All Saints’ Day

All Saints’ Day WHAT DO YOU NEED? 11/4 & 7/04

The setting is a college campus as the Pastor meets with students for a discussion of “Christian worship.” The students gathered with what the Pastor noted were “zombie-like stares.” So, he asked them” “What is the strangest thing you’ve ever experienced in Christian worship?” One student immediately spoke up, saying I think the weirdest things is when, at the beginning, in the opening parade they bring in this great, big book. They bring it up and put it up on that stand. Then, the person bringing the book in sort of turns to the people sitting up front in the white dresses and indicates ‘Here, work from this!’ That’s weird!” Well, this is not exactly what the Pastor had anticipated, but thanked the student for so eagerly and openly sharing.

That Pastor, and this Pastor, thought a good deal about what that student shared. He had observed that a group of reasonably intelligent, 21^st century people gather, for an hour or so during the week, and say, “Let’s all believe that these ancient Jews knew more than we do. Let’s just try that for an hour or so and see where we’ll be!” The student is right, you know, that really is weird! What we are doing this morning is “weird”! Many of us carried in, while others picked up copies upon entering, our Bibles and…along with millions of other people…we will read and listen and consider lessons written 2000 years ago, or longer.

Let us turn, specifically, to our Gospel lesson in Luke 6: 20-31…What do you notice about these verses? Have you noticed the coupling of a series of blessings with a series of woes? Translations use the terms “blessings” or “happy” or “blest” coupled with the phrases“how miserable” or “how terrible” and “oh, the sorrows.” Where might you “locate” yourself in this series from the Savior, Jesus Christ, as He preached long, long ago? What’s more, who but Jesus can provide what Jesus actually promises in these verses? Who can turn to the poor and tell them: “You are blessed”? Who but Jesus can turn to people who are mourning, grieving their loss of loved ones and say: “You are going to be tremendously happy!” Who but Jesus can turn to the starving and destitute in Liberia and the Sudan…children with bulging eyeballs, sunken cheeks, spindly arms and legs, empty but swollen stomachs and say: “What happiness there is for you, for you will be satisfied and filled.”

As we hear and hear again…as we read and re-read this Gospel…what is our experience? As I hear “Blessed are the poor,” I think “Well, that’s nice, but I’m not poor.” As I hear “Blessed are you who are hungry,” I consider that I’m not hungry by any means. If anything, I’m overfed! When I hear “Blessed are you who weep now,” I am thinking: “That’s not me either. I am not afraid, nor embarrassed, to cry, but my life offers more cause for joy than tears. When I hear “Bless are you when folks hate you, exclude you, make fun of you and defame you for my sake,” I know that when this occurs it is not likely on account of my allegiance to Jesus Christ. If I’m treated this way, it is not because of Jesus, it is because I can act like a jerk! Our Lord’s initial comments don’t seem, based upon my understanding, to pertain to me. Do they pertain to you?

Reading on, though, beginning at verse 24, my mood dramatically changes. Here is where Jesus’ words seem directed and applicable to me---“Woe to you who are rich,” creates something of a twist in the pit of my stomach. “Woe to you who are full now” strikes a bit close to home. Hearing “Woe to you who are laughing now” my heart beat increases and my blood pressure seems on the rise. I can’t escape“Woe to you when all speak well of you,” as I receive far more compliments and accolades than I deserve or have any justifiable right to expect.

It doesn’t take much for me to figure out where I am in all of this. Have you figured out where you are? Using world-wide standards, we are certainly not the poor, the hungry, nor the persecuted. We are, most certainly, the rich, the well-fed and over-fed, the respected, with ample reasons to be happy. The things that Christ blesses---poverty, hunger, grief, unpopularity---are the things we try our darndest to avoid. The things Christ says will cause us woe or misery or sorrow are the things we have always attempted to gain. Jesus is NOT describing how things should be, but how things are and how things will be ! It would seem that Jesus’ teaching does not make sense to the rich or the poor, the well-fed or starving, the popular or the persecuted. Until, that is, we acknowledge the context for Jesus’ teaching.

He is on the plains of Galilee, surrounded by thousands of people who have come to see him from as far north as Lebanon and all over Judea. They have come to hear Jesus, have their diseases healed, and be set free from the spirits that troubled them. The primary difference between them and ourselves is not so much location, as perceived need. They were dis-eased, whereas most of us are at-ease…relaxed, comfortable, content. They acknowledged the “unclean spirit” within them, whereas many moderners may only sing about “create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

The multitudes crowded around Jesus, trying only to touch Him. They needed what Christ, alone, offered to them. What do you need? What is your most ardent and persistent prayer? What, amidst all that you have and are, do you still desperately need? For some reason, it is easier for people to come to Christ if they are diseased, trouble, and painfully aware of their needs. For some reasons, the poor have less to distract them from God. For some reasons, the hungry are quicker to feel their dependence upon God for nourishment. For some reason, the mourning are quicker to discover their comfort can be found in nothing less than God!

What’s that? You have learned that wealth is empty and you want to accomplish at least one or two decent things during your lifetime? If you are rich, like me, what we really need in life is meaning and purpose. What we need is to give and give as God can never be out-given. Come to the table, eat, drink, and be forgiven. Amen.

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