Is it lawful
Luke Chapter 6
LUKE 6:1-11
1Now it happened that He was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath; and His disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating the grain. 2But some of the Pharisees said, “Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”3And Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, 4how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the consecrated bread which is not lawful for any to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?”5And He was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
6On another Sabbath He entered the synagogue and was teaching; and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. 7The scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse Him. 8But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And he got up and came forward. 9And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?”10After looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so; and his hand was restored. 11But they themselves were filled with rage, and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.
LUKE 6:1-5
1Now it happened that He was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath; and His disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating the grain. 2But some of the Pharisees said, “Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”3And Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, 4how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the consecrated bread which is not lawful for any to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?”5And He was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
His disciples were picking the heads of grain
It would be easy to get lost in the theological aspects of this reading, but we mustn’t lose sight of the pragmatic matter either. The disciples — including Levi / Matthew — have left behind jobs, families, incomes to follow Christ and are now gleaning grain from a field.
Farmers were only allowed to take a first harvest from the field. Anything they missed or that fell to the side was left for the poor to glean. Essentially, what Jesus and his followers were doing is not dissimilar to the poorest of the poor going through trash receptacles for cans and bottles or a dump for recyclables.
What would it have been like, to be proud fishermen or — in Matthew’s case — a once-wealthy tax collector, only to be reduced to poverty? What would have been on their mind?
Is this act of Jesus incidental or intentional? Is there a lesson in this event for his new followers? If so, what is it Jesus is teaching his students? Once again, the magic of Luke is painting a canvas of Jesus and wants us to look closely at the nuances.
Following Jesus rarely leads us deeper into our existing comfort zones or preconceptions. It leads us to where we will be challenged to grow and where oft-uncomfortable truths will be revealed.
Like the Israelites before them, the disciples needed their wilderness experience to coalesce. They needed to grow into a community as well as into servants. They had misconceptions about the Messiah that needed to be unmasked. They imaged a conquering king in the style of David. It is likely that, being unable to break free of those misconceptions, they saw themselves as the new ruling elite in the Messianic Age.
Jesus takes them past their misconceptions, dependencies and self-reliance and into a deeper reliance on God.
Imagine all of the questions they must have been asking, both of each other and themselves. Those questions would be no different than what we would be asking ourselves; “Did I make the right choice?” “Is it always going to be like this?”
Chief on their mind would certainly be the statement, “This is not what I expected!”
What expectations and misconceptions about my faith do I need to confront? Am I trapped in a false perception of the Messiah as well? Do I look to Jesus to serve my needs or do I follow Jesus to become a servant?
Jesus doesn’t just take the disciples to the poor; he takes them to be poor. In order to experience compassion for the poor, Jesus first takes them out to experience poverty.
What does that reveal to me as a follower?
There are two central tenets to Luke’s Jesus.
Where would Jesus be gleaning for leftovers in my city?
The primary question of our faith is not so much, “What Would Jesus Do (WWJD)?” as it is, “Where Would Jesus Be —and do I have the faith to go to those places (WWJB)?”
The church of Jesus is always best on the move.
Jesus doesn’t call his disciples to the Temple in Jerusalem; he calls them to the fields where the poor are desperate for hope.
Do I call “going to church,” the center practice of my faith or do I practice my faith by being community with the poor?
This is certainly not meant to disparage worship and the gathering of faithful communities that reinvigorate our faith. But the point to reinvigorating our faith is to send us back out to the streets to practice it. Not by “converting sinners,” but — as we saw was the accusation of the Pharisees of Jesus — to eat with them…“That man eats with sinners,” was the religious leaders accusation.
Who did the Pharisees see as sinners? Anyone but themselves.
They had become the elite and the judgmental. That happens to all of us when we are not a church on the move. When we hole up in our institutions and theology becomes more important than service.
Like a bicycle coming to a stop, our faith and our church lose balance when we lose momentum.
Where do I need to go today to be poor with Jesus? Would I welcome the “gleaning lesson” of this passage or question why Jesus called me to “picking the heads of the grain?”
“The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath”
The Sabbath had become devoid of meaning to the Religious Leaders. It became a day of judgment, not of justice, ritualism devoid of meaning. They used the Sabbath to show how holy they were and condemn those who did not live up to their standards. Yet, few could afford to do so.
The working poor could not afford the luxury of a day off, neither could servants or bond slaves. The Pharisees were only able to succinctly follow the hundreds of religious laws because they were among the elite. They didn’t work for a living, they prayed for a living.
Their critical observation of Jesus in the grain fields was an example of their lack of compassion. They weren’t offering to feed Jesus and his hungry disciples, they were observing and condemning them.
How often do we drive by the homeless or hungry and — instead of offering sustenance — view them judgmentally?
Furthermore, in order for these Religious Leaders to observe and condemn Jesus, they had to venture out into the fields as well. Traveling more than a “stones throw” from your own gate was also illegal on the Sabbath. So how is it that these Pharisee’s were able to observe Jesus without them also breaking the law?
Often, being an expert in the law results in being an expert in getting around the law. What these Experts would do is carry stones from their property on the Sabbath and continue to throw them ahead of them as they walked. Legally, they were never more than a stone’s throw from their property.
These men had used their education to become the elite of their day and then used the laws to their advantage. We must be ever-vigilant that our laws are not created to serve the needs of the elite instead of protecting the poor from abuse by them.
We must strive for the best legal system — not the best legal system one can afford. The best medical system — not the best medical system one can afford. The best education system — not the best education system one can afford.
Fair systems give access to all, not just the elite.
In response to their hypocrisy, Jesus also quotes from the law and cites legal precedence for his actions. The Pharisees will soon learn it is hard to beat God’s begotten child in a scriptural debate.
The law of the Sabbath is established in Exodus. The Sabbath is supposed to be a day of rest from all work [Exodus 31:14-17].
Many scholars believe that — through this statement and action — Jesus is declaring himself the “Lord of The Sabbath,” once-again proclaiming his Messiahship. As one with God, Jesus is claiming he can rule over any law the Creator established. This would be taken as one of many acts of blasphemies by the Religious Leaders.
Jesus then quotes from 1 Samuel, a story in which David, fleeing from the insanity of King Saul, comes hungry before a priest. The priest’s storehouse included consecrated bread (daily bread) set apart for God’s use. Because the priest believes David is on a mission sanctioned by King Saul (a deception by David), he allows him to be fed from the offerings [1 Samuel 21:1-6].
