One of the things I struggle with is my sense of privilege, power, and position. I don’t miss a meal unless I choose to. I can pay my bills on time and still have a little money left over at the end of the month. Every now and then someone will get upset with or angry about one of my sermons, but for the most part people speak well of me. I know, however, it’s not like that for everyone. 

Most weeks anywhere from six or seven to fifteen or sixteen people come to the church office needing assistance. Some don’t have enough to eat. Some show up when a cold front arrives. They need a jacket or a blanket. Some can’t pay their bills and their electricity has been turned off or they’ve been given an eviction notice. Some are enduring verbal abuse, physical violence, or mental health challenges. 

“Blessed are [they],” Jesus says in today’s gospel (Luke 6:17-26). Honestly, I have a hard time seeing them as blessed. It feels like I’m the blessed one. Does that make sense? You ever feel like that too?

For most of us and our country, the greater we are the more blessed we are, and greatness in America is primarily a function of power, wealth, privilege, and status. But then Jesus comes along with today’s gospel and messes all that up. He reverses what most of have been told to strive for. He calls into question what most of us have come to believe.

Jesus is not helping with my struggle. He’s making it more real and intense. But maybe that’s the point of today’s gospel. Maybe it’s meant to hold that struggle before us and our country.

Blessings and Woes

“Blessed are you who are poor” but “woe to you who are rich.” “Blessed are you who are hungry now” but “woe to you who are full now.” Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude, revile, and defame you” but “woe to you when all speak well of you.”

What do you make of all that? Where do you see that intersecting life today?

If you were to look at what’s happening in our country or read or listen to the news with today’s gospel in mind, to whom would Jesus say, “Blessed are you”? and to whom would he say, “Woe to you”? And how does that compare to whom America says, “Blessed are you” and “Woe to you”? Are we as a country consistent with today’s gospel?

Both standards, Jesus’ and America’s, recognize that our country is uneven. It’s just not level. Some are on top, others are on the bottom. Some are looking down and others are always having to look up. Some are included, others are excluded. Some are safe, others are vulnerable. Some have, others don’t have. Some matter, others not so much.

That’s not a uniquely national problem, however. We see it in Uvalde, Texas, in other countries, and in each of our lives. It’s a human problem. 

The difference in those two standards is that for some the unevenness is acceptable, even desirable, but for Jesus the unevenness of our lives and world is unacceptable. What about us? Where do we stand with that?

A Level Place

The thing that strikes me about today’s gospel is that Jesus “stood on a level place.” Did you catch that part in the gospel? It’s a small but important detail. It’s an image of everything Jesus is talking about. That level place is at the center of every blessing and woe today. 

Jesus wasn’t, however, the first to claim a level place as the way of God. 

• The writer of Proverbs says, “The path of the upright is a level highway.” (Proverbs 15:19) That’s the path I want to walk, don’t you? Is that the path we’re on today?
  
• Isaiah put it like this: “Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.” (Isaiah 40:4) John the Baptist echoes Isaiah’s words (Luke 3:5).
  
• And then there’s Jesus’ mom. Do you remember what Mary said? Speaking about the Lord, she says, “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” (Luke 1:52-53) Do you hear the leveling out in that?

What if the blessings and woes Jesus speaks today are acts of resistance against the unevenness of our lives and world?

On the one hand, Jesus says to some, “Blessed are you,” to raise them up to that level place. And on the other hand he says to some, “Woe to you,” in order to bring them down to that level place. For most of us, I suspect, our lives are a mixture of blessing and woe. We get both. We need both. They show us something about ourselves and our world.

I don’t think Jesus’ blessings and woes are rewards and punishments. And I certainly don’t think Jesus is saying it’s better to be poor than rich, hungry than full, or slandered than respected. His blessings and woes are invitations to see the ways in which our lives and world have become uneven, to face the injustice and hurt caused by uneven living, and to do something about it.

Where do you see unevenness today in your life, Uvalde, America? What needs leveling? 

Maybe there is unevenness within yourself or in your personal relationships. Maybe it’s at work or in your politics or religious beliefs. Maybe it’s the systemic beliefs and behaviors into which you were born. You didn’t ask for it, you just got it. We all did. 

Regardless of where it is or how it came about, we all have a choice. We can either resist or we can perpetuate the unevenness in our lives, town, and country. 

We say that we want to stand with Jesus. I suspect what we often really mean is that we want him to stand with us. Standing with Jesus or him standing with us are not always the same thing. Today he has claimed the level place as his and revealed the slippery slopes on which we are standing. 

If we really want to stand with Jesus then maybe we need to move to a level place. I wonder if we are willing to do that. Or will we leave Jesus standing by himself?

What would it be like for you and me, Uvalde, America, to stand on a level place? What would it take to level our lives and country? How might you begin leveling today? 

Today some stand above and some stand below. But what if tomorrow we all just stood beside each other?

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Image Credit: Photo by Weichao Deng on Unsplash.