Wellspring UMC; Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost; September 9, 2007: “Come to Jesus”:
-Jeremiah 17: 5-10; Luke 6: 17-26
[I began this sermon
reading three different translations of the Luke passage, Laughingbird.net,
NIV, and The Message. I divided up the
months of the year into three segments and with each reading I asked people
with birthdays between such and such months to stand. While reading I looked to them while reading
the blessings and looked to the rest of the congregation while reading the
woes. The intent for this was for
everyone to feel receiving the message of both the blessings and the woes.]
We are blessed...and we are woed, and God’s ideals turns our world upside down.
When
I was growing up, there were times when I didn’t always do what I needed to do,
and there were times when I found myself at odds with my parents and/or any
responsible adult. There were times when
things got a bit dysfunctional in the churches which my father pastored, and I
remember hearing my father express intention to share his frustrations with
them. There were times when my brothers
and sisters were not the best role models for their younger brother, nor good
representations of the family. In times
such as these, my father used to talk about having to have a ‘come to Jesus’
meeting, and when those words were uttered, we understood that it was probably
not going to be pretty.
Oh, my father wasn’t a violent man, and that’s not what he meant. Instead, to have a ‘come to Jesus meeting’ meant that there would be an honest and frank discussion, usually pretty one-sided, and the recipient would hear my father’s true thoughts and opinions as harsh as they might be perceived. Whenever I had to have a “come to Jesus meeting” with dad, the result for me was guilt and shame for I had been given a whole new perspective on myself and life and realized that there are more opinions, needs, and desires in this world than my own.
When I read this passage from Luke this week, there was a large part of me that felt like I had just been a recipient of a come to Jesus meeting, only the meeting was with Jesus! “Blessings to the poor, hungry, sorrowful and hated, but woe to the rich, well-fed, happy, and well-respected.” I don’t know about you, but I feel less like one blessed and more like one of those afflicted by a woe in Christ’s honest, frank discussion.
As we shared together the scripture reading, did you experience any emotions or thoughts? What did it feel like to stand and hear those blessings? Or sit with those woes? [take responses from the congregation]
We often hear the concept that Jesus came to turn the world upside down, and certainly this passage of scripture supports that description of Christ’s call.
Today
we begin a walk through the sixth chapter of Luke’s Gospel with a sermon series
on what is known as the “Sermon on the Plain.”
In Matthew’s Gospel many of the same concepts and sayings are gathered
into a larger and even more radical section known as “The Sermon on the Mount,”
but Luke is concerned with the poor and the outcast. He writes to the dregs of society – the
outcast, the lepers, the lame, and poor, and He writes to the persecuted, so it
is appropriate that Luke’s Jesus goes down on a plain, on the level of the
people, meeting them where they are.
In that day the class structure was such that a very small group had the bulk of wealth, while the vast majority lived close to poverty if not in poverty, especially if you were a Jew in Roman society. Add to that those who suffered because of Jewish interpretation of the Levitical Laws, and there are many, many people who live poor and feel like they are simply garbage to be thrown away. It is to these that Jesus speaks blessings. It is to the rest that he shares woes.
I remember being in a class in seminary when a professor said to us, “Jesus came for the poor. Period.” I immediately took offense to that, as did many others, because when I looked around a plethora of hands shot up to object, and yet there was enough truth in that that I had to think about it. I found myself reflecting upon my own middle-class, lack of want upbringing, and some woe arose within me.
Yes, I believe that Christ came for more than the poor, he came for the world, my professor would not dispute that, but what he was saying and what it central to who we are as followers of Christ, is that Christ came to bring hope, and those who most often need hope are the poor, hungry, grieving, and persecuted.
In thinking about the ramifications of this for our lives Christ reveals in these verses that in order to fully receive that hope, we have to be one of those blessed on the plain - poor, hungry, in pain for the world, or excluded or harassed because of our faith. We have to understand what God does and unite our lives and hearts with the hopeless, as well as recognizing and naming our own hopelessness.
So
often when we are confronted with this passage we latch onto those blessings
and woes, but in reading this numerous times this week, I was struck less by
these as I was with the introduction to our passage.
“Jesus
went down with THEM and stood on a level place.” Jesus goes to where they are, and it is only
then that he can speak what he does. But
before he speaks, listen to whom he speaks.
“A
large crowd of disciples, and people from all over the region came to hear him and be healed of their diseases. The people came trying to touch him...” Then
hear this, “because power was coming from him and healing them all.”
Did
you catch who they were? Do you see what
happens when those who seek healing and wholeness come to Jesus?
Those who come are disciples, ones whose whole desire and purpose is to embody Christ’s life, and those who recognize that they need healing and wholeness. It is to such as these to whom Christ comes, and it is to Christ that they come because they know that no one else can do what he does. Those who desire what God desires – healing and wholeness of body, mind, and spirit – come, and when they do, Christ’s power emanates from Him in such a way that God’s desire and our desire become one in the same.
What are the struggles in our lives? Where are we crippled? What is our greatest need? What spirit, temptations, or powers hold us down or keep us from truly living? Name them, then come to Jesus, and he will bring us what we need.
Do you see what Christ is saying? Do you see what Luke is giving us? He is saying, “Do this, and Christ can make you whole?” And then, Christ rewards the faithfulness.
“Blessed
are you poor, for yours is the
Those who come to Jesus, laying everything at Christ’s feet, seeking healing and wholeness let go of all the stuff that gets in God’s way, and they are blessed.
On the contrary, woe to those who hold onto their baggage, those who live for self, seek their own desires, live in happy days insulating themselves from the pains of the world, and even doing all they can for human approval, for they’ve...we’ve...missed the boat. We’ve missed the point. The point...the aim of life...God’s desire for us...for the world...is to honestly, truly, humbly, expectantly, come to Jesus.
I
was blessed to find this quote from Martin Luther King Jr., which I placed on
the front of our bulletin today.
“Everyone must answer the question ‘Who am I?’ and to seek to answer it
honestly.” When we do, know that we are
first and foremost children in God’s Kingdom, here and now. A Kingdom that turns our human world upside
down.
“Who am I?” Be bold to seek that answer, but know that it takes boldness and courage. Know that it takes the blessings of poverty, hunger, weeping, and criticism. Know that it often leads us to recognize the woes of relying on wealth, satisfaction, happiness, and glorification and acceptance by the world. Know that there are blessings and there are woes, but know above all that when we come to Jesus, the Kingdom is ours. Amen.