Luke 6:20-31
It was early in
my internship in northern Iowa, and my first funeral. I met with some of the
family members and got quite a story. It was Mom who died, and her body was in
Minnesota, where the daughter lived. Mom had been living there for some time,
for some reason. The daughter wanted to have the service in Minnesota, but Dad
said, No, he was the husband, and the funeral would be in Iowa. Eventually, Mom
was brought to Iowa, and Dad and I planned the service details.
In the funeral
sermon, I reminded these folks that Mom had died, and I hadn’t heard anyone
remembering her. All I had heard was people arguing about who was in charge,
who was wrong, who was at fault. I talked about how God loved this woman, and
had welcomed her home. It was time to rejoice that she had gone to be with Jesus,
no matter how they felt about each other. I’m not sure they heard me, since
there was a fist fight in the parking lot after the service. But I remember her,
if only because her family didn’t.
Today we
remember the loved ones who died. We call this All Saints Sunday, because all
who believe are called saints in the Geek Testament. The Church has been recognizing
deceased believers since the 4th century. At first those remembered
were the countless unnamed believers who were arrested, tried, and put to death
because of their belief in Jesus as God – and for their refusal to worship the
Roman gods.
Later, named believers
were remembered on All Souls Day. In recent decades, the Church has combined
the two days into one, called All Saints, and moved the observation to November
1 or the Sunday following. In the Lutheran Church, it always follows
Reformation Sunday.
… The
designated Bible readings remind us that we and the people we have loved are
not perfect. Luke’s version of the Beatitudes is shorter than Matthew’s and
includes an equivalent set of Woes. The Greek words are makarios and ouai.
Makarios is
often translated as happy or blessed. The English word ‘blessed’ is familiar to
us, and it has baggage. It gets abused. “How are you?” “I’m blessed.” Another
possible word that fits the meaning of makarios is satisfied, in the
sense of ‘content with what I have’.
In these
beatitudes, Jesus is talking about people who are really poor, as in not having
all that they need. People who are literally poor, hungry, and so forth know
they need God to provide for them.
So it’s like
this: Content are you who are poor, hungry, weeping, bullied, for you will be
rich, full, in charge. It is surprising now, and it was surprising back when
Jesus said it, because the poor folks were – and sometimes still are -- considered
lacking in God’s favor.
The Greek word ouai
is usually translated as ‘woe’. It has the sense of ‘yikes!’ or ‘watch out!’ Jesus
warns that it is easy to fall into the trap of having enough in life if we are
wealthy or powerful. It is tempting to believe God had nothing to do with our
wealth, that we have it because of our own hard work and nothing else.
So it’s like
this: Watch out, you who are rich, full, laughing, praised, for you will be
poor, hungry, bullied. This, too, was as surprising then as it is now, because
you know how we idolize our celebrities.
… Have you ever
had the feeling of being content, even if you didn’t have lots of money? Have
you ever had to be reminded that what you have comes from God, and you should
say ‘thank you’?
None of us is
perfect. We all forget to give God credit. We all forget to be kind to others. Some
days, living with someone else is a serious challenge. The ones we live with
say the same thing about us.
But I find it
intriguing that when someone we love dies, we tend to forget the things that
got on our last nerve about them. We tend to remember only the good times we
shared, and it is that which makes us miss them the most.
I wonder if that
is how it is with God and us. God only sees the good things about us, and doesn’t
remember any of the stuff which could get on God’s last nerve. So, when we die,
it is easy for God to welcome us home. Jesus promised us grace, love,
forgiveness, and those “things” make us feel welcome, and at home.
This is not to
say that there is no accounting for our behavior. We have no way of knowing, on
this side of death, what the other side of death’s door looks like, what
judgment is like, how we spend our time, and so forth.
Except for
this: I object to proof-texting – taking one verse to prove a whole theological
point – but I like to do it for this one verse. In Luke 23, Jesus says to one
of the men on a cross next to him, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.”
Today, we
remember our loved ones, who have joined Jesus in paradise. Let’s be comforted
by this assurance. Let’s remember to be kind, and remember God is the source of
all that we have. Amen
