Luke 6:20-26 (NIV) 20Looking at his disciples, he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22Blessed 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. 23"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets. 24"But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. 25Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. 26Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.
What do you want from Jesus? What does Jesus want for you? We may believe that when life goes well we are being blessed, favored by God. When we are miraculously healed of disease, when we suddenly are offered a great job, when that other person finally changes, then we are blessed, really, really blessed.
Or are we? Is there another way to be blessed that is more permanent, lasting and helpful? Blessed are you for yours is the kingdom of God, where there is satisfaction and laughter and joy, even while stuck in misery. Your blessedness does not depend on getting healed, finding a new job, finally seeing that other person change. Your blessedness depends on God and on discovering the kingdom and rule of God.
Many of us have had a dream about the way life is supposed to turn out. And if life does not turn out that way we are disappointed, sometimes crushed, frustrated, stuck with what life has handed us. What if we could be freed of that dream? What if we could know down to our toes that God is in charge, and that God has a plan and dream that is being worked out in all that is happening?
Most of us know that wealth can make people callous, can encase them in a hard shell of self-sufficiency, can cut them off from a sense of needing God and from any spirit of being grateful to God. We know that wealth can do that to them. It is more difficult to see what wealth does to our own soul. God seeks to destroy that hard shell of self-sufficiency and deliver us from the cozy comfort of a deadened soul. The process may be painful, but that pain may be the one thing that keeps us in touch with our need and our desire for God. For the Christ who broke the bonds of death is seeking to break the encasement of our soul.
What do you want from Jesus? Were you able to answer that question? Then you are probably among the poor. You are blessed, favored by God. The kingdom is coming to you, an awareness of God’s rule and the release from whatever you are stuck with. If you could not answer that question, would you consider why not? Is there a hard shell of self-sufficiency? Or is there simply no need? What do you want from Jesus? What does Jesus want for you?
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope February 15, 1998
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
No comments:
Post a Comment