St. Mary's Episcopal Church

Epiphany (Luke 6:17-26)
Jesus Vision of the Kingdom: For us to Learn and Live

In our Gospel today, Jesus has just come down from the mountain where he went to pray and select the 12 disciples. He has come down from this literal "mountain top" experience and finds once again the crowds have come to him to receive healing and to hear him teach. What follows is what is referred to as Luke's "sermon on the plain" because we understand from the Gospel that Jesus was on a level place. And he stood there to pronounce his teaching, particularly to his disciples: those dedicated followers who would eventually go on to be the leaders of the church. He gives to them, in his sermon, or his teaching, a gift. He does not tell a parable, or teach by an example of whom they should not be like. Instead, Jesus gives to them a vision. Jesus has come to bring the Kingdom of God, but in order for his followers to move toward living out that Kingdom, they first have to know what it will look like. His teaching paints a picture of liberation of the oppressed, the poor being fed, the marginalized receiving their reward. He also contrasts these blessing with warnings of woe to those who are rich, full, laughing, and honored by their peers. This unlikely vision is of a reordering of fortunes.

We know, or we think we know about the beatitudes. We are likely more familiar with Matthew's ordering of them. But when we assume we know something, we sometimes stop listening. If we stop hearing the vision of the beatitudes, then we have stopped dreaming of the vision of Jesus and we are neglecting the Kingdom.

But if we really hear, we might discover that these are jarring statements. Jesus hearers would have considered the blessed to be those who had social status, those who were wealthy, those who were healthy, those who were spoken highly of by their peers. We might imagine one townsperson admiring another of high social standing, in the local dialect of course: "Oh, she is just so blessed."

Yet, Jesus steps in the face of this understanding and turns things on their head. He doesn't point to those who seem to have been showered with God's many blessings, but he points to those who could relate to Job, and calls them the "blessed." Listen to this list again:

The poor
The hungry
Those who weep
Those who are hated, excluded, reviled, and defamed on account of the Son of Man

Jesus is speaking to a community who is finding itself under the oppression of Rome. And he envisions a church will include not only the descendants of Abraham, but that will embrace those who are marginalized by the Jewish community, the Gentiles. As a matter of fact, the church is to see itself always reaching out to those who are excluded, or lacking. Jesus paints a vision of a community made up of those who once had no community. And he has to teach this vision, because it is not like the world the disciples, and the crowds of listeners see around them. They cannot imagine what the Kingdom of God looks like until Jesus teaches them.

In the world they know it is those listed in Jesus "Woe" section that seem to be receiving all the blessings. It seems like those who are rich, full, laughing, and those highly spoken of are the ones showered with God's blessing. But Jesus teaching that we hear today reminds us that in the Kingdom fortunes are reversed. Justice is done. None are neglected. This message brings hope to those in need, and brings a challenge to those who seem to have no needs.

It is important for us to hear the vision of Jesus today. Just as his vision of the Kingdom and the true ordering of God's creation brought hope and challenge to those in his time, today his vision brings hope and challenge to us. The vision of the Kingdom is always breaking in to our world, it is greater than what we find around us. Each generation comes back to the Gospel, and especially texts like Jesus sermon on the plain, to ponder who Jesus is calling us to reach out to. Who in our midst is blessed? Who is suffering at the hands of those in power? Who is waiting for the salvation of Christ? Who is hungry? Who is weeping?

Our Bishop helps us to interpret the Gospel in our own context. Friday and Saturday your delegates Sally Meisner, Becki Brinkerhoff, Becky Johnson, Mike Blocher, Cindy and Larry Angle, Jackie Eckersley as well as Beth, Russ, and I your clergy joined in the 158th Council of the Diocese of Texas. Besides the important work of tending to our constitutions and cannons, and electing committees to help guide our diocese, one of the greatest benefits of going to Diocesan Council is that we, as a diocese get to hear the vision our Bishop Don Wimberly has for us. And at this council we got to see some of the fruit of the diocesan vision at the opening Eucharist, when eight Deacons (and these are REAL Deacons) were ordained, our own Russ Oechsel being one of them!!! Beth has been the chair of the committee for the diaconate and has helped to guide our diocese in reviving this important order of ministry. The deacons are an important prophetic voice in our midst, bringing the needs of the world to the church, and bringing the church to those in need, helping us to remember those who Jesus, in today's gospel, names blessed. Thank you (thanks to) Russ for being a deacon in our midst here at St Mary's, and in this convocation and reminding us of our call to care for those whom Jesus knows as blessed.

Russ in an example of the way our Diocese is living out the call of the Kingdom. Bishop Wimberly's address to us yesterday morning looked forward to where he understands us to be called as a diocese.

He reminded us to pray for the Primates gathering from around the Worldwide Anglican Communion in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which we have been doing at every morning and evening prayer for a month.

He called on all of us to focus on the Millennium Development Goals put forth by the United Nations and endorsed by our National General Convention. These goals seem to strive to find the work we are called to do in light of Jesus teaching in our Gospel. The eight Goals are: