Have you ever had a friend who started
to become embarrassing? Maybe it was an
elementary school friend who as you moved into middle school was awkward as you
wanted to move in higher social circles.
If you’ve ever read any of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books or seen the
movies you know exactly what I’m talking about.
You don’t want to break the friendship, but this person’s wants and
desires seem silly or childish. You fear
association with this person is damaging your reputation.
Or maybe as an adult a high school
friend starts telling stories about you that you wish could be forgotten. Maybe someone you know is showing early signs
of dementia or Alzheimer’s and he or she says or does things that are
embarrassing. You get tired of
apologizing and don’t want to do things in public.
By all measures Jesus could have been
the coolest guy in town. Perhaps he
didn’t have the most prestigious family of origin – Joseph was at best a laborer
of limited skills – but Jesus’ abilities to perform miracles, speak well, and
great knowledge surely gave him all the ingredients of great popularity. He’s the sort who’d be voted, “Most Likely to
Succeed.”
But he didn’t live the way you’d
expect such a person to live. If you
were here the last couple weeks you know that Jesus hasn’t been choosing his
friends wisely. Instead of picking those
who could get him ahead in life he’s choosing the wrong sort: common fishermen,
toll collectors, laborers, sinners. None
of these people were going to get Jesus anywhere in life.
That is the exact backdrop the gospel
writer Luke wants us to see when he gives Jesus’ great Sermon on the Plain –
which is probably the same sermon in its more famous form in Matthew’s gospel
called, “The Sermon on the Mount.” Luke
appears to have edited it down to one-third the length in Matthew.
I like the way commentator Joel Green
sets it up:
“Those who do not discriminate in
their choices of table companions, those who do not fast, those who do not
observe the Sabbath – such people are defined as outsiders, people of low
regard in the system. Jesus not
counteracts those negative sanctions by doing nothing less than redefining the
world, positing as the foundation of this world the Old Testament affirmation
of the merciful Father and erecting on this foundation a new set of
dispositions out of which will flourish new practices, perceptions, and
attitudes.” (New International
Commentary on the New Testament, Gospel of Luke, Pg. 261)
So, after tearing down the old ways of
living in the last couple chapters, Jesus gives this sermon. It is the sort of thing you wish politicians
would do in their speeches. Instead of
just tearing down their opponents and their opponents’ agendas, also give a
positive workable agenda as a replacement.
The sermon starts
off with some blessings that we probably know well – the Beatitudes; blessings
that seem reversed. 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…” and so on.
Then there are woes that are also
reversals, “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.”
These thoughts could make us plenty
uneasy, especially if we look at our lives and find ourselves saying, “On the
whole, I’m doing pretty well.” But that
is not what Jesus means here, and we should not worry. There is no inflation-adjusted threshold of
poverty or wealth that God uses to determine who gets blessings and who gets
woes. It’s about attitudes that
accompany wealth and attitudes that accompany poverty.
Those who are rich tend to be lulled
into a false sense of security. They
think their skills and resources will ensure their future success. They know how to make it and they think it
will continue like that always. The
poor, however, feel needy and insecure.
They’re looking for security outside themselves, which more readily
opens them to understanding their need for God’s grace.
Along with rich and poor is weeping
and laughing. When Jesus says woe to
those who are laughing he is not criticizing happiness. The laughter is the laughter of the fool who
is unconcerned about the priorities of God.
It is the person who is arrogant about his or her position or believed
superiority. It is the one who laughs at others misfortune and struggles
because he or she thinks they deserve it.
Jesus’ teachings in this sermon about
behavior are quite radical. The
principles of justice that is the foundation of law can be traced all the way
back to the Babylonian legal code – the code of Hammurabi. You know it well – an eye for an eye and a
tooth for a tooth. Many think that is
biblical, and it is in the Bible. But it
did not originate there. It is the
Babylonian legal code used as a foundation for Jewish justice, as well as
justice for many cultures. Though it
seems severe, I think we agree with the principles. Said differently, let the punishment fit the
crime. Breaking the speed limit by 5 mph
is not the same as embezzling a million dollars from a company. And so the punishments should fit the crime.
But Jesus calls for something
different. Now he’s not making a
statement intending for a nation to build a legal code around it. He’s not saying that prisons should be
emptied and bad people be allowed to run unchecked. No, he is speaking in the background of a
typical justice system. His followers
are not to be focused on, or worried about getting a fair shake, or getting
revenge. His followers are to be focused
elsewhere – God’s work - knowing also that God will bring about justice to
those who exploit, hurt, and destroy. Basically
he is saying don’t worry about it.
Justice for yourself is not your top priority.
And yet, Jesus is also not calling for
his followers to be passive and just accept abuse and mistreatment. We are not to be doormats who get walked all
over all the time. He is actually
calling for aggressive action to undermine hostility and violence.
If God is your source of self-worth;
not your job or your possessions or your friends,
And if God is your source of true
justice; not your ability to win a court case or your ability to get revenge or
get back and someone,
And if you see God as gracious and
loving of you, even despite your flaws,
Then you are ready to live in a way
that is very different from the world around you. Dr. Rick Carlson, my one seminary professor
said that Christians aren’t to be counter-cultural. They are to be anti-cultural. If you think about it, almost everything you
see on the news, and everything that is advertised to you, and just about
everything most people build their lives around makes just no sense in light of
God’s promises.
Jesus calls us to live those
promises. That does not mean being
passive. It means being assertive as we
build upon the solid foundation God provides.
God does not want this life to be a
waiting game for us until we die and then get to go to heaven. Most of Jesus’ teaching about the coming of
the kingdom of God are about his followers making the promises of God’s kingdom
come alive here on earth. That is what
he means when he says, “The kingdom of God has come near.”
Let justice be God’s. Let your worth lie in God’s hands. And let your energy be focused on building up
others and the community around you. And
you will be blessed now, you will laugh now, and you will have wholeness
now. That’s not a prosperity gospel,
where God will bless you for being good.
That is the reality of those who are free from the world’s bondage to
sin and death.
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