Luke 6:17-26
The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany | Cycle C, 16 February 2025 | A Sermon on Luke 6:17-26 | by David M. Wendel |
Luke 6:17-26 English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles
THE GREAT, INCONGRUOUS SURPRISE!
Lessons: Jeremiah 17:5-10
I Corinthians 15:12-20
St. Luke 6:17-26
17 And 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 and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all. 20 And he lifted up his eyes on 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 shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. 22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers 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 shall be hungry.
“Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. 26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
You’ve realized, I’m not one for jokes in sermons, as they can trivialize the proclamation of the Gospel. And yet, sometimes they fit! But you’ll have to think about this one. It seems two Lutheran pastors, Pastor David and Pastor Will, died and headed up to heaven. At the pearly gates, they met St. Peter, and they said, “We’re both Lutheran pastors and we’re here to enter into our heavenly rest.” So, St. Peter looked in the Lamb’s Book of Life, but no, their names weren’t there. Pastor David and Pastor Will were shocked so they pleaded, “We’re long-time Lutheran clergy—our names must be there!” So, St. Peter pulled up the newer hi-tech records on the computer database, but no, no David Wendel or Will Hartfelder. So, the Lutheran pastors said, “What does this mean?” To which St. Peter replied, looking down, “It means you take the down elevator.” The doors opened and down they went! At the gates of hell, they were met by a demon, who processed them in, and was leading them to their fiery eternal home. And lo and behold, as they passed into one room, they saw chained to the wall, who of all people, but Martin Luther and St. Paul! And the pastors said, surprised, “Luther—St. Paul, what happened—why are you here?” To which both Luther and Paul looked at each other, shrugged and said, “It was works!” Think about it.
This joke falls into the category of comedy called “incongruity”, which is funny because it’s a surprise–it takes what you might expect and turns it upside down, that is, assuming you would expect Pastor David and Pastor Will would go to heaven in the first place! You might expect that Lutheran pastors would end up in heaven. Not guaranteed, but you might expect it. But even more, we believe that we are saved by grace, through faith, NOT by works of the Law, so that you might expect pastors and other Christians will be saved and go to heaven, in spite of their works. And yet, if we’re wrong, and it is works, we, together with Luther and St. Paul might indeed find ourselves, not in heaven, but let’s say, someplace else. And if that happens, it will be a great surprise, totally incongruous with Scripture and the 2000+ years of the preaching of the Gospel. It would turn the world and eternity turned upside down!
And isn’t that what we find in our gospel lesson for today? Something totally surprising and incongruous! The beatitudes in both St. Matthew’s and St. Luke’s gospels present blessing, faith, salvation, as a surprise—maybe even a shock—because what Jesus is saying is not what one would expect, in the world as it is. The world right side up, according to the world’s way of thinking, for example, suggests that blessings comes to winners. Everyone wants to be a winner, and as we’ve been taught, the Lord helps them that help themselves. Similarly, cursed are those who are considered losers—the poor, the downtrodden, the hungry and the grieving. When you’re down and out, it seems the world puts its foot on you, to keep you down! According to the ways of the world, it’s good to be king—or queen, and it’s bad to be peasants and paupers.
According to the beatitudes, however, in God’s Kingdom, the opposite is actually the case. According to Holy Scripture, within the kingdom of God, the poor are blessed, as are the starving, and those who weep. Blessed are those who are persecuted. But even more, according to Scripture, cursed will be the rich, cursed will be those who are full and satisfied, woe to those who are laughing and having a good time now, for they will be mourning and weeping. And for all the times we’ve heard the Beatitudes—for all the times we’ve been confronted with this reality of God’s great surprise, still, it doesn’t make sense. Still, it’s hard for us to grasp, let alone for us to explain—because it’s incongruous! It’s unexpected. It doesn’t compute.
And of course, that’s the point of it, isn’t it? That’s why Jesus says what he says in the beatitudes. He wants us to hear and to understand that God’s love, the Kingdom of God, doesn’t make sense, from a worldly point of view! Jesus knew then, as we know now, that the kingdom of this world, expects things to add up—you do good things and good things come to you. If bad things happen to you, well, you must deserve it. That’s what folks believed in Jesus’ time, that your life, whether blessed or cursed, was the result of your own actions—so that you were being rewarded or punished for what you had done or failed to do. Kind of like karma and reincarnation—as if human existence is simply the adding up of good or bad things you’ve done in life and you’re blessed or cursed in accordance with that. Many people believe that’s the way the world thinks and works, and yes, it continues to creep into the hearts and lives of churches and Christians.
Which is why Jesus points, not just here, but again and again to the truth that God does not function in accord with our all too human structures and systems. Rather, God deals with us in graceful, merciful ways, meaning the last shall be first, and the first last. Meaning the proud will be cast down and the lowly lifted up. The poor and hungry will be filled and fed, while the rich and powerful will find themselves on the bottom looking up. And yes, get this, as St. Paul says in our second lesson, the dead will be raised. And is that not the biggest surprise, the most unexpected, incongruous laugh of all? That those who die and face non-existence, that those who have struggled with illness or tragedy or violence and then die, will finally be alive, in Jesus Christ, the firstborn of the dead? Who can imagine such a thing, let alone believe it?
Death is, or has been, the only true reality in life. Everyone dies. No one can escape the final, ultimate reality, death. And yet, Jesus turns this, too, upside down and inside out! Paul says, the Scriptures attest that Christ has been raised from death, and because of this one resurrection, it is possible for others to be raised from death, so that now, death is no longer final! And not only that: as this is the greatest surprise of all, this is also that which makes a reality all the other surprises! It is the death and resurrection of Jesus which gives hope to the hopeless, joy to the sorrowful, peace to the anxious and fearful, and yes, life to those who are dead, and new life to those who are merely existing as the living dead. There is nothing else, there has been nothing else in the history of the world that can, in fact, create such a world-shattering, life transforming surprise, but the death and resurrection of Jesus, Son of the Living God. Everything else, past and present, supports the rational, reasonable, add things up nature of human existence. It took the death and resurrection of God incarnate to make death and life different, now and for eternity.
And it is that which makes the Beatitudes the beatitudes and makes the Beatitudes, good news! It is that which compels me, after the reading of the Beatitudes, to announce, “The Gospel of the Lord!” And it’s that which causes you to affirm, at the end of the liturgy, “Thanks be to God!” Thanks be to God for the good news of the surprising, incongruous Gospel! Thanks be to God for the good news that in Jesus, God transforms life and death. Thanks be to God for the good news that there is hope in the midst of despair, peace even when we are anxious and fearful, love in the face of hate, and yes, new life after death. Thanks be to God that in the most uncertain of times, in the darkest of days, in our lowest moments, there is light at the end of the tunnel. And not just light, after death—but light, here and now!
When you find yourself struggling, anxious and uncertain; when you are worried about finances, illness and unemployment, look to Jesus Christ who shines His resurrection light, the light of His life, on you, bringing you hope and courage and promise. When you find yourself in darkness and fear; when you find yourself burdened and carrying a heavy load of guilt, shame and despair, look to the Risen Jesus and be renewed and uplifted and strengthened and encouraged, that new hope and new life is possible, even for the lowest and the least of us—because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! And so we say together, “Thanks be to God” for the great surprise, for the great incongruity of salvation won for us, given to us, by grace, through faith in Jesus!
In the name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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©David M. Wendel
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church
Westerville, Ohio USA