Friday, January 28, 2022

Luke 6:17-26: Jesus' Plain Sermon

Presented to The Salvation Army's Alberni Valley Ministries, 30 January 2022 by Captain Michael Ramsay


 

The Sermon on the Mount is one of the most famous and most appreciated portions of scripture. We love to run through Matthew’s Beatitudes particularly. They are a blessing and they are counted as a blessing to many of us. Matthew 5:1-11: 

 

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them. He said: 

 

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 

 

These are words that we can always reflect on when we need encouragement. We have previously looked at Jesus’ Mountain Sermon.[1] Today, we are going to look a little bit at Jesus’ Plain Sermon as recorded in Luke Chapter Six. Some people say these are two different versions of the same sermon.[2] If this is true Luke has it in a different place and he recounts some very significant things that Matthew did not recall. [3] 

 

The Sermon on the Plain, other than its location, begins pretty much the same as the sermon on the mount with its blessings. Luke 6:20-23: 


20 Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

21 Blessed are you who hunger now,

for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.

22 Blessed are you when people hate you,

when they exclude you and insult you

and reject your name as evil,

because of the Son of Man.

23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

 

These are words that can give us strength to continue. If we are poor now – as are more and more people in our country every day and as are far more people in our world than need be - we can endure because in the end, we will be in the Kingdom of God where there is no poverty. This can encourage many people with whom we walk on a daily basis and is a real blessing for many more people in our world today.

 

If we are hungry now – as is so much of our world today we will be satisfied, maybe not now but in God’s Kingdom because in the Kingdom of God there will be no more hunger. No more children, adults, or others will die of starvation in the Kingdom of God.

 

We feed hundreds of people, hundreds of times each week in the Valley here. In the Kingdom to Come there will be no need for food banks. There will be no need for soup kitchens. There will be no need for food trucks. All those who are hungry will be satisfied. 

 

If we weep now due to the inherent divides in our country today, Luke records, Jesus says, we will laugh in the future Kingdom. There are many sad things in life. There are many things that bring us to tears. There are things that happen in the news. There are things that happen in the world. There are things that happen in our community and there are sad things that happen in our part of our community. There are many really sad things that happen every day between just the block and a bit between here and the Bread of Life.  And there are sad things that cause each and every one of us, no matter who we are, to pause and to weep. 

 

At Ministerial meetings that we have attended across this country we have often had a blessed time joining in prayer with the pastors about the things that they weep and pray over. We listen to the troubles of the parishioners from the so-called ‘middle class’ or wealthy churches and we realize that -while their problems are very real, they are really very different than the troubles of the poor and the marginalized. We do pray with the pastors about the things that they weep and pray over. We listen to the troubles of the parishioners from the so-called ‘middle class’ or wealthy churches and we realize that -while their problems are very real, they are really very different than the troubles of the poor and the marginalized. This gulf is widened even more when we think of the churches in Africa, South America and elsewhere in the world![4] The poor and the marginalized suffer so much. There is much weeping and gnashing of teeth in pain, sorrow, grief, and distress.

 

I think of those who have cried long and hard in my office when I read this passage about laughing in the Kingdom of God and while I do offer prayer and the Lord’s comfort, it is a comfort to me to read here that indeed in the Kingdom to Come those who are weeping now will be laughing.

 

One thing that I have really noticed especially in BC – so much more than other places I have lived – but definitely more and more in our nation - is that people really are insulted, excluded, hated, and rejected as evil just because they serve the Lord. I used to read the publicly funded and administered CBC website religiously everyday to find out what was going on in our country. About 10 years ago or more now I stopped altogether. It was just too anti-Christian. It was noticeably anti-Catholic. It seemed to have no shame saying things about the Catholic church that you would never dare utter about any protected category of people in our country. The slant of many news stories seemed to paint the church as evil. I have spoken to many people who have regretted speaking to CBC reporters because their words were manipulated. I know I am certainly once bitten and twice shy regarding interviews with the CBC myself.

