Jeremiah 17: 5–10 / Psalm 1 / I Corinthians 15: 12–20 / Luke 6: 17–26
This
is the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown,
Pennsylvania on Sunday, February 16, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker.
“WIDENING OUR PERSPECTIVES AND EXPANDING OUR VISION”
(Homily text: Luke 6:17 – 26)
One of the purposes of Holy Scripture –
and perhaps the main one – is that it opens to us the mind of God. Put another
way, Holy Scripture is the repository of what God wants us to know about His
nature, His design of the world, and His desire for those who dwell therein.
Whenever we human beings encounter God,
we are challenged to change our thinking, to look with wider perspectives, and
– above all – to be changed.
Our Lord Jesus Christ seems intent on
challenging those who heard Him offer the Beatitudes (Luke’s version), our
Gospel reading for this morning. The Lord seems to be challenging, directly,
the conventional thinking of the time in the way in which He presented the four
“blessings”, and then the four “woes” that form Luke’s recounting of this
teaching.
Let’s begin by looking at this version
of the Beatitudes.
Luke’s transmission of this teaching is
quite a bit different from the more familiar version that we find in Matthew’s
Gospel account (see Matthew 5: 2–12). Matthew begins the Lord’s Sermon on the
Mount with this teaching.
(We might ask ourselves: “Why is Luke’s
version different from Matthew’s?” One answer might be in Luke’s sources. Luke
tells us that he consulted a number of people as he determined to write his own
Gospel account. Here is how Luke tells us about the process: “Inasmuch as many
have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been
accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and
ministers of the word, have delivered them to us…” (Luke 1: 1–2) It’s possible
that those eyewitnesses and ministers remembered this teaching differently than
Matthew’s sources did. Another reason might be that Jesus delivered another
version of the same teaching on another occasion. After all, Luke tells us that
the version he preserves for us was delivered when the Lord was on a plain, and
not on a mount, as Matthew relates. It is quite normal for someone to change
the essential message on different occasions, and we would do well to realize
that the Lord probably did the same thing. I’ll let you live with this question
and the mystery attached to it.)
In Luke’s version, the Lord divides the
Beatitudes into four “blessings” and four “woes”.
Looking at the four, each “blessing”
and each “woe” is mirrored in the other. For example, the first “blessing” says,
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” Now, notice
the first “woe”, which says, “But woe to you who are rich, for you have
received your consolation”.
Each of the succeeding blessings and
woes are similarly linked in meaning.
Taking into account the prevailing
attitudes among God’s people in the time of our Lord’s earthly ministry, we see
that Jesus is directly challenging one aspect of those attitudes. Remember
that, in that time, people commonly believed that if a person was healthy and
well-to-do, those blessings were directly linked to their behavior, for it’s
clear that such people were doing all the right things. They were faithfully
living out the requirements of the Law of Moses (Torah). Conversely, if a
person was poor or was sickly, those conditions, too, were reflective of a
sinful and wayward life.
But the thrust of Jesus’ teaching seems
to be, “Look at life with a wider lens. See that things could be much
different, different for those who have blessings, and for those who don’t”.
Furthermore, the Lord seems to be saying, “Your condition in life isn’t linked
to how ‘good’ you are.”
Perhaps there is comfort for the poor, the
hungry, and for those who mourn. The Lord assures them that there is a better
way, and that God’s concern for them (often worked out by those who claim the
Name of Christ, by the way) will result in a change in their life
circumstances.
But there is a warning to the well-off
and to those who think that things are going well because of their own efforts.
The Lord warns them not to think that their own efforts have resulted in their
situation. “Things could change”, seems to be what He is saying.
What is evident here is that the roles
of those who are blessed and those who are not are reversed. This is a common
theme which runs through Luke’s account.
Another excellent example of the role
reversals we find in Luke’s account is in Mary’s Song (the Magnificat),
which says this, “He (the Lord) has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he has sent away empty.” (Luke 1: 52–53)
There are challenges for us as we read,
consider and hear the Lord’s teaching.
It would be easy for us to think that
because we’ve worked so hard, or because we are so talented or are so gifted,
that we’ve brought about our own success and standing. Indeed, St. Augustine of
Hippo’s warning is appropriate here: He said that we human beings are so easily
fooled. The mature understanding and the comprehensive view of our life’s
situation demands that we realize that God is the ultimate giver of every good
and perfect gift. Moreover, others in our lives have also assisted us in our
life’s journey. No one of us is self-made. Moreover, we are not to hoard those
things we have. We are commanded to be generous in our use of such things.
(Oddly enough, one of the great mysteries of our walk with God is that it is
impossible to outgive God. Not only that, but the more generous we are with
those things that we have, the more space is created for God to fill that space
up again.)
Another way that the Lord challenges us
is to consider the poor, the hungry, and those who mourn. In the time of our
Lord’s visitation, the common attitude was to avoid such persons, for fear that
you, yourself, would fall into the same difficult circumstances by being in
touch with someone who was obviously living an evil life. Somehow, the Law of
Moses’ requirements to care for the poor, the stranger, the widow and the
orphan, had fallen out of view among God’s people. Instead of averting our eyes
from those in such straits, we are commanded to care for them, to feed them, to
console them, to show them that, just as God’s love has been poured into our
hearts and lives, so we share that same blessing with others, and particularly,
with those in dire need. The Law of Moses requires such an outlook and action.
We began by saying that Holy Scripture
challenges us to see God’s will and God’s heart. Today’s teaching challenges us
to see things differently, to see that God’s action is present in the blessings
we enjoy. God’s heart turns toward the poor, the hungry, the distressed,
commanding us to address those concerns and those needs.
AMEN.
