Every now and then, the experience of reading a Bible passage in order to prepare a sermon is DEEPLY unsettling, and makes me long for a positive Lateral Flow Test and a need to step away from ministry for a bit of a breather. Today is one of those days, as I've been confronted with Luke's version of the Beatitudes, and digested what they seem to  be saying to me at any rate.

Of course, they are familiar, appearing Matthew as well as Luke. In both gospels, we encounter Jesus describing a set of values that he expects his followers to adhere to, and they’re radically counter-cultural values. Sometimes, the poetry and the familiarity of the Beatitudes, the statements starting with “blessed are …” might lull us into a state of false security, like the crowd listening to this sermon Monty Python’s Life of Brian who, straining to hear from their position at the back end up leaving saying, “oh, that’s nice … blessed are the cheesemakers. They are such nice, hard-working fellows.”

Of course, Matthew gives us a rather different version, softening some of the declarations so that “Blessed are the poor” becomes there “Blessed are the poor in spirit”. That can be comforting, can encourage us to believe we might, after all, make the cut to be numbered among the blessed.

If you’re tending that way, I’m afraid the next part of Luke’s account will come as a harsh awakening. Listen to the woes…

Woe to you who are rich.

Oh – that doesn’t mean me. I mean, RICH means having so much money you don’t have to be careful, doesn’t it? Well, actually, no. It appears that I am, even on a stipend, one of the richest 3% of people in the world. I learned this by visiting a website – www.globalrichlist.com –which presents the facts with unmistakeable clarity. I may not FEEL rich, but believe you me, in comparison with 97% of those alive today, I really, truly am.

And, I suspect, even if you’re among those who are currently fearful you may have to choose between heating and eating, you’ll still be in disturbingly better off than a high percentage of humanity.

So, “WOE TO THE RICH” in today’s gospel almost certainly means US…

And that is deeply, deeply uncomfortable

But I think we need a jolt sometimes to shift us from those patterns we’re stuck in ,to a place where we can more fully experience God’s blessing.

I’m grateful for Jesus’ difficult sayings – for things like the woes in today’s gospel – because sometimes, especially in a culture in which sound bites and enticements and warnings are flying at us constantly, we need something pretty shocking to get our attention. Jesus isn’t just trying to get us to change our diet or ask our doctors about a new medication. He’s trying to get those of us who are rich, full, and respected to change our whole approach to life, he wants to free us from entrenched patterns of relationship so that we can reorder society in ways that will be life-giving, for us and for the world.

We NEED to be poor, empty, grieving – because those needs will cast us fairly and squarely into God’s arms.

I think it helps a great deal in seeking to understand what Jesus is saying here if we clarify the meaning of three key words in this passage.

The first word is makaros, translated here as “blessed,” which doesn’t quite convey the full meaning . Some translations say, “happy,” which is even worse. This isn’t about an internal emotional state, and it’s not nearly as abstract or religious as the word “blessed” sounds. Makaros is more like “honoured” or “respected”; as a statement of community values, it’s like saying “we salute.”

On this racial justice Sunday, it might give us something to ponder if I stopped right there. Just think for a moment.Who is honoured in our society? Who is honoured in our church? Who holds the power, without even noticing the accumulated privilege they enjoy?

It’s NOT the poor, nor the hungry (though we will donate to a foodbank to help them) ….It’s not, on the whole, the people from BAME backgrounds who, we know, have suffered disproportionately in the pandemic

Perhaps you’re feeling as uncomfortable as I am now. I rather hope so, honestly. Because discomfort is often the work of the Holy Spirit, calling us back to our right minds, restoring our sense of the values to which Jesus calls us.

The Spirit spoke to me through this paraphrase, written by a remarkable American theologian, Sarah Dylan Breuer, who looked at the emphases of the media as she watched tv, and received the carefully tailored online advertising that floods social media.

Here’s what she wrote

We salute the pure of breath, clear of skin, and white of tooth, for they will have dates on Valentine’s Day.
We salute those low in body fat; their six-pack abs will win them love.
We salute the rich, for they are our major donors.
We salute the achievers, for we hope we’ll become what we envy.
We salute the winners, for they can reward our loyalty.
We salute the strong, for they can determine their own destiny.

We scorn the poor, for they can’t provide for their families.
We scorn the hungry, for we fear they will disrupt our lunch to beg. We scorn the disabled, the clinically vulnerable, for caring for them will delay our economic recovery.
We scorn those who weep, for they remind us of vulnerabilities we prefer to hurry on from.
We scorn those the world scorns, for this demonstrates that we, unlike them. are insiders.

That’s NOT the world that Jesus calls us to. That’s not what Jesus salutes. But, there’s a health warning in the final beatitude, a reminder that following Jesus is NOT the route by which to win friends and influence people.

Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you[a] on account of the Son of Man. 23 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.

That’s hard, isnt it. I LIKE to be liked and approved of. I’m actively afraid of being shouted at and defamed, and so I don’t speak or act decisively to challenge the many things that are wrong in our society, contenting myself with muttering behind closed doors…

So this morning I’m asking for the gift of courage that I may live into this calling. There is so much to do in this broken society, where wounds run deep

I’d love you to join me.