 

I do love BC; I love this Island; I love this community. But you know what I loved about Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and even Ontario? In none of those places did I feel looked down on for my faith; in none of those places did I feel excluded for my faith; in none of those places did I feel someone thought I was evil for being a Christian and for being a pastor. It is different here (It is possibly even worse in Quebec from what I read and probably coming more to the rest of our nation as well.)

 

But you know what? In the Kingdom to Come, In’s Christ’s Kingdom; when Christ, Our Lord comes back this will not happen anymore – all those who are excluded, insulted, and called evil for following the Lord will receive their reward.  


Don’t be intimidated by those who are calling you evil for doing good and don’t be tricked into hating them in equal measure. Also don’t hate those who are eating, hording, and wasting food while our hungry brothers and sisters die here and around the world. Don’t resent those who are laughing in excess as people are mourning in poverty. Don’t hate the people receiving the applause of the rich, well-fed, and happy. This is their time. This is their democracy where their voices matter. It is not ours. Our kingdom is coming and when it does, Luke 6:23-26:  

 

24 “But woe to you who are rich,

for you have already received your comfort.

25 Woe to you who are well fed now,

for you will go hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now,

for you will mourn and weep.

26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,

for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

 

Societies based on wealth (capitalism) can never be Christian (Matthew 6:24) as they exclude the poor.[5] This is a condemnation (as is much of Luke and Matthew’s writings) of the values that inspire and sustain capitalism. I imagine if you told these gospel writers that there would be a system of economic governance based so much on the service of mammon that is actually called capital-ism, they would be shocked. I imagine they would cry to see the wealth and unimaginable disparity between the rich and the poor in our world today. I imagine they would be sick to know that people now fly into space for fun while children starve to death and I imagine that they would not be even able to imagine our world where if just the richest country would spend a fraction of the money it spends on killing poor children and families instead on feeding and clothing them, there would be no more naked and hungry people in our world.[6]

 

Two thousand years after these words were recorded the chasm between the Rich man and Lazarus has expanded exponentially (Luke 16:19-31). As hard as it was for the rich young man to leave his wealth and follow Jesus in the 1st Century, I imagine it is that much more difficult today (Luke 18:18-30, Mark 10:17-31, Matthew 19:16-30).  When Jesus returns this will all change. It will and then woe to rich, woe to the fed, woe to those who laugh, and woe to those who receive praise now.[7]

 

These woes are something that I have been reflecting on this week as I have been praying, meditating, researching and reading this pericope. At first glance these woes read like ‘an eye for an eye’ – you kept all these resources from the poor; when Jesus comes back he is going to get you (but cf. Matthew 8:35-42). It almost sounds like Marx where he speaks about an impending society where the proletariat will get their revenge by instilling a dictatorship over the bourgeoisie. But I don’t think Jesus is a Marxist anymore than I think He is a Capitalist. I don’t read a lot of retribution in the words of Jesus.[8]  

 

In the very next words recorded in Jesus’ sermon here, quite the contrary, He says:

27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

 

So then what does Jesus means when he pronounces woes for the rich, the well-fed, those who laugh now and receive praise, if it does not mean they will receive direct retribution? This is what I think it means in the context of Luke Chapter 6 and Jesus’ Plain Sermon: I think in the new heaven and on the new earth, there will be plenty of resources for everyone – just like there is now! But the difference is that those of us who are on the new earth, those of us who are part of the Kingdom of Heaven will share! I think the woes that will befall the privileged is that they will not have everything that they have now at the eschaton. In Jesus’ kingdom we don’t hoard money, or food, or housing, or access to resources. In Jesus’ kingdom everyone is invited to participate and everyone will receive the same just like in the parable of the farm workers/day labourers (Matthew 20:1-16).

 

As Christians it is our duty to try to create a Christian society where everyone has access to all that we need. This is why Jesus says, as recorded by both Luke and Matthew, that it is indeed difficult for the rich to inherit the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:19-24; Luke 12:13-21). This is the source of their woes, for as citizens of heaven we will naturally share all of our excess until such a time as no one has any deficit and indeed in so doing this is a key way we show that we are indeed citizens of Heaven.

