Luke 6:20-31

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

“Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.

“Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

“Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

…so their fathers did to the prophets, Jesus says to one group in the text; …so their fathers did to the false prophets, He says to the other group. He’s comforting the first; He’s warning the second. You need both, this morning.

When we talk about treatment of the prophets, it might be that what comes to mind for you is the faithful obedience of the Widow of Zerephath in the book of Elijah, of her preparing of a cake of bread for the prophet, even though she had just a little left to feed her and her son one last time (her trust of God’s prophet resulted in supplies that were miraculously replenished, and sustained for a long period of time). Maybe that’s what comes to mind—that widow’s faithfulness, kindness toward the prophet.

More likely, though, what comes immediately to mind is poor treatment of the prophets, during the Old Testament time leading up the so-called Babylonian Captivity. God’s people of about seven-hundred years before Christ, had ignored His warnings about getting too friendly with the peoples around them in the land to which He’d brought them after Egypt. They’d intermarried with people who didn’t know the true God, something God had warned them against because it would lead to them losing their faith. It’d happened. They’d fallen in with them, into the worship of false gods and every form of wickedness.

God had sent prophets to say angry things to them about what they were doing, what they’d become (they couldn’t be recognized any more as His people, having become so entangled with the world’s ungodliness). In St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, he quotes the prophet Elijah, who’d appealed to God against Israel in that time, saying, “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life (11:3).”

Besides rejecting God’s true prophets, they’d also invited the counsel of false prophets. They wanted to hear lies; because the truth bugged them. Rather than listening to what God had to say, they opened their arms to anyone saying, Go ahead and keep doing what you’re doing. Ignore whatever God says. He just wants you to be happy. You won’t suffer any consequences for it.

It’d be like if somebody said, The IRS? —Pfff. Those guys  are just kidding about you paying taxes. They don’t really expect you to do it! Certainly, the IRS would disagree. And in the case of what those false prophets were saying about God’s Law, He disagreed. Through His own faithful prophet Ezekiel, He'd condemned these false ones who had, smeared whitewash for [the people], seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ’Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken (Ezekiel 22:28). His hand would be against [these false prophets], He’d said in that time (Eze. 13:9).

In our text, Jesus is talking about what’s happening now, and what’ll be happening in that day. Now, is the time of this world, of course—of their lives here. By in that day, He’s talking about what’s happening at the end of this life.

First, He addresses the faithful ones. There are those in every generation—even in that time we started out talking about (Elijah’s time, and Ezekiel’s). You can imagine what life was like for them, living amongst a generation determined to oppose God, even to ignore His kingdom entirely (you were hearing it in Elijah’s words: they’ve killed your prophets…they seek my life).

It’s a lonely feeling—in the first place, to be cognizant of one’s own sin, to feel guilty before God (think of the tax collector, beating his breast in the Temple, saying, God have mercy on me, a sinner [Luke 18:13]). And then, to be in the midst of a world that has no such recognition, even makes light of a person thinking and feeling that way (even attacks them sometimes, or excludes them).

The school students recite in chapel several times a week, St. Matthew’s version of Christ’s Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount (those blessed are the…, or blessed are you when… statements). Matthew’s rendering of it includes more of those blessed are statements, but for whatever reason, not the bit about the prophets in his telling of what Christ said.

Pastor Ring began this year’s reciting of those statements in chapel, making the point that we aren’t supposed to see them as directing us to do things. They aren’t laws—these Beatitudes. Rather, it’s like they’re saying, You know how you feel this certain way as a believer (sad over your sins, vulnerable amongst the people of the world—even hated, excluded, mocked because you’re observing God’s ways and anticipating His kingdom)? Well, take heart; because what you’re experiencing is temporary, and what’s in store for you will be eternal, and will make all this seem like it was nothing. That’s what these Beatitudes are saying. They’re words of comfort for believers.