The precedence is that a law that is immoral is itself illegitimate, just as a religion lacking compassion is a fabrication. While the disciples are learning compassion to become better leaders, the position of the Religious Leaders lacked both compassion and legitimacy.
Jesus is claiming more than a theological position — that he is “Lord of the Sabbath”— he is also declaring compassion lords over (rules over) the law. Indeed, we could say this, “Compassion is Lord of the Sabbath and Lord of the Law.”
LUKE 6:6-11
6On another Sabbath He entered the synagogue and was teaching; and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. 7The scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse Him. 8But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And he got up and came forward. 9And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?”10After looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so; and his hand was restored. 11But they themselves were filled with rage, and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.
The Pharisees were watching him closely…
It was customary for Jesus to teach in synagogues on the Sabbath. When I am offering retreats for clergy, I will often ask, “If Jesus came to your worship service, who would preach?”
It is a pertinent question because Jesus does come to our worship, whenever our worship includes the poor. In Mark, Jesus tells us,
Mark 14:7
“For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me.”
Clearly, Jesus tells us our treatment of the poor is prophetic. It is the best form of preaching that we can share, it embodies the mission of Jesus.
Deepening this statement, Jesus tells us whom to invite to our worship.
Luke 14:13-14
12And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. 13“But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Whenever the poor are welcomed into our midst and find respite, we are moving over and allowing Jesus to preach.
Can you imagine the honor of listening to Jesus preach? This man who drew thousands to his sermons. Crowds so large that no facility could hold them. What amazing things did he say? We only get a small sampling of his stories, a snippet of his words, his compassion and wisdom, his humor and challenge. What a taste of heaven his teaching must have been.
Yet, it wasn’t a “taste of heaven” to all. For in the crowds there were those who did not come to listen, but to condemn. Verse 7 tells us, “The scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse Him.”
Some listened closely for words to start a fuller life, these religious leaders watched closely for words to end a threatening life — a life that endangered their authority.
Where would I have been in this crowd? Of course I’d like to believe you would find me among the seekers of life, but are there times when I too play the cynic? Where is the potential for cynicism in all of us?
Are there dreams I have cut short? Are there those whom I’ve manipulated for my own gain? Have I tempered and sequestered the cynical and sarcastic tongue in my own life?
What do I watch for in others? A way to empower them or a way to eviscerate them?
God help me be on the right side of that equation. Let me always look for life.
“Get up and come forward!”
This man would have been considered unclean and even more so if it were his right hand that was palsied. The left hand was never used for eating or to offer another in greeting. The fact he stepped into the synagogue was a sign of his desire to be healed. Given the circumstances, he might have even been prompted to enter by the Pharisee’s so they could use him for their purposes. Would Jesus heal this man on the Sabbath?
Remember, the Pharisees weren’t there to hear Jesus the Rabbi or to witness Jesus the miracle worker. They were there to trap Jesus the false messiah.
Jesus could have easily healed this man on the next day. He could have asked the man to return and helped him then. He didn’t.
What painting is Luke framing for us in this chapter?
1. First, compassion is the Lord of the Sabbath (the law).
2. Second, restoring people to wholeness is the point of the law. The law (including the Sabbath) exists to restore people to compassion and each person to wholeness.
Imagine the leap of faith it took for this man to “stretch forth his hand.” It would have been an indignity he had concealed his entire life for the people of that time would have considered his palsy a result of sin. Jesus was asking him to bear this hardened discomfiture in front of all his peers, the religious leaders and Jesus.
Would he have hesitated? Would he have held his arm back in fear of ridicule or reproach or would he look into the eyes of Christ and see perfect compassion?
What we do know is that as he stretched forth his arm it was simultaneously made whole. The more he revealed to Christ, the more restored he became.
What is in my life that I fear revealing? What personal shame or ugliness do I withhold from the Creator? What in my life has “withered” from lack of hope?
Stretch it forth.
Stretch it forth to the Lord of the Sabbath, the Lord of the Law and the Lord of Compassion.
Power was coming from him
LUKE 6:12-19
12It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. 13And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles: 14Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; 15and Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot; 16Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
17Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, 18who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. 19And all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.
LUKE 6:12-13
12It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. 13And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles:
He spent the whole night in prayer
Withdrawing to pray was habitual for Jesus. Luke tells us that Jesus retreats to pray before every important decision of his ministry. He also tells us that Jesus prayed regularly (Luke 5:16) and taught his disciples to pray (Luke 11:12).
· Jesus prays before choosing the disciples (Luke 6:12).
· He prays before going into Jerusalem a final time (Luke 9:28).
· He prays before teaching his disciples to pray (Luke 11:12).
· He prays as he awaits the arrest of Pilate’s soldiers (Luke 22:40).
In this reading, Jesus looks to the future, quite literally, he “thinks forward.” The terms for prayer and for chose (he chose his Apostles) both begin with the letters, pro. Pro wasn’t thinking about the future, it was planning for it. Many of us might worry about the future, but this is much deeper. Prayer [G4336 proseuchomai] means to forward ask or — even more accurately — to proactively think about what we will help make happen. The term “chose [G4377 prosphōneō]” means to forward call, make a choice that will impact the future. Jesus plans ahead and makes choices based upon his plans.
Prayer is not just “sending wishes to God,” it means making a plan and acting on it. On a deeper level, prayer means to align our future plans with God and make decisions to enact our plans accordingly. It is not enough to just have the thoughts or say the words. We must take action commiserate with our “forward plans.”
If we should feel our prayers are not being answered, we need to ask, “Am I aligning my future with God’s plans,” and “Am I acting, not just asking, for my prayers to reach fruition?”
We should also look at the action resultant to Jesus’ “forward asking.” Jesus spent the entire night “forward aligning” his plans to God’s direction for his life. The forward action taken is to choose 12 people (one for each tribe of Israel) to whom he will give special training.
At the time, these twelve might have thought of this as a privilege, but as they forward aligned their lives to Christ, they learned their joy would be found in humility, not pride. Each would embrace this over time — save one — and service would eventually become their forward choice too.
