EXPLETIVE DELETED You Who are Rich

Luke 6:17-26

He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

Then he 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.

God has a distinct preference and a very clear focus.  It’s not “new”… It’s not something Bishop Budde created just for the inauguration or I dreamed up just for this sermon.  It wasn't even “new” when Jesus preached it here in Luke’s Gospel.  By the time Jesus preached it, God’s well known preference and focus had been around for millennia… clearly stated through Torah, throughout the prophets, in the wisdom literature and in the psalms.  Folks are being told to BELIEVE it’s a brand new “woke” God that folks like Bishop Budde and I are selling, but those same folks are also being told by the same people to believe that eggs and gas are cheaper, and that two plus two equals five.  

God's focus, which Jesus proclaims again in today’s Gospel lesson, is as it has always been:  It is a preference of blessing for the poor, the foreigner, the widow, the orphan, the hungry, the persecuted, and those who weep.  Now, hear me very clearly… God does NOT put people into, nor keep people in those terrible situations and call it a blessing.  That would make God a sadist, which God is not.  God’s preference for the poor, the foreigner, the widow, the orphan, the hungry, the persecuted, and those who weep, is to bless them OUT of those terrible situations!  Those out there twisting Scripture to suggest the opposite are doing a special kind of evil.  

No, God’s focus is (and has always been) on showering blessing ON people in terrible circumstances SO THEY WILL NOT REMAIN in those circumstances for so much as one more second of their lives!  And to be clear, we’re not talking about “spiritual” hunger, poverty, or sorrow here that should be worked out in church and not in politics.  Absolutely NOT!  Luke makes it VERY clear, Jesus is talking about genuine, physical belly hunger, real life can’t pay the bills poverty, zip tie and automatic weapon persecution of the foreigner, active stripping of care from the elderly, the disabled, and the orphan.  Jesus is also not talking about some sort of “spiritual” tears.  Jesus is talking about genuine, run down your face tears.  The gigantic tears of pain and loss.  The tears from being told you can’t love who you love or live on the outside the way God created you on the inside.  Jesus is talking about the real tears shed when you are ripped away from your children and the genuine tears, continually cried because you don’t know where your parent has been taken.  God’s very clear and distinct preference, is that people NOT be put into these situations nor remain in them for even one more second of their lives.  

But in Luke’s Gospel, God’s preference is not just made clear with blessings.  Jesus also makes God’s preferences clear by coming at them from the opposite direction with woes.  Luke Timothy Johnson, a Roman Catholic New Testament professor says that the word WOE, as it’s used in the Hebrew Scriptures, is, and I quote “an EXPLETIVE for disfavor or calamity, either described or desired.”  Now, I’m no New Testament professor, so I might be wrong on this, but to this country preacher that sounds an awful lot like Luke Timothy Johnson is saying that Jesus used the WOE word back then, the same way folks these days might use the “F” word.

Sounds extreme, I know, but to be honest, I think it fits pretty darn well!  WOE YOU!  Rich, full, laughing, and popular people who refuse to use your privilege to lift up the poor, hungry, crying and persecuted!  And an even bigger WOE YOU! to you who make policy driving people into poverty, hunger, grief and fear and work to keep people trapped in those horrors!  WOE!  YOU!

Whether or not my reading of the “woe" word is on target or it goes too far, God’s preference and focus could not be more clear.  God’s preference for when we find ourselves to be the poor, the foreigner, the widow, the orphan, the hungry, the persecuted, or the weeping (and we all spend time in those places to one degree or another) God’s preference when we find ourselves in those terrible places, is that our neighbors would join God in blessing us… lifting us out of those circumstances so that we might experience the abundant life God created all of us to live.  And then, where it’s possible, God’s preference is that we fix the systems that always seem to land people in those same terrible spots.  

It is also equally clear that it is God's preference that when we find ourselves with more than enough wealth… when we find ourselves with full bellies... when we find ourselves with the freedom, mental health, and security needed to be able to laugh, and we find ourselves in the good graces of the people around us… (and thankfully we all also spend some time in those places as well)  God’s preference is that in those times we would use the privilege we have in that moment to lift those neighbors around us who need lifting. 

Jesus pulled no punches with either the blessings or the woes in reminding us of God’s preference.  So, as Jesus’ disciples we too, must pull no punches in doing the same. Holding back on either simply perpetuates our neighbor’s pain and I would hope that by this point in the sermon we’re all clear on what Jesus would say to anyone perpetuating a neighbor’s pain.  Yeah.  THAT’S EXACTLY what Jesus would say, and to that I say...  Amen!