“I’m blessed!”
Luke 6:17–26 17He went down with them and stood on a level place with a large crowd of his disciples, and a large number of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, as well as from the coastal area of Tyre and Sidon. These people came to listen to him and to be healed of their diseases. 18Those who were troubled by unclean spirits were also cured. 19The whole crowd kept trying to touch him, because power was going out from him and healing them all.
20He lifted up his eyes to his disciples and said: Blessed are you who are poor, because yours is the kingdom of God. 21Blessed are you who hunger now, because you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, because you will laugh. 22Blessed are you whenever people hate you, and whenever they exclude and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man.
23“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy because of this: Your reward is great in heaven! The fact is, their fathers constantly did the same things to the prophets. 24But woe to you who are rich, because you are receiving your comfort now. 25Woe to you who are well fed now, because you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, because you will be mourning and weeping. 26Woe to you when all people speak well of you, because that is how their fathers constantly treated the false prophets.
“Blessed is anyone who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him” (Jeremiah 18:7). Amen.
When someone asks, “How are you?” You will usually reply, “Fine” or “Good.” If you ask me how I’m doing, I’ll reply, “Fantastic!” You might answer, “Better than I deserve.” Or, “I’m living the dream!” When Pastor Klusmeyer or I visit our shut-in members, and we ask, “How are you?”, we’ll often hear, “Let me tell you, Pastor …”. Then there will be a long litany of life’s ailments.
What if you aren’t fantastic or fine? What if you feel like God is pounding on you because of what you deserve? What if your life seems more like a nightmare than a dream? What if your life is filled with a litany of ailments?
Jesus ministers to us when we are fine and fantastic. He also ministers to us when we are unhealthy and unpleasant. He blesses us when we are poor, hungry, weeping, and persecuted. Jesus blesses us in all those situations.
After calling his twelve disciples (Luke 6:13-16), Jesus begins their intensive Seminary training. He first introduces them to the mass of mankind in need of their ministry. Jesus is quickly surrounded by a horde of humanity who have traveled from the south from Judea and from the west along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. They want to hear Jesus teach God’s Word.
These are not people who are fantastic or living the dream. Many of them are not even fine. They are diseased, crippled, and demon-possessed. They have a litany of ailments. To all these people – in their health or sickness, their wealth or poverty, their dreams or nightmares – Jesus teaches that they are blessed.
In our Gospel, Jesus preaches on four statements of blessing or Beatitudes. Jesus had preached on the Beatitudes before with his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-12). This sermon on the Beatitudes could be called his Sermon on a Medium-Sized Hill. Luke’s version of the Beatitudes groups them in four pairs. Each pair tells the disciples that the good they seek will be found in the place they’d least expect. The worth we crave is found in what we lack, not in what we have. The satisfaction we crave is found where our lives seem empty, not where they seem full. The joy we crave is found in tears, not laughter. The approval we crave is found in criticism, not praise.
Jesus teaches, “Blessed are you who are poor, because yours is the kingdom of God. … But woe to you who are rich, because you are receiving your comfort now. Blessed are you who hunger now, because you will be satisfied. … Woe to you who are well fed now, because you will be hungry.” Jesus teaches that we are blessed when we are so poor that we must beg.
“We are all beggars, this is true.” Martin Luther had written those words in preparation for his death. In those days, it was common to spend a great deal of effort planning one’s burial and carefully choosing one’s last words. The story goes that Luther had written these words on a piece of paper on a nightstand next to his bed. We are all beggars, this is true.
Jesus is not saying that being wealthy is a sin. Because even if we are struggling financially, as Americans, we are wealthier than most of this world’s population. Jesus is warning about taking comfort in our wealth. He’s warning about making our bellies into our gods.
Most of us would say that we aren’t necessarily wealthy, but we’re not real poor, either. We’re not hungry, but we can’t afford the high prices of the healthiest foods. We struggle financially. Financial struggles that make us poor and hungry are not fun. Inflation on things like housing, clothing, groceries, and especially eggs is difficult. It’s hard to make ends meet. Financial struggles create long hours at work, stress at home, and hungry bellies at night. As Christians, though, we know we are still blessed. Even when we may have little, God is still blessing us with daily bread (Luke 11:3). That’s why we learn to pray, “The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing” (Psalm 145:15-16).
As beggars, beg for Jesus’ mercy, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Starve your sinful nature. Don’t give in to its cravings. Don’t worship the god of your belly, or your mind, or anything that satisfies yourself. Beg God for food and forgiveness, riches and righteousness. Be fed with the Bread of Life. Be refreshed with the Water of Life. Be like a tree planted beside streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and its leaves do not wither (Psalm 1:3). When you are rich in Christ’s forgiveness, fed with God’s Word, and kept alive by the Water of Life, then you bear fruits of faith. Then you are truly blessed.