 

God has provided more than enough so that no one needs to starve in our world, no one needs to be without full and proper medical and dental care in our country. And no one needs to be homeless in our city. As Christians, as citizens of heaven, it is necessary that we work toward those ends now. For as we work towards helping the poor and the disenfranchised now, we prove our citizenship in the eternal Kingdom to Come. [9]

 

This is my encouragement to many of you who are here today. Many of you have been helping those in need in our community and in our world for many, many years now.  Many of your have regularly tithed and given to Partners In Mission. Many of you have volunteered hours of your lives helping out those in need right here in our community. My friends I want to encourage you. As you continue to do this, you continue to show to the world not only what the Kingdom of God looks like but that indeed that each and everyone of you are citizens of that kingdom.

 

Let us pray.


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[1] Cf. Michael Ramsay, Matthew 5:1-16: A Spoonful of Blessings Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 04 January 2015 and Alberni Valley Ministries, 29 September 2019 by Captain Michael Ramsay. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2015/01/matthew-51-16-spoonful-of-blessings.html

[2] William Hendricksen, Exposition of the Gospel According to Luke (NTC: Baker Academic: Grand Rapids Michigan, 2007), 334-335 explores this very question in detail

[3] Cf. Fred B. Craddock, Luke (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky, USA: John Knox Press, 1990), 86 further explores some of the differences in physical and textual setting of Matthew, Luke and Mark.

[4] Paul John Isaak, “617-20a: Sermons Today” in  Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 1241.

[5] Cf. Michael Ramsay, Matthew 26:10: The Poor will always be with you (Salvogesis, January 10, 2022), https://salvogesis.blogspot.com/2022/01/matthew-2610-poor-will-always-be-with.html?spref=fb&fbclid=IwAR1pcI-pdA28F-qMsO1MMyjQ_E5EQgyQOuhWP5l1t6B50YpdqxVWd8ooPXQ

[6] John Sobrino, No Salvation Outside the Poor (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2008), 76: Ignacio Ellacuria emphasises the need for us to replace a 'civilization of wealth'.

[7] R. Alan Culpepper, Luke (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 143-145 speaks quite a bit about the woes to the rich in the impending society.

[8] Cf. R. Alan Culpepper, Luke (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 146

[9] Paul John Isaak, “617-20a: Sermons Today” in  Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 1242

Thursday, January 13, 2022

Deuteronomy 15:1-11: Poor No More! Count Me In!

 Presented to The Salvation Army, Alberni Valley Ministries, 16 January 2022, by Captain Michael Ramsay


Deuteronomy is an interesting book. It begins with probably a recap for the children of the generation who left Egypt, It begins on Mt Sinai, Mt Horeb, and the opening story is that of the Israelites, save Joshua and Caleb, declining the gift of the Promised Land – until it is too late. It then records their desert wanderings and various battles as well as Moses’ prohibition from entering the Promised Land; It then lays out a number of laws outlining how God’s people are to live, the most famous of which are the 10 Commandments listed in Chapter 5. Can anyone tell me what are the 10 Commandments?

 

1.     “I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.

2.     You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

3.     You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

4.     Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

5.     Honour your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

6.     “You shall not murder.

7.     “You shall not commit adultery.

8.     “You shall not steal.

9.     “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.

10. “You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbour’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour’s.”

 

There are a whole lot more laws than these, of course. The next few chapters of Deuteronomy delineate a few more, elaborate on them, give us more details, and/or reasons for them. In Chapter 9 we read the famous episode of the Golden Calf and in Chapter 10 we have the second printing of the 10 Commandments. We then have a number more chapters elaborating upon and explaining the laws. Chapter 15, which we are looking at today, relates very much to Deuteronomy’s version of the Fourth Commandment – keeping the Sabbath Day holy.[1] In Deuteronomy the reason for this commandment is different than the reason specified in the Exodus account (Ex 20:8-11); in the Deuteronomy account the reason for the Fourth Commandment is that the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. They are not to make perpetual slaves of each other. Furthermore, when they enter the Promised Land, Deuteronomy 15:4, “there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, He will richly bless you.” But then by Verse 11 it is noted that even so, “there will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.”[2]

