St. Andrews Episcopal Church

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HOMILY PREACHED ON EPIPHANY V, 2.11.7
[Luke 6:17-26]

A very early “source” for Jesus’ words was used by Matthew and Luke, and that’s what you heard Max/Jim read today: “Q” we call it from the German word, quelle, for “source.” I’m sure you recognized the words as the Beatitudes, but with a twist. Known as “The Sermon on the Mount,” Matthew’s setting reminded the Hebrews of Mt Sinai and the Ten Commandments. Good ol’ down-to-earth Luke had Jesus come down to a level place, reserving mountains as a place of prayer and vision.* Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount” = Luke’s “Sermon on the Plain!” Matthew has 8 beatitudes, Luke only 4 - and probably closer to the original. How do we know? Because Luke’s version has no spiritual interpretation - always a sign of the church’s commentary. Luke was always interested in the lower classes, so he has Jesus bless the poor and hungry, not the “poor in spirit” Matthew has, but just plain poor, just hungry. Matthew’s version reminds me of a pastel painting, Luke’s sharp, vividly clear – like the contrast between weeping now and laughing in the time to come!*

What do you mean “laughing?” That surprises people. Religion is supposed to make you laugh? You can do that?!! It’s as if laughter would be unseemly, so ancient translators chose another word: “Bless-ed.” Bless-ed are the poor. You can see generations imagining Jesus lifting his eyes to heaven, a perfect picture of piety. Finally translators wrote, “How blessed. . .” That’s a start! Then finally The Jerusalem Bible dared to say it: “Happy are those. . .” Religion can make you happy! What a thought, since most religion makes most people feel guilty! But following the text of Q, Luke adds 4 “woes” - the flip side, showing what Jesus saw underneath.

How happy you poor?
Woe to you who are rich, you’ve already received your consolation!

How happy you hungry people are now?
Woe to you to you who are full now, you’re going to be hungry!

How happy are all of you who weep now; you shall laugh!
Woe to you who are laughing now, you’re going to mourn and weep.

How happy you can be when people hate you, exclude, revile and defame you; your reward is great in heaven. (Imagine what it was like to hear that if you’d been excluded all your life!) Woe to you when all speak well of you – your ancestors spoke well of false prophets, too!

Why the woes of happiness? The shadow side of happiness is that it can, if we’re not careful, make us self-satisfied, oblivious to pain and need. Over and over it’s shown that poor people give a larger percent of income to charity than we who are well off. We may give more, but the proportion is way off. That’s true here, too. We give a lot, but what percent? Our happiness can insulate us from need, blind us from seeing, responding. We all have enough trouble in our own lives, we don’t want to hear the “woes.” I have a hard time watching television tragedies, they hurt too much. If E.R. comes on, I leave. I experience enough with you in your real pain.

Here’s the clincher from Jesus’ words: the kind of love which following him demands – like the love of God - extends to those who don’t deserve it, including your enemies, those who don’t like you, people who hurt you, who don’t wish you well.* That’s hard; that’s Jesus’ way.

Modern words expressing those Beatitudes – those “Happitudes!” – kept running through my mind, and I was able to find them on the Internet. You may have heard them before, posted by Dr. Wayde Goodall. I think they express Jesus’ intent in those Beatitudes for our time.

People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

If you’re successful, you’ll win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway. The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people with the smallest ideas. Think big anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People really need help, but may attack you if you help them. Help them anyway. Give the world the best you have, and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give them the best you’ve got, anyway.

In a similar way, a 16th century monk, Fra Giovanni, gave this blessing, which I think reflects the heart of Jesus’ Beatitudes, appropriate for our 10th Celtic Mass from Gaul:

No heaven can come to us unless our hearts can find rest in today. No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant.

The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is Joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness, could we but see – and to see we have only to look. Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by their covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard. Remove the covering and you will find it a living splendor, woven in love, by wisdom, with power. Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the Angel’s hand that brings it to you. Life is so full of Meaning and Purpose, so full of Beauty – beneath its covering – that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage then to claim it: that is all!”

In that “Love them anyway” spirit, Christ encourages us to be happy in spite of everything that may happen to us, seeing the joy behind the shadows, the peace hidden in every instant if we will remove the covering to find life full of meaning and purpose and beauty. How blessed. How happy! Go for it!

* information from Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary, page 682

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