LUKE 6:14-16
14Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; 15and Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot; 16Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Whom he also named…
To name [G3687 Onomazō] was more than identifying a person by their identity, it was identifying their character and calling that character out of them. For example, Simon, was renamed Petros [G4074], which means boulder or rock. It could be that Peter was a large and formidable man but his character was certainly resolute. Often stubborn, prone to speak before he thought, Petros was definitely a man of determination and decisiveness. A rock to be sure.
What Christ did was rename Simon’s character, from stubborn to determined, able to plant his feet on core issues but flexible with others. He became a key player in spreading the church beyond the walls of Jerusalem by including the uncircumcised into the fledgling church.
Around us every day are those whose character has been written by the manipulative or hardened by personal fears. We are called to imitate Christ by renaming the wounded into wonderful. We can see beyond the names of this world — race, socioeconomic status, impaired — and into the possible. We can even rename cities, countries or a people [Isaiah 62:4].
Whom will we name today? What shortcoming will we oversee? What conflict will we rename? Whom will move from wounded to wonderful?
LUKE 6:17-19
17Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, 18who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. 19And all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.
And those who were troubled
Here is another example of the renaming power of Jesus. He was renaming the broken into whole, the diseased, troubled and unclean. The term for unclean is especially compelling [G169 akathartos]. The “a” in Greek means the opposite or to be without. In this case we might think the unclean — akathartos — would be opposite or without cleansing. In actually, the term means to be without pruning [G2508 kathairō] as in a grapevine without pruning. Eventually the vine produces little or no fruit because all the nutrients go to the vine, not the grapes.
Left undirected a mind does not become more mature or whole. It becomes compulsive and self-consumed. Unclean is the same as undisciplined, without direction, conceited with little or no concern for others.
Research certainly indicates this is true. Among teenagers, no group has a higher self-esteem or more self-confidence than young people involved in gangs. Alternatively, healthy youth have a healthy dose of humility. They question their behavior at times and examine their decisions for areas of improvement. While speaking with principals and administrators, I often question the emphasis on school pride when it isn’t balanced by school humility.
How do we — as adults — prune our pride and raise a healthy sense of “humility?” In what way would Jesus cleanse us of our unpruned behaviors?
The Beatitudes (In The Raw)
LUKE 6:17-26
17Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, 18who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. 19And all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.
20And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21“Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. 22“Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. 23“Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets. 24“But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. 25“Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. 26“Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.
LUKE 6:17-19
17Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, 18who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. 19And all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.
A great throng of people
Jesus had now been in public ministry for a few weeks. Luke recounts the timeline by Sabbaths:
1. And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath; [Luke 4:31]
2. Now it happened that He was passing through some grain fields on a Sabbath; and His disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating the grain. [Luke 6:1]
So, we see there were at least two Sabbaths before the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew’s preamble to the Beatitudes simply begins like this:
Matthew 4:23-25
[Mt 4:23] Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.
[24] The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. [25] Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.
What can we tell from the first few weeks of Christ’s ministry? Had he been living up to the campaign promise he made in Luke 4:18-19? Was he good news to the poor? Was he giving vision to those in darkness?
Unequivocally, yes!
Those whom the religious rulers had written off — from Syria, Tyre, Sidon, and the Decapolis, a people whom the Jews (and even the disciples) called “Sons of Dogs” — were hearing the good news preached to them. Those too poor to go to the Temple and sacrifice, those too crippled or sick to make the journey; all those neglected and condemned by the religious leaders were sought after by Jesus. He didn’t wait inside a synagogue or temple for them to come to him; he went after them!
Look at the list of followers as told by Matthew, “They brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics and paralytics [Mt 4:24].”
This was the congregation of Christ. These are those whom Jesus came to love. How is it that so many Christians have lost this focus of Jesus’ mission yet still claim to follow him? These were the Beatitude People! The Lord’s message, as stated by Luke, was not, “Blessed are THE poor,” as if they were some distant, unrecognizable group, but “Blessed are YOU who are poor,” the very people surrounding our Lord.
Our Lord, Jesus Christ, was encircled by the excluded, the poor called him “Good News” and the sick called him healer. He was the fulfillment of his mission as heralded in Nazareth.
Our Lord, Jesus Christ, placed himself squarely in the midst of the Beatitude People and became their good news. Does that sound like our journey into discipleship? Is that who surrounds us? Do the poor call us good news and do we call them blessed and share in their blessing (of poverty, hunger, weeping and rejection)?
That’s where we would find Jesus then, where do we expect to find Jesus now?
Power was coming from Him
It would be easy to eagerly jump ahead to Luke’s version of the beatitudes, but before we do, let’s linger for a moment on this phrase: 19And all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.
There is a huge urgency in the Greek writing of this verse. The people aren’t just trying to touch Jesus; they are clambering, pushing and even demanding. Out of Jesus flows power [G1411 dunamis], the word means 1) strength, 2) ability and 3) meaning. No one who clambers to Jesus is kind of healed: All people are all healed.
Our Lord’s power offers us total healing — strength, ability and meaning — to everyone who comes before him empty. Yet, the question many legitimately ask is “offered or offers?” Was this something Jesus did or something Jesus does? Does Jesus still offer total healing? Does he still give us strength, ability and meaning? Did the power just flow through him or does it flow through us as well?
What does Jesus tell us?
John 14:12-13
12“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. 13“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
The Post-Ascension church is filled with miracles, right from the start. Look at Acts 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 28. Peter lifts a lame beggar from the steps of temple saying; “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk [Acts 3:6]!”
There is no hesitation; there is no questioning or even a waver of doubt in his voice. Peter commands the man; “In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!”
As people came running to witness the miracle, Peter told them the key to living miraculously, the ABC’s of tapping into the strength, ability and meaning (the power) of Christ [Acts 3:16].
Yet, what about those who were not healed? People like Paul and his malaria-like symptoms. You’d think of all people he would be the first in line to be healed. However, that was not the case.
II Corinthians 12:7-8
7Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
But it never left him, why? Let’s see what Paul says:
II Corinthians 12:9
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Isn’t that amazing? “Power” — and here again is the word dunamis meaning strength, ability and meaning —“is perfected in weakness!”
A dear friend and pastor/mentor of mine lost his wife to Parkinson’s Disease this year. We have been meeting almost every week for a few years now. He told me once, when he was having coffee at a restaurant, a radio evangelist spoke to him about his wife’s condition and said, “It takes faith to be healed.”
