3/6/22 Sermon on the Plain Luke 6:17-49

(The worship bulletins contained an insert which does not tranfer well into this format. If you would like an electronic version of it please email the church at sjlcvictor@gmail.com)

In your bulletin is a handout labeled, “Understanding Luke’s Gospel, a clash of two economies.” I invite you to pull that out because that is where we want to begin. This is something Dr. Rick Carlson, one of my New Testament professors in seminary, gave us to understand what is going on throughout Luke’s gospel.

We start on the Redistributive Economics of Exploitation side. There at the top we find the Elite. These are high ranking government officials. Think the emperor, regional governors, military generals. They are truly at the top of society. Below them are the Clients of the Elite. These are merchants, mid-level government officials, lawyers, large land owners, and possibly even some highly skilled slaves. (We have to remember that slavery in those days was very different than the American use of slaves. Some slaves rose to be very high ranking and have tremendous power over others.) The elite would make decisions and use their power. The clients of the elite would then carry them out. The arrow is shown pointing just down but it could go both ways. The elite knew they couldn’t be total bullies. They’d do favors for each other and for their clients. The clients would do favors for the elite in the hopes of recognition and favor.

On the way down below the clients of the elite we find small farmers, skilled tradesmen, free peasants, and skilled slaves. I suppose this could be considered somewhat of a middle class. Life was very hard but they had what they needed to enjoy some sense of security. They had little power over the government or economy around them but they could navigate the world with some autonomy.

This whole thing functioned like a pyramid. There were very few elite. Somewhat more clients of the elite. And somewhat more than that of these lower middle class folks. And then like a distorted pyramid the base becomes hugely wide. There was the Exploited, or Exploitable. These were the farm laborers, unskilled laborers, the unclean and degraded, and expendable slaves. This was the vast majority of the population. The goods and services they provided were consumed by the clients of the elite and the elite. These people would hope for favor from those who were above them. And if you were someone above them who did something nice for them you expected them to be able to do you a favor in return.

A big part of this whole economy is the idea of, “I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine.” Life was a series of favors given and obligations owed.

At the bottom of the page we see some of Dr. Carlson’s thoughts.

This system believes it is divinely established and has the blessing of God (or the gods). People believed that if you were on top that meant that God liked you and was blessing you. It became a self-fulfilling dynamic. If you were in the upper levels you exploited people beneath you because you thought you had every right to it, and those below you deserved it as an expression of God’s dislike of them.

This system believes there are limited resources. In some ways this was understandable. There was only so much good land. There was only so much space within the walled cities. There was only so much food, only so many fish in the Sea of Galilee. But there was also the belief that there was only so much love, That takes us to the next point. “The same system applies to the religious world. God’s love is a limited commodity. For example, God loves the Israelites but God doesn’t have enough love for the Gentiles too. Also, there is limited forgiveness. God can only stand so much. God can only forgive so much. Beyond that and you’re out of luck. And, God’s favor absolutely positively must must must be earned through good works and righteous living.

This economic model is a Satanic model. Think back to the testing of the Jesus by the devil in the wilderness. Remember when the devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth and says they can be his if he just kneels down and worships him? You can see the trading favors ideas and the client and elite model there.

This economy is the economy of the world, even the American economy. However there are indeed more opportunities in our economy to move us the ladder than there was then. Still though, there are perpetually the haves and the have nots. If you don’t have brains and looks you’re simply out of luck in our world.

Luke’s gospel is trying to subvert this economy.

The central conflict in Luke’s gospel is between this economy and the Divine Economy of Promised Compassion; which is the other side of the sheet.

On the other side we find God at the top. Below God is God’s chosen agents. Jesus is the greatest agent, but all Christians are also agents. And they are agents to bring God’s promised abundant love and mercy to humanity in need.

This economy is based on mercy, not merit. God’s love is unlimited. And surprisingly (although this one really stretches our sense of reality) there are unlimited goods. Think about the miraculous catch of fish and the Feeding of the 5000.

The Divine Economy of Promised Compassion really has no hierarchy at all. The arrows only indicate the flow of grace and mercy.

Now, don’t go trying to make judgments on whether one of these economies or the other is more ‘conservative’ or ‘liberal’. If you want to know where conservative and liberal thinking lie, then you need to put both of them on the side of Redistributive Economics of Exploitation.

Think of it this way, and this is how I encourage all followers of Christ to understand their lives. There is a major conflict going on throughout the world. It is a downright war between the Redistributive Economics of Exploitation and the Divine Economy of Promised Compassion. You live in hostile territory. And you are one of God’s chosen agents to bring his mercy and compassion to humanity in need. Does that make sense? Don’t even think about trying to put any sort of political philosophy or economic theory onto the Divine Economy of Promised Compassion. You just can’t. That’s human (and thus Satanic) thinking.

You are God’s chosen agents in a hostile land. Don’t ever consider America to be a Christian nation. It never has been. When America makes that hymn we sang a couple weeks ago to note the invasion of Ukraine, This Is My Song, the national anthem, then maybe, just maybe we could dare to call this a Christian nation. That hymn exemplified the Divine Economy of Promised Compassion. We may be a democracy that seeks freedom and justice for all. That is certainly commendable. I wouldn’t want it any other way. But that’s still not God’s economy of Promised Compassion.

Keep in mind that you are an agent of God’s grace in a hostile world and then hear these words from Jesus again:

27“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.29If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.

32“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.34If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

37“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven;



These words are not intended to make you into a saccharine sweet nice person that the world just runs over. This is an agent’s manifesto for traveling into hostile territory.

Of course life is hard! Our world operates by the Redistributive Economics of Exploitation. We, along with everyone else, is in competition for attention and comfort and fun. And if you pray to God for God to help you do better in the Redistributive Economy of Exploitation you really can’t expect God to give you what you’re asking for. That’s only a path to more stress.

What God will do is strengthen you as an agent in his economy.

Many people hear these words of Jesus in light of the Redistributive Economy of Exploitation:

38give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”



They think, “Hey, being a follower of Jesus is just a different path to success. I’ll follow God and then I will be blessed in abundance.” But that is flawed thinking. That’s the redistributive economy way of being.

Give and you will be running over with abundance only makes sense in terms of God’s divine economy of compassion. Be an agent of God in this hostile world and you will not have an abundance of possessions. But you will have an abundance of the value and purpose, wholeness and fulfillment, that God made you to have; when God made you in his own creative brilliance.

Remember the very first line of Luke’s gospel? He wrote it to you. It is the Bible looking you squarely in the eye and saying, “…after carefully investigating everything carefully from the very first, [I decided] to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Lover of God (Theophilus), so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.