"A Topsy-turvy Faith"
(Luke 6:17-26)
[17] He 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. [18] They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. [19] And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
[20] Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
"Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
[21] "Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
"Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
[22] "Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. [23] 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.
[24] "But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
[25] "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.
[26] "Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
NRSV
INTRODUCTION:
We live in a topsy-turvy world. Our children teach us that all the time. They see things with different eyes than we do. A Sunday School teacher was tell the children that God loved them all the time, even when they were grumpy.
A two-year old chimed in and said, "And Happy!" The teacher smiled and started to go on but so did the little boy . . . and Sleepy and Dopey and Sneezy and Doc and Bashful." (1)
This passage points out, though, that it's not just our children who make things topsy-turvy. In this sermon on the plain as this passage has been called. Jesus seems to turn everything about faith and life inside out and upside down.
I. THE PROMISE & THE PURPOSE:
A. THE PROMISE: But there's more to it than there appears on the surface. Jesus didn't just come on the scene and suddenly stir everything up. It may have felt like he had stepped into a mess of fire ants or whacked a hornets nest with a stick to those who were listening. But Jesus wasn't really throwing everything out. He wasn't standing it all on its head or turning it inside out and upside down. Jesus was actually righting what was wrong. He was putting it all back into place.
You see, we have to take a moment and look at the promises of God. God promised the Israelites to be their God. God promised to make Abraham a great nation. For generations God called them the chosen. They called themselves the children of God. They felt blessed and chosen as no other nation. All they had to do was to love God, their neighbor and follow the law. Psalm 1:1-3 reads:
[1] Happy are those
who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
or sit in the seat of scoffers;
[2] but their delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law they meditate day and night.
[3] They are like trees
planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.
That's a pretty good promise from God.
B. THE PURPOSE:
The problem was that they forgot the purpose of the promise. They remembered the promise in all of its many and various forms. But they forgot the purpose. And what was that purpose? From the very beginning, God defined that purpose in the relationship with Abraham. In Genesis 12 verse 1: God calls Abraham into this relationship. And in verse 2 lays out the purpose of the relationship. God tells Abraham, "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great . . ." That's the promise.
Now here's the rest of the verse. "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great so that you will be a blessing."That's the purpose. Abraham and the children of Israel were chosen and blessed by God in order to be a blessing to the rest of the world.
II. THE PROBLEM:
A. The problem was that they remembered the promise but forgot their purpose. And in so doing they turned the promise on its head. They turned their faith inside out and upside down. They crossed the Jordan and entered the promised land but seemed to leave the purpose somewhere out in the wilderness. Or left it on the other side of the Jordan when they crossed over.
They remind of the story of the college student who had recently become a Christian. He got a job working offshore on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. His pastor took him aside and tried to prepare him for some of the harassment he might receive. He told the young man, "Be on you guard. As soon as some of those guys find out you're a Christian, they will constantly tease you and pick on you."Summer went by and the young man returned home. The pastor asked him how it went and the young man replied, "Oh, it went great. They never figured once out I was Christian."
The problem with the Israelites is that no one figured out that they were blessed in order to be a blessing.
B. Instead they turned the promise on its head and began living a theology of prosperity. They felt that if God blessed the righteous, those who delighted in the law then surely God didn't care for those who didn't. They began to feel and live as if those who prospered in life were the most blessed. And those who didn't prosper were cursed. They began to use wealth, beauty, power, position and health as measuring sticks for their relationship with God.
If you were wealthy or if your business prospered or if you were physically blessed then your life must really be right with God. If you were poor or crippled or out of work or an outcast it was because God was displeased with you. And God said not to associate with sinners. Consequently they began ignoring their responsibilities to the poor and infirm and outcasts. Instead of being a blessing to them, they cursed them.
C. In this sermon, though, Jesus confronts them. Luke makes the point of telling us that there were all kinds of people gathered to hear this sermon, people of every surrounding nation and people from all walks of life. Luke also tells us that Jesus came down off the mountain and brought them to the plain. Both symbolically and spiritually, Jesus brought the all to the same level playing field. And then he dropped this major bombshell of a message that left gaping holes in their neatly ordered understanding of God. Jesus didn't just turn everything upside down. Instead he turned it all right side up.
III. THE PRACTICE:
A. So, what does that have to do with us? We still live in a topsy-turvy world. We still live in a world were everything seems to be turned inside out and upside down. Year after year, those who have just seem to get more. And those without seem to get less. The poor get poorer and the rich get richer. On one level, there is nothing wrong with that. Life isn't fair. There are always going to be the poor and the rich and the rest of us. People who work hard should be rewarded. But that's NOT what Jesus is talking about here. He's talking about our attitude toward and our practice of the promise and the purpose. Jesus is talking about our focus in life.
