Sermon
“Blessings and Woes.”
Once again, we are reading and listening to the Gospel according to Luke. And what a blessed reading today.
The lectionary of our Lutheran Church provides a 3-year series of readings for every Sunday and every Season: from Advent and through the seasons of Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost. We have a A, B, and C Series, and we are in Year C, and Year C lectionary focusses on the Gospel according to Luke.
Our 3-year Lectionary gives our services a consistency and also a wonderful opportunity to follow one of the Gospel as the story of Jesus progressed within that Gospel.
Since Advent and Christmas, the Gospel of Luke has been guiding us through our Sundays. Luke is the grand Storyteller with all the wonderful Parables to read, but we are still in the beginning of the Gospel and still in the making of the ministry of Jesus.
We have followed Jesus from the birth in Bethlehem, so beautiful told in Luke chapter 2: to the visit as a 12-year-old wise boy in the Temple, to the dove descending baptism in Jordan, to the temptations in the wilderness, to the temple of his hometown Nazareth, and last Sunday to the Lakeshore calling his first disciples.
Today we are still outside. And whenever Jesus is outside his words and his preaching is reflected in God’s majestic creation: at the lakeshore, in the flowing river of Jordan, on the mountain or here at the plains.
We have once again listened to Luke tells us about Jesus as he finds a level place from where he gatherers the crowds, with healing touch, and profound preaching.
And then Jesus said: “Blessed are you….” He looked at his newly called disciples, he looked at the many faces in the crowds, - he looked even further through time and history, so we sense that he looks at us today and says: “You are blessed.”
We like to feel blessed, don’t we?
We feel blessed when our families are in good health and good spirits. We felt blessed when our son Mads only broke his collarbone while snowboarding, and that he underwent a surgery and is healing.
We feel blessed when we consider our home, our safety, our filled refrigerators and our pension accounts.
We fell blessed to live where we live, worship where we worship; we consider out families, friends, fortunes, and freedoms to be blessings to be counted and thanked for. We fell blessed, when we are healthy, in good spirits, in good company, in community, happy, fed, needed, paid, on vacation, etc. etc.
Count your blessings, we say.
Many times, we forget how blessed we indeed are, don’t we?
Count your blessings, we sing in the old hymn:
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your blessings, see what God has done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your many blessings, see what God has done.
The old hymn reminds us that we need to count our blessings and remember to be grateful. “Blessed are you,” Jesus said, and yes, we are blessed in so many ways.
But then Jesus comes and says:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
Blessed are you who are hungry now,
Blessed are you who weep now,
Blessed are you when people hate you, exclude you or defame you….”
Well, that certainly doesn’t feel like a blessing, does it? To be poor, to be sad and brokenhearted, to be hungry, to be excluded and hated?
As so often Jesus comes to us and invites us to see the world through God’s eyes and then we find ourselves disoriented: Jesus blesses the poor, the sad, the hungry…. and promises that they will be filled and fulfilled and will laugh and rewarded greatly. That is where the blessing is to be found: in the hope, in the promise, in a change, in tomorrow, yes even in Gods Kingdom.
Today we listen to the list of blessings in combination with the list of woes, and then we might understand what kind of blessings Jesus was talking about.
After looking at the crowds eager for consolation, comfort and compassion, eager for food, laughter, inclusion and joy, - Jesus paused and looked at the same crow saying:
“But Woe to you who are rich,
Woe to you who are full now
Woe to you who Aare laughing now,
Woe to you who all agree with and support you….”
Woe if you forget your blessing in this moment, and do not have open eyes, ears and soul for the ones who are in despair and darkness, eagerly waiting for a break and a blessed moment of relief.
Woe if you forget to count your blessings and forget to share your blessings and care.
Too often we are so occupied and obsessed with our own happiness, counting our own blessings, - that we do not notice the woes, the curses, the struggles and the pains of the others.
What is it worth counting your blessings, if that count doesn’t instill a gratitude, a generosity, a deep worry and compassion in you?
I am indeed grateful and feel blessed that our youngest son Mads only broke his collarbone and that he did undergo a successful surgery and is back home - and at the same time I am heartbroken that our older son Kristian this afternoon has to attend a Memorial Service for a beloved friend who tragically died in a car accident.
Today’s speech on the plain makes us look at the complexity of our lives. Spanned between opposites, torn between blessings and curses.
Life is painful. Life is blissful.
Life is deep sorrow and grief. Life is profound love and happiness.
Life is days of hunger and poverty. Life is days of fulfillment and abundance.
Life is broken collarbones and successful surgeries. Life is scratches and fatal car accidents
Life is…. Blessings and woes.
In Jeremiah we read:
“Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought, it is not anxious,
and it does not ease to bear fruit.”
Trust. The Old prophet compared faith in God with trust. And so did Jesus.
Trusting God even when your sad and weeping, when you are hungry and homeless, when you are excluded and lonely.
Trust that God is there. Trust that God was there. Trust that God will be there.
During suffering and despair. In the darkest hours as in the brightest moments.
Blessed are you who trust.
Trust in God. Trust in hope. Trust in love. Trust in others. Trust in tomorrow. Trust in commitment.
Blessed are you who trust.
Lenin once said: “Trust is good, control is better.” But I would rather say: Control might be good, but trust is way better!
Or as the author Corrie Ten Boom says: “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a know God.”
That is what faith is. That we trust in God, whom we know as gracious and loving as we embark into an unknown future.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” Jesus said.
“Blessed are you,” he said. And indeed, we are, so remember to count the blessings. AMEN.