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Gospel: Luke 6: 17, 20-26
Jesus came down with the Twelve
and stood on a stretch of level ground
with a great crowd of his disciples
and a large number of the people
from all Judea and Jerusalem
and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon.
And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for the kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are now hungry,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you,
and when they exclude and insult you,
and denounce your name as evil
on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!
Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.
For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.
But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are filled now,
for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will grieve and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you,
for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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A businessman once approached Mark Twain and said:
“Before I die, I intend to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I want to climb to the top of Mount Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud.”
To which Twain responded, “I have a better idea. Why don’t you stay right at home in Boston and keep them?”
Actions speak louder than words.
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In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives an updated version of the Ten Commandments, often called the Beatitudes. Each Beatitude begins with three words: “Blessed are you.”
While these teachings are found in both Matthew and Luke’s Gospel, there are two key differences.
First, Matthew describes Jesus as preaching this sermon high up on a mountain, while Luke describes Jesus as being down on a plain.
Secondly, Matthew recounts the Lord as always speaking in the affirmative – “Blessed are you” – while Luke balances blessing with woe, “Woe to you.”
Why would Luke write a different account from Matthew? What is his account saying to us?
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Matthew’s version of the Beatitudes is often called The Sermon on the Mount because he describes Jesus climbing a mountain, then delivering his sermon from on high, giving the impression that the Lord is preaching from somewhere between heaven and earth.
But if we are looking up at Christ, then he is looking down on us, making the Beatitudes seem like lofty ideals, heavenly teachings, which we can only aspire to live out.
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Luke’s account, however, is called The Sermon on the Plain, because he describes Jesus as coming down from the mountain. Then, “standing on a level stretch of ground,” Jesus begins to teach.
“Blessed are you who are poor… who are hungry… who are weeping… who are hated, excluded, and insulted on my account,” he says.
If we imagine the Lord saying these things to us at eye-level, or even beneath us if he is seated, then the impact is dramatically different. Here the Beatitudes are not lofty ideals delivered on a mountaintop; rather, they serve as our very foundation.
Luke leads us to consider several things:
Where do we see Jesus standing, high on a mountaintop or down on a plain? Is religion something that we only aspire to live out, or is it the very foundation of our lives?
Where we do we see ourselves standing, high up, above the poor and suffering, or down on the plain, shoulder to shoulder with the rest of humanity?
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Luke’s Beatitudes are undoubtedly about today. They’re about this community coming together, addressing the needs of the sick, the sorrowful, the poor and marginalized among us – not only materially, but also spiritually.
Thus, they also lead us to consider, what are we doing to seek and save the lost? How are we bringing the Gospel to those who are weary, or have yet to hear it?
These are some of the guiding questions our pastoral council is considering while working on the draft of our next strategic plan, which will affect all of us and will require raising up new leaders.
Maybe the Lord is calling you.
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Unlike Matthew, Luke balances his four Beatitudes with four woes.
Blessed are the poor, but woe to the rich. Blessed are the hungry, but woe to those who are filled. Blessed are the weeping, but woe to those who are laughing. Blessed are those who are hated, but woe to those who are praised.
Jesus is not saying that we must be poor or hungry in order to be blessed. However, we must live in solidarity with those who suffer, bringing them comfort by what we do.
As Saint Teresa of Avila once wrote, “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet, but yours. Yours are the eyes with which he sees, the hands with which he blesses. Christ has no body now but yours.”
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“Before I die, I intend to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land,” a man once said to Mark Twain. “There, I want to climb to the top of Mount Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud.”
To which Twain responded, “I have a better idea. Why don’t you stay right at home in Boston and keep them?”
Shouldn’t we stay here and do the same?
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Image credits: (1) Local Vineyard Church (2) Church of the Incarnation, Richmond, VA (3) 365Give