 

Matthew 26:11 (Mark 14:7, John 12:8) Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 15:11 in saying, “the poor will always be with you”

 

As this is the case, Ignacio Ellacuria says, in essence, the great salvific task is to evangelize the poor so that out of their poverty they may attain the spirit necessary first to escape their indulgence and oppression, second to put an end to oppressive structures, and third to be used to inaugurate a new heaven and a new earth, where sharing trumps accumulating and where there is time to hear and enjoy God’s voice in the heart of the material world and in the heart of human history.[3]

 

I think that is very important. We need to evangelize the poor. We know what the word evangelize means, right? It comes from the Greek word ‘euangelion’, which means ‘good message’ or ‘good news’.[4] We need to share the good news with the poor. Jesus, as recorded in Luke 4:18, in his very early sermon in the synagogue in his very own hometown quoted the prophet Isaiah – Isaiah 61:1 - in this very sentiment. He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.”

 

What is this good news? What is this ‘euangelion’? This good news is that we can be saved from eternal death. We can be bodily raised from the dead to eternal life and even more.[5] We can have the Spirit of God on us now in our very lives. By the power of God, we can start to experience a new life this very day – renewing our heart and transforming us from the inside! That we can all have this is good news – especially for the poor! And there is more: for just as salvation isn’t just for the future it also isn’t just for the individual; it is for all creation (Romans 8:19-22).

 

And in our society today, as in almost all, if not all societies throughout history, the group that consistently experiences being excluded from the society of the privileged is the poor. Today in Canada we talk a lot about indigenous history and the TRC. Today out of the United States, BLM is a significant movement. Today there is much talk about identity politics. Today there are many people discriminated against. The people who have been primarily victimized in these and all other groups are the poor. (There are some exceptions, of course. The unvaccinated are being excluded from society at present and they are not all poor – yet. But Quebec may even now be putting a special tax on them! There are many jobs they aren't allowed to hold and they are even being denied benefits!) The consistent target of exclusion in our society – and our world - is and has always been the poor.[6]

 

In the USA which experienced some of the worst slavery and anti-black history in the whole world, this century already they have had a rich, powerful, privileged black man ruling their nation while many black and other people still suffer horribly under the curse of poverty and exclusion from society.[7] The Church however is inclusive society and while some of the poor and disenfranchised are already experiencing the blessings of the Good News of eternal salvation, sadly many are still waiting to experience solidarity in the totality of salvation – that of mind, body, soul, and circumstance. A just society, a Christian society is one where everyone will have access to community. A just society, a Christian society is one where the poor and the wealthy will experience solidarity in their salvation. A just society, a Christian society is one where the rich will no longer risk their eternal rewards by withholding material necessities from the poor, as it says in Matthew 6:19-24.

 

John Sobrino tells us that God can use the poor to unleash the solidarity that can be salvific for both the poor and the nonpoor, where “poor people and nonpoor people are mutually bearing one another, giving to each other, and receiving from each other. This kind of solidarity goes beyond mere unilateral [one-way] aid, with its intrinsic tendency toward imposition and domination. [This kind of Christian Solidarity] … can resolve the ambiguity and root out what is harmful in the falsely universalizing concept of globalization.”[8] Bishop Desmond Tutu, recently ptg, and President Nelson Mandala referred this as ‘Ubuntu’ which literally means, ‘a person is a person through other people.’ [9] Solidarity is not a one-way street where some dominate others. Salvation is not a one-way street where some dominate others. A Christian society is one where we share resources and bear one another’s burdens (Acts 2:42-47).

 

Ignacio Ellacuria writes that we need to work to create such a society that can replace our civilization of capital, our civilization of wealth, with its the closed and competitive individualism. This needs to be replaced with a society of labour.[10]

 

A Society of Love: Societies based on wealth (capitalism) can never be Christian (Matthew 6:24) as they exclude the poor.

