Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
Luke 6:17-26
February 16, 2025
Today we hear the Lucan version of the Sermon on the Mount. And as with Matthew’s account, Jesus starts with the “Blessed Be’s.” Blessed are you who are poor, hungry, who weep, and who are hated and reviled.
Question for you: How many self-help books could you sell using these blessed be’s? Think about it. Here’s Jesus, the Lord of the universe, telling His disciples, and by extension, His whole church, that it is blessed to be poor and hungry and sad and hated and reviled. And there’s no way around this. We have two Gospels that very clearly say the same thing. Yet, it’s pretty hard to imagine our prosperity Gospel preachers of the day telling us that to be truly blessed by God, we must become poor, we must starve ourselves, we must suffer, and we must be unliked and unfollowed on Facebook by others.
In fact, Jesus doesn’t stop with the blessed be’s, does He? He goes even further; He makes His message very clear with the “Woe to you’s.” Woe to the rich, woe to the full, woe to the joyful, and woe to the popular. Jesus doesn’t seem to want to sound uplifting here; His message doesn’t seem to be very stirring or positive…the very things most people look for when going to church today, does it? I suggest to you that most preachers skip this text because it doesn’t scratch anyone’s backs, it doesn’t tickle anyone’s ears. It’s harsh.
However, people do try to get a grip of this text in some pretty horrible ways. Over the centuries there have been Christian groups called the ascetics. Ancient monasteries were started, in part, to take certain people away from the day-to-day world, where these monks could live penniless lives where every day was filled with at least a little suffering. You find it similarly in most of the eastern religions, a praise and reverence toward these high priests and monks who separate themselves from the world and live on nothing but the land and the well-wishes of their followers.
There’s been any number of separatist groups, ascetic cults that have formed, even here in the USA, where people who want to be free from the “grid” will go and create camps in the name of their god. And all of this because it is human nature to always try and make right with God by human effort, works, following laws, and asceticism seems as good a way as any to “get closer to God.”
And some people, still enslaved to the human nature, will do the whole, “I’m not as [blank] as that person, so I’m fine,” and just fill in the blank. I’m not as RICH as Elon Musk so I’m better than him. I’m not as FAT as Chris Farley, so God likes me more. I don’t suffer like they do in South Sudan, so I’m godlier than they.
But no, Jesus is not telling His people to live ascetic lifestyles in order to be blessed, and He is not telling His people to compare themselves with others. It’s not the point.
Let’s consider the wealthy. Blessed are the poor for yours is the kingdom of God; Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Think about this.
During Jesus’ time, the wealthy were considered extra blessed by God. It was thought that they had been so faithful to God and so good at keeping the Law, that the Lord extra-blessed them with great wealth. Jesus is flipping the script on that idea and saying, “No, but woe to the wealthy because all their striving and pursuit of wealth has given them everything they want now so there is no wealth left for them in the kingdom of God.” They made their pursuit of earthly wealth and possession more important than anything even to the point of rejecting God Himself for the sake of wealth. I’ve met several people and families over the years that abandon the church to make money, to be wealthy. They have all they want and more, but they don’t have God.
Or what about the many famous actors and actresses, musicians and athletes? With the exception of a few, a very few, they, with all their wealth, live very scandalous lives. I wouldn’t want any of them to be our children’s role models, no matter how far they throw a ball or how well they carry a tune, or how great they look on camera.
They have what they desire now; they have no need for the Kingdom of God. Woe to them.
During Jesus’ time on earth, a full stomach was only found among the powerful, among those who lived in palaces and who had influence over others. Most people walked around with a growling stomach, and it was part of life. Yet, as with the wealthy, the full-stomached were considered extra blessed. Jesus flips the script once more.
Here in the USA, we complain about government waste and using our tax dollars for frivolousness and useless, even immoral endeavors. And we should complain, and we should crack down on waste and fraud. And yet our nation’s stomachs aren’t exactly growling and empty, are they. Even the poorest person in our nation has more wealth than the people of most nations in the world.
Jesus confronts the pursuit of pleasure. Our world is all about pleasure. Every time we turn on the TV or load up YouTube we see things that tempt us to pleasure, to satisfy our every desire and passion. LGBT and Transgender ideology isn’t about science or truth; these things are about pleasure and turning human sexuality into a god, an idol to be worshiped. The same is true regarding the deviant behaviors of when it comes to cohabitation and other sexual deviance. The world celebrates these things.
