Today we get Luke's version of the
Sermon on the Mount, albeit with a few differences: this version is
given on a plain, or level place, not a mountain; Luke records four
blessings and four woes, unlike Matthew's nine blessings and no woes;
and Luke's version is much, much shorter.
As we move through this Epiphany season
we have been focusing on the ways in which Jesus is manifested to the
world. Ways such as a star, foreigners and gifts; a voice from
heaven and the Holy Spirit; wine to water; Jesus moving outside
accepted borders; and our response to the call of Jesus as being an
epiphany moment for someone else. But as we move deeper into the
Epiphany season, and as we move farther away from the Feast of the
Epiphany, those revealings and God-moments are getting harder and
harder to see, let alone find.
In the first part of today's passage we
hear that Jesus heals anyone and everyone of illnesses and demons.
Obviously there is a revealing and manifestation of Jesus in those
healings. How many of them began with the line, “Do you believe I
can heal you?” and how many end with, “Your faith has made you
well,” we don't know, but in these healings there is certainly a
revealing of Jesus as one who has dominion over both physical and
spiritual realms.
The second part of today's lesson
consists of Luke's version of the Beatitudes – four blessings and
four woes. Among other things, this is reminiscent of the blessings
and curses laid out before Israel by Moses in Deut. 11:36-28.
But this version is also a reiteration
or further explanation of the Magnificat – “My soul magnifies the
Lord . . . he has scattered the proud . . . he has brought down the
powerful and lifted up the lowly, he has filled the hungry with good
things, and the rich he has sent away empty.”
Jesus says, “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. Woe to
you who are rich . . . woe to you who are full . . . woe to you who
are laughing now . . . woe to you when all speak well of you.”
You could look at this and wonder how
Jesus is manifested or revealed in this second half of the gospel.
You could wonder where the God-moment is in here. Because, looking
around, it wouldn't appear Jesus is revealed in any of these. The
poor are still with us, and growing in numbers. The hungry also
continue to rise in numbers, as do all those suffering from all kinds
of mental illness and depression. And the level of hate towards
others not like us, especially hatred towards non-whites, is also on
the rise. The woes Jesus speaks of almost come across as a sort of
“Just wait, you'll be repaid someday” Karma-type threat.
So how is Jesus manifested in this
passage?
Just before today's passage, Luke tells
us that Jesus went out to the mountain to pray. After spending the
night in prayer, he gathered all the disciples around him and chose
twelve to be apostles. After this he comes down and begins healing
and preaching – where we are today.
We are coming to the end of the
Epiphany season. Today's gospel is what I call “the bridge”
passage between the first several weeks of the season and the last
few weeks of the season. Today's passage moves from seeing Jesus
manifested through miracles and signs to seeing Jesus manifested
through us.
I touched on this last week when I
said, “It just may be that Christ isn't made known to the world
through miraculous deeds, but in how others see you respond to his
call.”
Today we more explicitly move in that
direction. Yes, we have the story of all those healings, but then we
move into the sermon – the blessings and woes. And here we have
both a realized situation and a hoped-for situation; the way things
are and the way they could be.
It's significant that this story comes
after Jesus names the twelve apostles. Apostles are those who are
sent. These twelve will be sent out to do the work of Christ and
proclaim the kingdom of God. Later, seventy-two disciples will be
sent out to do the same thing. And at the time of the Ascension, the
apostles will be sent out to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to all
the ends of the earth. Today's gospel is setting us up to see that
Jesus is not only manifested in those miraculous deeds he did, but in
our participation in the kingdom of God.
For Christ to be made manifest in our
world, we need to work against poverty, we need to feed the hungry,
we need to bring laughter to those who mourn, we need to let people
know that this is a place where they are loved regardless of what the
world might tell them. When we do that, the rich will complain that
we are stealing from them. Those who have much will experience the
pain of having less, those who laugh will have their eyes opened to
sorrow.
This is the leveling out proclaimed in
the Magnificat and in the words of Jesus. This is the raising up of
those in the valleys and deep places, and the lowering of the high
and lofty. For those being raised up, it is good news. For those
being lowered, it can seem like terrible news. But how terrible is
it when all people are seen and treated equally not only in the eyes
of God, but in the eyes of their fellow humans?
This manifestation of Christ to the
world is about change as much as anything else. Christ changed the
water to wine. Christ changed the way we see outsiders. How are
these epiphanies changing you? How are you helping Christ change the
world?
Today is the bridge story of Epiphany
where we move from Jesus performing the miraculous to us helping
proclaim the Good News and changing the world. For some, this is a
blessing. For others it will seem like a woe. And in the end we
shall all be unified in Christ. But getting to that point will be
the biggest miracle of all.
Amen.
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