When Jesus stood up and recited these beatitudes, the poor and the hungry and the sick and powerless were probably groaning a little. This sounds like pie in the sky. Quietly suffer here and you'll get your reward in heaven. Don't covet what others have, just be thankful you're alive and wait until you see what God has in store for you. The problem was that it didn't fill their bellies.
The rich and powerful were probably thinking, "Yeah, you tell them." And that was when Jesus turned and nailed them too. "Woe to you who are rich or full now. . ." Nobody got let off the hook. They had all remembered the promise but forgotten the purpose.
Jesus is saying: if you tune you heart and focus all of your thoughts, energies and ambitions on things of the world, you'll get them. But that's all you'll get.
B. What Jesus is calling for is something radically different. Jesus is calling for a Topsy-turvy faith. A right side up kind of faith. A faith and the practice of faith that is a blessing for others.
A few years ago, two sisters, Sue and Marjorie were walking along a lakeside road, discussing the day's events. Marjorie saw something sticking up out of the sand and stopped for a closer look. To their amazement it was a crumpled $20 bill. Sue admits she was a little jealous. Fortunately, she didn't need to be jealous for too long, because just a few yards away she spotted another $20! The sisters continued the rest of their walk talking about their good fortune. When Sue arrived home she just couldn't stop thinking about how she was going to spend that $20. She decided to spend it on something absolutely unpractical, on something just for her! It was her fun money and she carefully tucked it into a corner of her dresser. While the collection plate was making its rounds at church the next Sunday, Sue spied Marjorie take out her crumpled $20 bill and drop it in. She writes: "I was forever humbled. That day I discovered the true difference between me and my sister. Funny, I can't seem to remember what I bought." (2)
Marjorie was blessed to be a blessing. She got it right side up.
During World War II a Jewish woman in France was running from the German Gestapo. She knew she was close to being caught and she wanted to give up. A Christian widow came to the home where she was hiding and told her it was time to flee to a new place. This Jewish woman said, "It's no use, they will find me anyway." The Christian widow said, "Yes, they'll come to this house, and they will find someone here, but it's time for you to leave. I will take your identification and wait here." The Jewish lady then understood the plan. The Gestapo would find the Christian widow and think that she was the fleeing Jew. The Jewish lady asked the widow why she would make such an offer. The widow said, "It's the least I can do; Christ has already done that and more for me."
The widow was caught, mistaken for the Jewish woman, and placed in a concentration camp. She died after only a few months. The Jewish woman couldn't forget what the Christian widow had done. Later, she settled in Brooklyn. She eventually became a follower of Christ and dedicated her life to serving others.
Only someone with a deep understanding of the promise of God and the purpose of our faith could have been such a blessing. But we are all called to have a similar sort of faith and be a similar sort of blessing for those around us.
CONCLUSION:
The world IS a topsy-turvy place, we have been blessed, through our relationship with God, and we are called to be a blessing. We do that by reaching out to those around us and helping them.
One Christmas the students of a nursery school were making handmade gifts for their parents. One little boy decided to make an ash tray for his father who smoked a pipe. The boy's teacher helped him as he formed the clay with his little fingers. They fired the clay, brought it out of the kiln, and the next day they were going to paint it. She asked the boy what color to paint it and the boy said, "Oh, my father's favorite color is blue." So they painted it blue.
The last day of school before the Christmas holidays came, and it was time for the parents to come for the Christmas pageant and the party where they would receive their presents. When the pageant was over, the little boy picked up his supplies, put on his coat and ran to his father with the precious gift. But on the way he tripped. The ashtray hit the floor and broke into a thousand pieces. The little boy sat down in the middle of the pieces of his loving gift and cried. His father came to him, patted him on the head, and told him it was all right and that it really didn't matter.
But the boy's mother sat down beside the boy and said, "I know, it does matter. It matters very much." And together they cried. After the tears were wiped, the mother picked up a box, handed it to her little boy and said, "Now, let's pick up all the pieces and take them home and see what we can make of what's left." (3)
That is our faith. That's what we are called to do. We are blessed to be a blessing. We are called to have the kind of faith that reaches out and helps pick up the pieces. We're called to the have the kind of faith that looks at the world with different eyes. We're called to have the kind of faith that helps turn this topsy-turvy world right side up through sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
This is the Word of the Lord for this day.
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1. The Joyful Noiseletter, Vol. 13, No 3., March 1998 (Fellowship of Merry Christians) p. 2
2. Found Money, by Sue Fishour. From Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul, by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Aubery and Nancy Mitchell, pp. 305-306. Health Communications, Inc., Deerfield Beach, Fla.: 1997.
3. David N. Duke and Paul D., Duke, Anguish and the Word, 1992, p. 81.