This week’s talk/sermon

This is a transcript of the talk or sermon for this Sunday



Luke’s version of the Beatitudes ‘The sermon on the plain’

I found this week’s passage from Luke’s gospel rather difficult to unravel and get my head around. As clergy I suppose we are expected to know everything that’s contained in the bible, but sometimes we find certain passages harder than others to understand. Guidance from the Holy Spirit is essential in our bible reading and in our understanding of the text to help us in our walk with God.

Today’s passage from Lukes gospel is generally known as the sermon on the plain. Which is in contrast with the sermon on the mount reported by Matthew. Luke’s version teaches about life in the kingdom of God. To begin Jesus slips away to a high mountain to pray and spends the night there in prayer. When morning came, He called His disciples together and went back down the mountain and stood on a level place.

Our reading from Luke is often called the Beatitudes, but we may be more familiar with the way Matthew wrote them down in his gospel. For Matthew gives us nine blessings while Luke gives us only four, Luke also gives us four woes, or what we might call warnings.

Matthew keeps it spiritual, he talks about attitudes of the heart, “blessed are the poor in spirit”. The focus here is what’s inside you. Luke is very solid. “Blessed are the poor” the focus is on what’s happening on the outside. Matthew gives us “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” while Luke gives us “blessed are you who are hungry now”. So which one is right? Matthew or Luke? I think that they both give faithful summaries of what Jesus was talking about on that day. There are important lessons in both versions of the beatitudes that we can learn from.

God wants to give good things to His followers, for Jesus started at the very beginning of his ministry announcing blessings. For God made an incredibly rich and beautiful world for us to live in, He does really want to bless us. He wants to be with us to help us build lives that reflect those blessings. Jesus tells us that there is a special blessing for those who are poor. In Matthew’s gospel it says poor in spirit, Luke just says “the poor”. Now poor is the word for people who don’t have any money. The first blessing from Luke’s account matches the first woe, “woe to the rich” they go together like two sides of the same coin. Jesus points out here a warning to those who are rich, the bible warns us over and over again about the problems that can come from money. The love of money can be addictive, sometimes people who have more than enough just keep chasing wealth. Money can give you a false sense of security, they think everything is okay, they don’t need God, being rich can make you complacent and that can be dangerous. Jesus is not being mean or unfair when he says “woe to you who are rich” no, for he loves us all enough to warn us. He also reminds those who don’t have much that they can be deeply blessed anyway.

The second blessing is actually for those who are hungry now, the world is full of hungry people. God does really care about them, he prompts us to pay attention to them, to feed them. Jesus is speaking here to people who were often hungry because there was simply no food in the house. I suppose for us who are reasonably well fed, or too well fed, it might leave us complacent before God and when that happens, we are on dangerous ground. We need to look around us, here in Mickleover there has been an increase in people using food banks. But it is not just here, it is country wide. We can make a difference to people’s lives; can you give just a little more to Derby food 4 thought alliance?

The third blessing is for those who weep. This is matched with a warning to those who laugh now. God does not disapprove if we have a good laugh, for God is not against laughter. The psalms even says that God laughs. There are people who go through life thinking that life is one big laugh. They avoid the serious things of life. This kind of attitude can make them blind to what God is doing, it can make them blind to the importance of life. But there are those who really care about the things that matter. About those who hurt and find life very difficult. People who care deeply enough to weep about them, in God’s eyes those who care, those who dare to love are the ones who are richly blessed.

To finish our reading Jesus offers us one final thought, to cheer us up! Persecution.

Our goal and our hope in life as Christians is to be like Jesus. Jesus was persecuted, just look at the gospels. Jesus did say that if we aim to be like Him, we will have times when life seems to be against us and hard. For Jesus did say that “if people hate you, they hated me first”. That’s John chapter 15 verse 18. It is very unlikely that we will be crucified like Jesus or stoned to death like Stephen, but persecution comes in all shapes and sizes.

Please take heart if you are struggling at this time, or you can’t see how you are going to pay the next utility bill. You may be having to cut down on your grocery bill. Or you may be worried about the state and the suffering of the world. Please be encouraged, God does care about the poor and the needy, God does see and care about you, I pray that whatever circumstances you may find yourself in, just open your heart to God, because He does understand what you are going through.

To finish, I think that it is only right that we give thanks to God for our many blessings. Like this old song says, ‘count your blessings, name them one by one’. Believe me life can change in an instant.

We can thank God by obeying His word, also by expressing our thanksgiving through thankful giving, which could be our time or donations to charities or food banks. Another way to thank God is through prayer. You could also express your gratitude to those people who have helped and encouraged you on your journey as a Christian. God longs to hear from you, He wants to have a relationship with you.

Why, because He loves you.

Every blessing, Rev Ian.