Jeremiah 17:5-10 Luke 6:17-26
Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord.
As you can probably imagine, Jeremiah wasn’t popular with his listeners. He was a reluctant prophet, someone who tried to convince God that God had chosen the wrong man for the job, but who eventually gave in and did as he was bidden. Once he was committed to the work, he threw himself into it, heart and soul. But – he wasn’t wrong to be alarmed at his calling. He had a very difficult time spreading God’s word, telling the Children of Israel what God wanted them to know. He argued with the king’s favoured prophets, infuriated the temple priests, and listening to what he has to say today, we can see why.
They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. And those who heard Jermiah’s words, knew he was talking about them.
But Jermiah also blesses those few who are following God’s will and Commandments.
Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.
The problem is, that there are few who fit that description. The people who heard Jeremiah’s words, both blessings and curses, be they commoner, prophet, priest, or king, knew they were the ones to whom the prophet was speaking. Not only that, they knew into which description they fit. As a result, several times Jeremiah barely escaped death, and was otherwise generally persecuted. But having committed himself to God, nothing stopped him from speaking God’s truth.
We have no Biblical record of how Jermiah died, and the last Biblical reference we have to him tells us he was forcibly taken by a band of Jewish rebels who left Judah to live in Egypt around 585—582 BC. However, the generally accepted story was put forth by one of the early Church Fathers. Tertullian, tells us the Jews stoned Jeremiah to death in Egypt. Jeremiah’s “crime” was telling them truths they did not want to hear.
Jesus came down with the twelve apostles and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea,
Today’s Bible reading is known as The Sermon on the Plain. It is what scholars believe to be the earliest and most accurate retelling of what we call the Beatitudes. Most Christians are acquainted with the way Matthew tells us what Jesus said, a longer, and somewhat modified or perhaps embellished version of these basic truths. But Jesus didn’t preach that way. Unless He was telling a parable, which required interpretation, He went right to the heart of the matter. Matthew may tell us, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,”, but Luke says, “Blessed are you who are poor.”
Not too surprisingly, Matthew’s version is more popular – because it certainly sounds a lot easier to be “poor inspirit” than to be poor – period. And Jesus continues – telling us that the hungry, not those who thirst for righteousness, just the hungry, are blessed, as are those who weep, and those who are persecuted for His sake.
Jerimiah curses those who are wicked, who do not delight in the Law of the Lord – but Jesus is more specific. Those who are rich, well fed, laughing, and popular – for them there is woe, things will turn around for them 180° - which is a terrifying thought, because what Jesus curses is what most people strive for in our society today.
The obvious message in both our Bible readings is, be attached to this world or to God. And we know how difficult it is to not be attached to so many things we feel are necessary in this world, from food and clothing to shelter. It seems to be, well, abstract, to be attached to God, but we do try. And we could leave today’s readings at the, but there is a deeper challenge here. There is a question here for us to consider seriously. What is your reality?
The Miriam Webster dictionary defines reality as: the quality or state of being real, or as a real event, entity, or state of affairs - his dream became a reality.
There is an assumption here that the reader already has their own definition of the word, and things ought to fit into that personal definition. This is relativism, the philosophy which says that a thing is whatever someone thinks or feels it is, that there are only points of view and opinions. According to Relativism, not only beauty, but all reality is in the eye of the beholder. We define for ourselves what is important, what is real. And we do this by valuing things. Being poor and hungry and persecuted for Jesus sound like lofty ideals, but if we’re honest, they are not things we truly want in our “reality”.
Our evaluation of reality depends on worldly stuff. How much money do we make at work, or get on our fixed income? Can we afford more than the basics, not just food, heat in winter, and clothing, but a new car, or a vacation? We’re pretty much wed to this way of thinking, because we live “in the world” and must deal with daily cares and concerns, along with those extra treats we’re always hoping we can afford.
But how is Jesus defining reality for us? According to Luke, Jesus defines reality as identifying with Him. “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. But He doesn’t make it sound overly pleasant, and for many the truth is that it is not, at least not by worldly standards. Most people prefer to not let go, to not surrender to Christ, because, while we can lay hands on our “stuff”, giving life over to God sounds like a really risky proposition. Yet, that is what we are called to, what true faith is all about.
True faith has a scary counterpart, false religion. This is very popular in our society. It teaches that a person can evaluate how well their doing in the eyes of God by looking at how much they have in terms of material wealth, property, and personal popularity. This kind of religion is all about “me” – It is comfortable, but it is dead. It is not infused with Life from the Holy Spirit. But – it’s so satisfying. What can possibly induce us to turn from the comfort of such a faith, and do as Jesus tells us we must?
We are told that we will be welcome in the Kingdom of heaven, but in our day and age where instant gratification is everything, that seems like too distant a time, a promise of something that happens later on. But there is an immediate reward. The person whose heart and soul are given over to Jesus experiences absolute joy, accompanied by the calm and peaceful centeredness that comes with belonging to God. With this union, everything falls into place. The stresses and worries of life may not, probably will not, vanish, but they no longer rip and tear and cause us the anxiety we have known in the past.
The only difficulty is that, to experience this, one has to take the first step, away from the familiar and toward the holy.
What do you value most? Will you hold on to your “stuff”, your control, your reality, or choose to hold on to Jesus and put your trust in the supernatural power of God?
Let us pray:
Lord grant us the strength and faith to always choose You, so that as the hymn says we can Rejoice and be glad! Blessed are you; holy are you! Rejoice and be glad! Yours is the Kingdom of God! In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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