It is to such a precarious and vulnerable situation faced by the community of Luke that the Beatitudes in the Gospel passage are addressed. “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven” and so on. We know those words, “Blessed are you” from their context in Matthew’s Gospel in the Sermon on the Mount. There Matthew has nine blessings. I read them once to a party of pilgrims standing on the balcony of the Church of the Beatitudes on a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee. It was an unforgettable moment. That passage is suggested as one of the readings for the Marriage Service. But Luke’s form of the Beatitudes or Blessings is a far-cry from the beauty of that hillside or from the Marriage Service. His form is much more unsettling and disturbing. Not only does he have four blessings rather than nine but he matches them with four “Woes” which really gives a sharp edge to the passage. The very first of Luke’s beatitudes, “Blessed are you poor” contrasted with Matthew’s softer version, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” makes this clear. Both sets of beatitudes would appear to come from the same original source but each has been fashioned to meet the needs of the particular community being addressed by the writer. Luke places Jesus’ sermon not on the mount but on “a level place” or “on the plain.”

But what are these blessings and woes all about? It needs to be said that this sort of dramatic contrast is not an uncommon way of teaching in the Biblical world. We see the similar contrast in the first reading from Jeremiah: “Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals” but “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord.” What does the Bible mean by saying that someone is blessed? The New English Bible translated the passage as “How happy are the poor” and so on. That is not an incorrect translation but it is one easily misunderstood in English. For to be blessed has nothing to do with personal happiness or subjective happiness but rather to be blessed in the sight of God. So also to be cursed or be subjected to the “Woes” indicates God’s displeasure rather than some subjective moral state.

But all that said this series of beatitudes and woes in their Lukan form do not make much sense. After all what blessing is there in being poor or hungry or sad or persecuted? By human standards that seems nonsensical. No one in his right mind would want to be in any of those situation. Likewise what is wrong with being rich or well-fed or carefree or well-spoken of? Most people long to be some or all of these.

So what was Jesus and his evangelist Luke up to here? Well in terms of Luke’s Gospel the stage has already been set for these beatitudes and woes. It is Luke who gives us Mary’s Song “Magnificat” in full: “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior”. And it continues “He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” And it is Luke alone who gives us Jesus’ sermon at Nazareth with its telling quote from Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.” And it is Luke who gives us the powerful stories of Zacchaeus and of the Rich Man and Lazarus. The issues surrounding material wealth and God’s preference for the poor are a major theme in Luke’s Gospel. One writer talks of this theme as the “coming reversal of fortune” when our human perspective on things will be challenged and turned upside down. This theme and the many words associated with it in Luke’s Gospel do not sit easily on our ears. Our whole society and culture seem to be in contradistinction to it and them. So how do we make sense of it? How do we apply it to our own situation and our own lives.

It may be helpful to reflect on the context Luke was addressing. He was speaking to a persecuted church which was really vulnerable, to people whose lives were precarious. To them he is saying things may seem hopeless now from a human perspective but in God’s economy there is more to life than is apparent. God has a future for you which is beyond your dreams. So put your trust in God. Have faith in God’s future. This is not so much as “pie in the sky by and by” but rather more like “things are not what they may seem.”

The Jeremiah lesson says something similar in that curse and blessing: “Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord. They shall be like a shrub in the desert.” But “blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is in the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream.” The fundamental issue is where does our trust, our hope lie? Is it with our material possessions, with how things are for us at present, or is it with God, with God’s promises, God’s future. Is our trust related to the short-term or the longer-term?

For Jesus in Luke’s Gospel as for the Hebrew scriptures the issue of material wealth and prosperity was seen as a spiritual danger. Sure there is a parallel tradition in the psalms and elsewhere which speaks of material wealth as a sign blessing but alongside of that is the recognition of the dangers of wealth. Luke uses provocative language in addressing his community to shock them into some spiritual reality. He seems to be saying “whatever your situation now you cannot rely on it in terms of the coming action of God.”

It is this understanding which underlines the Christian attitude to material wealth. It is what informs our teaching of Stewardship. We are taught to be generous with our wealth, to give to the poor and needy, to use our money wisely and well, as a sign that we recognize that ultimately our salvation lies not with our wealth but with our God.

And of course that is what St Paul is on about in Corinthians in that somewhat convoluted argument in 1 Corinthians 15. The only basis for Christian Hope is in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, “the first fruits of those who have died.” In other words the Resurrection is not God’s last word to us but the beginning, the “first fruits” of our future. It is that attitude of hope and trust in God that we bring to our present situation, challenges and concern. Pray that we may never lose that perspective.   Amen

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