That statement made me sad just in the recounting, I knew my friend’s wife through nearly twenty years of Parkinson’s. Her faith, humor and gentleness were beyond question.
“It takes faith to be healed,” what a callous and obtuse statement! My friend’s simple response was, “It takes more faith not to be healed.”
Paul never stopped praying for healing but he found the power of Christ through his illness, the strength, ability, and meaning of Christ.
LUKE 6:20-26
20And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21“Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. 22“Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. 23“Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets. 24“But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. 25“Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. 26“Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.
“Blessed are you”
We have studied this term before in Luke. Luke uses two different terms for the word we interpret as “Blessed.” There is this word for blessed [G3107 makarios] which came from an earlier term that the gods of Greece were happy. Eventually, it meant the gods were smiling on you and finally, it meant something akin to “you are lucky or fortunate.” Perhaps the best interpretation of “blessing” in this context is; “Favorable are your circumstances.”
The other time that we have seen Luke use this word was in Luke 1:28 when an angel tells Mary that she is “blessed among women.” In this situation, the word used is eulogeo [G2127] from which we derive the word eulogy.
It means that “a good report is made in your name” or “people will speak well of you.”
Mary is both blessed [G3107 makarios] by Elizabeth in Luke 1:42 and blessed [G2127 eulogeo] by Gabriel in Luke 1:28. Here is what it means to be “doubly blessed”:
1. To be blessed by our circumstances;
To Christ, we were “blessed” (in good circumstances) if our lives are unencumbered with worldly riches and worldly attachments.
· Blessed are the poor
· Blessed are the hungry
· Blessed are those who weep
· Blessed are the hated, excluded and insulted
2. To make a good report out of our circumstances.
But doubly blessed are we when we take those circumstances and rejoice. We are Doubly Blessed when we choose to be:
That is a little background on the word, “blessed,” what about the word, “Beatitudes?” Why do we call this reading and the reading from Matthew 5, the Beatitudes?
Actually, the word Beatitude dates back to the Old Testament, it means an acknowledgement of a blessed state before God and man. Examples can be found in Psalm 1:1, Proverbs 14:21, 16:20 and 29:18.
There again, a “blessing” [H835 Èsher and H833 Àshar] is defined in Hebrew as a person who trusts God, fears God (has no fear but of turning away from our Creator), and loves God zealously (Dt 33:29, Ps 2:12, 32:1-2! 34:8, 40:4, 84:12 and 112:1).
The Beatitudes are statements about how a person can become “doubly blessed” by 1) hungering to be unencumbered and close to God and then 2) choosing to use those circumstances to be Good News to those who surround him or her. It takes us back to the root of Christ’s mission statement. We are doubly blessed when we 1) follow Christ and 2) the poor call us Good News — the captives call us freedom and the oppressed say; “He paid my ransom in the name of Jesus Christ.”
Overview: The Beatitudes “in the Raw”
Both Matthew and Luke paint a picture of the beatitudes, but they paint it slightly differently. Both Gospels reveal Christ’s teaching as astounding, radically countercultural to what the world valued then and even more so now. However, Matthew’s Gospel takes place on a hillside, while in Luke’s Gospel, the preaching takes place once Jesus has come down to the plains. This is no glaring discrepancy once we realize both Gospels tell us the message of the beatitudes was directed towards the disciples and not the crowds. It would be natural for Jesus to stand on the hillside to be seen by the crowds and then come down to the flatter plains to be present to his disciples later in the day.
However, the major difference is how Luke personalizes the beatitudes while Matthew makes it more of a public address. For example, in Matthew 5, the poor and the vulnerable are spoken about in the third person.
Matthew 5:3
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Luke’s gospel personalizes the message. Jesus speaks directly to his closest followers. He says, “Blessed are you, who are poor…” “Blessed are you, who weep…”
In Luke, Jesus is not talking about the poor; he is talking to the poor and the poor include his disciples. The one’s who gave up everything to live a pauper’s life and follow Jesus. These are the doubly blessed. They are the one’s who left their fish on the shore or their tax collections on the table to become simple among the poor.
It is largely believed that Matthew’s style (which is very Jewish) was to gather multiple sermons on similar topics and then present them to his Jewish readers into one lengthy diatribe. Matthew is definitely a “preacher’s” gospel, expounding pages on topics critical to his audience who were largely religious Jews pondering this new “sect” of Judaism. That was how Christianity was viewed in Jerusalem at the time. For example, the beatitudes continue on through chapter 8 of Matthew. It is doubtful that a great speaker like Jesus would regale his crowd with that much information at any one sitting.
Luke’s beatitude’s are different, they are concise and to the point. One specific point followed by an amazing parable or miraculous act. The Gospel told by Luke is at times humorous but also contains vivid detail (remember he was both a physician and a painter as well as a Greek) and they are always intriguing. Luke’s points usually move the heart and involve the reader in taking some form of direct action.
Luke 6:49
“But the one who has heard, and has not acted {accordingly,} is like a man who built a house upon the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”
Luke’s Gospel reveals the moment; he captures the mood of the day and the heart of Christ’s statements. He makes no effort to summarize or extemporize while Matthew's Gospel is more like; “Here’s a number of points Jesus made about this topic.” With Luke, we get the “Beatitudes in the Raw.”
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Who was Jesus blessing in this first beatitude? Quite simple, Jesus says; “Blessed [G3107 makarios] are you, who are poor [G4434 ptochos].”
We have already established that, according to Luke, the statement of the beatitudes was an intimate event focused on the disciples, not a hilltop monologue to thousands. The “poor” of whom Jesus was speaking were his own disciples who had given up everything to follow him. They had become poor [G4434 ptochos], which means to be a “cringing beggar.” Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell us that Jesus and the disciples had to glean the fields for food [Mt 12:1, Mk 2:23 and Lk 6:1]. Like the poor, they went through farmer’s fields after they were harvested and rubbed whatever grain remained on the stalks between their palms to eat the kernels. The Pharisees condemned them for this and accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath. This was so indicative of the times in which Jesus lived and is truly a confrontation of our times as well. For the religious leaders would not lift a finger to feed Jesus and his hungry followers. Instead the leaders condemned them for “breaking the rules.” The rich blamed the poor for their impoverishment and nagging hunger.
However, Jesus was also one of those cringing beggars. Jesus IS that cringing beggar, the one still seeking food from our trash, the one scrounging from the leftovers of our plentitude. It is when we finally meet that Jesus that we will come close to his call. His call from Isaiah 61:1-2 and his “beatitudes-in-the-raw” as expressed here by Luke.
