Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God

 

 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.  And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles:  Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.

And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits.  And they were healed.  And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.

Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: 

"Blessed are you poor,

For yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now,

For you shall be filled.

Blessed are you who weep now,

For you shall laugh.

Blessed are you when men hate you,

And when they exclude you,

And revile you, and cast out your name as evil,

For the Son of Man's sake.

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!

For indeed your reward is great in heaven,

For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.

"But woe to you who are rich,

For you have received your consolation.

Woe to you who are full, 

For you shall hunger.

Woe to you who laugh now,

For you shall mourn and weep.

Woe to you when all men speak well of you,

For so did their fathers to the false prophets."

- Luke 6:12–26 

 

Yesterday we read that it was on the second Sabbath after the first that Jesus went through the grainfields.  And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands.  And some of the Pharisees said to them, "Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?"  But Jesus answering them said, "Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:  how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?"  And He said to them, "The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."  Now it happened on another Sabbath, also, that He entered the synagogue and taught.  And a man was there whose right hand was withered.  So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him.  But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, "Arise and stand here."  And he arose and stood.  Then Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one thing:  Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?"  And when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.  But they were filled with rage, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

 

Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.  And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.  According to St. Ambrose of Milan, Jesus, being the Son of God, does not pray as if to obtain grace or revelation from the Father.  Rather, as the Son of Man, He prays as the Advocate for humanity (see 1 John 2:1).   Theophan comments that, as Jesus spent all night in prayer before selecting the twelve apostles, it teaches us that before a candidate is chosen for any spiritual ministry, we should pray that God will reveal to us the one suited for the task.  Out of His disciples, He chooses twelve He also named apostles:  disciple means "learner," and apostle means "one sent out."  My study bible tells us that the names of the Twelve are not the same in all lists, as many people had more than one name.  Here, in Luke's Gospel, for example, Levi is now Matthew.  These names, as in Matthew's Gospel (Matthew 10:1-4), are given in pairs, suggesting who might have traveled together on the first missionary journey, as Mark says they were sent out two by two (Mark 6:7).

And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits.  And they were healed.  And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.  Jesus stood on a level place to deliver the sermon that follows, for this reason it is often called the Sermon on the Plain.  Note that Jesus had gone to a mountain to pray before choosing the twelve disciples He also named apostles; here the text tells us that He came down with them to a great multitude of people from everywhere inside Israel (including all Judea and Jerusalem) and from nominally Gentile regions of Tyre and Sidon.  Jesus' great power went out from Him and healed them all. 

Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said:  "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."  Here Jesus begins what is known as the Sermon on the Plain, directed at all of His disciples, and by inference, all we who would be His disciples.  It is not as extensive, but similar in content to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 - 7.   My study bible comments that Jesus repeated many of His teachings over a period of three years.  Blessed, in this context, does not indicate an earthly happiness or prosperity, but rather heavenly, spiritual exaltation.  In Hebrew, poor means both the materially poor, and also those who are faithful among God's people.  In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus refers this teaching to the "poor in spirit" -- that is, those who have teh heart of the poor, the same attitude as the poor, and are totally dependent upon God.  

"Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled."  Let us note that these are spiritual teachings, and not promises of prosperity and abundant food, but rather allusions to the deep desire for the things of God, the bread and wine of Christ and His true substance.  All of these teachings follow upon the mention of the "poor," those who are aware of their deep needs.

"Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh."   In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks of those who mourn (Matthew 5:4).  My study bible says that they are those who have sorrow over the sufferings of this life (Matthew 9:23),  the sufferings of others (John 11:35), the state of the world (Luke 19:41), and their own sins (Luke 7:36-38).  Christ shares His joy with us in this world and in the age to come, a joy that comes from the fulfillment of one's place in the economy of God, the salvation story of all, God's grace at work in one's life (John 15:11; 16:20-24).

"Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake.  Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!  For indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets."  My study bible comments that children of God uphold truth, refuse to compromise with the ways of the world, and give themselves to no other (Matthew 6:24, 33; see 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  Like Jesus, the Son of Man, and like the prophets, they will suffer antipathy and exclusion, even being called evil.  Those who suffer persecution for Christ walk the road of the prophets, saints, and martyrs.  See Acts 5:40-41.

"But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.  Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger.  Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.  Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets."   Luke reports four "woes" which are not found in Matthew's Sermon on the Mount.  Woe, according to my study bible, is an indication not merely of sorrow, but of unspeakable destruction (Isaiah 5:18-24; Amos 5:18; Revelation 12:12).  Similarly to "blessed" in this context, "woe" has a deeper spiritual meaning beyond its worldly connotations.  My study bible cites St. Cyril of Alexandria, who comments that those who prize the vices listed here are liable to the "utmost misery"; but they find hope when they sacrifice their earthly blessings in showing mercy to others (see also Matthew 6:19-21).

Jesus' Sermon on the Plain tells us deep truths about the ways in which we live our lives, and the realities we deal with as His disciples and followers.  But it also echoes the truths found in other prophetic verses in the Bible, most especially in the songs of women we encounter.  Luke reports the song of Mary, sung by Mary after her cousin Elizabeth (the mother of John the Baptist) is filled with the Holy Spirit as her own child leaps in her womb, and she prophesies that Mary carries the Incarnate Lord (Luke 1:41-45).  In Mary's song (Luke 1:46-55) are also found the truths of the power of the Lord, which turn upside down the wisdom of the world.  She whose state is lowly will be called blessed by all generations.  The proud will be scattered, the mighty pulled down from their thrones, the lowly exalted, the hungry filled with good things, the rich sent away empty, and the faithful people of God who serve the Lord are helped.  In all of these themes is the contained the power and action of the mercy of the Lord, and we also find this elaborated by Jesus in today's reading which includes the Sermon on the Plain.  These themes extend from the Old Testament (see, for instance, Hannah's song), and are fulfilled and made manifest in the New.  But we also carry with us an understanding that this manifestation must continue and must grow, even as we still look to the future for a richer revelation and fulfillment of the same.  As you read these words of the Sermon on the Plain, I would ask my readers to reflect on what ways these words might be fulfilled in your own lives and your own experience, for it is indeed in experience that we find the fulfillment of Christ's teaching.  A sad occasion or loss turns to joy with the addition and action of faith:  one door closes on a job or occupation, but with time we find our faith leads us to something more pleasing to the Lord.  We might experience the loss of social status, but contained therein is a blessing of peace in more deeply being linked to Christ in the heart.  There are myriad ways we can experience this power in the mercy of the Lord in our own lives, even more than I could count simply in my own.  But it is important that we look to what seems to be that power manifesting in the small, even the intimate, and even in ways no one else possibly knows, and not discount them.  We think of Christ as Lord of the Universe, and indeed, this is true; His will be the final word over all.  But our experience of our faith is something different.  It takes eyes to see and ears to hear, and it comes down to what we know in the heart, and what we have the capacity through faith to see and to hear.  This intimate moment between Mary and Elizabeth, this Sermon on the Plain with Christ's disciples, or the mountaintop experience of the Twelve, are not earth-shattering events when they happen.  They are not on parallel with a worldly impression such as a declaration of Caesar, a great battle that topples a kingdom, the siege of a city.  And yet, their impact is far, far greater than all of these through time, and will continue to grow through time into the future.  When we look to Christ's words, let us also consider how they are manifest in the experience of St. Paul, who prayed to be healed of an affliction, but was told, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."  "Therefore," writes St. Paul, "most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:9).  God's power so often manifests not through the great, but the small.  Let us therefore look to our deeply intimate times of faith for meaning and understanding, and look back through time at the unfolding of God's word -- even as we watch terrifying powers defeated, power-hungry movements collapsing from within, and our prayers made manifest in a deep sense of peace and joy we can't explain.  For these are the ways in which God's power and love are at work, and God's mercy is always present with us.