What we consider “progress” is truly more about pleasure than anything. For the more we can have AI and automation, and cheap labor from illegal immigration doing the hard work, the unpleasurable work, the more time we have to enjoy the things that give us pleasure, that tantalize the flesh.
And then Jesus confronts reputation. Who are you, how do people perceive you? 2,000 years ago, the blessed enjoyed great reputations among the people. A pharisee was considered closer to God than a commoner, and the priest, the high priest, he was greatest among all. And their reputations got them the best seats at the banquet, VIP access to the king, and all sorts of other perks.
And today, everything is about reputation. Middle and high schools and even colleges THRIVE on reputation. For teenagers, everything is about popularity and fitting in. Having the right clothes, playing the right sports, doing the right extracurricular activities, having the right girlfriend or boyfriend, the right locker, listening to the right music, using the right language…all to fit in, to be “popular,” to have an acceptable reputation, even at the expense of righteousness, of godliness, of faithfulness, the expense of the Kingdom of God. And sometimes teens do some of the most stupid things in order to have a good reputation, to be popular, to “fit in.”
We say it’s growing pains, that they have to go through it, that they have to experience these things to have a full and wholistic life, but that’s not what Jesus says, not at all. Jesus says, “Woe to you when people accept you and speak well of you and think you’re cool. You have everything you want now in the world; there’s nothing left for you in the kingdom of God.” Once more Jesus flips the script.
In this world, this fallen and broken world, there are no blessings in the pursuit of worldliness and of worldly desires. Rather, the truly blessed are those who pursue the Kingdom of God at the expense of the world.
It’s not about asceticism, and it’s not about comparisons. It’s about identity and it’s about perspective. If your identity is grounded in the world, then your life, your decisions, your pursuits will be of the world. You may just get what you want, the wealth, the fullness, the pleasure, the reputation, but only in this life will you get it because you’ve forfeited the life to come, you’ve turned away from the Kingdom of God, and no, you can’t have it both ways.
But if your identity is in Christ, then blessed are you because yours is the kingdom of God, yours is the fullness, yours is the joyfulness, yours is the righteous reputation in heaven.
Let’s also keep things in perspective. No, Jesus is not saying that He will only bless you if you make yourself poor, burn all your money, and live on the streets. No, Jesus is not saying that He will only bless you if you stop eating and do a 40-day fast. No, Jesus is not saying that He will only bless you if you disown all pleasure and joy. No, Jesus is not saying that He will only bless you if you give yourself a bad reputation.
The fact is that a lot of people are poor because of stupid decisions. The fact is that a lot of people are always hungry because of bad decisions. The fact is that a lot of people are miserable because of bad decisions, and a lot of people have sordid reputations because of bad decisions. It would be silly to think that God blesses such people more than the rest of us. They brought their disaster upon themselves because they sought worldly things.
Identity, and perspective. Who are you, and why are you here? It’s what Jesus’ whole sermon is about…identity and perspective.
If you seek your identity in the wealth and food and pleasure and reputations afforded by the world, then it is who you are, and the Kingdom of God has no place in your life. If your answer to, “Why am I here,” is to pursue the wealth and food and pleasures and reputations of the world, then you have this world as your god and the Kingdom of God cannot be part of it.
It really has little to do with how much money you have or don’t have, how much food you have or don’t have, how much pleasure you have or don’t have, or how popular you are or aren’t. In fact, Jesus’ words have to do with the first commandment, you shall have no other gods. Why? Because there are no other gods worthy of having, and all those supposed gods will lead you only to hell. Perspective.
This is the human condition. This is what sin has done to us. Because of sin, we were thrown out of the blessed Garden and disconnected from the Kingdom of God. Our pursuits are never enough; we never have enough money, we are never full enough, we never have fullest pleasure, our reputations are never as great as we would like. This is the thorns and thistles of life that we struggle through day in and day out. Always pursuing but never quite achieving, always searching, but never finding, always trying to find escape from it all but our pleasures become dull and unfulfilling, and we’re never all that comfortable with who we are, what we’ve become, what we’ve done. We always seem to fall short of what we think is fulfillment.
