Sermon on the Plain: Get Up, Go Ahead, Do Something

Luke 6:17-26

First Church of Belfast, UCC

Rev. Loren McGrail

February 16, 2025

Artist: Joseph Matar

To be blessed is enter into a kind of pregnancy:

to take Christ in, to let him grow in us,

bear him forth, then to receive him and bear him

yet again in acts of mercy, of compassion,

of solidarity, of love.

Jan L. Richardson

Our Gospel story today begins way before Jesus arrived on a mountain top to tell his newly gathered disciples, the committed ones, what the Lord requires of them. It begins with the blessing that imbued Mother Mary which he absorbed in the womb and proclaimed throughout his ministry. Remember Mary’s Magnificat, that beautiful song of joy that Mary sang to her cousin Elizabeth in response to the blessing she received on her improbable pregnancy? Remember how she sang about how the coming of her child would spark a revolution of values where those on top would lose their power and those on the bottom would become first? It is this revolutionary song that Jesus has now made his anthem for his ministry. It is the song of reversals and upheavals, and God’s favor, God’s blessing, for the marginalized and oppressed.

So, though many commentators believe that the Sermon on the Mount is an update on the 10 Commandments; a new code of ethics to live by or see Jesus as the new Moses addressing his people on how to live a life of holiness and righteousness, I along with others think the Beatitudes come from another Hebrew tradition, the tradition to see all of life as holy. Nonviolent activist Father John Dear says that the Beatitudes are the “hope and prayer and vision of Jesus, the blueprint for Christian discipleship, the job of every Christian.”

Blessing in Greek, Makarios, means god’s favor or grace or abundance. In the ancient world not unlike our world, it was believed that the rich were blessed because they had material wealth; that they were elite or even God like. Caesar was Makarios. Dear Ones, do you hear an echo here about our elites?

Luke’s version of the Beatitudes focuses on only three blessings and three woes which are focused on social divisions and economic disparities. Not only did Jesus come down from the mountain with his disciples, but he also came to stand with his people. He literally wanted a level playing field in which he could then also use his words as a kind of bulldozer to level the social and economic hierarchies that kept the poor poor and the rich rich. Like his mother, he wanted those who were poor or marginalized to hear his words as ‘good news’; “Blessed are you poor for yours is the kingdom of God or as theologian Ched Myers says, “for yours is the great economy.”

In the same way Jesus wanted those who were wealthy or comfortable to find themselves being addressed in the woes part, “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.”

Dear Ones, isn’t it good fortune, God’s divine providence if you will, that we get to focus on this text this Sunday snowed in our warm cozy homes, while mindful that many in our community or country are without shelter or food or facing storms that might take out their electricity or even destroy their homes. Mindful that others like the Gazans are returning to where they thought their homes used to be and finding only rubble. How perfect is this text for our times, especially today.

For example, our current government and its leaders seem to be hellbent on reversing Jesus’ blessings by declaring the rich and privileged blessed and those who are poor “parasites.” This was the term that Elon Musk used a few days ago to name the millions who will suffer from the dismantling of food and medical assistance. The poor are a “Parasite Class.” Many are watching the slashing of federal programs because they are sure they are not members of this class until their pensions or Medicare is touched, their government jobs eliminated, their school budgets slashed. Who is favored in such an economy? Who is favored in God’s economy of Grace?

Jesus says the opposite because all are on the same level. Dear Ones, we don’t bless the poor by giving them what they need. We give the poor what they need because they are blessed, God’s favored ones. Our last song today, You are Blessed, from the Gospel singer Fred Hammondson says: “Late in the midnight hour, God’s gonna turn it around; it’s gonna work in your favor!”

Dear Ones, where are you in this Gospel text? Most of us are neither rich nor living on the margins, mostly comfortable. How do we relate to these blessings and woes? Is it one or the other?

I would like to take a moment and ask you to reflect on what it is like in your soul or heart this morning to be comfortable while others are suffering. I invite you to feel or accept the discomfort this might stir up. If you are suffering economically or worried how does this feel? Now shift your attention to the opportunities you have to be in relationship with those who are on the margins or oppressed. Where might God being calling you to stand in solidarity? Who in our church or in Belfast need your support? Who in our state? Our nation? The world?

Now shift and include in your reflection our church community. Who are we standing with? What new people or places need our solidarity? Who is standing up right now to these repressive changes in our government?

Dear Ones, there are a few organizations and individuals who are speaking out, standing up, or refusing to obey orders. I invite you to name a few. I know of two corporations who are refusing to remove their DEI programs: Costco and Delta Airlines. Who do you know?

Finally, Dear Ones, how can these blessings and woes guide or anchor us in the struggle ahead for God’s shalom to be realized for all?

I would like to end with a story from a Palestinian Christian leader and what he has to say about the Aramaic meaning of the word Jesus used to talk to describe what we call blessed. Abuna Elias Chacour, former Archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in the Galilee, Akko, Haifa, and Nazareth reminds us that the original word in Aramaic was ashray from the verb yasha. Ashray means “to set yourself on the right way for the right goal; to turn around; to repent. He illustrates his point this way:

How could I go to a persecuted young man in a Palestinian refugee camp, for instance, and say “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted,” or “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven?” That man would revile me, saying neither I nor my God understood his plight and he would be right.

When I understand Jesus’ words in Aramaic, I translate like this: Get up, go ahead, do something, move, you who are hungry and thirsty for justice, for you shall be satisfied. Get up, go ahead, do something, move, you peacemakers, for you shall be called children of God.

To me this reflects Jesus’ words and teachings much more accurately. I can hear him saying: “Get your hands dirty to build a human society for human beings; otherwise, others will torture and murder the poor, the voiceless, and the powerless.” Christianity is not passive but active, energetic, alive, going beyond despair. “Get up, go ahead, do something, move,” Jesus said to his disciples.”

Dear Ones, let us all get up and get our hands dirty or get ourselves into some “good trouble” as the late great John Lewis used to say, to continue to build God’s beloved community where all are loved and cherished. Let us follow Jesus’ Executive Order to love one another, always and in all ways.