What does a blessed life look like? Most would say a wealthy, prosperous, lavish lifestyle, good health and great joy in the things of this world, would be markers of blessing. So what does Jesus mean when he says:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.”
Doesn’t Jesus have that all back to front? Surely we’d be blessed if we were wealthy, with plenty of good things—wouldn’t we? What about the next bit: “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” Is Jesus saying that we should be downcast and miserable, then we will be blessed by God? No, Jesus isn’t saying that. He is not making poverty, hunger or sorrow conditions by which to receive blessing.
When Jesus says: “Blessed are the poor” he is not talking about financial poverty. One’s bank balance has never been a condition for receiving or withholding blessing in the Kingdom of God. Jesus is talking about spiritual matters. Today’s text comes after last week’s Gospel text with the miraculous catch of fish. You might remember that when Simon Peter recognised that he was in the presence of a holy God, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said: “Depart from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8).
That is a snapshot of everyone’s poverty before God. Romans 5:17 tells us by the sin of one man, death reigned through that one man. To be spiritually poor is the natural condition of all humanity ever since Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden, and in doing so, bankrupted the whole human race before God. From the moment of our conception the sinful nature is passed on to us as part of our DNA, and we are enemies of God and all that God stands for (Romans 5:10; Colossians 1:21).
God has revealed to us in his word that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). No matter how big our bank balance is, no one can offer up enough silver or gold to God to pay for their sin, let alone anyone else’s. Elsewhere Jesus posed the question “What can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” (Mark 8:37). We have nothing by which to repay our debt to God. We cannot earn God’s favour, but only beg for it. We can not contribute to our salvation and righteousness, for we are bankrupt. We have got nothing to give to God that could cause him to love us or forgive us.
Simon Peter could only lament his unworthiness; his spiritual poverty because he was first blessed by God. So too have all who recognise their spiritual poverty, and hunger for his grace and mercy because they have first been blessed, enlightened by the Holy Spirit.
Does it sometimes seem that those who couldn’t care less about God seem to prosper and have a fantastic life, while those who see their need for Jesus and follow him seem to struggle and suffer more? We see this more overseas: Christian villages in Africa are burned down, Chinese Christians are forced to meet underground, Christians in the Middle East are killed for their faith. Has God saved us only to be destroyed? Must we suffer first to qualify for his blessing?
When we are attacked, mistreated or ridiculed because of our faith in Jesus, this is not a sign that God has abandoned us. It is actually the very opposite—this abuse affirms that we are among the people who God has first chosen, redeemed and blessed. For just as the world crucified Christ, the world hates the church and the message of its heralds too. Paul says in Romans that Christians are regarded as little more than sheep to be slaughtered (Romans 8:36)—just as the Good Shepherd was crucified, the world seeks to silence the Good Shepherd’s sheep too. It might be tolerable if the church has a message of environmental responsibility, or inclusivity of all people, but when it speaks of the central message Jesus has commanded us to share—the need for repentance for the forgiveness of sins in Christ crucified alone—that’s when people get upset. It is offensive to the natural prideful condition to think that we would need to repent and seek grace from outside of ourselves, and be told what to do by him. So when rejection and attack from the world come to us on account that we are Christians, this is the very affirmation that we are children of God, which is why Jesus says:
“Blessed are you when others hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.”
Then Jesus adds: “For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.” God’s people didn’t always like the prophets. They were ok when they said nice things. But God sent his prophets to call the people to turn back to God and live under him. So, as well as blessings, Jesus also proclaims law—a series of woes:
‘But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when others speak well of you,
for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.
The false prophets told the people what they wanted to hear, rather than the Word of God. They lied and said that everything would be ok when in fact the people had forsaken covenant faithfulness with God for the prosperity and pleasures of the religions of their neighbours. The people lived for themselves, doing whatever they wanted. They didn’t live by God’s word anymore and worshipped lifeless statues. They sought guidance and help from foreign leaders rather than God. They were greedy and harsh, cheating and exploiting the vulnerable. They lived by their own rules not God’s commands and loved the things of this world more than God. Jeremiah powerfully portrayed this when he said: “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14). Approval from others was more important to the false prophets than approval from God. It meant turning a blind eye to sin and proclaiming that everything between God and his people was OK, to keep everyone happy.