Jesus says to those who live this way, woe to them, for life will be miserable and there won’t be anything left in the life to come. And then look at our world, look at our country. As we continue to become more and more secularized as a nation, as the vices of the flesh continue, more and more to be celebrated while the virtues of faithfulness are thrown out, voted out, forbidden, and censored, our nation has become more and more depressed. Secular progressivism is the devil’s modern mantra, and the objection of absolute truth is Satan’s postmodern preaching. Yet we all fall for it to some degree.
Jesus is not wrong. There is something to be said about contentment, about being happy in whatever situation God has put you in. Our nature is to compete and exceed. We love to break the 9th and 10th commandments because we think it a virtue to rule our neighbor or beat him, win him and his possessions and reputation and fullness. This is what drives American politics, American consumerism, American athletics, the entire American dream.
So yeah, Jesus is right when He says, “Woe to you,” because living like this…no good comes from living and dying for the world.
See, in the Corinthian church, they forgot about the Gospel. They were pursuing things in the church that no Christian should pursue. And their pursuit of worldly things led to them forgetting and even questioning the resurrection of the dead, and even the resurrection of Christ Himself. They were trusting in the wisdom of men, and they were becoming shrubs in the desert, parched, dried up. They forgot about Jesus.
Our Lord’s Words today are Law. They’re not meant to make us feel good. The Law exposes the reality of our sinful condition and calls us to humbly repent, to simply acknowledge it’s true. We have not lived up to the expectations of our Lord by abandoning the wealth and pleasures and reputations and fullness of this world for the sake of His kingdom. We have made this world and its pleasuring vices more important than God. It’s just the truth.
So where is the Good News? Where is the Gospel? Well, the Good News is He who speaks to the disciples, it’s Jesus. HE is the answer to our condition. Jesus gave up the wealth of heaven, eternal, endless wealth and glory, and He took on human flesh and brought Himself low, lower than men, to that of a servant of men. He had no money, no place to lay His head, His family rejected Him…He was poor, poor as poor can be, for you and for me.
Jesus endured great hunger as He wandered the desert for 40 days being tempted by the devil. Yet, in his physical hunger, He was filled to the full with the Spirit of God for He answered rightly to every temptation of the devil, prevailing over sin and death.
And see how Jesus wept when He saw the power of sin in the lives of men. At Lazarus’ death, Jesus cried, even though He knew Lazarus would walk again. Jesus felt mournful compassion for all people and felt, firsthand, how their sinful state was destroying them.
And His reputation? By the time He found Himself in Pilate’s chamber, Jesus’ reputation was all but lost. His disciples fled, the crowds wanted Him dead, and the Pharisees finally got their wish. “Crucify Him,” was their cry as they sought His blood for…I don’t even know why.
We simply cannot be what the Law demands we be, so Jesus came for us, to live and to die for us, to take our sins and our pursuits of worldliness to the cross so that we might be set free.
His perfect and sinless life, death, resurrection, and ascension is credited to you. What you were He takes and suffers and dies, and what He is He gives fully to you.
The great mystery of the faith, that the God of the universe becomes the chief of sinners, so that we who are the chief of sinners become as God. It’s not fair, it’s not worldly justice, it’s not proper…but it’s necessary for our eternal life in His holy kingdom.
So, rejoice! Because of Jesus the poor, yours is the kingdom of heaven! Because of Jesus the hungry, you have been satisfied! Because of Jesus the sufferer, you may laugh now and forever. Because of Jesus’ bad reputation, you are no longer hated or reviled or excluded now or in the life to come. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. The Lord trusted His heavenly Father even to death on a cross, and won for you the kingdom of heaven.
Now as His beloved saints, redeemed and marked, with your names eternally inscribed in the Book of Life, respond with thankfulness and praise by living your life in loving service to God and to your neighbor, even if it means you aren’t praised by the world for your wealth, your health, your happiness, or your reputations.
If serving your neighbor means that you aren’t as rich as your neighbor, then be poor for yours is the Kingdom of God. If loving your neighbor means you have less in your belly than your neighbor, then be thankful. If helping your neighbor means that you mourn and weep for him while he laughs at you, then serve with honor. If uplifting your neighbor means your own reputation is singed by the world’s standards, then so be it, because in heaven, in the only place it matters, your reputation is secure. Amen.
