Blessings and woes - Sept 9
“Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours.”
“Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” Luke 6:20, 24
When the beatitudes are mentioned, we commonly think of the first verses of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. The beatitudes here list of nine blessed groups of people and these blessed people are pious: poor in spirit, meek, humble, pure in heart. In Luke’s beatitudes, the blessed ones are the poor, hungry, weeping, and ridiculed. No pleasant piety here. And while Matthew sticks to blessings, Luke’s blessings are mirrored with four woes for the rich, full, laughing, and flattered.
Throughout his gospel and book of Acts, Luke is very attentive to money and power – to those who have it and those who don’t. While Matthew’s “poor in spirit” may come across as an individual sentiment of the spirit, Luke speaks to the real experiences of poverty and hunger of the real people he knew.
When I step back and look at ‘Blessed’ and ‘Woe’ categories, I must admit that I, and likely most of the people reading this find ourselves thoroughly in the ‘Woe’ column. While my advocating-for-justice self likes the overturning of injustice in Luke’s text, I don’t come out on the ‘good’ side.
While it doesn’t always feel this way, compared to the rest of the world I certainly am rich. Looking down at my growing belly I know it has been filled many times. While challenges with anxiety and depression don’t always leave me very happy, I have little to weep for. And people do speak well of me, just ask my eye-rolling wife.
Reading myself into this text and my future doesn’t look too bright. It’s hard to know what to do with that. In that tension, I recognize my privilege and strive to grow in my life of prayer, humility, and striving for justice, being an ally and advocate for the poor, the hungry, and the distressed.