Then he looked up at his disciples and said:

The words that follow resonate with something we famously call the sermon on the mount – the beatitudes – a pivotal teaching moment for Jesus. Except in this instance, Jesus offers both sides of the equation. Blessed ‘are YOU’ – woe to YOU; the instruction (if that’s what it is) goes a little further here, according to the author of the gospel we call Luke…and it is my least favourite bit of Scripture.

When I came back to the church as a newly married adult, it didn’t take long for both Lea and I to get very involved. Part of that involvement was connection with the Cursillo movement – something that began in the Roman Catholic Church and then spread beyond. We were part of this movement in Sarnia – among a very ecumenical and very active group, many of whom we still count as good friends.

As we participated in weekend retreats and occasional social gatherings, we were hearing stories of other people’s faith journey for the very first time. And many of these folks had long, complicated and occasionally tragic stories.

It was then that I first began to imagine that I had not suffered enough to call myself a Christian.

Real Christians (I argued at the time) have these excellent and horrifying reasons to trust in God – to give their lives over to Jesus. I was too ordinary. Free from a tortured backstory, how could my faith be legitimate?

And Scripture such as this morning’s gospel lesson played a part in my false assumption.

Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
‘Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
‘Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.

‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man…”

Here was the resume of a true believer, and I couldn’t check these boxes.

What’s worse, my life looked good enough to be on the ‘other side.’

But woe to you who are rich…
(well, okay – I wasn’t rich, but I had enough)

‘Woe to you who are full now…I never remember I time when I was hungry.
‘Woe to you who are laughing now… I like to laugh – who doesn’t like to laugh?

‘Woe to you when all speak well of you… This was the real kicker.

I wanted to be liked – still do. I go out of my way to cultivate a good reputation as an employee, a husband, and a father…I struggled with Jesus seemingly laying down an ‘either/or’ option. I didn’t like where my self-assessment landed me on the scale of blessed…or not.

Dealing with Scripture that challenges us is not an easy thing. Easier to move on – to find another lesson. But we are people of the book – we treasure, for better or worse, these ancient stories from our ancestors in the faith. And the thing we most often miss in this particular instance is the opening paragraph.

We aren’t told where Jesus was teaching – just that people were coming from far and wide to have the ‘Jesus’ experience.’ (a great crowd of his disciples, and a great multitude of people from …) they crowded and tried to touch him and “all of them were healed.” It is possible that this opening paragraph is not just connective tissue.

Jesus met the needs of all the crowd – or so says the text. Maybe there is a little license taken with the facts. Perhaps there were a few who did not experience the power radiating out from Jesus…but this particular story of healing gets no attention because of what come after. I’d like to suggest that the beautiful thing about this ‘blessings and woes’ speech, is that it happens AFTER a miracle of epic proportions.

Jesus did not (nor does he ever) stop to ask who might deserve to be healed. Jesus spends no time checking citizenship papers, or religious qualifications. The power that goes out from him – the power of compassion and grace; the energy of love and life – simply finds, as a target, the whole mass of people who had gathered.

The lesson here is not simply that those who struggle will be strengthened, or that those who rejoice will be disappointed. It’s possible that Jesus is just describing the pattern of human existence- and warning his disciples neither to wallow in their sorrows, nor gloat in their victories.

The lesson is, first of all, the love of God seeks out and saves ‘all of them’ – the happy, the sad, the arrogant, the meek. Those who tried to touch him…and those who couldn’t get close enough. And the battered and beautiful collection of humans made whole by the work of Jesus must then decide how to react to that gift.

Will you be smug and certain that you ‘deserved’ such grace? Will your arrogance repel those who might otherwise have joined the crowd around Jesus? Will your sense of entitlement push the more cautious – the least certain children of God to the fringe of your newly claimed holy ground?

Or will you be humbly grateful? Will you reflect the generosity of God in your relationships? Will you tell the story of your salvation with a sense of wonderment and gentle delight?

We are all together in the crowd around Jesus. God’s grace in Christ is offered equally, and for everyone. The gift is given – the healing is offered. How then shall we live?