Sermon 14th March 2010
Today's sermon is delivered by one of our Lay Readers, Trevor Tayleur, and is based on the reading from Luke 6: 17-36
Jesus' Hard Teaching
I’m going to start by asking four questions. So, here they are - the four questions:
1. Would you like to be rich?
2. Would you like to be well fed?
3. Would you like to have a happy life?
4. Would you like to be popular?
I suspect that if we answered the questions honestly, we would answer all of them “Yes”! Most of us would like to be rich, well fed, happy and popular. They seem to be fairly natural desires, don’t they? And that’s why this teaching from Jesus is so startling. He turns our ideas upside down.
Look at vs 24; “But woe to you who are rich.”
And vs 25, the first half; “Woe to you who are well fed now.”
And vs 25, the second half; “Woe to you who laugh now.”
And finally, vs 26; “Woe to you when all men speak well of you.”
What Jesus is saying is very hard hitting. If you are well off, well-fed, happy and popular, take care! Jesus is challenging the world view that all that counts is wealth, comfort and popularity. Jesus is challenging the view that all that counts is the material world; we need to look beyond earthly comfort to the eternal realities. So let’s have a closer look at what Jesus said, his four promises and his four warnings or woes.
In verses 20-26, we have four couplets, each couplet containing a promise matched by a warning. And by looking at each couplet, we can learn four important characteristics about what it means to be a Christian.
The first couplet is in verses 20 and 24:
20. “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”
Contrast that with:
24: “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.”
I think it’s important to note that Jesus did not say that poverty, or hunger, or sadness or persecution are good things. So what does “Blessed are you who are poor” mean?
In the parallel passage in Matthew the blessing on the poor reads, “Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor.” (Matthew 5:3). Accordingly some commentators suggest that that Jesus did not mean physical poverty as such, but poverty in spirit. Indeed poverty in spirit is something Christians should aim for. We need to recognise that the world with all its riches can never satisfy us. We need to acknowledge our complete and utter dependence on God.
So does that let those of us who are wealthy in earthly terms off the hook? I suspect not. There is a strong link in Jesus’ teaching to material wealth. Riches can be a hindrance to being part of the Kingdom of God. We can get so focussed on our money, on our wealth, on the comfort it brings, that we can neglect the bigger picture. There’s no use being economically rich, if we ignore the eternal. And the more you have, the easier it is to fall into that trap.
Let’s now move on to the second couplet, in verses 21 and the first part of 25.
21. “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.”
Contrast that with:
25. “Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.”
Again, in the parallel passage in Matthew’s Gospel, there is a slightly different blessing; “Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires,” or, as other versions of the Bible translate it, hunger and thirst after righteousness.” As with the previous couplet, there are some commentators who argue that Jesus was talking about spiritual hunger. And indeed spiritual hunger is also a vital part of being a Christian. A Christian is characterised by a hunger for more of Jesus, a hunger to be more like Jesus, a hunger to follow him more closely. It’s a hunger that is in stark contrast to what worldly people are hungry for. They think that the things of this world can satisfy one’s hunger – food, possession, sex, friends. If you can get the right things in the right packaging, then you can get total satisfaction here on earth.
But ‘No’, says the Christian. There are many good and wonderful things in the world, but no, the world can never fully satisfy us. A second characteristic of a Christian is a hunger for Jesus.
A third characteristic of a Christian is tears. Let’s look at the third couplet:
21 (2nd half): “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.”
Contrast with:
25 (2nd half): “Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.”
As we look around the world and see all the wars going on, the terrorist bombings, the child abuse and all the other signs of evil, we will mourn; we will weep when we see all the evil in this world and the pain and suffering it causes. Mourning the evil in this world is a third characteristic of a Christian, but only when combined with a realisation that we are also part of the problem. Evil isn’t just out there; it’s also in here. If we want a world free from evil, that would be a world without us too. Christians shed tears for the sin in the world, but also for the sin in ourselves.
And now on to the fourth couplet, and a fourth characteristic of being a Christian – rejection.
22: “Blessed are you when men hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.”
Contrast
26: “Woe to you when all men speak well of you...”
