February 16, 2025 Luke 6:17-26 Lynne Smith, OSB
I admit to feeling uncomfortable when I read this passage. I think I am more like those described in the woes than the blessings. I notice that those who are blessed are vulnerable, needy and rejected. I don’t want to be poor, destitute, rejected or have needs I can’t full myself. Matthew spiritualizes the Beatitudes, but not Luke. Jesus is speaking to his followers who are truly poor, outcast and needy. Isn’t there another way, I wonder?
Several details in this reading catch my attention. First of all, Jesus comes down with the twelve and stands on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people. Jesus is with the people, and his power readily goes out to heal all who come to him in need. This touches me. Jesus cares deeply about those in need, the destitute, the hungry, the troubled and outcast.
Then there is the note that Jesus looks up at the disciples. Jesus sees them in their need. He doesn’t turn away or overlook them. Jesus sees them, and I imagine his eyes are full of compassion. He is touched by their need and wants to reach out to them. Seeing his merciful gaze and powerful touch moves me. I see the heart-felt relationship that he offers those surrounding him. Could it be that they are blessed not because they are poor, but because their relationship with him is one of total trust and dependence on him?
There is nothing implicitly blessed about being destitute. It’s just that the truly needy have no where else to turn but to God. Now, here in their midst is one who has the power and the desire to reach out to them to bless them. In Jesus, perhaps they realize that the Holy One sees them and wants to take care of their needs.
The theme of reversal of fortunes is strong in Luke’s Gospel. The second and third blessings evoke this reversal. The hungry will be filled, those weeping will laugh. But the first blessing doesn’t promise that the poor will become rich. Luke is not preaching a prosperity Gospel. Instead, the poor hear that the reign of God is theirs. This blessing provides a key to understanding all of Luke’s blessings and woes.
Steve Zwettler told us at Tony Cappozzo’s memorial service on Friday that the Greek word for blessed, makarios, means to share in God’s life and to be blessed with qualities that seem humanly impossible.
Jesus sees that by the disciples’ dependence on God they are sharing in God’s life now even though the reign has not fully come. These blessings and woes ask us to examine by which values we live — by those of the world or our ego or by those of the Reign of God.
One commentator notes that Jesus comes down to a level place with the people and levels with them. Jesus speaks plainly about who we are and what it means to share God’s life in the Reign of God. We are in need of one another and of the Spirit that shows us we are meant to care for each other in community.
Another commentator writes that “Money, wealth, and power have always been intended by God to be a means of grace (Calvin) by which all persons, including the needy, experience God’s own care and favor.” (David E. Howerda in The Lectionary Commentary: Theological Exegesis for Sunday’s Texts: The Third Readings: The Gospels, edited by Roger E. Van Harn. Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, MI, 2001, p. 335). In this life, that calls us into right relationship with our neighbors, especially the vulnerable and needy. In the biblical view, to be in right relationship means to do justice.
To do justice we first must see those in need. Often that seems difficult because to really see someone who is suffering means letting ourselves be touched by them, feeling what it is like to be them. Sometimes, because the suffering feels like too much to bear. We don’t want to go there. So, we protect ourselves from our own vulnerability. What enables us to accept our feelings of neediness and enter into the suffering of another? Sometimes that seems humanly impossible. However, as Jesus disciples, we are blessed by a love so great and all-encompassing that we know ourselves to be accepted for who we are no matter our circumstances.
We can experience such a love in the Eucharistic community. Gathered around this table, we hear the truth of God’s love for us, and by God’s grace, we are able to open to our need for God and one another. Here, we are in the presence of the One whose life was blessed, broken and poured out in vulnerability and power for us. Here, we are in the presence of the One who sees us with eyes of mercy and justice precisely in our brokenness. At this table in this Eucharistic community, we can risk letting ourselves be taken by the Spirit of love, blessed, broken and given for others. Here, we find the courage to participate in God’s life among us standing with our neighbors in need, working for justice in which all people are valued and none are alien. Fed at this table, where we are received and brought together into one body, we can dare to live by the values of the Reign of God. We can use our power to work for justice, our wealth to provide food and relief for suffering, our open hearts to provide welcome and compassion. When we do, we find ourselves blessed with joy and fullness of heart. We find ourselves in communion with strangers and friends alike. We find ourselves sharing the very life of God. The reign of God is in our midst.