**Sermon for 16 February 2025** The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C

                                                             You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all.

God’s kingdom is there for the finding.

You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry.
Then you’re ready for the Messianic meal.

You’re blessed when the tears flow freely.
Joy comes with the morning.

Luke 6:(MSG)

            What does it mean to be “Blessed”?  I am sure many of us have different answers to that question.  Our answer might be linked to what kind of day we are having.  Was the day stressful at work, for example?  The response may even depend on when in our lives we are asked.  A young parent with a career and family would, undoubtedly, answer much differently from a retiree.

            Generally, however, we tend to link being blessed with some outward signs of success.

                        Power               Progeny

                        Position             Possessions

                        Privilege

The word used, makarioi, is a Greek word.  The word literally means fortunate.  Some translations read “O, how fortunate” or “happy.”  By calling those who are on the margins of society “fortunate,” Luke is offering a word of comfort and encouragement.  They are actually somebody.  God is with them.  God loves them.  And that, in the eyes of Luke, is what matters.

Those who are outcast- the poor, the widow, the orphan, the leper- are the ones who find welcome and inclusion in God’s Kingdom (Luke 4:16-21).  Or, in the beautiful words of Mary’s hymn, the hungry are satisfied with plenty, the rich are sent away empty.  Those in power find themselves left powerless.  The lowly are lifted up and exalted (Luke 1:46-55).

In the current climate, the Beatitudes hit differently.  Jesus is uplifting exactly those whom the world is trying to forget and hide—the immigrant, the hungry, the marginalized.  Powerful words for you and me today.  Indeed, the story of Scripture is one of God’s constantly coming to the aid of the least, the lost, and the lonely.  Scholar Mary Shore reminds us:

“In this context, Jesus speaks blessing.  To the poor belongs God’s own realm.  The hungry will not be hungry for long.  Weeping may spend the night, but joy comes in the morning (see also Psalm 30:5), and that joy extends to embrace those who are excluded, reviled, or defamed by virtue of their connection to Jesus.  These rejected ones, whom others have tried to cut off, have a belonging that is deeper than anything that the people around them could withhold.  They are in the company of the prophets who, throughout Israel’s history, have spoken for God.”[1]

            Last week, Jesus called His followers out into deep waters.  Deep waters are scary.  You cannot see or touch the ground.  There is nothing to anchor you to safety.  Metaphorically, Jesus calls us into deep waters.  These deep waters might include situations that draw us out of our comfort zones.  Situations that connect us with people not like us.  People who are life’s “underdogs.”

As ministers and modern members of the Jesus Movement, we are called to be light to those in darkness.  If you could be light to 1 of the 4 categories—the poor, the hungry, the mournful, or those who are hated or bullied— how would you share the good news that God loves them and stands with them?  I invite us to wrestle with this question this week.  And, then, let the love of God in Jesus move us into action.

            Yes, deep waters can be scary.  But here is the God news, Jesus promises to be with us.  He will be with us as we venture out in the boat.  Jeremiah and the Psalm this morning both remind us that those who put their trust in God will not be disappointed.  Indeed, ultimately, they will be the blessed, the happy, the fortunate.

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.

They shall be like a tree planted by water,
sending out its roots by the stream.

It shall not fear when heat comes,
and its leaves shall stay green;

in the year of drought it is not anxious,
and it does not cease to bear fruit.


[1] Mary Hinkle Shore at workingpreacher.org

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