Blessed are the Losers

The Holy Gospel According to St. Luke, the 6th Chapter

Then Jesus looked up at his disciples and said: “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, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. “Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Everything we hear these days is about winners and losers.  From the world series, to the pipeline battle to this never-ending election, it’s all about winners and losers and EVERYONE wants to be a winner, often at any cost.  But this winner/loser obsession isn’t just something we hear on TV.  Even in Chipotle the other day, there was a sign on the Sprite valve on the fountain machine telling everyone that today Sprite was not a winner!  

The thing is, for most of the world not being a winner is a terrible thing.  The only thing worse than not being a winner is being a loser!  But here in Luke’s Gospel the “normal” world is turned upside down in a terribly inescapable way as Jesus declares… Blessed are you who are poor.  Not, blessed are you who are poor in SPIRIT, like in Matthew’s Gospel.  This is just straight up POOR, which is clearly not a winning position.  But Jesus isn’t done.  He goes on to tell the world… Blessed are you who are hungry.  Not, blessed are you who hunger and thirst for righteousness like in Matthew’s Gospel.  Clearly here in Luke’s Gospel, this isn’t some sort of spiritual poverty Jesus is talking about.  This is not-enough-money-to-pay-the-rent, poverty.  This isn’t a spiritual hunger Jesus is calling blessed.  This is a growling-stomach-that-doesn’t-know-where-to-find-a-meal kind of hunger that Jesus is calling blessed. 

But how can this be!?  Twenty nine hours a day for every single day for over a year now, on TV and online and on the radio and on signs we have heard relentlessly until our ears are ready to bleed, how important, essential, critical for the survival of the whole universe it is to be a winner and avoid by any and every means necessary, being a loser!  And then today, into ALL of that hoopla, drama and shouting about winning, Jesus calmly and quietly this morning proclaims, “Blessed are the losers” and as if THAT wasn’t already too much to process he adds, as a footnote, “Woe to the winners.”  

We like Matthew’s version of these beatitudes because we can spiritualize the losing and THAT lets us more easily fool ourselves into believing WE can make ourselves winners.  In Matthew, we’re not poor, we’re just poor in spirit and so, if we do just a little more prayer we’ll be back to spiritual winning before we know it!  In Matthew we’re not physically hungry, we’re not lined up at the food bank, we’re just hungry for righteousness and so with just a bit more effort, we’ll make ourselves righteous in no time at all!  

Luke’s version doesn’t allow for us to fool ourselves like that.  Luke’s version INSISTS that it is precisely those who KNOW… who KNOW at their core, through pain, shame, hard knocks and devastating loss that they CAN’T do EVEN the most basic things on their own, who are blessed in God’s Kingdom!  Luke’s version demands that we listen to Jesus and really, really hear that it is the broken, the hungry, the poor, the weeping, the losers who have come to understand… who are blessed to understand… that there is NOTHING we can accomplish on our own, apart from God.  They KNOW, “I can not by my own reason or strength believe” or for that matter even eat or find shelter or do ANYTHING on their own.  They KNOW that it’s ONLY through a gift from God that they have life, find a bed and have a meal to eat.  They KNOW we are ALL losers without God’s infinite and unconditional love and grace.  

Being poor, being hungry, being broken, being a loser are all held up by our world as the most horrible things you could ever be these days, but Jesus knew that being broken, even though it was painful and terrible was ALSO the window through which we might better see God at work in our lives.  Neither Jesus, nor anyone else would WISH poverty, hunger, grief or brokenness on another person, but Jesus knew that WHEN those things came into our lives… and because we're human, they do in one way or another… we would be blessed with an opportunity to see God’s love at work in our lives in ways that the rich, the full and the winners never would.  

In Japan, there is an art form called Kintsugi.  In this art form, ceramic bowls that have become broken are repaired in a unique way.  The artist doesn’t attempt to hide the cracks, but instead draws the eye to them by repairing them with gold.  The repaired bowls are then even more valuable than when they were unbroken.  Both the expense of the gold, but also the new beauty of the bowl, contribute to the bowl’s greater value.  

Jesus says, “Blessed are the cracked bowls in our community.”  “Blessed are those who are broken.”  “Blessed are the losers.”  For through their poverty, hunger, cracks and brokenness they have been blessed with the opportunity to glimpse God’s grace in ways that the rich, the full, and those who insist they are flawless will never know.  And blessed are we, when we stop trying to look away or worse yet, throw away those who are cracked and broken in our community.  Because it is THROUGH their cracks and brokenness AND our own cracks and brokenness, that we will see that God's precious love and compassion has made us more valuable than we could have ever been if we had just been left to ourselves to suffer through this life as flawless, perfect, well fed and wealthy winners.  Amen.