"The Biblical Paradox"

A word that I want you to consider this morning is the word Paradox.   A paradox is a statement that seemly contradicts itself.  A paradox is used to challenge the mind and make you think about the statement in a new way.  A paradox is often used to make you question common thoughts. Take the statement "Less is more." These two opposite words contradict one another. How can less be more?  The concept behind this statement is that what is less complicated is often more appreciated. .  So, I want you, as you hear the Gospel reading this morning, to listen for the Paradox in Luke’s four blessed statements and the four Woes that follow.  

 Feb 17, 2019  1 Corinthians 15:12–20    Luke 6:17–26

In today's Gospel reading this morning, Luke puts his own twist to four of Matthews’s beatitudes. It is a vison that is strikingly different from that found in the Gospel According to Matthew.  Instead of eight statements concerning those whom God will bless, Luke lists only four statements that resemble the beatitudes - four statements concerning those who are blessed.  At first glance the four seem familiar enough, but then he adds four woes which seemly contradict the first four.  Let us hear the first four once again.  “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.   Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh?  22 Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.”  I think most Christians are relieved and willing to accept that God will bless the poor and the hungry.  That God will comfort those who mourn and reward those who are often scorn upon for telling the truth or doing the right thing as taught by the Son of Man.  These statements also give the rich and the middle class hope, because well, we cannot exclude ourselves from needing God’s grace at some point in our lives too.   

But then Luke goes on and instead of listing four more blessed statements, he delivers four disturbing self-contradictory statements. Here we go once again folks dealing with a biblical paradox.   It is disturbing because they are contrary to the blessed statements and to societal norms often taught within family life and often within the Christian traditions.   Well then, let us consider his woes.   “But woe to you who are rich,   Woe to you who are well fed now, Woe to you who laugh now, Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you.  His woes appear to contradict his first four statements.  What then is Luke trying to get us to understand here?  Is that not what many of us have been taught and strive for in life, to work hard and get ahead of the crowd, to become well off, well fed, seeking financially security for our family, our community and of course ourselves you know, for our senior years.   Should we not laugh and enjoy the good life as presented by wealth and prosperity.   Well, on the other hand, may I suggest to you that riches and prosperity often make people stingy, especially if you have worked hard all your life to get what you have, even if you were given your riches on a silver platter the woe should be heard here?  Riches have been known to harden the heart of individuals, countries, even communities of faith are not immune to the condition of the hardened heart.  Remember I made this statement last Sunday that the heartbeat of a church can be found in its mission work.  To do the work of mission you must give freely of your resources, this would not only include your money, but your time, your talents and your experience.   If you have no defined mission to share your resources, the individual will die from the inside out and the same goes for communities of faith.  Without an outpouring of your personal resources, your talents, your gifts, and your love to others, you will wither and die on the inside.  We are not meant to just gather for ourselves.  The giving, from what we have gathered to those whose bellies are empty produces fruit for the giver, the blessed, and in fact makes our gathering whole.  Without the out poring, our resource, no matter what they are, they can becomes stagnant and a worrisome burden that can be self-destructive in the end. Self-centeredness and greed will eventually turn on us, stealing away our laughter and bring us nothing but heart ache and sorrow.

How many of you are familiar with that famous song “I Did It My Way”?   People love it because it gives off the impression that one has total power and control over our one’s life.   It also represents a societal value that contains its own deception.  The deception of course for a Christian, and I emphasize Christian here,  is found in the statement “MY WAY.”   We should be able to hear within its lyric the warning “Woe To You”?  The deception being that none of us, have ever really accomplished anything without the sharing by others along the way, be it a good thing or a bad thing.    May I suggest to you that in the real world there is no such thing as doing it “My Way”?   And, if whatever we do, is to be done in our best interests, we Christians would do it Jesus’ way, right?   The truth about being saved is in the doing, not in words that a person might say, but in the fruit of what they do.  

So then Woe to we who are full now without good conscience, especially when we are aware that some of our brother or sister are existing on empty.  It is a warning to all Christians that we not only need to share our wealth, talents, experience and our food supply with those in need but we must do it without judgement.  Then we need to give thanks and praise to God as the source of where our food, talents, abilities and our wealth have come from.  Often, we again make the mistake of thinking we receive according to our good works and see the blessings are our reward.  Now here is a shock to many Christians who feel deserving because of their goodness.  When in reality all of our abilities to attain and sustain our well-being are gifts bestrode upon both the good and the bad, by the grace of God, Matthew 5: 44-45  “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, “that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”  you see its by grace not by merit.    

We are called to share and give without judgement, we are called to be Disciples of Christ, mission workers, helping to build God’s Kingdom here right now and we must trust and follow in the ways of Christ.  Luke 6:38 tells us: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Luke’s woes are a needed contrast, take them in, they will soften a harden heart, replacing it with a new compassionate and loving heart.  For we are all God’s children meant to be servants for each other.  This is the foundation that produces the Agape love our souls so long for.