"Kingdom Ethics: Plain and Not So Simple"
I have entitled the sermon for this morning, “Plain and Not So Simple”. It is a play on words for this is the teaching of Jesus that is known as “The Sermon on the Plain.” In Luke’s gospel this famous sermon takes place not on a mountain, as Matthew remembers it, but rather on the plain. When some of you were obliged to learn “the Beatitudes” as a child, you were quoting Matthew’s gospel.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.
The language is eloquent and soothing to our ears. But Luke’s version is more plain-spoken. It is edgy and “in your face.” In it, he gives us some of the priorities of the kingdom, some of the ethics of how we live if we are to follow Jesus.
Last Tuesday, in talking to our “God’s Vision, Our Mission” leaders, Jack Booe, who is one of our associate superintendents of schools in LISD, said, “I tell my principals that they have to not just talk the talk, but also walk the walk. The great principals do that.” The same can be said for great and faithful Christians.
Today’s words from the Sermon on the Plain invite us to “walk the walk.” But I must warn you, while what we hear from Jesus is plain, living it is not simple, especially for those of us who gather here today.
There is an obvious slant to what Jesus preaches. For him, blessedness goes to the poor, the hungry, the grieving, and the meek. And Jesus did spend most of his ministry time with those on the outside of the world’s blessings: the lepers, the afflicted, the rejected and the destitute. Notice how I said that. Jesus spent most of his time with those who were outside the world’s blessings, not outside God’s blessings.
There was a church in El Paso in which the pastor would parade his wife in front of the people, with her designer dresses, beautiful furs, exquisite jewelry, and special hairstyle and say, “If you will follow the ways of Jesus you can be blessed like that, too.” That pastor could not have been more anti-Jesus or anti-kingdom.
Central to the teachings of Jesus is the putting aside of the idea that the affluent and powerful are blessed while those who are poor, hungry and meek are not blessed. Of the four gospel writers, Luke is the one who helps us see that the most clearly. In fact, and this is the hard edge of Jesus’ plain sermon, Jesus says quite the opposite. After pronouncing blessings on the have-nots; the poor, hungry, grieving and persecuted, he pronounces something quite different on the haves.
Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort; Woe to you who are well-fed, for you will go hungry; Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep; Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets!
Well, Jesus, tell us what you really think! So what is Jesus saying, that its blessings for the poor and powerless and woes for everybody else? Can you be blessed if you’re not poor, hungry, sad and put down? I think these tough words of Jesus were meant to make his listeners ask that very question. After all, we are by biblical standards incredibly rich people. We live in the most powerful and affluent nation on earth. We live in a world where families wait 20 and 30 years to own their first starter home. We buy food and gas at ½ the price of those who are in poor nations. Jesus did have affluent powerful followers: tax collectors, a few successful fishermen, and he was buried in the tomb of a well-to-do friend named Joseph of Arimathea. Jesus was not anti-rich. He was anti self-indulgent rich. You may remember the rich fool who was so consumed in expanding his business, building bigger and bigger storage barns, that he lost his soul; or the rich young politician who went away in sorrow because he couldn’t give away what he had to be part of the kingdom. Nor is Jesus saying that there is virtue in being poverty-stricken, hungry, mournful and beat-down. But he is saying that those who are like that are priority one in the kingdom and that God is for them even though life and the world are against them. And it is painfully clear that following Jesus means, whether rich or poor, powerful or powerless, we are to live with that priority. So the question is, “How do we do that?”
But before we answer that question, let’s admit the truth of what Jesus says. We could easily read this as, “If you are rich and successful, God is going to get you in the end.” There are other passages in Luke where that is said, especially about the self-indulgent rich who ignore the poor. But the truth is, those who have in this world already experience these woes as life itself plays out. We can name names of those we know who in the chase for success and affluence lost marriages, relationships with children, and relationships with friends, and ended up with everything and no one to share it with – talk about hell on earth. We can names of those who have so trapped in what they have that they aren’t free to enjoy life and those around them. But it’s not just about them.
As Matt and I were discussing this passage, Matt recalled an instance with Macy. They built a snowman. She then asked, “Is it going to do anything?” She lives in an animated world.
How much did making that snowman cost and how much did it cost to have a snowball fight or roll around in that snow afterwards? Some of the greatest things in life are what you can do for nothing? Here’s another question. As a couple, was there more laughter in your early poverty-stricken days or in your well-established days? The more possessions we accumulate, the more things we become responsible for, and the less we laugh and just enjoy.
