Dear Friends,

This is the first message in a series on the statements Jesus made in his Sermon on the Mount known as the “Beatitudes.” These are unique statements on the intersection of divine grace with human need. They have been much abused and misunderstood as formulas for gaining God’s approval, prescriptions for social justice and the keys to wealth and success. In truth, the Beatitudes mean nothing if one does not believe in the Christ who spoke them as Creator, Lord and Savior.

I have come to treasure these statements as calls to prayer and repentance. They are benches in my soul where I can rest a while and let the Lord restore me to things of eternal importance. May we all gain wisdom and strength from the Lord’s teaching,.

* * *

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. 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 on 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.”
(Luke 6:17-26).

The people that Jesus encountered on this earth were lost — not necessarily wandering-in-the-wilderness, falling-off-the-cliff lost, but the more subtle alone-in-a-crowd-with-a-broken-heart lost.

He found them tired, lonely, sick, “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt 9:36). Their suffering and needs were so great. They drew near to him with their illnesses, troubles and demons. They craved his touch and the healing power that manifested in his loving presence.

He healed them and spoke to them of how their deepest needs and problems could be transformed by his redeeming grace into a source of blessing.

Grinding poverty of body and spirit, hungry souls and stomachs, broken hearts cloaked in grief and sadness, rejection and exclusion  — these are the jagged edges of the crush zone of human existence where love slips away and hope dies. That’s the very place where Jesus told them that God does his best work.

It would be natural for those in such predicaments — and who of us hasn’t been there — to desire wealth, full stomachs and wallets, laughter, and approval and inclusion as the antidote for their misery. Watch an hour of commercial television programming and you will likely see all of these items marketed as the keys to your happiness.

Will wealth cure an impoverished spirit and console a grieving soul? Will food fill the hole in the gut that gnaws with dissatisfaction? Will laughter and good times heal a broken heart and replace the losses that devastate hope? Will gaining human approval and acceptance really make us alright?

“Not on your life,” said Jesus. “You are in a deep dark hole with no way to climb out,” if you think this way. “‘Woe,’will be your lot — the troubled, restless, heart-sick existence that is the very antithesis of blessing.”

Riches, material abundance, laughter and approval are supposed to set us free from worry. Yet, there is nothing more dangerous than these conditions without God as their source and center.  When that happens they are only  idols, given the power to take from us and destroy us, by our worship. They will never have the power to save us. They will never love us.

There is always the temptation to the quick fix — to throw money at poverty, serve food to the starving, tell jokes to the grieving, wallow in empathy with the suffering and shower promiscuous praise. Without a turn of the mind and heart in the direction of the Creator, competition will increase to violence and death as resources deplete and nothing will change.

This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t help the poor, feed the hungry and comfort those in sorrow. It means that human solutions are always finite and subject to human limitations. If we put our hope in them, we will ultimately be disappointed and lost.

Our greatest problems and deepest needs are not something to be denied or turned away from in distraction. They are where we should look for Jesus Christ to redeem us, heal us and make us whole in his great love. Where are you looking for your salvation?

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And light more abundant and free!
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth
will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.
(Helen H. Lemmel, 1952)

“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him” (Ps 34:8).

Under the mercy of Christ,

Kent

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