Today we heard Luke’s version of the Blessings, the Beatitudes. (The Latin word for blessed is beati.) We are used to hearing Matthew’s version. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Luke’s version says, “Blessed are the poor.” Matthew says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” Luke says, “Blessed are you who hunger now.” And Luke has woes as well. Woe to the rich, to those with full stomachs, to the laughing, to those who gain public approval. Matthew has no woes.
Whose version is right? I assume Jesus expressed the same idea in several different ways when he went along teaching. Whose version is popular? Matthew’s, of course. Matthew’s blessings are spiritual and vague enough to let us off the hook. There are whole books that try to explain what they mean. Luke’s blessings, and his woes, are blunt and offensive. They challenge our wallets and our good opinions of ourselves. So they have largely been ignored.
Luke’s blessings and woes are Jesus turning the conventional meaning of blessing on its head, to announce God’s upside-down Kingdom with its radical blessings: the Good News of God. And it really is good news. And those woes… I don’t think Luke meant to condemn every instance of wealth or dinner parties or laughing. But he expects us to share the wealth, and invite unlikely people to our dinner parties, and keep mourners company, and to be troublemakers. Woe to us if we have the means to bless, and we don’t. Luke fondly reports some women who had been healed by Jesus, supporting the male disciples out of their resources. This includes Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward. A rich lady, sharing her wealth.
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Brea Congregational United Church of Christ
February 17, 2019
Video version of this sermon is at: BCUCC's facebook page.
Mind the Gap
Luke 6:17-26 He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
22 “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
25 “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.
“Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.
26 “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
When Scott and I lived in northern Virginia a couple of years ago, we didn’t have a car there. We were a half block away from the Ballston station of the DC Metro, so we didn’t need one. Subways are not always pretty but they move people quickly in cities where the street traffic goes at a crawl. They’re out of the weather. And subways are great for people watching. All kinds of people ride subways: business people in suits carrying briefcases, tourists looking confused, people dressed for dinner parties, students with backpacks, people carrying their groceries, people looking shabby and sketchy, teenagers looking punky. I love riding on subways.
London has the Tube, that’s what they call their subway. Every time a train stops at a Tube station, a recorded voice rings out in a proper British accent, “Mind the gap. Mind the gap.” It refers to the gap between the train and the platform. It’s not a much of a gap. Neither is the gap in most subways, between rich and poor—we are all together on that underground people mover.
Today we heard Luke’s version of the Blessings, the Beatitudes. (The Latin word for blessed is beati.) We are used to hearing Matthew’s version. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Luke’s version says, “Blessed are the poor.” Matthew says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” Luke says, “Blessed are you who hunger now.” And Luke has woes as well. Woe to the rich, to those with full stomachs, to the laughing, to those who gain public approval. Matthew has no woes.
Whose version is right? I assume Jesus expressed the same idea in several different ways when he went along teaching. Whose version is popular? Matthew’s, of course. Matthew’s blessings are spiritual and vague enough to let us off the hook. There are whole books that try to explain what they mean. Luke’s blessings, and his woes, are blunt and offensive. They challenge our wallets and our good opinions of ourselves. So they have largely been ignored.
Luke’s blessings and woes are Jesus turning the conventional meaning of blessing on its head, to announce God’s upside-down Kingdom with its radical blessings: the Good News of God. And it really is good news. And those woes… I don’t think Luke meant to condemn every instance of wealth or dinner parties or laughing. But he expects us to share the wealth, and invite unlikely people to our dinner parties, and keep mourners company, and to be troublemakers. Woe to us if we have the means to bless, and we don’t. Luke fondly reports some women who had been healed by Jesus, supporting the male disciples out of their resources. This includes Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward. A rich lady, sharing her wealth.
The radical blessings in Luke promise us that if we are struggling for survival, struggling to find hope or dignity, struggling to stay faithful in the face of criticism or abuse, God is with us and for us. That is Good News, and it’s not conventional thinking. And guess who gets to share that good news? People with resources.
If we already have conventional blessings and are so insulated from people who are struggling that we no longer mind the gap between the haves and the have nots, if we are content to ignore others’ suffering, if we’re so at peace with the status quo that we never irritate the Powers that Be, how desolate we will be when it’s our turn to suffer? Upside-down Kingdom indeed.
I’ve got to think the Gospel has mostly missed Orange County. The OC creed is NIMBY, Not In My Back Yard. Go suffer in the next city, or better yet, the next county. Make that gap deep and wide between us virtuous taxpaying homeowners and Those People who don’t match our image of who we think we are. Up until the late 1960’s or beyond, there were restrictive real estate covenants and unwritten ordinances to keep out people of color. These days, the gated community is the epitome of Not In My Back Yard. Homeowners come to city council meetings to veto low-income housing. Let retail workers and child care workers and restaurant workers live in some other town, to say nothing of homeless people. Mind you, those workers can’t afford the low-income housing Habitat for Humanity is trying to build in Irvine. You need an income of $90,000. to afford it. Crazy, isn’t it?