Again what Jesus is saying seems counter-cultural. Jesus is saying it’s better to be rejected than accepted. It’s not rejection for being an annoying pest or brat; it’s rejection because of the Son of Man, Jesus. For a Christian, it’s rejection because of a desire to be approved by Jesus rather than being approved by other people. Some of us may be able to testify to that in our own experience. Nevertheless, Britain remains a fairly easy place to be a Christian in. Yes, there are potentially worrying developments with militant atheism of the Richard Dawkins variety gaining increasing confidence, but Britain is still a relatively comfortable place for a Christian. However, in many parts of the world Christians are willing to die for their faith. Six Pakistani Christians working for World Vision were murdered last week. Some 500 Christians were massacred in Nigeria last weekend. And these are just two of many examples of what Christians in some parts of the world face.
Four characteristics of a Christian: poverty of spirit, hungering after Jesus, tears for the evil in the world and in ourselves, and rejection. Now I could stop there, but if I did, I think I would be in danger of over-spiritualising what Jesus said, particularly in the first two couplets. Yes, of course poverty of spirit and hunger for more of Jesus are key characteristics of being a Christian. Yet when Jesus said, “Happy are you poor,” and “Happy are you who are hungry now,” the plain meaning of the text indicates that he was also referring to people who were actually poor and people who were literally hungry.
Jesus’ coming heralded a new way of doing things. He was going to turn the world upside-down, and that meant good news for people who hadn’t had good news for a long time; the poor, the hungry, those who weep and those who are rejected. Jesus was going to reverse the values that put the rich at the top of the pile and the poor and hungry at the bottom. Jesus honoured those who had very little and suffered in this life, and he promised them a future reward; he promised them that their service would be recognised, perhaps not in this world, but in the next, in heaven.
Now, it’s very tempting to dismiss this as ‘pie-in-the-sky when you die’. Karl Marx called religion the opiate of the masses, because the rich and powerful used the promise of heaven and the threat of hell to keep the poor in line. Philip Yancey, in his book The Jesus I Never Knew, rebuts this train of thought. He points to songs written by American slaves which proclaim their future hope, songs with words like ‘Swing low sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me home’ and ‘When I get to heaven, goin’ to put on my robe, goin’ to shout all over God’s heaven’.
If the slave masters had written these words for the slaves to sing, it would have been an obscenity. But these words came from the mouths of the slaves themselves, people who had no hope in this world, but a sure and certain hope in the world to come. So how did it help them – to believe in future rewards? It confirmed to them that God hated the evils of slavery, the back-breaking labour and the cruel punishments that slaves had to face. It confirmed to them that God is a God of justice, that one day the proud and arrogant will be cast down, and the humble raised up and the hungry filled with good things. It confirmed to them that no matter how bleak things may look, there is no future in evil, only in good.
These words of Philip Yancey reminded me of an occasion when Gill and I visited a small church in the township of Edendale in South Africa, near Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal. It was 1987, the state of emergency was at its height; the police and army ruthlessly suppressed black protests against apartheid, and there was also a lot of violence going on between the ANC and Inkatha, a Zulu political party that was secretly backed by the SA government. Humanly speaking there was little hope for the worshippers at that church; no one could have foreseen that three years later Nelson Mandela was going to be released and that things were going to change. Those were very dark days in South Africa. And at the end of the service, the small congregation sang,
“Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We're going to see the King.
No more crying there, we are going to see the King
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We're going to see the King.
No more dying there, we are going to see the King
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We're going to see the King.”
It was a very moving experience. Gill and I were able to drive away from the township and fly back to England, but the worshippers in Edendale remained trapped in the pain, poverty, suffering and violence of apartheid South Africa. But the worshippers that Sunday in Edendale had an unbelievable joy; they knew that Jesus offers a promise of wholeness and peace that this world can never offer. They knew, despite their agony, that Jesus promised them a time of reward.
For those of us who live in peace and comfort, the promise of a future reward doesn’t have quite the same attraction. The church in Edendale knew poverty, they knew hunger, they knew tears and rejection – and yet they rejoiced. But if I’m honest the focus for me is not on these four things, but on the comfortable life, the prosperous life. I’m so absorbed in this life, that I forget the eternal life.
Let’s not be content with a rich, comfortable life. Let’s not be content with a worldly, satisfied life. Instead, let’s look beyond the things of this world, and look to the eternal values of Jesus.
Let’s pray:
Forgive us when we focus too much on the things of this life;
Forgive us when we become so addicted to them that they become more important than you.
Lord Jesus, we acknowledge that you are at the very centre of everything.
