Jesus’ comments about blessings and woes are sometimes interpreted as a forecast of what is to come. The poor shall be rewarded, the hungry will be filled, those who weep will laugh. Being hated scorned, insulted, and spurned won’t be so bad because this will gain you a great reward. But woe to those who are rich because you’ve had yours now and there won’t be more of that. Woe to you who are full because you are going to be hungry. As for those of you who are laughing now, woe is me you are going to weep in your grief. As for you whom folks speak well of, well we all know what horrors are in store for you because we’ve seen it all before. It’s as if these blessings and woes are a kind of prediction of a reversal of fortunes.
The Inclusive Language Lectionary which I used today uses the words “Happy are…” But ‘happy’ is a word which seems to jar. And not everyone is happy with the ‘happy’ translation. Some commentators reckon it makes Jesus out to be some kind of “pop psychologist”. (Sarah Dylan Breuer). On the other hand, doesn’t everyone strive to be ‘happy’?
Then there is the more familiar translation, ‘blessed’. But that is open to the irritating touch of the pious.
A third suggestion is to replace ‘blessed’, the traditional term derived from the Latin, with its modern equivalent ‘congratulations!’ For in these sayings “Jesus declares that certain groups are in God’s special favor”. (Funk 1993:138)
While a fourth option is to translate the Greek as ‘honoured’ . (J H Neyrey). ‘Honoured are you when you make the greatest claim for others; honoured are you when you bring peace rather than being a source of dissension; honoured are you when you act non-violently in the face of violence.’
I have only one question. Where’s the good news? What’s the point of predicting that things are going to be turned upside down? Is Jesus really pointing toward a Creator who is nothing more than a judge who’s going to punish those who appear to have won life’s lottery, so that the apparent losers can become apparent winners? After all is said and done, isn’t Jesus the rabbi who lived and died teaching the way of LOVE? Clearly, we need to look beyond interpretations that set up the apparent winners and losers as players in a perverse game of reversal of fortunes. It’s long past time for us to move beyond a philosophy that pits winners and loser against one another as if the only way we can have winners is if someone loses.
So, where is the good news here? Good news for the rich and the poor? Good news for the hungry and the fed? Good news for those who weep and for those who laugh? Good news for the winners and for the losers?
Barbara Brown Taylor, a celebrated preacher, warns us that there is a danger of interpreting the blessings and woes as rewards and punishments, and cautions us against seeing Jesus’ sermon on the plain as prescriptive rather than descriptive. She points to the image of a Ferris wheel to remind us that what goes up must come down.
The anonymous gospel storyteller that we call Luke painted us a picture that supplies more than enough clues for us to figure out what is being said here. Jesus comes down from the mountain. For Luke’s Jewish audience: a rabbi comes down from the mountain, just like the prophet MOSES!!! Only Jesus isn’t carrying tablets containing the Law, Jesus comes down the mountain and tells us who we are.
I suspect that the anonymous gospel storyteller painted a picture of the level place the way that he did so that everyone could see themselves in that picture. In this picture of Jesus, we see a rabbi who is not prescribing the way things will be in the future, but rather the way things are now. Life is full of ups and downs, blessings and woes. And lest we be tempted to condemn some as losers and celebrate others as winners, we ought to remember that at one time or another in all of our lives, we embody all the blessings and woes that come our way. Remember, this is a description of how life is. The prescription comes after the description.
Listen to what the anonymous gospel storyteller that we call Luke writes immediately after our Gospel reading: Jesus says: “To you who hear me, I say: love your enemies. Do to others what you would have them do to you. Be compassionate, as your loving God is compassionate.” (Luke 6: 27-36)
Now there’s a prescription! Jesus reminds us who we are by describing how life is, ups and downs, winning and losing, celebrated and condemned, spinning wheel spinning round. What’s a body to do, when life so very full of ups and downs? Remember who you are, see how your neighbours, and yes even your enemies are doing, and realize that if you are blessed, the best response you can have is be a blessing. Because that wheel has a tendency to spin. “Be compassionate as your loving God is compassionate.”
I remember a story that I learned when I went to a Buddhist retreat centre to learn how to meditate. Apparently, there was a student who went to the monk who was teaching meditation said, “My meditation is horrible! I feel so distracted, my legs ache, and I’m constantly falling asleep!” The monk rather matter-of-factly said: “It will pass.”
Well, a week later, wouldn’t you know it the student went back to the monk and said: “My meditation is wonderful! I feel so aware, so peaceful, so alive! It’s just wonderful!” The monk replied: “It will pass.”
Beloved, the blessings and woes of life come thick and fast, but Love, well Love is constant. As those who follow the Rabbi Jesus, let us respond to all the blessings and woes that we encounter with Love. Let us remember who we are, the blessed and the cursed, and let us respond to the winners and the losers, the rich and the poor, the hungry and the full, the celebrated and the cursed, the good and the bad, our neighbours and our enemies with compassion. Just as our loving God is compassionate.
Bibliography:
Dylan’s Lectionary Blog. Sarah Dylan Breuer. 2005.
Funk, R. W. et al. The Five Gospels. The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus. New York. Macmillan Publishing, 1993.
Jerome H. Neyrey. <http://www.nd.edu/~jneyrey1/loss.html> “Honoring the Dishonored: The Cultural Edge of Jesus’ Beatitudes,”