Here is where we can also finally understand God’s kingdom in the raw for it belongs to those who shed the encumbrances of this world, those who were never encumbered and those who left their encumbrances behind. To choose simplicity (as these disciples did) is to choose unimpeded availability to God and complete accessibility to God. Herein lies the ultimate step in liberation. This is the ability to say, “Here I am, send me,” at any moment the Lord taps upon the heart. That is what it means to “have the kingdom.”
THE FOUR BLESSINGS
We have looked at the first beatitude by Luke. There are eight statements in all; four are blessings and four are curses. Whereas Matthew offers eight blessings and then a number of statements Christ made regarding how we should behave while on earth. As we examined before, Luke is more like the “Beatitudes in the Raw” whereas Matthew presents a cumulative overview on topics related to the Beatitudes.
For that reason, Luke’s “Beatitudes in the Raw” also leave us less room for interpretive error:
1. The poor [G4434 ptochos] means cowering beggars
2. The hungry [G3983 peinao] are those whose stomachs are distended with hunger
3. To weep [G2799 klaio] is to be broken in sorrow
4. To be hated, ostracized, insulted or scorned means to be driven from the tribe, thrown out and attacked
In every case, Jesus adds this addendum, “For the sake of the Son of Man.”
Remember, Luke’s gospel has Jesus taking the disciples apart for this discussion and this teaching was directly to them. Our Lord first feeds the hungry and restores the sick and then, to those who left everything to follow him, he promises the kingdom [G932 basileia] of God. A kingdom is not a city or a castle; it is a period of influence. It is God’s reign, his power bestowed upon followers.
The kingdom of Jesus is not a city or castle, it is an allegiance to a sovereign power;
John 18:36-37
36Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”
37Pilate therefore said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say {correctly} that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
Christ’s kingdom is truth. It is God’s reign over our life. His power and authority extended to His followers.
These followers will be:
· Given the Kingdom (as mentioned above)
· Satisfied [G5526 chortazo], fulfillment or “Filled-Full-ment"
· Filled with laughter [G1070 gelao], who wouldn’t laugh joyfully to witness the blind seeing and the crippled walking?
· Their reward [G3408 misthos] is great [G4183 polus], their wages or reward is beyond their ability to imagine. It is abundant and long lasting.
Yet, Followers of the Way know the reward is not someday-oriented; it is today-fulfilled. What greater joy is there than to see the abundance provided when you have given up all things for Christ? What greater joy is there than when you have made yourself available to him and you see the lives of people change for his glory? What greater satisfaction or laughter can there be than to see others ignited by the fervor of a joyful life? What greater reward is there than to see the forgotten remembered and the vulnerable given courage?
THE FOUR CURSES
“Woe unto you…”
The word woe [G3759 ouai] or “alas” is called the “primary exclamation of grief.” It is used in situations where all mercy was granted and then wasted. It is where pure love was extended and then impugned. To say, “Woe unto you,” is as if to say, “Alas, there is no leniency left for you.”
Look at this interchange between Dives (it means a “rich man”) who neglected Lazarus (the cringing beggar) and Abraham:
Luke 16:25-26
25“But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able, and {that} none may cross over from there to us.’”
Dives had every opportunity to “inherit the Kingdom” as well. All he needed to do was recognize Lazarus suffering on his own doorstep. All he had to do was comfort Lazarus; give him hope and assistance. Heaven’s door lay right on the gate to the house of Dives and he never accepted the offer to “do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with His God” [Micah 6:8].
“Woe unto Dives,” he had every opportunity and now it was too late. “Alas, there is no leniency left for him.”
In like manner, we cannot deny we have had every opportunity as well. The need for justice and mercy and the opportunities to walk humbly with God are never far from our reach. Everyday we have these opportunities presented to us, times when we too can access the riches of the Kingdom by recognizing Jesus in those who are poor or incarcerated among us:
John 12:8
“For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have Me.”
These opportunities to serve Jesus remain constant, for the poor are still here. In serving them, we serve our Lord. In serving Christ through them, we open the floodgates of the Kingdom — the power and authority of God. His blessing flows upon us in the present. We are given the miraculous power to restore lives. We have every opportunity to be children of blessing and not children of woe.
Who, to Jesus, are the people who should cry, “Woe?”
1. “Woe to the rich [G4145plousios] for you have received your comfort in full [G3874 paraklesis].”
Those who had much while others had little have chosen wealth as their eternal comfort. The word Christ uses for comfort [G3874 paraklesis] is the same word he frequently uses for the Holy Spirit. The implication is revealing; if we choose our comfort from this world [G3874 paraklesis] we forego the spiritual comfort the Holy Spirit [G3875 parakletos] is willing to provide. Our call is not to “get comfortable” here. We are not called to find our comfort in the things of this world. Instead, we are to find our comfort in the work of the Kingdom. We find our joy in doing those things Christ calls us to be — Good News to the poor. We are to proclaim release to the captives, to give vision to the oppressed and to declare the promise of God is fulfilled.
2. Woe to you who are well-fed [G1705 empiplemi] now, for you shall be hungry [G3983 peinao].
The term for well-fed is also another term for satisfied or “satiated.” How can we be satisfied with what this world has to offer if there are those around us who are hungry? When, in this life, we can turn our eyes away from the hunger of others or deaden our conscience to the inequities of our culture than we will crave and pine [G3983 peinao] for mercy in heaven.
3. Woe to you who laugh [G1070gelao] now, for you shall mourn [G3996 pentheo] and weep [G2799 klaio].
The cheapest form of humor is sarcasm and the laziest response to the challenges of life is cynicism. Throughout history, sarcastic cynics have derided the state of their culture and those who would rise to change it. This is an experience Christ also knew it was what he told his disciples to expect if they continued in his name.
This “woe” of Christ shows there is no lonelier place than self-righteousness (and really who cares if someone is right in their cynicism)? Let them be right but let us, instead, be faithful. We already know we will be failures in worldly terms. We already know we will be viewed as fools. We already know we fight a cause that cannot be won on worldly terms, so…
So, let’s fail boldly! Let’s love grandly and hurt deeply for others. Why should it be any different for the servant than it was for the master [Mt 10:22-24]?