Please help us to keep you at the centre of our lives.
Amen.
Jesus' Hard Teaching
I’m going to start by asking four questions. So, here they are - the four questions:
1. Would you like to be rich?
2. Would you like to be well fed?
3. Would you like to have a happy life?
4. Would you like to be popular?
I suspect that if we answered the questions honestly, we would answer all of them “Yes”! Most of us would like to be rich, well fed, happy and popular. They seem to be fairly natural desires, don’t they? And that’s why this teaching from Jesus is so startling. He turns our ideas upside down.
Look at vs 24; “But woe to you who are rich.”
And vs 25, the first half; “Woe to you who are well fed now.”
And vs 25, the second half; “Woe to you who laugh now.”
And finally, vs 26; “Woe to you when all men speak well of you.”
What Jesus is saying is very hard hitting. If you are well off, well-fed, happy and popular, take care! Jesus is challenging the world view that all that counts is wealth, comfort and popularity. Jesus is challenging the view that all that counts is the material world; we need to look beyond earthly comfort to the eternal realities. So let’s have a closer look at what Jesus said, his four promises and his four warnings or woes.
In verses 20-26, we have four couplets, each couplet containing a promise matched by a warning. And by looking at each couplet, we can learn four important characteristics about what it means to be a Christian.
The first couplet is in verses 20 and 24:
20. “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”
Contrast that with:
24: “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.”
I think it’s important to note that Jesus did not say that poverty, or hunger, or sadness or persecution are good things. So what does “Blessed are you who are poor” mean?
In the parallel passage in Matthew the blessing on the poor reads, “Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor.” (Matthew 5:3). Accordingly some commentators suggest that that Jesus did not mean physical poverty as such, but poverty in spirit. Indeed poverty in spirit is something Christians should aim for. We need to recognise that the world with all its riches can never satisfy us. We need to acknowledge our complete and utter dependence on God.
So does that let those of us who are wealthy in earthly terms off the hook? I suspect not. There is a strong link in Jesus’ teaching to material wealth. Riches can be a hindrance to being part of the Kingdom of God. We can get so focussed on our money, on our wealth, on the comfort it brings, that we can neglect the bigger picture. There’s no use being economically rich, if we ignore the eternal. And the more you have, the easier it is to fall into that trap.
Let’s now move on to the second couplet, in verses 21 and the first part of 25.
21. “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.”
Contrast that with:
25. “Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.”
Again, in the parallel passage in Matthew’s Gospel, there is a slightly different blessing; “Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires,” or, as other versions of the Bible translate it, hunger and thirst after righteousness.” As with the previous couplet, there are some commentators who argue that Jesus was talking about spiritual hunger. And indeed spiritual hunger is also a vital part of being a Christian. A Christian is characterised by a hunger for more of Jesus, a hunger to be more like Jesus, a hunger to follow him more closely. It’s a hunger that is in stark contrast to what worldly people are hungry for. They think that the things of this world can satisfy one’s hunger – food, possession, sex, friends. If you can get the right things in the right packaging, then you can get total satisfaction here on earth.
But ‘No’, says the Christian. There are many good and wonderful things in the world, but no, the world can never fully satisfy us. A second characteristic of a Christian is a hunger for Jesus.
A third characteristic of a Christian is tears. Let’s look at the third couplet:
21 (2nd half): “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.”
Contrast with:
25 (2nd half): “Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.”
As we look around the world and see all the wars going on, the terrorist bombings, the child abuse and all the other signs of evil, we will mourn; we will weep when we see all the evil in this world and the pain and suffering it causes. Mourning the evil in this world is a third characteristic of a Christian, but only when combined with a realisation that we are also part of the problem. Evil isn’t just out there; it’s also in here. If we want a world free from evil, that would be a world without us too. Christians shed tears for the sin in the world, but also for the sin in ourselves.
And now on to the fourth couplet, and a fourth characteristic of being a Christian – rejection.
22: “Blessed are you when men hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.”
Contrast
26: “Woe to you when all men speak well of you...”
