“Blessed Are You” – May 5, 2013 Sermon
May 5, 2013
Scripture: Luke 6: 20-31, 35-38
Then Jesus 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 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. 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.”
“But I say to you that listen, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you. Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
Sermon: Blessed Are You
By Rev. Doreen Oughton
(Hold up dollar) What is this? What do you see? Look at your own. How did you feel when you saw it? Do you see anything spiritual in it? There are those who would say that money is one of the most spiritual things we have. Yanki Tauber is an author who makes this assertion. He describes money as “the ultimate abstraction of the human product,” and describes it as such: “One person expends time, energy and talent baking bread. Another writes poetry, others build furniture, grow tomatoes and write legal briefs. And some drive trucks, teach school children, manage sales crews, pour steel, concoct medicines, or debate philosophy. Each of these things on its own is concrete and discreet, confined to itself. A page of poetry will not produce a loaf of bread, and a bushel of tomatoes will not light a road at night. But the human being has found a way to abstract all these things to their common essence – a unit of human creativity and need. Thus abstracted, they can be transferred, bartered, converted.”
From this perspective, we might look at this ($) and see a baguette, a dozen kilowatt hours of electricity, a tenth of a toy, a good five minutes of a sermon, a 40 thousandth of a new organ – a piece of human sustenance or satisfaction that can be folded and put in your pocket. But that’s just one perspective. There are many perspectives, many things that money can be to us. Some would say it is the root of all evil. Some would say it is the source of happiness or power or freedom. In our Gospel reading this morning, Jesus doesn’t actually say the word money, but he talks about poverty and wealth, about being hungry and being full. And what does he say? He says “blessed are those who are poor, blessed are those who are hungry.” He says “Woe to you who are rich, woe to you who are full now.” He advises his listeners to give to anyone who asks, and if anyone takes something from them, let it go. In fact he says that if someone takes a coat, one should go ahead and give his shirt. It seems like he wants those who have money and things to get rid of them as soon as possible so that they can be blessed.
I wonder how these words struck his listeners. I imagine they were as shocking then as they are now. Blessed are the poor? Really?! Now compared to the rest of the world, we are quite wealthy. Even those who are barely scraping by, and some months not quite making it, have a standard of living that in much of the world is unmatched. With the availability of public education, and reasonable safety nets for food, shelter and medical care, the poor of America do not likely experience the same woes that the poor in other places might. But still, there are not many who claim to feel blessed by their poverty. And there are so many people who would not describe themselves as poor, but feel quite pinched financially. And they don’t usually feel blessed by it.
Most people strive to do the opposite of what Jesus suggests. They don’t seek to be rid of their money and possessions, but seek to obtain more of them. Even when they have enough – enough to meet basic needs and maybe even a little extra, they are not looking at their checkbooks or savings and saying, “Whoa, whoa! This is getting way too high. I’d better get rid of some of this money.” Jesus’ caution to those who are rich and full now does not seem to make much of an impression on people, even many of those who love him dearly and read the bible as literal, and seek to follow him.
So I wonder, what was money to Jesus? He talked about it quite a bit. He talks about it more than any other topic except the Kingdom. He said things like, “Do not save riches for yourselves here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and robbers break in and steal. Instead, save riches for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and robbers cannot break in and steal.” He also says, “use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings… If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? ” He tells parables about the woman who searches for her one lost coin, and advises people not to worry about what they will eat or drink or wear, because God will provide.
I’m not sure what, exactly, money meant to Jesus, but I have a good idea of what people meant to him. I think the reason he talked so much about money was because he knew how much his beloved people fretted over it and were led astray by pursuing it and suffered because of the ways it was used and misused. Just like what happens still. I believe his words, “blessed are the poor, blessed are the hungry” were meant to comfort those who were poor and hungry. He meant to tell them something about God, and about their place in God’s kindom regardless of their poverty. They were valuable, precious even, in God’s eyes. They didn’t need to earn God’s favor. They had it, no matter how things looked or how others might judge them. I believe his words, “Woe to those who are rich, woe to those who are full now” were meant to motivate those who had a lot to look past their wealth, past their full bellies and out to those who were hungry and poor, and yes – give away some of what they have! I do not believe he was saying that God would condemn or punish them for having had money and full bellies, but that they are already missing out on Kingdom living if they are not concerned about their brothers and sisters who are suffering. I mean if he really thought that suffering in poverty was a good condition to be in, why did he want the poor to be on the receiving end of money? Why did he show such concern for their well-being?
