Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany (Year C)
17Jesus came down from the mountain with some of the disciples and stood on a large area of level ground. A great company of his disciples and a huge crowd of people from all around Judea and Jerusalem and the area around Tyre and Sidon joined him there. 18They came to hear him teach and to be healed from their diseases, and those bothered by unclean spirits were healed. 19The whole crowd wanted to touch him, because power was going out from him and he was healing everyone.
20Jesus raised his eyes to his disciples and said:
“Happy are you who are poor, because God’s kingdom is yours. 21Happy are you who hunger now, because you will be satisfied. Happy are you who weep now, because you will laugh.
22Happy are you when people hate you, reject you, insult you, and condemn your name as evil because of me, the Human One. 23Rejoice when that happens! Leap for joy because you have a great reward in heaven. Their ancestors did the same things to the prophets.
24But how terrible for you who are rich, because you have already received your comfort. 25How terrible for you who have plenty now, because you will be hungry. How terrible for you who laugh now, because you will mourn and weep. 26How terrible for you when all speak well of you. Their ancestors did the same things to the false prophets.
Collect:
O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus the Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
In our last few posts, we’ve seen Jesus’ emphasis on the immediacy of God’s fulfillment of promises made long ago. Earlier in Luke, after reading Isaiah 61.1-2, he said, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it” (Luke 4.21; emphasis added). And in another Gospel, Jesus said, “Now is the time. Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news” (Mark 1.15; emphasis added). In our Gospel Lesson today, this sense of now, this “now-ness,” continues.
After meeting with some of his disciples on the mountain, Jesus called out twelve of them to be his “apostles” (Luke 6.12-16).[2] Although this passage isn’t in our Lesson, it’s of vital importance to what follows so let’s spend just a little bit of time here.
Mountains have a special significance in Jewish tradition. It was on a mountain that Abraham set out to sacrifice Isaac but God stopped him (Genesis 22). Abraham named the mountain, “Yahweh sees” (verse 14).[3] And it was on “God’s mountain called Horeb” where God spoke with Moses through the burning bush (Exodus 3.1).
Of course, the most famous mountain in Jewish tradition was Mount Sinai, the place where “Yahweh came down” and met with Moses (Exodus 19ff). It was on Mount Sinai where God gave Moses the Law — “Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain and wait there. I’ll give you the stone tablets with the instructions and the commandments that I’ve written in order to teach them’” (Exodus 24.12; see 32.15-16).
And then, here’s Jesus going up a mountain with his disciples. He then separates twelve of them to be his representative, to be him wherever they go. Now, for us, this may not seem that important. But to Jews in the first century? It would have made a huge impact. Possibly not at first but add it to what comes later and they would have certainly put the two together.
After Jesus chooses the twelve out of the disciples with him on the mountain, they all descend to the crowds below. Jesus then begins his “Sermon on the Plain.” As we’re aware, the most famous passage about this story is Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5-7). Some scholars think these are two different events while others hold it to be the same event.[4]
What’s important, though, is the imagery. In both passages (Matthew and Luke), Jesus is seen as the “New Moses.” Jesus is “on the mountain” (the mountain of God) and separates “twelve” to be his representative (the renewed twelve tribes of Israel). He then descends and delivers the “law” (the new law of God’s new covenant) of how someone is expected to live in God’s Realm.[5] Notice the similarity with this passage and that of Deuteronomy 28; both are part “blessing” (Luke 6.20-23; cf. Deuteronomy 28.1-14) and part “curse” (Luke 6.24-26; cf. Deuteronomy 28.15-44).[6] So let’s take a look at this “new law,” at these “new” expectations.
Notice the immediacy of verses 20-21 — “Happy are you … now.” Not later. Not when we die. Not when we “get to heaven.” Now. Jesus said people who are in God’s Realm are “happy” (“blessed”) now. This “now-ness” goes back to something I’ve written about before. The reality of God’s Realm being a current reality does not depend on us. The reality of God’s Realm coming into this worlds’ realm was dependant on Jesus. His mission was to usher in God’s Realm, “Time’s up! God’s kingdom is here. Change your life and believe the Message” (Mark 1.15; MSG; emphasis added).[7] Saint Paul stated that if the powers that be had known God’s Realm would be established through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, “they would never have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2.8). Jesus’ resurrection took place on the “first day” of New Creation which is another way of saying God’s Realm (John 20).
