How many of you have heard of the Sermon on the Mount? How about the Sermon on the Plain?
Matthew’s account of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is much better known than Luke’s account of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain. It is possible that both writers got their material for these two sermons from the same source and that they each modify their source material in different ways to address different concerns and speak to different audiences. Or, it could be that Jesus preached similar material on different occasions, in different locations, to different groups.
In any case, let’s dive into the beginning of Luke’s “Sermon on the Plain” and see what it might have to say to us today. Listen for God’s word to you from Luke 6:17-26…
He [Jesus] 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. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
“Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
for yours is the kingdom of God.
“Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 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.
“But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
“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.
for you have received your consolation.
“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.
“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
The Audience
First, let’s talk about the audience for the Sermon on the Plain. There is a substantial crowd present to hear this sermon. The crowd includes: (1) the twelve apostles whom Jesus has just chosen, (2) other disciples in addition to them, (3) other Jews (notably from Judea and Jerusalem), (4) and even Gentiles from Tyre and Sidon.
Some in the crowd have come long distances to hear Jesus and be healed of their diseases. Luke tells us that those who were troubled by evil spirits were cured. Many people were trying to touch Jesus, hoping for a healing. Apparently, healing power was coming forth from Jesus.
We know this sermon was primarily directed to Jesus’ disciples because Luke tells us that Jesus “looked up at his disciples and said…”
I wonder, where do you picture yourself in this crowd?
Luke pictures the crowd almost as if they are in concentric circles around Jesus. The first circle, closest to Jesus, is occupied by the apostles. Can you picture yourself as one of Jesus’ closest companions, one of the apostles? An apostle means one who is sent. Are you willing to be sent by and for Jesus, to accomplish his mission?
If you don’t picture yourself as a “sent one”, do you picture yourself as part of the second concentric circle close to Jesus: the disciples? A disciple means one who is “a learner”. Are you willing to learn from Jesus?
If you don’t picture yourself as either a “sent one” or a “learner”, do you picture yourself as part of the third concentric circle around Jesus—the outer circle of those interested, those drawn by the healing miracles, but essentially uncommitted?
Personally, I hope we have people in each of those concentric circles here today and every Sunday. I hope our church will always be welcoming of all. But it is also my goal to help you move from the outer edge of the crowd closer to Jesus.
Four Blessings
Now, let’s take a look at Jesus’ sermon itself. Jesus begins his “Sermon on the Plain” with four blessings. The first one is: “Blessed are you who are poor,for yours is the kingdom of God.”
The Greek word “makarios” is used to introduce all four beatitudes. In the Greek world, this word was used to express the happy, untroubled state of the gods, and then, more generally, the happiness of the rich who are free from care.
Here is a phrase I picked up from Kaleb Willis: “Too blessed to be stressed.” If I were to ask you, “Who in this world do you think is ‘too blessed to be stressed?” I imagine a number of you would say, “The rich and the successful.” But Jesus is turning that idea on its head. He is saying, “It is not the rich who are ‘too blessed to be stressed’. Rather, it is the poor.”
Who are the poor that Jesus is talking about? You may remember that Matthew states this beatitude in this way: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew spiritualizes the poor so that more people might see themselves in this category. Lots of people who aren’t materially poor might consider themselves “poor in spirit”. Matthew’s Beatitudes somehow seem more relevant to all of us.
But Luke does not spiritualize Jesus’ statement. When he says “poor” he means the materially poor. Poverty is a strong concern of Luke. He uses the word “poor” eleven times in his Gospel, more than any of the other Gospel writers.
But let’s think even more specifically about who the poor are that Jesus is addressing in this sermon. Remember I told you that Jesus was speaking primarily to his disciples? That’s who the poor are that Jesus is talking about. And, of course, they are poor, because they all gave up their fishing business to follow Jesus!
So why does Jesus say that they are blessed? It doesn’t seem to make sense.
Well, let’s keep one thing clear in our minds. It is not as though Jesus is saying the disciples are blessed because of their poverty. No. Jesus says to his disciples that they are blessed because theirs is the kingdom of God.
What does Jesus mean by “the kingdom of God”?
First, let me point out what he does not mean. The kingdom of God is not synonymous with heaven. Jesus is going to talk about heaven, but he hasn’t done that yet. And when Matthew uses the phrase “kingdom of heaven” he is using “heaven” as a euphemism for “God”. You see, Matthew’s Gospel is the most Jewish, and the Jewish people would not pronounce the name of God, or even the title “God”. They would use a euphemism instead because “God” was a name too holy for them to pronounce.
