Skip to main content

Too Blessed to be Stressed


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.
“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.
“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]


[1]C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, New York: Macmillan, 1986, pp. 144-145.
[2]C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

C. S. Lewis on Homosexuality

Arthur Greeves In light of recent developments in the United States on the issue of gay marriage, I thought it would be interesting to revisit what C. S. Lewis thought about homosexuality. Lewis, who died in 1963, never wrote about same-sex marriage, but he did write, occasionally, about the topic of homosexuality in general. In the following I am quoting from my book, Mere Theology: A Guide to the Thought of C. S. Lewis . For detailed references and footnotes, you may obtain a copy from Amazon, your local library, or by clicking on the book cover at the right.... In Surprised by Joy , Lewis claimed that homosexuality was a vice to which he was never tempted and that he found opaque to the imagination. For this reason he refused to say anything too strongly against the pederasty that he encountered at Malvern College, where he attended school from the age of fifteen to sixteen. Lewis did not rate pederasty as the greatest evil of the school because he felt the cruelty displa

Fact, Faith, Feeling

"Now Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes. I know that by experience. Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks very improbable: but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable. This rebellion of your moods against your real self is going to come anyway. That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods 'where to get off', you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion. Consequently one must train the habit of Faith." Mere Christianity Many years ago, when I was a young Christian, I remember seeing the graphic illustration above of what C. S. Lewis has, here, so

C. S. Lewis Tour--London

The final two days of our C. S. Lewis Tour of Ireland & England were spent in London. Upon our arrival we enjoyed a panoramic tour of the city that included Westminster Abbey. A number of our tour participants chose to tour the inside of the Abbey where they were able to view the new C. S. Lewis plaque in Poets' Corner. Though London was not one of Lewis' favorite places to visit, there are a number of locations associated with him. One which I have noted in my new book,  In the Footsteps of C. S. Lewis , is Endsleigh Palace Hospital (25 Gordon Street, London) where Lewis recovered from his wounds received during the First World War.... Not too far away from this location is King's College, part of the University of London, located on the Strand, just off the River Thames. This is the location where Lewis gave the annual commemoration oration entitled The Inner Ring  on 14 December 1944.... C. S. Lewis occasionally attended theatrical events in London.

The Shepherds' Perspective on Christmas

On December 21, 2015, the following headline appeared in the International Business Times: “Bethlehem Christmas 2015 Cancelled”. To be fully accurate, religious celebrations of Jesus’ birth went forward last year in Bethlehem, but many of the secular celebrations of Christmas that usually surround it were toned down due to instability in the area. Looking back a decade, there was even one year when Christian Arabs canceled community celebrations of Christmas in support of the Palestinian uprising. However, the Jewish government would have no part of that, so the Israeli military sponsored its own holiday celebrations in the area. It is also interesting to note who celebrated the first Christmas and who didn’t. The first Christmas was not celebrated by the emperor Caesar Augustus, nor Quirinius, the governor of Syria, nor was it celebrated by the lowly innkeeper. But Christmas was celebrated by a few lonely shepherds along with Joseph and Mary and the angels of heaven. How

A Prayer at Ground Zero

Does the Bible mention treating animals with kindness?

When I solicited questions to be addressed in this series, a member of the congregation wrote this to me: “Animals are mentioned in the Bible as beasts of burden and sacrificial animals.  Is there any mention of treating animals with kindness?” The short answer to that question is: yes. However, it is important to note that what the Bible says about caring for animals comes in the midst of a great narrative. It is a narrative of  Creation, Fall, and Redemption.  Let’s look at these three great acts in the narrative play of world history one by one. First, let’s look at creation. Creation At the very beginning of the Bible, in the book of Genesis, chapter 1, verses 26 through 28, we read this: Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the

Christmas Day Thought from Henri Nouwen

" I keep thinking about the Christmas scene that Anthony arranged under the altar. This probably is the most meaningful "crib" I have ever seen. Three small woodcarved figures made in India: a poor woman, a poor man, and a small child between them. The carving is simple, nearly primitive. No eyes, no ears, no mouths, just the contours of the faces. The figures are smaller than a human hand - nearly too small to attract attention at all. "But then - a beam of light shines on the three figures and projects large shadows on the wall of the sanctuary. That says it all. The light thrown on the smallness of Mary, Joseph, and the Child projects them as large, hopeful shadows against the walls of our life and our world. "While looking at the intimate scene we already see the first outlines of the majesty and glory they represent. While witnessing the most human of human events, I see the majesty of God appearing on the horizon of my existence. While

C. S. Lewis on Church Attendance

A friend's blog written yesterday ( http://wesroberts.typepad.com/ ) got me thinking about C. S. Lewis's experience of the church. I wrote this in a comment on Wes Robert's blog: It is interesting to note that C. S. Lewis attended the same small church for over thirty years. The experience was nothing spectacular on a weekly basis. For most of those years Lewis didn't care much for the sermons; he even sat behind a pillar so that the priest would not see the expression on his face. He attended the service without music because he so disliked hymns. And he left right after holy communion was served probably because he didn't like to engage in small talk with other parishioners after the service. But that life-long obedience in the same direction shaped Lewis in a way that nothing else could. Lewis was once asked, "Is attendance at a place of worship or membership with a Christian community necessary to a Christian way of life?" His answer w

Sheldon Vanauken Remembered

A good crowd gathered at the White Hart Cafe in Lynchburg, Virginia on Saturday, February 7 for a powerpoint presentation I gave on the life and work of Sheldon Vanauken. Van, as he was known to family and friends, was best known as the author of A Severe Mercy , the autobiography of his love relationship with his wife Jean "Davy" Palmer Davis. While living in Oxford, England in the early 1950's, Van and Davy came to faith in Christ through the influence of C. S. Lewis. Van was a professor of history and English literature at Lynchburg College from 1948 until his retirement around 1980. A Severe Mercy tells the story of Davy's death from a mysterious liver ailment in 1955 and Van's subsequent dealing with grief. Van himself died from cancer in 1996. It was my privilege to know Van for a brief period of time during the last year of his life. However, present at the White Hart on February 7 were some who knew Van far better than I did--Floyd Newman, one of Van&

Glenmerle

Glenmerle in the 1950s In 2013 I published a biography on one of my favorite authors, Sheldon Vanauken. If you are interested, you can learn more and/or purchase a signed copy here:  Signed Copy  or an unsigned copy here:  Amazon . One of the things that got me writing the book was my search for the location of Glenmerle, Vanauken's childhood home, so lovingly described in his book, A Severe Mercy . A visit to Van's alma mater, Staunton Military Academy, alerted me to the fact that Van grew up in Carmel, Indiana. Then, with the help of a local historian, we identified the location of Glenmerle.  Because Van had suggested, in my first conversation with him, that Glenmerle was destroyed, I naturally assumed that the house no longer existed. However, another one of Van's fans recently contacted me to let me know that she believed she had found Glenmerle still in existence. I was able to look up the house on a real estate web site and compare current interior photos o