In fact, in Luke’s Gospel, with the bit about the prophets, I think they’re even more comforting. It’s like they’re saying, Think of the company you’re in! There isn’t any question those faithful prophets were headed for God’s kingdom; and what you’re experiencing in this world is exactly what they were experiencing (in fact, it was even worse for them). They were feeling alone. They were feeling vulnerable. They saw the world mocking them, excluding them. So, you don’t have to feel like God is ignoring you, or punishing you. You’re just experiencing what it is for God’s people, who’ve already been reconciled to Him through Christ’s blood, to finally be united with Him, brought out of this corrupted, fallen world, and into His eternal kingdom.

Then there’s the woe to you’s portion. Woe to you who are…—and then it goes on to talk about the ones who are never experiencing any of the things we were talking about earlier (the things faithful believers experience). They aren’t excluded in the world because they haven’t demonstrated themselves to be any threat to the ones who are determined to oppose God. The God-opposers see them as fellow God-opposers. They save their energy, then, to mock and exclude and dishearten the faithful ones.

But Jesus’ warning to these ones is: Think of the company you’re in. God even says in that quote from Ezekiel’s prophecy, how He feels about the false prophets. His hand would be against them. The wicked ones of that time didn’t see these false prophets as any threat to their wickedness; so they tolerated them being around, even celebrated ‘em. The God-opposers considered them to be fellow God-opposers—these false prophets. Since they weren’t going to shoulder the burden of making God’s will known in the world and living according to it, they were able to live a pretty comfortable life.

When Jesus says, woe to you who are rich, He doesn’t even necessarily just mean people who have a lot of money; He’s talking about people who have made this life and its things their ultimate priority. Those people are full now, they laugh now, they have people speaking well of them now. But being comfortable in this temporary world is an awfully poor trade for what’s coming to that person in that day. At the end of this life, the comfort’s over; they have God’s hand against them for all eternity.

So, Jesus is warning the ones in His day who remind Him of those celebrated false prophets of old. He saying to them: Are you sure about this? ‘Cause, I mean, you can do it; but it isn’t going to end well. The way you’re being treated now by these people is the way false prophets were treated. They weren’t having to endure the difficulties of this life that come to believers (the loneliness, the mocking, the attacks, [today it’s even shaming isn’t it; as the godly are presented as wicked and the wicked as godly]).

We said you need both, Jesus’ warning and comfort this morning. Jesus and the apostles’ strong message is, this is a treacherous world to navigate, battling enemies of various kinds. It isn’t easy; it’s hard. They’re saying, just survive it, and get on to what you’re truly meant for as citizens of God’s eternal kingdom. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life—Jesus’ words in Revelation 2:10.

That same message is in what Jesus says at the end of the text for today. In all of it about loving your enemies, going out of your way to live at peace with people, generosity, the Golden Rule; it can certainly be read with that same sense of, the time is short. God’s people are about His business during whatever remains of this life and of this world.

But has that been your mindset? Is that the way you think? It’s tempting to opt to be liked by the people of the world, rather than to have them irritated at you because you had to tell them what God says about things, had to remove yourself from their ungodliness. It’s tempting to think of this world and this life as all there is, to be about the business of living your best life, as they say. Here; in this world. No doubt you’ve wandered over into that side of things from time to time. Your vigilance for God’s kingdom hasn’t been what it should have been. Recognize your sin and repent of it. Take Jesus’ warning woes for yourself.

But, as we’ve said, there has been a lot more to His message this morning. To the penitent sinners He says blessed are you. The one in whom you put your trust is the Lord Jesus Christ. During His struggles in this world He was never able to be enticed into sinning. His faithfulness against temptation stands as your own faithfulness because He put Himself in your place, dying for you—paying your price, buying your forgiveness. Along with that Risen One, you rise to eternal life.

So, blessed are you who now have had to endure trials and the struggles of this difficult world that come to those who follow Christ. Yours is God’s kingdom. You’ll be satisfied. You’ll laugh. You’ll leap for joy. You’ll inherit a great reward, just as the prophets did. Praise be to God. Amen.