God is sending you a Valentine’s card here. But maybe the candy inside isn’t the flavor you like. You like strawberry, but you got licorice. Maybe you like Matthew’s report of Jesus’ sermon on the mount more than Luke’s sermon on the plain. Matthew’s version only lists blessings and they are sweater and more immediately satisfying because the people getting the blessings could be someone else – or you. You get to pick: Blessed are the -
Poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Those who mourn shall be comforted. The meek shall inherit the earth. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled. The merciful shall receive mercy. The pure in heart shall see God. The peacemakers are called the children of God. Those persecuted for righteousness' sake have the kingdom of heaven. Those suffering evil for Jesus’ sake are greatly rewarded in heaven.
There is a distance to that list of blessings: those poor in spirit . . . those meek ones. Juliet tells Romeo, “Absence makes the heart fonder” and we want to believe that distance is a good thing somehow. But Jesus tells Luke and the rest of us that it’s not just being away from a loved one that makes us yearn for him or her. In Luke’s text we’re up close and personal with being poor, hungry, weeping and being unloved:
Happy Valentine’s Day this day and every day! You are blessed in your poverty, when you have the kingdom of God. When you are hungry, God will provide and fill you up somehow. When you cry, God will make you laugh anyway. If you are hated by others or even by yourself – “in that day, leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven,” because others have felt the same.
Luke’s Valentine card is weird, because it gives us backhand compliments that sound like curses like a “far side” greeting card. You know, like two chickens talking in a cartoon. One asks, “Do you believe in unconditional love?” The other says, “That depends.” Then the first one says, “Kiss me.” The other one says, “I can’t. I just can’t. Don’t you know? Chickens don’t have lips.”
Jesus says “Woe to you rich folk. Your conditions have been met!” “And if your stomach’s full, then you’ll just get hungry again.” “You might be laughing now, but laugh and the world will laugh with you and if you weep with the world you’ll weep alone . . . you’ll be sad for the wrong reasons, just like all those false jokers before you.
Wait a minute Jesus. You mean that it’s better to be poor than rich. It’s better to be hungry than full. It’s better to cry than to laugh. It’s better to be hated than to be popular. That just isn’t what I’ve been taught all my life. That isn’t what I want out of life. I thought You promised me life and promised abundant life to me. What’s so abundant and full about poverty, hunger, sadness, and rejection?
The point is that Jesus knows the obvious distastefulness of what He calls a blessing. But to the one who has nothing but poverty, hunger, sadness and rejection to expect out of life – then it can’t be any different than what you expect anyway. If you can find yourself at home with these conditions and still feel blessed, then you are where Jesus is. What’s left? Jesus says “everything!” Somehow I’ve got to get past all the needs and wants of my life to find Jesus. His blessing is not what this world offers.
In today’s (Sunday, February 11, 2007) Upper Room Devotional, Elizabeth Urch describes how she find’s Jesus in the Bible instead of what other people get up early looking for in her small Scottish town of Pitlochry. She relies on the familiar verse from 2 Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
When we read or hear the Bible (especially hard lessons like being blessed with the things we don’t want to be blessed with) we don’t seem to act like the folks Elizabeth observes who scarcely leave her newspaper stand before opening the paper and halting to read something. “What are they anxious to find? Are they checking the obituaries or answers to yesterday's difficult crossword? Have they written a letter to the editor and hope to see it published? Or perhaps they are checking the sale ads, the gossip columns, or stock prices.”
Are we just as eager to search and even receive the blessing in today’s scripture to find answers to things you are concerned about? Jesus told us that we will find testimony of Him in the scriptures and to follow where the scriptures lead (John 5:39). Paul and Silas praised the people who examined the scriptures every day (Acts 17:11). In times of sorrow or joy, doubt or assurance, tedium or excitement, I have found myself poor so God’s living word would make me rich. I have been filled when I was hungry for the right message for my particular situation. I was accepted and befriended by Jesus when all others seemed to be against me.
On this bitterly cold morning some people are driving to work instead of church. Even people who come to church don’t feel close to God. They don’t feel blessed or loved or rich or anything but a lifetime of pain and anguish down to the depths of their soul. I’ve been there. Haven’t you? I’ve felt that I’ve never been good enough. I had never done the right thing. I disliked everything about me. I couldn't take it any more.
If you feel so numb and “unblessed” right now just mentally scream out this prayer, "Dear God, please help me stop hating myself." I pray that when you do this that God will answer you like He did to Neven Robbins on another cold and self-loathing morning. Listen for the Holy Spirit’s echoing message right now and you will sense a quiet response calmly saying, "OK." Then you will feel a warmth and peace surrounding you. Now, the self-hatred will disappear and never return. God is touching you right now. Yes, you were poor, but God will make you rich in His Spirit, when you open up to the blessing of new life. God extends grace to me, a sinner. That same grace is always available to each of us when we admit we need God's help. Won’t you please prayer with me?
Dear Heavenly Father, send Your Holy Spirit upon us today so that we may look to your word. Your living word in Jesus Christ enriches me. You fill me with much more than my fleshly desires can satisfy. Your word is the daily manna that always has what I need today and every day. Help me to seek You in the scriptures and to be truly blessed in spite of my emptiness, poverty, unpopularity and my ignorance. Thank You for responding to my deepest inner needs. Thank you for the warmth and peace of knowing that You accept me – even me - in my poverty. Thank you for Your Valentine’s message today so that I can love everyone – even myself. Help me now to experience and understand the wholeness of Your love and grace in the Holy Communion we are about to receive. In the blessed name of Jesus Christ, who gives us His blessing so we can be like Him through Your Holy Spirit. Amen.
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