I’ve been accused at times in my life of being a fence sitter. You know, someone who doesn’t choose a side on a topic, but kind of stays somewhere in the middle. Neither black nor white, but rather some shade of gray. It’s a hard place to be. Jesus wasn’t often accused of being a fence sitter, yet he too often dwelled in that gray area quite a bit. He didn’t agree with the stringent rule-following of the Pharisees, yet he wasn’t completely outside the rules either. Jesus kind of toed the fence between legalism and lawlessness. He found some sort of middle ground, which can be a challenging place to be. And Jesus faced pressure on both sides because of it.

Our passage this morning from Luke 6 sees Jesus preaching a sermon similar to what we call the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s gospel. But in this sermon Jesus presents 4 blessings and 4 woes. Whereas in Matthew, Jesus presents us with 8 blessings without the woes. I think perhaps that’s why most preachers like to focus on the Matthew version rather than this one in Luke. We like the blessings, but are a bit more uncomfortable with the woes. We humans don’t often enjoy being told what we are doing wrong, even if it’s stuff we need to hear. So, if we can, we avoid it.

Yesterday, several Session members along with the chairpersons of many of our committees gathered together in the Fellowship Hall to work on setting some goals for the church as we move forward. We were blessed to have the leadership of Jeff Tracy in shaping this process. And the way the process began was with a process called SWOT, S.W.O.T. That stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. We broke into four groups and each took turns listing what we felt was true of this church in each of those categories. And I will admit that for me personally, it felt so much better to talk about the strengths and opportunities than to think about weaknesses and threats. In fact, I had an almost visceral reaction when I first read what others had listed as weaknesses of this church. It was difficult to hear those things. But like the disciples listening to Jesus when we preached about blessings and woes, it can be important for us to hear both sides of the coin, so to speak.

What’s really interesting to me about this passage from Luke is that Jesus visually illustrates what he is about to talk about before he does it. Luke begins this section by telling us that Jesus “came down with them and stood on a level place.” And then he proceeds to lift up the lowly and bring down the haughty. And as I thought about this, I thought about how for many of us, we don’t always fall into one camp or the other completely. Sometimes we may need to be lifted up while other times we may need to be brought down. So, as we think about these things today, I want you to consider for yourself where you are right now. Are you needing to be lifted up? Or are you needing to be brought down a bit?

Jesus’ blessings and woes seem to correspond to one another. The woes seem to be the other side of the coin from the blessings. Jesus begins, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” This is a theme for Jesus throughout the gospel of Luke. Jesus clearly has a heart for the poor. The poor he is talking about here is certainly the economically poor, but Jesus may also be thinking of those who are spiritually poor, those lacking in faith or love or hope. Have you ever been poor and needed the hope of a blessing from God?

On the flip side of that, Jesus says, “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” Now, similarly with the blessing, the word for rich here can mean economically rich or it can mean spiritually rich. And Jesus proclaims woe on those who are rich, for he says that they have already received their consolation. The rich have already been blessed with comfort and ease. Now, that’s not to say that they didn’t earn those comforts. But Jesus sees that they don’t stand in need of more of those comforts, for they’ve already received them. They’ve already been blessed. And Jesus says that the poor will be the blessed ones in the kingdom of heaven. Have you ever been rich and needed a little humbling in order to recognize how truly blessed those comforts made you?

Jesus continues, “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.” Here we see Jesus saying that those who are hungry now will be filled. We know that despite an abundance of food in the world, there are thousands of people every day who die from hunger-related issues. I read this week that over 25,000 people die each day from hunger. Those are the folks who will receive a blessing in the life to come. They will be filled to satisfaction. Now, the hunger Jesus was talking about may not have strictly been a physical hunger. Perhaps he meant a spiritual hunger as well. And perhaps we can relate more to that than to the other. I know I’ve rarely, if ever, worried about where my next meal will come from. Yet there have been spiritual things that I’ve hungered for and never received…peace, patience, comfort. Have you ever been hungry and needed the promise of a time when you will be satisfied?

Now, again, Jesus offers a flipside to this when he says, “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.” When I think about this, I think about what it feels like to be full. At first, it feels satisfying, but then my stomach starts to ache a little. And, if I overdid it, then maybe my stomach starts hurting a lot. It becomes uncomfortable. And yet, eventually, the stomach pain goes away, and soon I find myself hungry again. The things of this world that fill us are always temporary. They may fill us up for a while, but the satisfaction doesn’t last. And if we continue to seek to be filled only by the things of this world, then woe to us for we will be hungry again. Have you ever been full and needed to be reminded that the hunger will return?

The third blessing from Jesus has him saying, “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” I remember when my mom passed away after her long battle with Lou Gehrig’s Disease and I felt like I would never be happy again. I would watch others going about their lives and laughing and having fun, and would wonder to myself how the rest of the world could move on when I felt like my world had ended. But what kept me moving forward, what gave me hope, was the promise that someday joy and laughter would return to my life. I didn’t know when that would come, but I knew that it would. This is the promise that Jesus is offering here. A promise that no matter how bad life may get, better times lay ahead. Have you ever wept and mourned and needed to cling to the promise that better days would eventually come?

On the flip side of that, Jesus says, “Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.” I think at times this verse has been viewed in a rather threatening way. Like, be careful if you are too happy because you’ll probably end up burning in hell for eternity. That sounds really harsh, but I’ve met Christians who believe that. But I don’t think that’s really what Jesus is trying to say here. I actually think it is much more straightforward than that. I think that Jesus is saying, beware if you are really happy right now, because there are always going to be difficult things that come your way. It’s not so much a threat as it is a statement of reality. Have you ever laughed and needed to beware that that laughter may not always be there?

Jesus’ final blessing is the longest. He says, “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 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.” Jesus knew that a lot of persecution was coming for his followers. When Luke wrote this gospel, he probably found these words of Jesus to be quite pertinent to the times. Jesus here is warning his followers that a time will come when they will face exclusion, revulsion, and defamation simply because of their faith in Jesus. But he does not want them to be dismayed or depressed about it. So, he promises them a great reward in heaven. That reward is probably the loving, inclusive environment that exists in God’s kingdom because that is who God is. We may be excluded in this life, but we will be a part of the family in God’s kingdom. Have you ever felt excluded or reviled or defamed and needed the reassurance that God loves you and you are a part of God’s family?

The flip side of that, Jesus says, is “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.” Here Jesus is warning his followers about being overly well liked and respected. Quite often there will be folks who are jealous or distrusting of you and they will try to bring you down. As someone who wants to be liked, that has always been a hard pill for me to swallow. I want everyone to speak highly of me. But there is an inherent danger in that, because we live in a world with other humans. As the saying goes, “You can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” Have you ever felt like everyone around you thought well of you and needed a reminder that that never lasts?

Jesus preaches this sermon from a level place. And then he proceeds to offer some blessings and woes that are an attempt to bring us all to the same level. That means lifting some up and bringing some down in order that we can meet in the middle and ride the fence together. Now, we may feel like we don’t fit perfectly in either group. And I think that is because we are sometimes needing a blessing and sometimes needing a woe. Like the listing of both strengths and weaknesses at our goal-setting meeting yesterday, we need some sort of balance in our lives. May God help us to find that today and in the week to come. And may we recognize the times we need a blessing and the times we need a woe and bring those things before our God, who loves us all dearly. Amen.