Hey guys,
Today we had a Bible Study regarding Blessings and Woes found in Luke 6:17-26. This is the first teaching of the Sermon on the Mount (many refer to Luke's account as the Sermon on the Plain) which is recorded in more depth in Matthew 5-7.
We started off mentioning how Jesus had reached rock star status with
“a large crowd of his disciples” present and “a great number of people
from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around
Tyre and Sidon”(v. 17). Specifically, they came to hear him teach, be
healed of their diseases, or have demons taken out of them. Note: This is familiar stuff as we 1st heard
of Jesus’ popularity when Jesus went back to his hometown of Nazareth
to teach. The same situation is going to happen here as Jesus has the
choice to either preach the truth (ie that He the Christ came to save
non-Jews) or say things to win their approval.
Okay, so far not too bad...
But Jesus suddenly turns to his disciples (ie the crowd of disciples, there were many who had decided to follow him, not just the 12 Disciples) to teach them what being a disciple entails.
Keep in mind these definitions:
Blessings – God’s favor and protection, approval, encouragement
Woes – great sorrow or distress
Oddly Jesus says that the “blessed” are:
i. the poor ii. who hunger now
iii. who weep now iv. when people hate you
And in contrast, Jesus says "woe" to you if:
i. you are rich ii. well fed now
iii. laugh now iv. When people speak well of you
Clearly the list runs counter-to what we have been shaped and influenced to believe as success. Why would a poor an hungry person be blessed? Why would we say woe to someone who is rich?
This
is where confusion started in class. I mentioned that this sermon was also in
the Sermon on the Mount, but Matthew's account is known as the Beatitudes which mean happy, fortunate, or blissful. We focused on Luke's account which is a study of Blessings and Woes. Both are about our temporary suffering and our future prize
in heaven, but one is more about the physical (Luke's take) and the
other the spiritual life (Matthew's take). It's worth mentioning that
The Beatitudes found in Matthew is the more well known of the two (because it's
part of the complete Sermon on the Mount teaching/series and studied as a whole) and has
been a source of hope for millions suffering in this world.
Jesus’ teachings are very deep and require a lot of thought and reflection to understand. Often he used parables. Even though this wasn't a parable, here's a quote about parables : "Scholars have commented that although these parables seem simple, the
messages they convey are deep, and central to the teachings of Jesus. "
I'll
do my best to try to explain this passage. I believe the key to unravel
this passage is verse 23, which comes directly after Jesus lists the
people who are “blessed.” Jesus says “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, BECAUSE great is your reward in heaven (my emphasis).
With the mention of heaven, I think Jesus is trying to teach us how
much greater the rewards in heaven are compared to the rewards on earth.
My reasoning is because Jesus later says says “woe to those who are rich, for your
have already received your comfort.” This is kind of like expressing sorrow or distress for people who think they have received the best, but in truth their riches are only temporarily and don’t compare to heaven’s treasures.
Now this concept is mindboggling because it’s so counter-intuitive to the world we live in. Let me try to illustrate with an example.
Imagine you were back in Elementary or Middle School and you had your
first crush. You think you are suddenly in Love! But of course at that
age you don’t really know what love is, you just have a superficial concept of love. In truthfulness, you just like that particular person. Now imagine that Love and treasures in heaven are the same in that Jesus’ is expressing sorrow for
those people who are only going to be experiencing a crush/riches of
this world as opposed to real love (agape love) and the treasures of
heaven which are much more fulfilling and valuable.
Once
again, It’s hard to wrap our minds around why Jesus’ would say woe to
people like: the rich, those who are well fed now (but will go hungry
later v. 25a), those who laugh now (but will mourn and weep v. 25b), and
those who are well spoken of (because they are false prophets v. 26)
because we only know of this world and have been so influenced by it. We
don’t naturally have eternity/heaven in mind but Jesus does and is
trying to teach us about heavenly rewards.
Next
week, we will continue on with the Sermon on the Mount series and see
what Jesus says about how we should treat our Enemies. There you shall
see more clearly how this sermon series greatly influenced MLK and
Gandhi.
Note: From this
passage, Jesus does not mean if you are rich, well fed, laugh now, and
have a good reputation that those are bad things. This was a study of
contrasts of Eternal Rewards in Heaven vs. Temporary Treasures on earth.
There are many Christians who are rich, well fed, laugh well, and have
good reputations, and that is fine, as long as they are not false prophets! (v.26)
Last Note: Something that I found in my preparation for this week’s class that is worth a read:
“When
Jesus sat down on the Mountain the multitudes were there, but this
message was for his disciples, often the crowds turned away when they
found out what following Jesus meant. Jesus was clear, being his
follower [disciple] means more than a superficial commitment. Being a
follower of Jesus means dedicated faith.”
Bible Verse: Colossians 3:2 – Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.