So, the kingdom of God is not synonymous with heaven. Rather, the kingdom of God is something that Jesus is bringing to bear in this world here and now. The kingdom of God is the place where God reigns.
“Well,” you say, “isn’t God reigning everywhere already, isn’t he God after all?”
The answer is, “Yes and no.”
God is reigning everywhere in the sense that he is in charge of the universe. But he has given free will to at least one part of his universe, that is, to us human beings. We can choose to have God be in charge of our lives or not.
When Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them to pray, he taught them to pray saying: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come; your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6 & Luke 11)
We can ask God to reign in us, to do his will in and through us, or not.
But know this. Jesus makes this very clear: to be part of the kingdom of God, to have God in charge of your life, is to be blessed. It means being “too blessed to be stressed”.
Jesus’ second beatitude is: “Blessed are you who are hungry now,for you will be filled.”Once again, we have a beatitude that Matthew spiritualizes. Matthew says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
But in Luke, Jesus is speaking to those who are physically hungry. He is speaking to his disciples, especially to the apostles who have given up everything to follow him. On the one hand, they didn’t know where their next meal was coming from. But on the other hand, they were following the one who could feed 5000 people with five loaves and two fish.
Have you ever been in a place in your life where you weren’t sure where your next meal was coming from? I’ve been close to that. In one way, it is scary. But in another way, it is good to be in such a spot and see God provide.
Jesus’ third beatitude is: “Blessed are you who weep now,for you will laugh.”
The way you feel about this life depends a lot on what you are expecting to get out of this life. If you are expecting wealth, success, and happiness in this life, you may well be disappointed. But if you are expecting that as a follower of Jesus you may face poverty, hunger, and times of weeping, then when those things come along, you will not be surprised. Moreover, you can still be filled with hope because Jesus has promised a day is coming when you will laugh, when you will have joy that can never be taken away.
Nonetheless, Jesus is very explicit about the hard times his apostles and disciples can expect in this life. In his fourth beatitude he says,
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 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.
What Jesus prophesied about his first disciples, certainly came true. They were persecuted. We know little if anything of such persecution for being Christians today. But if we do ever taste anything of persecution for belonging to Jesus, we can rejoice, because our reward is going to be great in heaven.
I love what C. S. Lewis says about heaven in his book, The Problem of Pain. He writes,
“I reckon,” said St. Paul, “that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.” (Rom. viii, 18.) If this is so, a book on suffering which says nothing of heaven, is leaving out almost the whole of one side of the account. Scripture and tradition habitually put the joys of heaven into the scale against the sufferings of earth, and no solution of the problem of pain which does not do so can be called a Christian one. We are very shy nowadays of even mentioning heaven. We are afraid of the jeer about “pie in the sky,” and of being told that we are trying to “escape” from the duty of making a happy world here and now into dreams of a happy world elsewhere. But either there is “pie in the sky” or there is not. If there is not, then Christianity is false, for this doctrine is woven into its whole fabric. If there is, then this truth, like any other, must be faced, whether it is useful at political meetings or no.[1]
Four Woes
In the few minutes we have left, let’s look at the four woes that correspond to the four blessings in Jesus’ sermon on the plain. The first woe is: “But woe to you who are rich,for you have received your consolation.”
The Greek word translated as “woe” is “ouai”. It literally means “alas for”. This word introduces an expression of pity for those who stand under divine judgment. Jesus addresses these words directly to persons in spiritual danger who are present in the crowd listening to him. The reason why Jesus pities them is because they have already received their consolation. The problem is not their wealth per se but the fact that they are satisfied with it.
Jesus’ second woe is: “Alas for you who are full now,for you will be hungry.”
Again, the problem is not with food per se. The problem is when we let food become our dominant reason for living.
Jesus’ third woe is: “Alas for you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.”
When Jesus pities those who laugh now, he is, perhaps, speaking of an evil kind of laughter, which looks down on the fate of enemies and is in danger of becoming boastful and self-satisfied.
Jesus’ final woe is: “Alas for you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.”
I think this is one of the great temptations for every pastor. We all like to be liked. The problem is when we end up preaching in order to be liked by other human beings, rather than to have the approval of God as our primary motive.
The bottom-line challenge of Jesus’ blessings and woes is this: we must all decide what kind of life we want to lead. Will it be a life focused on the kingdom of God or will it be a life focused on the kingdom of this world? Again, I find the manner in which C. S. Lewis phrases this challenge inspiring. Lewis writes,
I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that country and to help others to do the same.[2]
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