When Jesus preached his sermon on the plain he was among the crowds with their ill and diseased and those troubled by evil spirits. These are manifestations of death and the Kingdom of Darkness at work in the world. Whoever looked to him for the saving help they needed Jesus pronounced blessing: “Blessed are the poor because yours is the Kingdom of God.” This episode points ahead to the Kingdom of God reigning from the Cross, where Jesus won the victory over sin, death and Satan, bringing freedom by shedding his precious blood—the only possible payment for sin.
That’s why Jesus also challenged those who trusted in the things of the world, to free them from slavery to the things of the world. It’s because he loved them enough to go to a cross and die for them, that he pronounced woes and pointed people instead to desire riches from the Kingdom of God, through faith in him. ‘The rich’ represents all those who are wealthy in the ways of the world, who trust in material things as the only purpose and goal to life. ‘The rich’ are those who imagine that they have all that they need and can do without God and his grace in Christ. They trust in themselves rather than God’s word and are not sorry for their sin but laugh at it and revel in it. They set their hearts on earthly riches as the one and only goal in life. But these idols never satisfy in a lasting way. They enslave and entangle, for one must work harder and harder at obtaining and maintaining them. The things of the world that can never give the life and blessing he does.
Through his sermon, Jesus teaches that whether a person is blessed or not is not measurable by what they have, or their life circumstances—but by whether they welcome or reject him—who the prophets pointed to—and listen to his word. A person who sees their need to repent, and who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness in Christ alone has truly first been blessed by God.
Jesus’ sermon on the plain is his ministry of bringing freedom for the captives that he first proclaimed in the synagogue in Nazareth back in Luke 4. Luke tells us that Jesus is present among sinners; not only those from Israel but the Gentiles beyond, represented by the regions of Tyre and Sidon, one of the first glimpses of Jesus bringing divine favour and salvation for those outside the borders of Israel, reaching out to the world.
Jesus has come down to the plain again today to speak to us here too. He preaches his sermon of law and gospel to us, leading us to ponder what our hearts cling to. Jesus elsewhere said: “Wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). What are our priorities in life? What are the things we are chasing after, on holding on to tightly? What are we trusting in? What are we expending our energy in, and our focus on as we live in the world with all its temptations, priorities and ambitions that distract people from life with God? What do we turn to when we are in trouble or afraid? Forgetting Jesus and his word in our daily life is like chasing after bubbles that we can never truly possess, because trying to grasp them only makes them burst.
Jesus’ word of woe is for whoever is living this way. For those who are rich in the ways of the world now, they have all that they hope for, which is not riches in heaven. Those who are satisfied with worldly things now will be left hungry when Jesus comes again. Those who are rejoicing in their life, apart from Christ, now, will be left weeping when he comes again to judge the living and the dead. Those who live for the approval of others have missed the approving words of God in Christ. And so, as Jesus says in Mark 8 (36-38): “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
But for those who are not ashamed of Jesus and his words, hear again the opening of his sermon to you: “Blessed are you who are poor in spirit, for yours is the Kingdom of God.” Jesus doesn’t say it will be yours at some point in the future, but he promises you that it is yours, now. It is not something you need to work towards―through faith in Christ you already have it!
For it was when you were poor in spirit, that your Heavenly Father opened the storehouse of heaven and poured his riches into the world through his only Son, who shed his own blood on the Cross to ransom the world, a gift more precious than any earthly sum. There Christ became poor for our sakes, and took the fullness of human sin and brokenness upon himself. There on the Cross he suffered hate and exclusion. He was ridiculed and suffered the most brutal persecution. He was abandoned, so that you would never be abandoned by God. Blessed are you! For through faith in the Lord Christ, yours is the Kingdom of God. Rejoice, for when the earth and all the treasures in it will vanish like a puff of smoke, your reward is great in heaven! Amen.