Again what Jesus is saying seems counter-cultural. Jesus is saying it’s better to be rejected than accepted. It’s not rejection for being an annoying pest or brat; it’s rejection because of the Son of Man, Jesus. For a Christian, it’s rejection because of a desire to be approved by Jesus rather than being approved by other people. Some of us may be able to testify to that in our own experience. Nevertheless, Britain remains a fairly easy place to be a Christian in. Yes, there are potentially worrying developments with militant atheism of the Richard Dawkins variety gaining increasing confidence, but Britain is still a relatively comfortable place for a Christian. However, in many parts of the world Christians are willing to die for their faith. Six Pakistani Christians working for World Vision were murdered last week. Some 500 Christians were massacred in Nigeria last weekend. And these are just two of many examples of what Christians in some parts of the world face.
Four characteristics of a Christian: poverty of spirit, hungering after Jesus, tears for the evil in the world and in ourselves, and rejection. Now I could stop there, but if I did, I think I would be in danger of over-spiritualising what Jesus said, particularly in the first two couplets. Yes, of course poverty of spirit and hunger for more of Jesus are key characteristics of being a Christian. Yet when Jesus said, “Happy are you poor,” and “Happy are you who are hungry now,” the plain meaning of the text indicates that he was also referring to people who were actually poor and people who were literally hungry.
Jesus’ coming heralded a new way of doing things. He was going to turn the world upside-down, and that meant good news for people who hadn’t had good news for a long time; the poor, the hungry, those who weep and those who are rejected. Jesus was going to reverse the values that put the rich at the top of the pile and the poor and hungry at the bottom. Jesus honoured those who had very little and suffered in this life, and he promised them a future reward; he promised them that their service would be recognised, perhaps not in this world, but in the next, in heaven.
Now, it’s very tempting to dismiss this as ‘pie-in-the-sky when you die’. Karl Marx called religion the opiate of the masses, because the rich and powerful used the promise of heaven and the threat of hell to keep the poor in line. Philip Yancey, in his book The Jesus I Never Knew, rebuts this train of thought. He points to songs written by American slaves which proclaim their future hope, songs with words like ‘Swing low sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me home’ and ‘When I get to heaven, goin’ to put on my robe, goin’ to shout all over God’s heaven’.
If the slave masters had written these words for the slaves to sing, it would have been an obscenity. But these words came from the mouths of the slaves themselves, people who had no hope in this world, but a sure and certain hope in the world to come. So how did it help them – to believe in future rewards? It confirmed to them that God hated the evils of slavery, the back-breaking labour and the cruel punishments that slaves had to face. It confirmed to them that God is a God of justice, that one day the proud and arrogant will be cast down, and the humble raised up and the hungry filled with good things. It confirmed to them that no matter how bleak things may look, there is no future in evil, only in good.
These words of Philip Yancey reminded me of an occasion when Gill and I visited a small church in the township of Edendale in South Africa, near Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal. It was 1987, the state of emergency was at its height; the police and army ruthlessly suppressed black protests against apartheid, and there was also a lot of violence going on between the ANC and Inkatha, a Zulu political party that was secretly backed by the SA government. Humanly speaking there was little hope for the worshippers at that church; no one could have foreseen that three years later Nelson Mandela was going to be released and that things were going to change. Those were very dark days in South Africa. And at the end of the service, the small congregation sang,
“Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We're going to see the King.
No more crying there, we are going to see the King
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We're going to see the King.
No more dying there, we are going to see the King
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We're going to see the King.”
It was a very moving experience. Gill and I were able to drive away from the township and fly back to England, but the worshippers in Edendale remained trapped in the pain, poverty, suffering and violence of apartheid South Africa. But the worshippers that Sunday in Edendale had an unbelievable joy; they knew that Jesus offers a promise of wholeness and peace that this world can never offer. They knew, despite their agony, that Jesus promised them a time of reward.
For those of us who live in peace and comfort, the promise of a future reward doesn’t have quite the same attraction. The church in Edendale knew poverty, they knew hunger, they knew tears and rejection – and yet they rejoiced. But if I’m honest the focus for me is not on these four things, but on the comfortable life, the prosperous life. I’m so absorbed in this life, that I forget the eternal life.
Let’s not be content with a rich, comfortable life. Let’s not be content with a worldly, satisfied life. Instead, let’s look beyond the things of this world, and look to the eternal values of Jesus.
Let’s pray:
Forgive us when we focus too much on the things of this life;
Forgive us when we become so addicted to them that they become more important than you.
Lord Jesus, we acknowledge that you are at the very centre of everything.
Please help us to keep you at the centre of our lives.
Amen.
posted by Parish Administrator at 1:00 pm
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