus desires that they all be gathered together like on that day on the cross where he spread his arms out wide to embrace even the ones of nailed him there, even the sinners gathered around him, even the thief who would soon find himself included in the kingdom. 

“The [thief] said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.’  [Jesus] replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise’” (Luke 23:42-43).

And he is there.  He is among the saints gathered around Jesus, held close through forgiveness and love. Guess what is served at the feast? Love. Love is the main course at the feast.  Love is what allows the feast to even happen.  And, as the Apostle Paul once said, “Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:8).  Christ’s love keeps the feast alive for eternity as the saints gather around.

Love as God loves.  Do unto others

as you would have done to you.

Even the sinners love those who love them.

May en’mies learn love from you.

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy,

Your reward’s great in heav’n.

 

Be merciful as God show mercy.

You will be children of God.