I wonder what Jesus would think of Yanki Tauber’s assertion of the spirituality of money. I suspect he would be in agreement that THIS $ is indeed a portable piece of human sustenance or satisfaction. And he might even say that what we do with money could be seen as a spiritual practice, whether we are getting more or spending it or giving it away or agonizing over it. Now I am not trying to speak for Jesus, and I could be totally wrong about it. But I don’t think we will find a simple, one-size fits all answer from Jesus about money and what to do with it. I’m not even going to tell you, on this stewardship Sunday, that Jesus wants you to give a whole bunch of it to the church. He had different messages for people in different situations. But I do feel confident that Jesus cares about you, and about what money means to you. Money itself is neutral. It is like fire, which can burn and destroy or give warmth and light. We imbue money with meaning, in our hearts, in our actions, in our world.
It might be worthwhile to take a little time to sit with Jesus and think about what money has meant to you – how you feel about it, what conflicts you have within yourself about it, what conflicts you have with others about it. Maybe your heart wants to shop, but your head says save. Your fears say hold tight, and your compassion says give. Or your spouse says spend and you say save and your church says give.
You might want to consider not just an immediate reaction or a present attitude, but think about what you learned about money growing up, and at different phases of your life. (Bible study discussions) You might want to consider the messages you get about money in the world around you – what your friends think, what your political party asserts, what you see in the media. I think if you take some time to do this, you will appreciate that we all have some baggage around money – and I don’t mean that as necessarily negative, just that we all have some deep-rooted ideas that don’t necessarily jibe with the deep-rooted ideas of others in our life. It would be hard to claim that there is only one right, or Christian way of seeing things. If you take some time to do this, you might appreciate the notion of practice in Spiritual Practice – something we keep working on, and are blessed just in doing so, not for being “right.” And if anyone is interested in having another partner besides Jesus for these consideration, I would be most happy to listen with you and help you unpack a bit. I want to join Jesus in caring for you as you think about money in your life. Because if your money is spiritual, if what you do with it is a spiritual discipline, what a difference it makes whether your spiritual life is about joy and abundance rather than fear and suffering. I want for you a spiritual life about joy and abundance.
At a discussion about money at another church, a man told of his experience at age 6 at VBS, when he could buy a pic of Jesus for 10 cents, but could get a bigger picture for a quarter. The take-away for him was that the more money you give the church, the more Jesus you get. The more you pay, the more the church will take care of you. And I have heard stories of people who received a similar message whether subtly or overtly. And the truth is that churches also carry baggage around money. Churches also are “practicing” spiritual discipline around money. Churches also experience internal and external tensions about saving, spending, and giving. We had a little bit of it this week in some Council e-mail discussions.
Overall, I am very proud of what I see in the way this church handles its baggage about money. We have voted in a negative budget – expenses greater than income – for many years now. Pledges have been stagnant for some time and income fluctuates, so there is no reason to think we are on an upward trajectory in terms of building our wealth. And yet we look around to see need and what we can do to alleviate it, whether it is to nurture this community or the people outside of this community. (Adams Sq. church) I have never seen any evidence that anyone gets more Jesus, or more care from the church based on their financial contributions to the church. We talk to each other and listen to each other about how the church came to have the baggage – the deep-rooted ideas about money – it has. And I invite you to continue talking and listening, and I invite you to keep practicing, in your own life and as a member of this body, to build a spiritual life around joy and abundance.
In service to that, I invite you to join in a little spiritual practice this morning as we prepare for the offering. Now you all have a dollar, and that is yours to keep and do with as you wish. But I wanted everyone to have some cash with which to participate in this practice, if you wish. If you have an offering you planned to make today, you can hold that. If not, you can hold the dollar. I’m going to recite an affirmation, line by line, and I invite you to repeat after me. And after the “Amen” the deacons will come forward for the offering plates. And just because you hold the gift dollar for the affirmation, there is no expectation that you put it in the offering plate. While you get your offering ready, I also want to let you know that the Council will be meeting in two weeks to plan a budget for church approval at Annual Meeting. It is helpful to have some idea about the income from pledging. Stewardship letters and pledge cards were sent out in the newsletter, and it would be great if those who are planning to pledge could bring their card next week. It would be even greater if those who were not planning to pledge find themselves reconsidering and bringing a pledge card next week or an any time. But next week I will offer a special blessing of the pledges. Okay, so are you ready?
Hold on to your unit of human creativity and need, and say to it,
You are a piece of me….. my energy, my work….. my gifts and skills…. I seek to look at you….. with love rather than fear…. And release you… in the same way… Together, may we bring beauty…. And justice to this world… There is enough for me…. For my neighbor and for all. Amen.
The offering will be received from our hands and from our hearts, and will flow through this church into the world. May it be so.
