Nov. 3, 2019                    All Saints                                         

This past week, at our Sandwich/Somonauk minister’s text study, we tried to break down Luke’s version of the Beatitudes from Jesus sermon on the plain. I admit it was a bit like trying to threat a needle with mittens, but we made the attempt. I hope this is helpful.

Blessed are you…. This phrase is often used in psalms to denote a spiritual blessing which comes from faith in God, and from relying up God, or God’s word for the living of our lives.

Blessed are you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of heaven. As we know, the kingdom of heaven is one that is built on a foundation of relationships, friends, family. It is in these that the poor find a wealth of blessings, and comfort in time of loss. 

Blessed are you when you are hungry, for you will be filled. Hunger can certainly make you appreciate, even yearn for what you don’t have. This doesn’t just apply to food. Luke’s version of the Beatitudes is often called the spiritualized version. In this version one can hunger, as Matthew points out for justice, righteousness, and more. Hunger makes us appreciate what is necessary in life, and through faith, the promise is that in pursuing those things, we will be filled.

Blessed are you who weep now for you will laugh. As a recent movie once noted, “real sadness and loss doesn’t occur in a person’s life until they love someone more than they love themselves.”  Through our faith in Jesus Christ, we learn how to love, and that love can be painful, cause us sorrow and a sense of loss, but it also teaches us to be thankful for those in our lives, and to one day give thanks for them, and to rejoice and be happy at the blessings that love has brought to our lives.

Blessed are you when you are Reviled or Defamed – one of my favorite country songs has a line that goes, “to say the thing that everyone says, isn’t the way man.” When Jesus talks about people being reviled or defamed, it isn’t because of something they have done wrong, but because they have taken a stand, and said what they believe needed to be said. Like the prophets they testified to their faith in God, and were rejected by those who didn’t believe.

Now for the woes, one of the members of our group noted that the Greek translation for woes was more like a warning, watch out! proceed at your own risk! 

Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your reward. Those who rely upon wealth for their lives, will often find that they have fewer and fewer relationships in which they will find comfort. It is possible to have it all, wealth does not imply separation from God, but a wealthy life, has to be grounded in faith and in relationships with others, otherwise it becomes isolated and empty, and that is a difficult task.  

Woe to you that are full now, for you will be hungry. It’s ironic how the wealthy say, no one suffers more in poverty than a rich person. I imagine that might be true, no one knows hunger like someone who has always dined on the best in life. Also, no one hungers for justice and righteousness, more than the status quo, when it has been taken away from them. If we have empathy for others, and seek justice for all, we would all be much better off.

         Woe to you who laugh now for you will mourn and weep. I can only guess that Jesus is talking about the scoffers from Psalm 1. People who look upon the problems of others and laugh at their foolishness. In the psalms, these people really haven’t grown to love others, and make fun of even those closest to them. In time, when tragedy strikes them, they will truly mourn and weep, because basically, no one cares for them either.

Woe to you that are well spoken of… As I noted above, I believe that Jesus is speaking about those who say what everyone wants them to say. They are not boat rockers, trouble makers, and etc. They echo what their leaders say, and they expect others to admire them for it. Our scriptures tell us that God brings down the powerful and raises up the weak. If all we do is repeat what everyone else says, we will be remembered for that.

So, one of our pastor’s asked, what does this have to do with all saints Sunday? As I will note later in our Word’s of remembrance, our saints, whose lives we celebrate today, embodied many of these blessings, and avoided many of these woes. They built their lives on a solid foundation of relationships rather than things.  They appreciated the necessities of life that God provided for them and they hungered for justice and righteousness, through their work in the church, and their love for others. They understood sadness and loss, and were genuinely thankful in the living of their lives for others for others, rejoicing in them. And they were solid people who lived their faith without regard for condemnation or praise. They were truly people worth knowing, and following, as disciples of Jesus Christ. Amen.