 

When Jesus was born, lived, died, and rose again He began ushering in His proleptic Kingdom. We know what ‘proleptic’ means, right? It means both now and not yet. The Kingdom of God has begun. It will culminate in Jesus’ return. The Pentateuch here records what God’s Kingdom will look like. Deuteronomy 15:4 records that “there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, He will richly bless you.” Deuteronomy was speaking specifically about the penultimate Promised Land but as with so many other texts, its culmination comes only in the ultimate Promised Land of the Kingdom to Come. This Kingdom is coming now and as we work to make this Kingdom a reality, we prove our citizenship in it (Philippians 3:20).

 

The Church is Christian society. As citizens of Heaven, it is important that we no longer objectify others and exclude them from society. The society of Jesus is inclusive. We need to not only allow but also invite our neighbour to participate in society – No more excluding the poor or anyone else! We need to give every person every opportunity to be part of our group. We need to allow every person to serve. Do not force anyone to just be served. Allow everyone to help. Do not demean some by considering them unable to assist. We must empower every person to help others.[11] We must! The Kingdom of God is about inviting others to be part of a society of Jesus, where we love and serve one another. This is the society we are to be building as we await Christ’s return.

 

Today, I encourage you to look for an opportunity to invite someone to serve our Lord alongside you. For those who work and volunteer here, I invite you to not only give out clothes to others who need clothes but allow someone in need to help you; for those who work here, allow someone who has enjoyed a meal with you at the soup kitchen to clean tables or do dishes alongside you. For all of us who are here today, ask someone you serve what is their opinion – ask someone who may not otherwise think that you even care about their opinion, what is their opinion – and then listen to what they say! And honour them by engaging them! For all of us who are here today, ask someone to pray for you; pray for someone else and then ask them to pray for you! When you do this, you involve others in the community of Christ; When you do this, you involve others in the society of Jesus. When we do this, we invite others to be a part of the Kingdom of God.

 

This week let us look for opportunities not to merely serve others but to invite others to be a part of the Kingdom of God by inviting them to serve God right alongside us. Only then will we all have an opportunity to truly be part of the society of Jesus.

 

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[1] Cf. Ronald E. Clements, The Book of Deuteronomy, (NIB II: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1998), 407

[2] Cf. Thomas E. McComiskey, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Deuteronomy/Exposition of Deuteronomy/III. The Second Address: Stipulations of the Covenant-Treaty and Its Ratification (4:44-28:68)/C. Specific Stipulations of the Covenant-Treaty (12:1-26:19)/1. For worship and ceremony (12:1-16:17)/d. Time-related activities (14:22-16:17)/(2) The year of canceling debts (15:1-11), Book Version: 4.0.2

[3] Quoted from John Sobrino, No Salvation Outside the Poor (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2008), 76.

[4] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, Romans 1:16: I am not ashamed of the Gospel! (Swift Current, SK, The Salvation Army, 05 July 2009) http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2009/07/romans-116-i-am-not-ashamed-of-gospel.html

[5] James D.G. Dunn, Romans 1-8 (WBC 38A: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 1988), p. 47, “The gospel is not merely the initial proclamation of Christ which wins converts, but is the whole Christian message and claim in terms of the rest of the letter.”

[6] Cf. Thomas Mann, The Book of the Torah (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1998),153. God’s people will love and include the pooer.

[7] Cf. Fidel Castro, Obama and the Empire (Melbourne, Aus.: Ocean Press Press, 2012)

[8] John Sobrino, No Salvation Outside the Poor (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2008), 63-64.

[9] Desmond Tutu. No Future Without Forgiveness (New York, NY, USA, Double Day, 1999)31and Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom (New York, NY, USA, Little Brown & Co,, 1994)

[10] Quoted from John Sobrino, No Salvation Outside the Poor (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2008), 76.

[11] Solomon Andria “Generosity and Solidarity” in Africa Bible Commentary. (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 231