EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 2.5 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and the deepening of my theological mind. This sermon originally took place on Nov. 3, 2019.
If you will ... imagine with me a new world in which everything this world teaches us to believe in is turned on its head.
That all those things that we think make for a good life here … all of the things that we count as blessings and that make our life so comfortable, are doing just the opposite for us.
That those blessings are making us too comfortable. … And preventing us from living out our calling as Christians. … Keeping us from walking in Christ’s footsteps here on earth.
What if it’s those very things that we would call blessings that keep us from understanding something profound about our time here on this earth, during this life.
That’s what I’ve been thinking about this week as today’s gospel knocked up against a devotion I read earlier this week.
I subscribe to a daily devotion from Richard Rohr, a Franciscan friar and ordained Catholic priest who runs the Center for Action and Contemplation in New Mexico.
And in one of those devotions this week, Rohr quoted Quaker pastor Philip Gulley, who compiled a list of nine things we should be thinking about and doing if we are to truly live out a Christian life today.
Are you ready for this? … Because it made me do a gut check more than once as I understood where I fall short.
Jesus should be a model for living more than an object of worship.
Affirming people’s potential is more important than reminding them of their brokenness.
The work of reconciliation should be valued over making judgments.
Gracious behavior is more important than being right.
Inviting questions is more valuable than supplying answers.
Encouraging the personal search is more important than group uniformity.
Meeting actual needs is more important than maintaining institutions.
Peacemaking is more important than power.
Life in this world is more important than the afterlife because eternity is God’s work anyway.
Now let’s really think about that last principle again: Life in this world is more important than the afterlife … because eternity is God’s work anyway.
Does that sound a little revolutionary considering what we’ve been taught all of these years?
I mean, after all, isn’t that the entire reason we’re all sitting here today … because we want to get to heaven? … Because we want to receive God’s promise of eternal life?
But what if we’ve been getting it all wrong?
That’s the thought that crept into my head this week, as Pastor Gulley’s message laid there in my subconscious. … Because I see today’s gospel telling us some of the very same things.
You see, in his Sermon on the plain, Jesus shares some of the most common messages that we all recognize from our years in Sunday school and confirmation and sitting right here in these pews.
Messages such as: The poor are blessed and will inherit the kingdom. … How many times have we heard that, right?
Blessed are the hungry; those who weep now will laugh in heaven; and those who are hated because of their Christian beliefs … well, Jesus tells them too, that they will receive their great reward in heaven.
That all probably sounds pretty familiar to most of us.
But then Jesus flips the cart and turns on all who are feeling so very comfortable in their lives here.
For instance, woe to you when all speak well of you!
And woe to you who are full. … Woe to you who are laughing now, here on this earth. …
And maybe most damning of all … woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation!
Ouch … did anyone else flinch there. … Maybe, as I read those woes … maybe you could see Jesus standing here with his finger wagging and him castigating us?
I can tell you that I’ve had plenty of self-checking conversations as I’ve studied this gospel this week. … Because I am painfully aware that my cup runneth over in this lifetime.
Setting aside some average, everyday annoyances -- such as backyard fences and puppies who chew up everything in sight -- I recognize that even in my squarely, middle-class life I am richer than 97 percent of the rest of the world.
I awake every morning, with Shelley next to me, with three of our four kids just a few feet away, and with the knowledge that our other son is attending a prestigious university. And I know that all four of our children likely will live an even more comfortable life than we do.
Of course, this isn’t to say that we haven’t faced our challenges. I’ve been open with you all about the rocky road that has led our family to this point.
But, all in all, the vast majority of the people in the world would consider me and my family very, very blessed.
So, when I hear Jesus’ words this week -- woe to you who are rich and full and laughing now … man, it gives me a gut check.
That is a tough message, and makes me take pause. ... Sounds like a message that maybe a loving parent, or a good friend, would give to someone they care about.
But,before we despair, let’s unpack a couple of things.
First, I want to point out that when Jesus tells us “woe” to all of these groups of blessed people, it does not mean that Jesus is cursing them. … He’s not condemning them or abandoning them.
I know that that is a common misunderstanding of this text, but that’s not the meaning of the word “woe” in this case.
A better translation of “woe” in this text would be something like … “Yikes.” … So, for instance, Jesus isn’t condemning us when he says, “Woe!” but he’s more like giving us an important warning.
Like Jesus is telling those of us who are rich and full and laughing, that “Yikes! … I know you think those things are exactly what you should be striving for in this life ... but you considered whether it’s those very things that are getting in the way of your Christian life here?”
And second, no where does Jesus condemn such a comfortable living outright. ... Read through the New Testament and Jesus’s message is more about making us think about our comfort.
I’m hoping that as we continue to unpack today’s gospel, that you might now be seeing my connection to Pastor Gulley’s modern day sermon on the plain that I mentioned earlier.
In it, he also doesn’t outright castigate those of us who are comfortable, but he does give us an entirely new way of thinking about what is a blessing here in this life. … Just as Jesus does.
So, if we look back at Gully’s list, I wonder how you are doing? … Now mind you, I’m not directly pointing a finger at any one person sitting in these pews today. But more holding up a mirror for all of us.
So … do you use Jesus more as a model for living more than an object of worship? ... Do you affirm people’s potential rather than remind them they are broken? ... Do you practice that reconciliation is more important than making judgments.
Which is more important to you? Being gracious or being right. … Would you agree that meeting needs is more important than maintaining institutions? … Do you value making peace more than you do power?
And then there’s the big one … Do you live like life and how we live it in this world is more important than the afterlife?
Well, if at any point during that litmus test you truthfully said, “No, I don’t.” … Just know that you are in good company. I did too. … Pastor Gulley’s standard is a tall one for any of us to reach.
But in light of Jesus’s sermon and Gulley’s suggestions as to how to live a Christian life today, I wonder what it would be like if we could begin to re-train our brains to think that the very things that make us comfortable ... are maybe the very things that keep us from seeing the poor, seeing those who are oppressed … taking care of the orphan, and the widow, and the stranger.
Maybe the very things that make our lives comfortable, make it easy for us to condemn versus affirm. … To make judgement versus reach out in reconciliation. … To want to be right rather than gracious. … To seek conflict versus peace.
Please do not walk out of here thinking that the pastor just told you that you are a bad person and that you aren’t headed to heaven because we have the good fortune of being born in one of the richest countries in history.
That is absolutely not what I’m trying to share with you today.
But, at the very least, I want to plant a seed with you. … The same seed that I think Jesus is planting in his sermon in today’s gospel. … The same seed Pastor Gulley is planting when he gives us a list of Christian values to live by today.
Wealth in itself is not evil. … Being full in itself will not keep you out of heaven. … And finding joy that allows you to live in laughter today does not condemn you.
But Jesus’s message is this: What are you doing with all of those blessings? … Do they help you to help others? Are you using them to help the poor and the unfed and those full of sorrow today?
Trust me: Those are tough questions that I, myself, find difficult to answer.
But, if we can wrap our heads around them, and allow them to guide our living here, then maybe heaven would take care of itself. … As Pastor Gulley reminds us, God’s in charge of eternity, and none of that is really in our grasp anyway.
So, maybe, we need to pay a little bit more attention to our Christian life here rather than worry about our standing in heaven. … Because God is taking care of eternity anyway.
And I hope that you find that a comfort.
Because that is the Good News for this Sunday. … Amen.
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