Blessings and Woes

Ferenczy, Károly, 1862-1917. Sermon on the Mount, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN; click on image to link. An engaging reflection on this artwork may be found here: https://laurieetta.com/sermon-on-the-level-place/

Jeremiah 17:5-10, Gospel of Luke 6:17-26

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God –Luke 6:20

The sixth chapter of Luke’s gospel records Jesus preaching a sermon we know as “The Sermon on the Plain.” It shares some similarities with Matthew’s account of “The Sermon the Mount.”  Scholars believe that the two sermons are based on the same source material. 

If you’ve ever visited the proposed site in Galilee, it’s easy to imagine how Matthew’s account and Luke’s account may record two different remembrances of the same sermon.  Matthew remembers Jesus sitting down somewhere on the hillside.  Luke, perhaps wishing to emphasize that Jesus has descended a larger mountain on which he has been in prayer, tells us that Jesus returns to “a level place” to resume his ministry.

“Blessed are you who are poor,” he begins. “Blessed are you who are hungry.” “Blessed are you who weep.”  Jesus’s message is crafted for his listeners in Galilee. The region was home to a large population of poor farmers and laborers, who often faced food shortages due to reliance on unpredictable harvest.  They struggled under Roman rule, heavily taxed, with a significant gap between the wealthy elite and those living with barely enough to survive. Yes, poverty, hunger, and weeping were real. Jesus chooses to focus his preaching on blessing the poor and proclaiming the coming of God’s Kingdom of God as a source of hope.

If you look closely at the two versions of this message, the one in Matthew and the one in Luke, then you might wonder whether they really are the same sermon. Matthew’s version starts off with a general statement that seems to praise the virtue of humility: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” It contains nine blessing statements, and no woes. When we teach the blessings or “beatitudes” in Sunday school classes for children, we tend to focus on Matthew’s version. We’re less certain what to do with Luke’s version, “Blessed are you who are poor,” because most of us are not resource poor. It’s more difficult to discuss because it so clearly has to do with real-world wealth and poverty, and when you start talking about those things, it’s nearly impossible to avoid politics.

During my graduate-school theological education, I was introduced to something called “liberation theology.” That was a long time ago, and I haven’t kept up with all the developments. But, in general, those who write and champion “liberation theology” are not afraid to take Jesus at his word when he says things like “Blessed are the poor,” and “Woe to you who are rich.”  

Gustavo Gutierrez, who died this past autumn, often is referred to as the father of Liberation Theology. Commenting on the tension felt in Jesus’ contrast between the poor and the rich, he wrote, “God has a preferential love for the poor not because they are necessarily better than others, morally or religiously, but simply because they are poor and living in an inhuman condition that is contrary to God’s will.” Former McCormick Seminary President Cynthia Campbell, commenting on this interpretive direction, once said, “When the Church follows the path of justice for the poor, it places itself on the side of the poor, and under the blessing of Christ.”[1]

We who are relatively affluent may feel, at some level, threatened when Jesus identifies so closely with the poor. Mentally, we shift to the Matthean version, saying, “Jesus really means ‘blessed are the poor in spirit’.” But before we too quickly spit out something that tastes bitter, recognize that Jesus doesn’t say that God blesses only the poor. If we back away from this single sermon in a particular context, and look at scripture as a whole, we see many instances in which God used people with many resources to help those who with few resources. These people embody what Campbell meant when she said, “When the Church follows the path of justice for the poor, it places itself … under the blessing of Christ.”

Placing the Church on the side of the poor brings difficult, unglamorous work.  You may be thinking how you especially dislike it because sometimes it seems that the cycle of poverty is reinforced by the poor choices of those in poverty. I feel that too.  Through the years, I’ve shared with you some war stories: The way Therese and I, in another city, befriended an impoverished family, and the cycle in which as soon as one problem was addressed, there was one more begging for a solution; my time on the board of a nonprofit homeless shelter, again in another city, in which the tenure for our social workers seemed short, which they attributed to burnout.

If you’ve volunteered in such settings, then you know it takes compassion to place yourself in service to the poor.  It takes courage to face the feelings of depression about what you see, and go on caring. It takes faith to believe that through your work, God will make a positive difference.

Today, perhaps nowhere is the debate about addressing poverty more impassioned than in conversations about the federal government’s budget and personnel cuts. Even Wheaton College, long a bastion of Evangelical-Conservative Christianity, has been caught up in the controversy.[2] Recently, the school congratulated alumnus Russell Vought via social media on being confirmed to serve as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Vought, as you may know, is considered the chief architect of Project 2025.  Within hours, hundreds of Wheaton College alumni expressed their displeasure, saying Vought’s agenda contradicts the values they had been taught at Wheaton. Sudden, drastic cuts in aid to the poor, apparently co-lead by the world’s richest man, are among the actions that Wheaton alumni find contradictory to the spirit of Jesus’ teaching.

As this debate rages on, there may be opportunities for the Church.  Some Christians prefer a large government with a large budget that directs tax dollars to serve the poor. Other Christians prefer a lean government with less tax burden, with a complementary belief that service to the poor is accomplished better through the Church and other nonprofits.  It seems to me that we all can agree that under the new administration, there will be many people with greater needs than ever before. We can all agree that opportunities for the Church to give and serve are going to grow.

I noticed something that Franklin Graham said, quoted in a New York Times article published on Friday. I read how Samaritan’s Purse, the disaster-relief organization he runs, receives only about 5% of its revenue from government contributions, in contrast to World Vision at 44%, and Lutheran Global Refuge at 97%. Of the U.S.A.I.D cuts, Graham said, “I’m not saying it all needs to be thrown out, but it needs to be reviewed.” He recommends that Christian groups “look to the churches, not the government” for funding.[3]

Whether you approve or disapprove what is going on in Washington D.C., at this moment, that seems to be good practical advice. The Fiscal Management Team has had conversations about making use of funds held in reserve for mission-related purposes. The Mission Outreach Committee regularly has such conversations. The time is ripe for congregations and denominations to be more intentionally engaged in mission support.

Like many of us these days, Jesus in his day paused to observe what was happening in his homeland.  He knew that a relatively small number of ultra-wealthy individuals were in Jerusalem enjoying all the privileges their positions provided.  But far away from the capital, Jesus saw the endless need. He thought about the reversal of fortune that would take place in his coming kingdom. And then he spoke words that gave hope, and give hope still:

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.

NOTES

[1] Cynthia Campbell, “Blessed,” a sermon delivered at Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, Illinois, 15 February 2004.

[2] https://ministrywatch.com/wheaton-college-caught-in-dustup-over-alumnus-russell-vought/

[3] Elizabeth Dias, “In Trump’s Cuts to Aid and Refugees, a Clash Over Christian Values,” New York Times. 15 Feb. 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/15/us/trump-usaid-christian-aid.html?, accessed 16 Feb. 2025.

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