Jesus teaches, “Blessed are you who weep now, because you will laugh. … Woe to you who laugh now, because you will be mourning and weeping.” Weeping at the death of a loved one is never pleasant. Death has ripped another family member or friend out of your life. There is a gaping hole in your heart. Yet, because your loved one was a Christian, you are blessed. Your mourning is turned to laughter. I’ve attended lots of funerals. I’ve only known Christians as the ones who can smile and laugh at their loved one’s funeral. That’s because Christians know we will see our sainted loved one in heaven again. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of one of his saints” (Psalm 116:15).
But cursed are those who laugh only for this lifetime. They have no use for Christ and his eternal kingdom. They are living only for this world and not for the world to come. There is no smiling or laughter at their funeral. That’s because their family knows where the dead are now. They are in a place where there will be eternal mourning and weeping.
We also receive blessing when we are suffering for Jesus’ sake. Jesus must have raised a few eyebrows when he said that we are blessed by being hated, excluded, insulted, and rejected because of our connection to him. He teaches, “Blessed are you whenever people hate you, and whenever they exclude and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man. … Woe to you when all people speak well of you, because that is how their fathers constantly treated the false prophets.”
This week a so-called “pastor” in Toronto, Canada, preached a sermon where he said that calling Jesus “Savior” is offensive to people of other faiths and the title should be removed from the church. He explained himself, “Many, before they come to our church, will check out the website to see what this church is about: to see what they believe. And many of the folks that did that will tell me, out in the community, ‘Brent, I looked up your church, and it sounded reasonable, but when I got to that word “Savior”, it was a problem.’” Brent’s solution to people being offended by the fact that Jesus Christ is the Savior is to tell them that Jesus is not the Savior.
He goes on, “And for me, ‘savior’ means the person, persons, or situations that help me to heal my relationship with god.” Brent’s solution is to chide Christian believers for believing Christian things: “I would hope that someday, this church would see the possibility of changing that word because it is a stumbling block to so many.”
Brent is the kind of “pastor” this world wants. They will speak well of him because he’s so open-minded. He’s so carefree with Jesus’ teachings. He’s saying that Jesus as Savior is offensive and there are many ways to be saved.
Except … Jesus’ name literally means, “God saves!” The angel told Joseph, “[Mary] will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Salvation is the point!
The stumbling block reference is even more on the nose. St. Paul literally calls Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection for our salvation a stumbling block for those who will be offended by that claim. “But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:23). Jesus explicitly says that people will be offended by him, and that he came to offend. “Blessed is the one who does not take offense at me” (Matthew 11:6).
People are going to persecute, exclude, and pummel us for no other reason than our connection to Jesus our Savior. Jesus says we are in good company when we are persecuted for our faith. We are suffering like Isaiah and Jeremiah, Moses and Daniel. We are enduring pain like Paul, Peter, and Stephen. We are abused and shamed just as Christ was abused and shamed. We are enduring it all for him. We endure this suffering because he endured it first for us. When we suffer for Jesus’ sake, we really aren’t doing anything all that extraordinary. Jesus endured mockery and shame, betrayal and beatings, he endured the cross and separation from his heavenly Father. He endured all that for us. When we suffer for Jesus’ sake, we are really saying, “Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for what you went through for me. Please let me show you my gratitude by standing up for you.” St. Peter, who knew quite a bit about suffering, wrote his epistles to Christians who were suffering great persecution. He reminded them, “If you are insulted in connection with the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you” (1 Peter 4:14).
It may sound strange, but there really is a joyous and satisfying feeling that comes from suffering in the name of Jesus. That is God’s kind of blessing.
It sounds counter-intuitive that we are blessed when we are poor, hungry, weeping and hated. It sounds even more crazy when Jesus adds, “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy because of this: Your reward is great in heaven” (Luke 6:23)!
In our world, the rich, powerful, and happy are blessed. Jesus turns our world upside down so we may be saved. He blesses the poor with the riches of his grace. He blesses the hungry with the good things in his house. He blesses the weeping with resurrection hope. He even blesses those
who are hated, insulted, and persecuted, because these things are happening to them because they are connected to Christ.
When you are asked how you are, better than saying “I’m doing all right” or “I’m having a tough day”, why not answer, “I’m blessed”?
Whether you are the sick and crippled in the crowd or those who are touched and healed by Jesus, you are blessed. You are blessed in all things by the Creator who created and preserves you, blessed in all things by the Redeemer who bled and died to save you, and blessed in all things by the Sanctifier who brought you and keeps you in the one true faith.
Your reward is great in heaven. Now you can say, “I’m blessed.” Amen.
“[The blessed one] will be like a tree planted by water. … It does not stop producing fruit” (Jeremiah 18:8). Amen.