Luke 6:20-26 (NIV) 20 Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 Blessed are you when people 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 ancestors treated the prophets. 24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. 25 Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. 26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
Blessed are you, how fortunate you are, what a good life you will have when you are poor, hungry, crying your eyes out, and everyone is criticizing you. Do you believe that? Does it even make any sense to you? Some of us talk about the “good old days” when we were poor and struggling and how good life was. We say that, but very few of us want to go back there. Poverty is a much better memory than it is a reality.
Blessed are the poor … and woe to those who have basically everything they need. How unfortunate it is for them. Blessed are the poor who are living in conditions that are contrary to God’s will. For God will deliver them from those conditions and from that mind set. Woe to those who are rich who are betting their time and energy that money will make them blessed. Blessed are the poor who are kings in beggar’s clothes. Woe to the rich who are like the king who wore no clothes.
God has the same desire for the poor and the rich, that neither the plight of poverty nor the prison of wealth will deprive them of life in the kingdom. To live in the kingdom of God is to live with an awareness of God, that we have been delivered from the dark forces around and folly within. To live in the kingdom is to have the inner conviction that we matter to God. To live in the kingdom is to regularly be brought back to the way of life God wants us to have.
Blessed are the poor for I am bringing them to kingdom of God. Woe to the rich who let wealth come between themselves and life and the kingdom. So what can we do that we might be released form the pitfalls of poverty and the problems of wealth. Nothing. And that is hard to deal with. Jesus does not dwell on our wrongs nor urge more effort of obedience. He announces facts. Poverty cannot keep people from the good life in the kingdom, and wealth can be a barrier to the good life in the kingdom. Blessed are you even when you are poor and everything goes wrong in your life, for none of this can keep you from life in the kingdom, and woe, woe to you when you no longer see and realize how blessed you are.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope February 11, 2001
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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