February 17, 2019
Hope Lutheran Church
Rev. Mary Erickson
Jer. 17:5-10; Ps. 1; Lk. 6:17-26
Where True Blessedness Is Found
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Blessedness. That’s the common word in all of our readings today.
• Jeremiah tells us, “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord”
• The Psalmist says, “Blessed are those who haven’t walked in the counsel of the wicked.”
Sometimes the word for “blessed” is translated as “happy.” But the word connotes something much deeper and more substantial than mere happiness. The word in Greek is MAKARIOS. The root of that word means to become large. Blessedness has to do with increase and expansion.
That’s why the mention of blessedness in the reading from Luke doesn’t seem to compute. Jesus associates blessing with the very places suffering from an ABSENSE of expansion. Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor; blessed are the hungry; blessed are those who weep and blessed are those who are hated.”
These aren’t expanding places. They’re the shrinking places. These should be the realms with an absence of blessing. These are the territories of woe. But Jesus calls them blessed. So there must be something expanding in these situations. Something must be emerging for Jesus to say that they’re blessed.
The people have been crowding around Jesus. Picture the Beatles coming to America in 1964. Huge crowds wherever he went. People have come from as far away as the foreign regions of Tyre and Sidon to see Jesus. They’ve come to hear him speak. And they’ve come that he might heal them. People swarm in to touch him. They have a deep yearning, and Jesus seems to fulfill their need. This is when Jesus tells his disciples “blessed are the poor and hungry.”
The way Luke recalls it this encounter much more raw and literally when compared with Matthew. Matthew tells us, “Blessed are the poor IN SPIRIT, and blessed are those who hunger AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS.” In terms of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Matthew’s version connects us at a higher plane of human needs. Matthew connects us to the spiritual level. But Luke’s version connects us with the very basics of human needs: want, sorrow, and rejection. These are the people Jesus says are blessed.
Luke goes on. Jesus doesn’t stop with who is blessed. He also relates who is not blessed:
• Woe to you who are rich
• Woe to you who are full
• Woe to you who are laughing
• And woe to you when all speak well of you
On the surface, doesn’t it seem like this is the better lot? In each one of these, life is becoming large! Isn’t that blessing? Who doesn’t want to be rich and satisfied? Who doesn’t want to live a happy life and be accepted and well esteemed by society? The poor and hungry certainly do. The scorned and hated want that.
Jesus is drawing a careful distinction of where we derive our security. When our lives expand, we feel blessed. And it’s easy to anchor ourselves in those worldly advantages.
It’s also very easy for the church to get swept up into it as well. How tempting is a Gospel of Prosperity! If we do what is right, if our lives are pleasing to God, then God’s bounty will enrich us! It’s very convincing. We go to church to improve our lives. Faith will make us more positive, and when we’re more positive, then the world’s riches will open to us.
But Jesus didn’t preach a gospel of prosperity. He said, “Blessed are the poor.”
In 2004 I had the opportunity to visit our companion synod in Malawi, Africa. We visited several congregations located in cities and also in the rural villages. People in the villages are especially poor. They live off the land.
While there we also witnessed one of the vital ministries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malawi, their orphan feeding stations. Our synod helps to support this ministry. At every station, the villagers have identified the 50 most at-risk children under the age of five. These children are placed on the list to receive nourishing meal several times a week. The goal is to prevent permanent brain damage from lack of nourishment.
Many years ago, a Catholic sister developed a fortified hot cereal called Likuni Phala. It supplies all the essential nutrients needed for a day. The villagers prepare a large pot of this nourishing cereal. One by one, the names of the children are called out. One serving is very carefully measured out in a bowl and given to each child.
Watching this feeding event occur was extremely humbling. It felt almost sacred to watch these very skinny children and babies be fed this life-sustaining cereal.
Wherever we went, we worshiped with the people there. And the Malawians worship with such joy and energy! They came wearing their best, and in many instances, their best clothing was quite worn. The soles of their shoes had holes in them, their sleeves were frayed, their jackets were mended and faded. But the joy of their worship was unparalleled.
All of us on the trip came away with the sense that the people in Malawi have something that we don’t. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. But for all of our material advantages and their disadvantages, they are simply happier than we are! In comparison to them, I was on the side of woe.
How can that be? I think it has to do with where we place our trust. When our lives have a lot of material margin, it’s easy to place our trust in that security. It’s very easy to rely on our full cupboards and bank accounts. But the poor don’t have that option. They rely on God for their daily bread. They look to God every single day. Where do we place our trust?
When I was a girl, my grandfather loved to feed the birds. At the time, they were living in Mesa, Arizona. My grandfather had several hanging feeders made from birch logs. Someone had drilled shallow holes in the logs about the width of your thumb. Grandpa made this concoction of lard, peanut butter and bird seed. He kept in in his refrigerator. He used a table knife to fill in the holes of the logs with this homemade suet.
The birds LOVED it! They positively attacked those feeders. When all the holes were empty, Grandpa would go fetch the feeders to fill them up again. As he went outside and drew near to the feeders, the birds flew away, as birds will do. This went on for quite a while.
But then something changed. One day, the birds seemed to figure out that Grandpa was the one who was filling the bird feeders. He was the source of the wonderful suet! And now, when Grandpa came outside to fill the feeders, the birds flew around his head in joy! Grandpa was the source of their blessing!
“Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by the water, sending out its roots by the stream.”
When we know the source of our blessings, we’re directly rooted into that life-giving force.
That’s the great blessing of the poor, the hungry, the sorrowful and the despised. They know the source of their blessing. They are rooted to God. Trusting in anything else is only woe. For one day, they will let us down.
I grew up in Nebraska. The climate in Nebraska is more arid than the one we enjoy here in Wisconsin. It’s possible here for a farmer to grow their crops without the benefit of irrigation. But in many parts of Nebraska, you can’t grow crops without irrigation. Nothing can survive but the hardy prairie grasses.
Of course, on the prairies of Nebraska you can see for quite a distance. And looking out, you know exactly where every creek and stream is located. For along the banks of those creeks, trees are growing. They don’t grow anywhere else. The presence of trees marks each and every creek. The creek is the source of their life. It sustains them.
May our lives bear testimony like those trees planted by the waters. Place your trust in the steadfast love of God. And when we do, our lives will bear the great fruits of righteousness: joy, hope and charity. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