4. Woe to you when all men speak well of you [G2573 kalos], for their fathers used to treat the false prophets [G5578 pseudoprophetes] in the same way.
The flattery of this world is rarely gratis. That is why so many people find praise hard to accept. They keep waiting for the “stipulations” that accompany it. We are not used to praise without a hook. Praise given for our best interest and without subterfuge. The flattery of this world is all too often manipulative, not designed to empower, but to enslave.
This was the flattery Jesus warned his followers about, the flattery of “pseudo-prophets.” Yet, how do you know if someone is a pseudo-prophet?
First of all, what is a prophet [G4396 prophetes]? The most technical meaning of this word is someone who “claims the future” and isn’t that the primary role of a follower, to claim – in the name of Christ – the future for our children?
In Matthew’s version of this parable, Jesus tells us the role of the modern-day prophet [Matthew 13:44-50].
A pseudo-prophet stakes out a claim, but not for Christ. He or she is not seeking to free people of their encumbrances. A pseudo-prophet only wants followers that will be used towards his own ends.
Luke 6:45-46
45“The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil {man} out of the evil {treasure} brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. 46“And why do you call Me, “Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I say?”
A pseudo-prophet calls Jesus, “Lord,” but doesn’t do what the Jesus asks him. His action and life are about his own needs, desires and wants.
“Woe,” Jesus says, “despair is all that lies ahead for that man. Woe, there is no leniency left for him.”
For us, the question boils down to this, not, “For what do I live my life?” But, “For whom do I live my life?” That is the Beatitudes in the Raw.
Am I like the disciples? Have I given up everything to follow Him? Do I feel the hunger of the poor and the weeping of the sorrowful? Is my life complicated by the vulnerable or am I trying to free myself to be personally comfortable – isolated from those that would weigh on my conscience? Am I ignoring Lazarus at the gate?
Whether I will truly understand heaven – truly be a Beatitude Person – or never know the joy of compassion and brokenness for others is wholly dependent on my choice beginning at this moment. Am I willing to make myself available as Christ did for the suffering of others? Am I willing to pay their ransom as he paid mine?
To that extent, I will be a Beatitude Person.
Kingdom Liberation
LUKE 6:27-38
[Lk 6:27] “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, [28] bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. [29] “Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. [30] “Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. [31] “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. [32] “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. [33] “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. [34] “If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. [35] “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. [36] “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
[37] “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. [38] “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure-pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”
LUKE 6:27-28
[Lk 6:27] “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, [28] bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
To you who hear
There is more to the verb “to hear” [G191 akouo] than we might consider at first glance. Christ intimately shares these Beatitudes—the attitudes necessary to experience the power and glory of God’s kingdom—they are the most earth-shaking, upside-down, approach to living ever stated. It was certainly in contrast to Greek, Buddhist and Confucian philosophies that focused on self-fulfillment and reciprocal kindness. This was communal fulfillment and radical kindness not as a theory of reciprocity, but as a theory of, “the best way to love God is to love his least accepted and most rejected people.” It certainly was backwards from the Roman culture. And, although the framework of what Jesus said was inherently Jewish in context, it was the opposite of Judaism as practiced by the religious leaders. To be fair, the way of Jesus would also be in conflict with the practiced faith of many Christian denominations today as well.
Jesus preached the most earth-shaking, upside-down approach to living AND heaven ever heard!
Not everyone was ready to hear it; even fewer were ready to heed it. That is the central tenet of this verb that Christ uses when he says, “But I say to you who hear,” [G191 akouo]. The verb is not just “to hear” but “to heed.” There can be a radical difference between the two verbs.
Jesus lays out the Beatitudes, but are we ready to go deeper? Are we ready to move from hearing to heeding? Are we ready to have our earth shaken and our world turned right-side up? If so, only then are we ready to embrace the “rest of the story.”
Love your enemies
Here is the revolution — the radical practice that transforms the follower of Christ. This is an important revelation! The attitudinal change happens after we change the way we act, not before. We don’t wait until our attitudes change and then act. We change the way we act and that changes our attitudes!
How then should we act in order to have the radical attitudes of the Kingdom of God?
1. We love [G25 agapao] our enemies [G2190 echthros];
This is a radical, self-abandoning love of those who quite literally act hostile to us. I never really understood this until nine males from a gang came with bats and rocks in their fists to beat me up at our street youth center. Actually, seven were kids and two were the adult gang leaders who sent them after me. It is a long story, but all seven of those kids were arrested on unrelated charges within three days of the incident.
Visiting one on one with each young man in the County jail was the most liberating experience that could have happened to me after that threat. That is Kingdom Liberation; the freedom found in forgiving, loving and abandoning ourselves especially to those hostile to us!
1. We do good [G2573 kalos] to those who hate [G3404 miseo] you;
Doing “good (or being morally well)” has a grand meaning. It would encompass the terms beautiful, honest, worthy or virtuous. In other words, our Lord is commanding us to be a role model to those who wish us harm. When we look into the mirror of this world we see an unblemished image of what we look like. All too often, that is what we reveal to others as well. When they look at us with angry or spite, we look back the same way. With Christ, we are called to act differently. When we look into the mirrored eyes of Jesus Christ, we see ourselves not as who we are, but as the people we could become through his love.
Is that what we reflect to those who hate us? The image of who they could become, do we see the potential of love that is available to them through Christ? That is what we are called—even commanded—to offer.
2. We bless [G2127 eulogeo] those who curse [G2672 kataraomai] us;
In the last lesson we reviewed the word “blessing” in depth. In fact, there are two words for blessing that Luke reports Christ using in his version of the “Beatitudes Raw.” The first term is circumstantial; “Blessed [G3107 makarios] are you who are poor [v 20].” The Greeks would use this term to say; “The gods have smiled on you.” It is more akin to luck or a favorable situation.
In this text, Luke quotes Jesus as using a different term for blessing [G2127 eulogeo]; this term means “a good report,” like a eulogy or a summary of one’s life or accomplishments. On the other hand, when someone curses [G2672 kataraomai] us, it literally means to defecate on our name, to “doom” us. Those are pretty strong words!
What does Jesus do when the Romans have driven nails through his flesh? He pleads with God, “Forgive them; they know not what they are doing!” He knows the Father is standing by with armies of angels holding heaven’s rage in check. As we desecrate our Lord’s body through sin, he responds with endless love.