So what does the “now-ness” mean? It means that people don’t have to wait until some supposed “sweet by and by,” they can start living the Life of the Ages right now![8] People can rejoice because God, through Jesus, is dispensing justice now. Those people who are poor, the people who are hungry, the ones who weep, the people who are hated: God’s blessings to them! God, through Jesus, is putting the world right-side up! Whenever we see this “right-side up” taking place, that’s where God’s Realm is even if it doesn’t look like we think it should. When the hungry are being fed, there’s God’s Realm. When the poor are being relieved, God’s Realm is at work. When comfort comes to those who mourn, God’s Realm is there. When people, who were once hated, are now loved, that’s the Realm of God in action.
But what about the other side of the coin? What about the “curse”? What happens to people who fight against this change, this right-side-up-ness? It will be terrible for them. They’ll be on the wrong side of history. Of course, they, too, can be part of God’s Realm now but it means a lot of change on their part. It means putting away all the things they have used to pushed down other people. It means turning over a new leaf. It means a change in their thinking and being.
When we look at our world today, where do we see God’s Realm? I see it all over. I see it when people kneel during the National Anthem, focusing our attention on racial injustice and through their non-violent protest they’re demanding equality. I see it when a man of Muslim faith opens a restaurant to feed the homeless. I see God’s Realm manifested when a white supremacist washes the feet of a black man. I see God’s Realm when a woman offers “Mom Hugs” to people in the LGBTQ community. I see it in the face of a child giving her food to a hungry man. I see God’s Realm in the women who wore white suits in Congress. And I see God’s Realm confronting powerful men who are desperately fighting to keep their status quo.
Through every kind act, every act of self-sacrificial love, God’s Realm is ever expanding, ever changing the cosmos. This reminds me of a speech Mahatma Gandhi gave at Kingsley Hall in 1931:[9]
There is an indefinable mysterious power that pervades everything, I feel it though I do not see it. It is this unseen power which makes itself felt and yet defies all proof, because it is so unlike all that I perceive through my senses. It transcends the senses. … I do dimly perceive that whilst everything around me is ever changing, ever dying there is underlying all that change a living power that is changeless, that holds all together, that creates, dissolves and recreates. That informing power of spirit is God.
God’s Realm is a present reality. It began with Jesus and it’s continue to grow through the actions of God’s people. What steps are we taking to further its growth?
~~~
In the Love of the Three in One,
Br. Jack+, LC
~~~
[1] Scripture quotations marked (CEB) are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.
[2] Greek: ἀπόστολος (apostolos). The term means, “one sent as a messenger, or agent, the bearer of a commission, messenger.” This is different from “disciple.” The Greek word for “disciple” is μαθητής (mathētēs) and simply means, “a committed learner and follower; a student.” It seems that one can be a disciple without being an apostle, but one can’t be an apostle without first being a disciple.
[3] I prefer the Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures known as the Septuagint (sometimes seen as LXX). In Greek, the name is κύριος είδεν, the “lord saw.” The Orthodox Study Bible, however, translates that to “The-Lord-Has-Appeared” (the Orthodox Church uses the Septuagint for their Old Testament since that was the version Jesus, the apostles, and the early church used). This is a little different from what we’re used to. We usually read “The Lord Provides (or sees),” which, depending on the translation one uses, can be Jehovah-Jireh or YHWH-jireh or Yahweh Yireh or Adonai Yir’eh!
[4] Ehrman 2004, p. 101.
[5] This isn’t a case of what someone must do to get into God’s Realm. No; like the law given to ancient Israel, this “law” is given to people who are already in the family. It’s an outline of what’s expected of the people who are currently living in God’s Realm.
[6] Greek: μακάριος (makarios) — happy, blessed, as a noun it can depict someone who receives divine favor (MOUNCE).
[7] Scripture quotations marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
[8] “Life of the Ages” is, in my estimation, a better way of expressing the Greek phrase αἰώνιος ζωή (aiōnios zōē).
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