There has always been a gap between the conventionally blessed and the struggling. And the gap is usually about more than money. It’s about acceptance and rejection, showing off and hiding, pride and shame. Being on the far side of the gap can mean trying to hide that you live in your car, as some of my previous parishioners have done. That you can’t afford to go out to lunch. That when you lose a tooth, you surely can’t afford to replace it. Or that you are being evicted.
Luke’s stories of Christian community are not utopia. They’re about people from all walks of life trying to follow Jesus together, and not doing it perfectly. But if we truly all are children of one God, we want to mind that gap that could alienate us, and destroy the dignity of some. We can do that by avoiding looking up the hill at those richer than us and thinking we’re missing something. Which is exactly the opposite of what TV shows and advertising do for us. We can cultivate gratitude for having what we need. We can advocate for political and economic policies that level the economic playing field. We can support nonprofits that help people in need. And a crucial way to mind the gap is to know and love people who are on the other side of it.
I have had wealthy friends, and I have had friends who were really struggling. Living on social security disability. Unemployed single mom. I have learned some of the things those struggling friends do to get by, and some of the things they give up, and the shame they struggle with. I can’t fix the gap between us, but I can mind that gap and not make it any wider than it needs to be with my thoughtlessness. In minding that gap, I realize how much I have, and how much I have to share.
I recently visited our two nearest interfaith groups. One is in Yorba Linda, and one is in Fullerton. They both talked about homelessness. The one in Yorba Linda wanted to have an educational forum. That would be a good idea, because they were clueless about what homeless people needed and what was and wasn’t available. It was all theoretical to them. There was a cavernous gap. The group in Fullerton was a different story. Several of the churches cook free meals on a weekly basis. They are working to develop relationships with their city council members to advocate for the needs of the people they serve. YIMBY. Yes, In My Backyard. Gospel.
One Fullerton Catholic church allows homeless people to sleep in the open air on their property. That priest had some great ideas. He got those great ideas from talking to his homeless guests at length about why they didn’t want to sleep in the Fullerton Armory. First, germs and bedbugs. That’s what you can get in a wide open space with hundreds of people together, no screening and no medical care. Idea number one: medical staff on call to treat or at least quarantine sick people, and intake procedures to remove vermin. Second, if you go into the armory you have to give up all your stuff. The bulk of that stuff is bedding, which you will need when the armory closes its shelter periodically for its intended functions, national guard business. Idea number two: storage bins. And third, the priest said residents must vacate the armory at 5 am. In addition to being pointlessly inhumane, this policy puts shelter guests out on the city streets in the dark when everything is closed, looking for shelter in doorways and carports. To the neighbors it looks as if they’ve been there all night. Idea number three: humane hours. That priest is struggling to figure out how to do these things, on behalf of people he knows and cares about.
Mind the gap. It’s part of living the gospel. It will happen naturally when we do not isolate ourselves in sterile suburbs, and remember that everyone, no matter their condition, is a child of God, deserving of our respect and care.
It is news to some people that our worth is not in our home, or our car, or our bank account. But it is Good News. In fact, it is a traditional Christian and Jewish view that all we possess is just on loan to us from God, for us to keep body and soul together and to do God’s work. People before stuff. What a concept.
Dorothy Day has been called a saint. She was also called a troublemaker. She lived Luke’s blessings. She created Catholic Worker houses during the Great Depression to mind the gap. People in need could come for hot coffee, a meal, a bed, and some dignity. Once a wealthy woman toured the house with Dorothy. She was so moved by what she saw that she gave Dorothy the diamond ring off her finger. Dorothy thanked her for it and put it in her pocket. Later that day a mentally ill woman came in, a regular. Dorothy took the diamond ring out of her pocket and gave it to that woman. Someone on the staff said to Dorothy, “Wouldn’t it have been better if we sold the ring, and paid that woman’s rent for a year?” Dorothy replied that the woman had her dignity and could do what she liked with the ring. She could sell it for rent money or take a trip to the Bahamas. Or she could enjoy wearing a diamond ring on her hand like the woman who gave it away. “Do you suppose,” Dorothy asked, “that God created diamonds only for the rich?”[1] Does this act sound ridiculous to you? Or intriguing, calling our conventional values into question?
We have our own Catholic Worker House in Orange County, Isaiah House in Santa Ana. The staff live in the house with the guests, about two dozen women. The guests maintain the house and grounds. They help cook over 3000 meals every week, many of which they carry downtown to feed other people. I share with you their mission statement:
- To be a community seeking God by living with the poor
- To share dignity through home-cooked meals, friendship,
and the offering of shelter and other basic services; - To resist the dominant culture of violence and addiction through adherence to Christ's law of non-violence, service and serenity
- To embrace the Gospel values of simple living and trust in God's providence
- To encounter God through prayer, liturgy, service, and contemplation
Aware of our individual and societal illnesses, and through the gift of our faith in a healing God, we are encouraged to face pain, speak truth, and celebrate resurrection.
What a mission statement. Which reminds us of another important gap. The gap between who we are and who God invites us to become. Freed of the need for greed. Sharing and caring. Blessed to be a blessing. Loved, healed, transformed. I want to get on that train. Amen.
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