A sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, February 16, 2025. The scriptures are Jeremiah 17:5-10, 1 Corinthians 15:12-20, Luke 6:17-26, and Psalm 1.
There is a very nice lady who comes to Holy Trinity a few times a year. When she was here over Christmas, I greeted her, and she asked me, “Are things going better?” I was a little surprised at her question, so I asked her, “what do you mean? (wondering if she was referring to the pandemic, or whether she had last attended right when a beloved parishioner had died, or what, exactly.) She answered, “Oh, well, the last time I asked you how you and the parish were doing, you said you were “counting your blessings.” She understood that phrase as negative, while I’ve only understood it as positive. When I say I’m counting my blessings, I’m doing just that—taking stock, being grateful, noticing God’s grace all around. But her question and the way in which we could both think of blessing in such different ways, points to some of the contrast and complexity in today’s Gospel.
Today, we have heard good news and bad news. The blessings are clear, and there are those things that, if not “curses,” our NRSV translation refers to as “woes.”
Our scripture contains what sounds like the well-known Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are those sayings offered by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount—at least, that’s what it’s called in Matthew’s Gospel. We typically read them on All Saints’ Sunday and they are generally offered as comfort, encouragement, and reminders that God intends good for us, no matter how hard life might be in the moment.
But in Luke’s version, the one we just heard, the Blessings are fewer. Matthew gives eight, but Luke only gives four. And then Luke’s version adds the four “woes:”
…Woe to you who are rich,…
Woe to you who are full now,…
Woe to you who are laughing now,…
Woe to you when all speak well of you….
In today’s Gospel, Jesus is not on a mountain, but has come down on level ground with people. Here, Jesus isn’t preaching from on high, but right alongside — with his followers and with us. In standing with us, he’s giving us those promises of God’s blessing, protection, and presence, but Jesus is also being honest about the pains that are sometimes all wrapped up before, during, or after the promises come true.
Our other readings also point to the two extremes of life—when things are very good, and when things are bad. Sometimes our choices contribute to that direction, and all the readings suggest that sticking close to God, keeps one on the right course, no matter what comes along.
The first reading this morning from Jeremiah also contains this language of blessing and curse. And yet, notice the real-world aspect of the sayings: “cursed are those who trust in mere mortals …,” but “blessed are those who trust in the Lord…” Jeremiah is not giving advice for a rainy day, or for life in some distant future, and certainly not promising that things will be better in the life after this earthly life. Instead, Jeremiah is saying NOW, cursed are those who trust in mere mortals… RIGHT NOW, HERE AND NOW, blessed are those who trust in the Lord.
Psalm 1 also supports this way of approaching life—the blessings come as we walk in the way of the Lord… wickedness happens when we choose some other way, or become self-consumed and forget God.
Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians puts a cross-shaped exclamation point on the necessity to choose Christ here and now, in this life. The cross is either a made-up notion that gives some a little comfort as they imagine what comes after life and death… OR, as Paul puts it, Christ has been raised for us—and the benefits, the power, the blessings of that Resurrection began for us in this life and into the next.
Because of the Resurrection, we are empowered to face down fear. We can put increasing trust in God.
Because of the Resurrection, we take the long view and know that sin and death have been defeated, once for all… and so, when we stumble here and there, we say we’re sorry, we allow the Holy Spirit to dust us off and pick us up, and we keep on going.
Because of the Resurrection, St. Paul underwent a deep conversion from having persecuted Christ to following Christ and being willing to die for him. Paul faced immediate rejection by the other followers of Jesus, but the power of the resurrection got him through. That power of Christ’s life and energy in Paul’s own very body enabled him to keep his faith through all kinds of calamites, through imprisonment, an earthquake, a shipwreck, chronic physical pain, mental second-guessing… everything. Tradition says that Paul was martyred under the Emperor Nero, but like Martin Luther King, Jr., Paul was writing letters of faith, conviction, and hope even from his jail.
I think again about the lady who understood “counting my blessings” so differently than I do. For me, counting my blessings has to do with giving thanks for each blessing I experience, but also not holding on too tight. As good as one day may be, the next might bring challenges. The “woes” come in this life (and surely in the next) when we live only for self and ignore the pain of the world. But the blessings are overflowing. They are ours to enjoy and share when we live with humility, vulnerability, and openness to God.
May the resurrection power of Christ keep us strong and faithful, today and always. Amen.