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Saints’ Sunday
We’ve probably all experienced it to some degree. A time where life was turned upside down. Sometimes it’s a positive thing like the birth of a child or a new job opportunity or a windfall of some kind. But other times, it’s not: a diagnosis is made, an accident occurs, a relationship ends. Whether or not we deem such life events as good or bad, these reversals of fortune have the power to change us, to open our hearts to something new, and to turn our life in a different direction.
That’s why Jesus is always about reversing business as usual: preaching good news to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives, offering sight to the blind, and so on. In fact, much of the Christian life is based on reversals. And certainly reversals are at the heart of the four beatitudes and four woes in our reading from the gospel of Luke where Jesus declares that the poor, the hungry, the weeping, and those who are hated, excluded, and slandered can expect better things. Their situations will be reversed. They will be blessed. They will be given the opposite of what they have now. But those who are rich, Jesus says, those who are full, who laugh, who are popular and respected, well, they can expect to lose what they have now. Their situation will also be reversed. Woe to them.
So what are we to make of all this? Is it simply a redistribution of wealth and resources? Is Jesus making poor people rich and rich people poor? Then what happens? Everything is pretty much the same just the roles are reversed. Does Jesus really love malnourished people more than those who have enough to eat? Does he prefer our lives to be burdened and broken by loss and sorrow? Is there no place for joy or laughter? Or a good meal? When you think about it, it doesn't make sense. So if that's not what Jesus is saying here, what is he saying? How are we to hear his words?
Well, we are not to hear Jesus's words only on a materialistic level because this world and our lives are more than just the things that we can touch and see. But, just as importantly, we are not to soften his words to the point that they no longer challenge and empower us to see and live differently. Jesus is not distinguishing between spiritual and material lack or spiritual and material abundance. It’s both. And really how could it not be? Jesus is human just like you and me. He's got needs just as we do. Some of those needs are physical, but some are emotional and spiritual. He is both body and soul, just like we are. He is both material and spiritual, just like us. That means that our lives are a mixture of needs too, some met, some unmet. Within each of us there are parts that are rich and full and abundant. And there are parts that are empty, broken, grieving. It's not one or the other. It's both, at the same time.
That's why the blessings and woes that Jesus talks about are not to be understood as some kind of final judgment or system of reward and punishment - because they're not. They're not even at odds with one another. Rather the blessings and woes are God's way of saying yes or no to where and how we find meaning in our lives. Because isn't that what we ultimately want? Isn't that why we come to church? At the core of our being don’t we all long for meaning?
Every blessing and every woe, every yes and every no, is Jesus's response to our search for meaning - a life that matters. And as good parents know, sometimes we tell our children yes and sometimes we tell them no. But both responses are grounded in love and both are for the well-being of our children. And so it is with God. When we are too comfortable, too satisfied, or too secure - whether that be spiritually, emotionally, or materially - Jesus says, “No, that's not the way.” Because we can all too easily become self-satisfied. Thinking that we've got it all. That we've arrived. And then our lives become small and closed off. There is no openness. No need to see beyond ourselves, to love the person next door, or to work for change that makes a difference in the lives of others. Woe to us when we are convinced that we have no needs beyond the things of this world. Woe to us when we believe that we have no need to grow and change.
On the other hand Jesus promises blessings when we are empty, weak, or grieving – again, whether that be spiritually, emotionally, or materially. But that’s not because there is any inherent value or goodness in poverty or misery but because when we are in that state our hearts are softened. Our eyes are open. We desire something more. Those are the times we know there has to be something other than just the things of this world. And we’re right for in those moments Jesus says, “Yes, blessed are you.”
It’s like the old story where a student comes to her teacher looking for wisdom. But first off she tells the teacher what books she’s read, what courses she’s taken, what practices she’s done. And as the student talks and talks and talks, the teacher pours a cup of tea until the cup is totally overflowing. When, finally, the student interrupts herself and says, “Stop, the cup is full!” To which the teacher responds, “Yes, it is and so are you. Until you empty yourself there is no room for anything else.”
The gift in the reversals of blessings and woes, yeses and nos, is that they are a means by which space is made in our lives so that God can guide us into the life we really want. A life that is authentic and meaningful and good. So, I wonder, where are you full today? What place in your life is abundant? How is God calling you to surrender in some way so that there might be room for growth and change? And what parts of you feel empty, weak, or in need? No doubt that's where God desires to pour blessing and presence, peace and love into your life. Be open and trust. For it is in these reversals that we discover life in the midst of death, light in the darkness, and the wonder that even in our own imperfect humanness God’s very life and love dwells. That is the reversal of fortune that we celebrate today and all our days.
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