Is that our response to desecration? Jesus is telling us, “This is the way to Kingdom Liberation! This is how to be free! Not by cursing those who curse you — but by blessing their name.” To bless, to remember their goodness and to praise them out loud! Who would have thought that was the way to freedom?
3. We pray [G4336 proseuchomai] for those who mistreat [G1908 epereazo] us.
When we pray for someone it literally means we are “forward willing” their life. We enter so deeply into another person’s situation that we put all of our will, all of our desire, into deepening their relationship with God. We not only want the best for them, we are willing to put our lives and reputation on the line to seek the best for them. We are pleading to God on their behalf. Yet, even more, it is as if we were saying: “God, I will put my reputation on the line for this person” and isn’t that what Jesus did for us?
Yet, for whom are we to be willing to put our reputation on the line? Not just those who have a good reputation already, but those who have a bad reputation and even those who “despitefully use” or “file a false law suit” against us. This is what it means when Jesus says, “For those who mistreat [G1908 epereazo] us.”
Can you imagine that? Someone files a false lawsuit against us, they are proven in court to have lied, but we say, “Your Honor, I know this person has done wrong, but release him/her into my care. If they continue to break the law, I will take total responsibility. You can punish me!”
That, my friends, is what Jesus did. That is what he says we must do to receive to Kingdom Liberation!
What kind of system is this? How radical could this Gospel be? This is liberation? This is freedom? This is salvation? Yes, yes and YES!
Kingdom Liberation frees us from our hatred. It frees us from our anger. It frees us from our pettiness and our sin. Kingdom Liberation opens up the power of heaven and rains down joy upon us the abundant joy that increases with every person that we forgive, love, and to whom we bring dignity. These are not just Beatitudes, they are Radical Attitudes, they are repentance — reopening — metanoeo [G3340], a new, higher way of intimately relating to God on all levels. “Meta,” means beyond and above, “Noeo” means knowledge, but not “head knowledge,” the kind of knowledge that God speaks about when, in Jeremiah 1:5 he says, “Before your were formed in the womb, I knew you.” This is the most intimate knowledge and the kind of relationship our God wants to offer us. These attitudes are beyond and above anything we could ever imagine.
Radical, liberating, freeing salvation; Kingdom Liberation!
LUKE 6:29
[29] “Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.
The other also
Once again let us make a comparison between the Beatitudes as recorded by Matthew and those given “in the raw” by Luke. Here is a great example of how the Gospels are complimentary. Here is Matthew’s version of the same reading:
MATTHEW 5:39-42
[Mt 5:39] “But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. [40] “If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. [41] “Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. [42] “Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.”
This fuller version provided by Matthew gives deeper insight into these verses. What we have here are the three major rules for how a Roman soldier could treat an indigent native in an occupied country. Who would be more hated than these foreign demons (except their lackeys, the tax collectors)? Can you imagine what Christ is asking of his fellow Jews? When you are conscripted, give twice what is asked of you. Jesus is telling them to use their persecution as a witness to God’s graciousness.
Can you imagine what Christ is asking of us; the Beatitude People?
Let’s take a deeper look, one that requires knowledge of these soldier’s laws. A soldier could force me to carry his pack one mile, he could use my outer cloak for that distance if he wanted to, he could slap me with his right hand if I needed correction. However, the law was also clear in this: If I was forced to take one step further than a Roman mile, give more than just my cloak or if the oppressor hit me with the left hand, those were criminal offenses and the soldier would be lashed. At that moment the soldier was in danger of breaking the strict Roman laws of indenture. The moment I took one extra step, the soldier would be begging me to take off his pack!
Perhaps no one understood the force behind these statements of Jesus than one small Hindu man named Gandhi. It became the basis of his peaceful defiance of England and it broke the back of English colonization in South Africa and India. It was these principles, established by Jesus and practiced by Gandhi that formed the framework of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s civil disobedience actions for human rights. They were the bedrock of movements by Francis of Assisi, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Lech Walesa, Cardinal Karol Woljeta and so many other true practitioners of the Beatitudes in the Raw. These beatitudes of Jesus Christ have rocked the world by the few people who have practiced them since the time of Jesus Christ.
What does that mean for us though? Do we find ourselves daily at a crossroads of national or global importance? Well, yes!
Every one of God’s children has a destiny they are called to fulfill. Yet, most of the greatest acts of mercy and justice never make the “national” scene. Mercy and justice lived out in faithful humility [Micah 6:8] are rarely attention-getters on the front page news nor should that ever be our intent. Our media is stimulated by controversy and oddity. Our work is usually below their radar screen (and that is good).
Our work is to bring Christ to the vulnerable, to teach and model the radical liberation of the raw beatitudes. To offer strength to each other as we bear oppression’s load “one step beyond a Roman mile.”
LUKE 6:30-35
[30] “Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. [31] “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. [32] “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. [33] “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. [34] “If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. [35] “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.”
“Love your enemies”
Most non-Christian authors focus on verse 31 and discuss the similarities between Jesus and other religious leaders, “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.”
Yet, this is only where Jesus starts! The depth of Jesus’ radically different message is found instead in verse 35: “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.”
Jesus takes the Golden Rule and calls it rusty medal. He says; “Even sinners love those who love them.” Our Lord takes, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and instead says, “Love like God loves, love like I love you.”
Our reward, he says, is great when we love “ungrateful and evil men” because that is the love God shows to us. We are the “ungrateful and evil men” that Christ came to redeem.
The Prince of Peace lays forth three attitudes of the Beatitude People:
1. Give [G1325 didomi]: To everyone who asks without expectation of return
This term for giving [G1325 didomi] is much closer to “pour yourself out” or to “give yourself totally away.” It would mean freely passing on not only your possessions but giving of your very self. We are to live our lives completely “for-giving” not “for-taking.”
2. Love: Your enemies [G2190 echthros] without expecting them to treat you any differently
This was a command so far beyond the comprehension of the people of that time that even Christ’s disciples would be aghast at this statement. However, one must question whether we can understand because of the vast differences in our culture. I know that some of my readers (from such places as Rwanda or Zimbabwe) might comprehend this statement because critical to its interpretation is personal knowledge of persecution. In our US culture, we consider it persecution when someone pulls out in front us in traffic or scrapes our SUV with their shopping cart at the mall. For these disciples, persecution was when a tax collector knowingly charged you more than you could afford and took your children or wife as payment. Persecution was having a family member taken into custody without reason and never seeing them again.