When Tina and I were in our second year in El Paso, we decided to take a vacation to California. We were on my income of $17,600 a year + housing. We dared ourselves to do the week long trip for $500.00, including Disneyland, Sea World and Knott’s Berry Farm. We packed our 1986 Renault Encore (yes, I fit in it), packed a picnic basket for breakfast and lunch (eating at roadside rests in 100 degree heat). We stayed at Motel 6, with some of them having no television. It was a blast, especially when at Knott’s Berry Farm I turned the water ride so that Tina got the full load of the waterfall! Now, I ask you, when we went a few years later with our kids at the cost of 5-6 times that, did we enjoy it more?
I must say that I see more laughter and fun in a pick-up basketball game, a group playing ‘charades’, a family playing a board game or people playing “pickle” with a baseball than I ever do with a person playing on his or her X-box. But the gaming industry has taught us differently – that we can’t have fun unless we spend lots of moolah. Woe to us who have much, for we will weep later, particularly when we look at our debt structure.
It’s interesting to notice how much more joy there is in the worship services of those who have less compared to those who have more.
I’ll never forget the memorial service of Floyd Robinson’s mother in Odessa. It was held in “the other side of town.” The service started with a song called “Sign Me Up,” and the people plain got with it. They gathered and praised God as a people who were blessed.
Affluent white folks get together in worship and we’re afraid someone else will hear us. Why are they that way? Have we forgotten that we are blessed, and it doesn’t matter who hears us? The have-nots gather for worship and don’t care if the service is two hours long. The haves gather and scream if the service goes 5 minutes over because they’re missing the game on their wide-screen TVs or missing their places at the front of the line at the restaurant. And some of the hungriest people on the inside are those who are well-to-do. The point here is that the judgment of Christ on the wealthy, satisfied, and powerful is already happening. The world says, “You’re blessed,” and inside we say, “We’re empty.”
How do those who have in this world become blessed? The verses just before the blessings and woes from Jesus describe all the people coming to Jesus, some who had diseases and need healing and some who just wanted to touch the miracle worker. As I saw those words, I thought, the world still needs what it needed from Jesus on this day. And it’s still hurting and reaching out for help. But they don’t reach out for Christians, because somehow the Christ-ones, the followers of Jesus are living a different priority. True followers of Jesus will live that priority, and, for them, there is an abundant and overwhelming life that awaits. I have now watched the people of St. Luke’s for more than four years. You are an amazing people of God. You know the joy of the Lord. I see it in your Sunday School classes and when you greet each other coming into and going out from worship. I see it when you care for each other in times of difficulty and challenge. But do you know when you are the happiest and when there is the most laughter among you? It’s when you get under a huge tent and fill 1,300 flood buckets with cleaning supplies and when you gather in the foyer of the church and fill health kits. As you put those together, you poke fun with each other, you laugh together and you say how neat it is to be together doing something worthwhile. You experience the power of Christian fellowship in mission. I heard not a single complaint and there wasn’t a single disagreement – a United Methodist miracle. That’s what happens when we live out the priority of the kingdom.
Last summer, I watched and listened carefully as our youth returned from Abbeville, Louisiana, where they helped some families rebuild following hurricane Katrina. First, let me tell you what I didn’t hear. I didn’t hear about what they ate at Randall’s, the fancy Cajun restaurant. I didn’t hear about petty disagreements or about who wore what. I did hear a little about the hot, humid weather and about the long trip. But what I heard about most was the fun our youth and sponsors had as they put a roof on an unlevel house. As they did relationships were built between sponsors and youth that will last a lifetime. But more importantly, a relationship was built with one of the homeowners, a Cajun by the name of Clyde Gums. This bigger than life individual was a delight. And one day, amidst all their hard work, Clyde put together a sumptuous feast: meat, vegetables and ding-dongs for desert. I can still hear them as the kids imitated Clyde’s accent. I can still see their glowing faces as they shared what it meant to be able to make a difference in Clyde’s life, only to realize that his hospitality and his generosity had made just as big a difference in them. They were giving the gift of Christ to each other. They were living out the priority of the kingdom and what happened was more than about walls and a roof.
It’s all so plain and simple. Following the Christ in our day to day life means being where Jesus is, doing what Jesus is doing, and saying what Christ says, living our lives with the priority of the kingdom. All it requires is that you readjust your life from self-focus to God and others focus. All it requires is a whole different way of life. Is anybody around you poor, poor in things or poor in other ways? Might God use you to bless them? Is there anybody around you hungry in their stomach or in their heart or soul? Might God use you to help them get what they need? Is there anyone who is cast aside or put down around you? Might God use you to lift them up and give them a new sense of dignity and direction? If you are available for that, get ready, for God will use you and then He will bless your life and those around you in ways you never thought possible…and the kingdom will grow and so will you.