Even though our beloved Patriots aren’t in tonight’s Super Bowl, I can’t resist starting out this morning talking about the Big Game.

 

In less than twelve hours, two teams will walk off the field: one will be the triumphant and powerful victor; the other will be the dejected loser.  That’s right -- in spite of having made it to the Super Bowl, the team that finishes with less points tonight will be considered a loser.

 

In the locker room of the winner, there will be jubilant laughter, celebrations, accolades, and high-fives all around.  Champagne will be flowing and awards presented.  But in the locker room of this year’s second best football team, there will be hushed voices and hanging heads.  There will be feelings of bitter disappointment and agonizing defeat. 

 

It seems that, in our world, “Blessed are the winners, for they are the only ones who count.” 

 

A few moments ago, Steve read Jesus’ familiar words we know as “The Beatitudes.”  They are so familiar, in fact, that sometimes we miss, or forget, or try to ignore how radical their message is.  Twentieth century biblical scholar William Barclay called the Beatitudes “a series of bombshells.”  And no wonder – depending on your perspective, Jesus’ words can be comforting and reassuring, or they can be uncomfortable and challenging.

 

Jesus says, “blessed are you who are poor and hungry, who weep and are hated on my account.”  And then he goes on to say “woe” to you who are rich, full, laughing, when all speak well of you.  Woe?  I say “Whoa!!!”  If you’re like me, we wish the gospel writers had forgotten to record these words of woe!  And how are we in 21^st century America to make sense of them when they essentially turn our culture’s values upside down and inside out?

 

After all, would the child suffering from malnutrition, the woman abused by her partner, the person given a grim diagnosis consider themselves “blessed”?  I don’t think so, nor could I be a follower of someone who did.  But in the Gospels, Jesus makes no clear distinction between the physical and the spiritual.  He spends much of his time healing people who are sick, marginalized, and dying, and it is clear that this healing is for both the body and the soul.  As he says to the woman with the hemorrhage [Matthew 9:22], to blind Bartimaeus [Mark 10:52], to the Samaritan leper [Luke 17:19], “Your faith has made you well.”

 

This unity of body and soul is at the core of Jesus’ “blessings and woes.”  The poor, hungry, weeping, persecuted, and excluded are blessed not in the sense that their physical state is rewarded right now, but that in both the spiritual and physical sense, they will have a reward in the future, in God’s Kingdom.  Jesus’ followers were folks who, by and large, were poor and hungry, who had known their share of loss; folks who were on the outside of society’s mainstream and, if they hadn’t already, would come to suffer because of their faith.  Jesus' Beatitudes, therefore, were primarily words of consolation to people who desperately needed to hear this good news.  To their ears, these were words of encouragement and hope, the promise of a better life in the future.

 

But where do these Beatitudes leave us?  While we may not think of ourselves as rich, most of the world does.  Is it a curse to live in the world’s richest nation, to be satisfied, to have reason to laugh, to be well-liked?  Are we wrong to want and seek these things?  People who are poor and hungry and sad and despised by others know they have an emptiness inside, and therefore, they are able to receive God.  It is more difficult to make room in our hearts for God if we are rich and full and happy and laughing and everybody likes us. 

 

It is easy to read Luke’s “Blessings and Woes” as an excuse for browbeating the well-off.  But in the Gospels, Jesus does not condemn wealthy people like Zacchaeus and Levi the tax collector because they are rich.  What matters is that, despite their wealth, both of these men know that spiritually, they are empty, and they recognize that it is Jesus who can fill the yearning in their hearts.  God cannot fill us up until we are able to empty ourselves and make room for God.  And when we understand our deep need for God, then we can find true blessing.

 

In the beatitudes, Jesus shows us the most essential aspects of Christian behavior and presents to us an entirely new way of living our lives.  The gospels, especially Luke, are famous for turning society’s values upside down and inside out, and in our modern world, they challenge us to follow Jesus’ teachings while living in a culture that often opposes them. 

 

Ø      Our culture says, “Value things.”  Christ says, “Value people.”

Ø      The culture says, “Put yourself first.”  Christ says, “Serve others.”

Ø      The culture says, “Never be satisfied with what you have; yearn for newer, bigger, brighter.”  Christ says, “The abundant life that I bring is peace, joy, and contentment.”

Ø      The culture says, “Hurry up, be busy, do, do, do.”  Christ says, “Slow down, remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.”

Ø      The culture says, “Money and power and status are our gods; worship them.”  Christ says, “God is God; worship God only.”

Ø      The culture says, “Now!”  Christ says, “Focus on the things that are eternal, and I am with you always.”[1]

 

And so today, as the culture gets geared up for the Super Bowl, I invite you to take a moment to consider in what ways the blessings and woes of the Gospel message challenge the standards by which you live.  Take a moment to consider how you can serve as an agent through whom God blesses the people society overlooks.  Take a moment to consider the real blessings in your life, and then make room for, and give thanks to, the One from whom all blessings flow.  Amen.