Christ was telling his apostles to love the people who did this to them! How can we even relate? The most serious charge against the United States church today could well be we are seduced by a silent persecution of consumerism and rampant individualism. We are the people Christ says “woe” to: “But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full [v 24].” We have chosen to be comfortable in the midst of poverty. We have chosen to live extravagantly in a world of starving children. Without consciously considering our spending habits, our desire to guzzle gas and consume grossly creates a huge imbalance in this world we must defend. This is the “silent seduction” that Thomas Merton called the sin of our time. It is a corporate sin we support with lines of credit that are overreaching not only our means — but anyone’s sane means. Indeed, our greatest enemy is internal, not external. We are comfortable with the imbalance, accepting of the status quo. Though we pity the poor we will not simplify our own needs to assist them.
3. Lend [G1155 danizo]: To those who could never pay you back
How does this mesh up with the statement; “The Lord helps those who help themselves.” What investment school teaches this kind of banking?
Actually, there is one and it is one of the most successful banks in the world. It is called the Grameen National Bank of Bangladesh and their small business loans have a 85% repayment rate. Why? A number of reasons:
· Grameen Bank focuses on a community and loans to small groups (usually four women) who work together to qualify for a loan
· The Grameen Bank focuses on relationships
The Grameen Bank trains the small group in developing a business plan that can be readily implemented. Each of the participants is dependent upon each other for continued funding.
· The Grameen Bank encourages continued interdependence
Loans from the Grameen Bank average $300 per participant. The loan is given to one person in the group at a time. As soon as the first person begins to pay back their loan, the second person can receive their funding. This continues until all participants have received their funding. Once all members have begun paying back the initial round of loans, a second round of funding becomes available to the group in like manner. They are interdependent from the get-go. They study together, work together, their funding is linked together. They have a total interest in making sure the others succeed in their plans and they live in the same community.
This is Kingdom-Investing, sharing money with people who are tied together, support each other and lift each other out of poverty. One of the reasons the Grameen Bank focuses on women is that a woman puts 70 percent of her income back into the family while the man does just the opposite. This program has lifted thousands out of the quagmire of poverty in the years of its existence and has grown beyond the boundaries of Bangladesh as a model of healthy self-sustenance.
Alternatively, we teach the poor to be hopeless or work at conglomerates that don’t employ them beyond part-time so they can pay minimum wage and offer no health benefits.
Kingdom-Investing works! I have used it myself in outreaches to impoverished women, the post-incarcerated and street youth.
Kingdom-Investing Involves more than throwing money at old solutions that don’t work. It takes - more than anything else - time. It takes time to get inside the cycle of poverty and the system of poverty and empower the impoverished — rather than just pitying them. This is the investment Christ wants us to pour our lives into, to pour in all of our creativity, these are the lives Christ wants us to pour ourselves into. This is “Beatitude-nal Investment."
LUKE 6:36-38
[36] “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
[37] “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. [38] “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure-pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
Here is where Jesus lays out the greatest news of joy. Joy that is immediately accessible, joy that is incomprehensible and joy that is radical. Beatitude Joy! Jesus makes the components of the “attitudes” of the joyful life plainly available to all who “heed” his words:
1. Be merciful [G3629 oiktirmnon] just as your Father is merciful
The term for mercy means to be compassionate — of one feeling. Even simpler, it means to have a tender heart. Allow your heart to be broken with tenderness and you will know the joy of God.
2. Do not judge [G2919 krino] or condemn [G2613 katadikazo], instead pardon [G630 apoluo] and you will be pardoned
It boils down to this; we will be judged as we judge others. Do we want to be judged by the law or by love? We will be judged by how we judge others. Do we want to live by mercy or by self-righteousness? We will be judged by how we judge others. Do we want to live our lives giving away forgiveness or gathering up the times we have been offended?
Kingdom liberation, beatitude fulfillment is available in total personal abandonment of my self-righteous and total embracing of Christ’s gift of salvation. As Francis of Assisi would pray: “My dearest God who are You? And who am I but your useless servant?” In the total abandonment of my pride and hubris I will find the total fulfillment of Christ’s beatitudes.
Jesus says that only if I judge others will God condemn me. Only if I damn others will God damn me but to the extent that I pardon others — free them fully, release them, dismiss them or pay their ransom — will I be fully pardoned. Is there any judgment I want to hold on to that will get in the way of that freedom? Is there any anger or pride for which I would exchange my freedom?
“For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”
“Give, and it will be given to you.”
“Give…”
The Gospel of Jesus Christ boils down to this word. Not just love — for love can be passive or selfish. Yet, “Give,” is the act of love with no boundaries.
“Give…”
The term in Greek for give [G1325 didomi] is one of the most frequently used words in the Gospels. It meant to minister, to grant power, to suffer for and to yield to. It was also a word for being “given a great challenge” and herein is the greatest challenge. To live a continuously giving life until one flows like Living Water, like Jesus Christ, a never-ending stream of power (meaning, ability and authority).
And here is the most radical of all the Beatitude concepts; in giving we receive. Not just a little, but imagine the kind old man who used to fix an ice cream cone, pushing each scoop to the bottom and heaping it all over the top. The ice cream melting all over your hands because you couldn’t lick it fast enough. That is God.
Jesus is saying to his disciples (the one’s who had given up everything to follow him, “You can’t outgive God!”
“Remember what you saw this day? The power flowing out — the healing of paralytics, demoniacs, epileptics, the blind, the lost, the dying. Remember all that you saw today? Would you rather go back to fishing? Would you rather go back to tax collecting? Which singular shout of joy would you trade to return to your old, judgmental existence?”
I was blessed this morning when one of our mentors said to the group in one of our jail studies; “I remember when Jerry first asked me to come into the jails on Monday nights. This is going to sound so shallow! I actually had to pray — I didn’t want to miss my Monday Night Football. Sitting back at the end of the day in my easy chair with the channel changer. Now, I feel so foolish — there isn’t one day I would trade for that old life.”
Are you ready for that ice cream cone? Then give! Are you ready for eternal joy to start now? Then Give!! Are you ready for Kingdom Liberation? Then GIVE!!!
“Give and it will be given to you. Blessings will pour into your lap, good measure-pressed down, shaken together and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”