As I read the text (Luke 6.17-26) the first thing I noticed is that in Luke’s version of this story, Jesus stands on level ground (17) and looks into the eyes of the crowd. I don’t think I have ever paid specific attention to that verse before. It has sort of been the introductory verse leading into the main points, perhaps skipped over a little too quickly. Today, I lingered there and thought about that approach to talking to others — level ground and looking into their eyes. I think there is something very significant here, something very powerful.
So, Jesus stands on level ground, looks into the eyes of the crowd, and speaks a dangerous truth: Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the hungry. Blessed are the weeping. Blessed are the ones the world rejects. This is not a comfortable word. This is a revolutionary word.
In Luke the words poverty and hunger are not spiritualized. There’s nothing to soften the blow. Jesus is speaking to those who have nothing, who feel the gnawing ache of hunger, who weep. Jesus is speaking to those who are hated, excluded, reviled and defamed.
And Jesus is saying to them, God is on your side.
I think this is a challenging message for these days. We need to stand on level ground and look into the eyes of the hungry, the poor, the excluded, the reviled and the rejected. It is hard to do, especially as in the face of what we see there can be a sense of our own inability to help
And if that message alone was not radical enough, Jesus then delivers the woes. Woe to you who are rich, who are full, who are laughing now.
I don’t think this is because wealth, food, or joy are bad in themselves, but more because if we allow them to, they can lull us into complacency. They so easily convince us that we have no responsibility to our neighbor. However, after our conversations at the retreat yesterday, during our discussion on the theme of theodicy, it was encouraging to hear everyone express concern for the plight of others in this current time plus a willingness to do what they could to change the situation.
Today’s gospel fits well with that theme as a radical Jesus invites each of us to live differently recognizing that those who are blessed are the unhoused person in the cold, the refugee seeking safety.
Jesus’ message is clear. If we find ourselves in places of abundance, we are called to stand in solidarity with those who are hungry, poor, excluded, reviled and rejected — to look at them from level ground.
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