Blessings, Woes, and Wawa

Luke 6:17-26

[Jesus] went down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. They came out to hear and to be healed of their diseases, and all those who were troubled by unclean spirits were cured. All in the crowd were trying to touch Jesus, because power came out of him and healed all of them.

Then Jesus looked up to his disciples and said, “Blessed are you who are poor now, 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 exclude you and persecute you and defame you on account of the Son of Man, rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven. For that is what your ancestors did to the prophets.

But woe to you who are rich now, for you have receive your consolation. And woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. And woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what your ancestors did to the false prophets.

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Pastor Cogan confirmed a rumor we’ve heard about that new construction going on at the southeast corner of U.S. 40 and Mt. Comfort Road these days. Apparently, it’s going to be a WaWa – another convenience store/gas station out of Philadelphia. WaWa also has food, with enough of a menu that you can get breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as part of your gas station experience. But that’s also true of the Speedway across the street and the Leo’s just up the road on your way to Greenfield. (I was hoping for a restaurant NOT attached to a gas station and something without a drive-thru, but no one asked me.)

But did you know there’s some marketing and social science behind the decision to put a gas station across the street from another gas station? That there’s a logic to the capitalistic tendency to put a Lowe’s hardware store very near to a Home Depot; to build a CVS kitty corner from a Walgreen’s; to put a Burger King next to a McDonald’s, next to a Wendy’s, next to a Taco Bell, next to a Chik-fil-A?

The logic, as I understand it, is that it changes the questions that potential consumers ask themselves as they drive around town. When only one potential option presents itself, the question is simply, “Do I need gas, or something from the hardware store, or something to eat?” Those are simple, yes/no questions and easier, cut-and-dry decisions to make.

But when there are similar options available to us, our minds are more inclined to engage the nuance of the potential decision before us. We no longer wonder so much about WHETHER we want or need a particular thing – a simple yes/no question. Instead, we wonder WHICH ONE of the available options is more appealing, and are more inclined to choose SOMETHING, accordingly, whether we need it or not. Sneaky, right? Clever, don’t you think?

It could very well be just me – and my struggle with the Beatitudes whenever they show up – but I feel like Jesus might be up to something similar with this portion of his “Sermon on the Plain,” today, and all of his talk about “Blessings” and “Woes.”

Blessed are you who are poor, who are hungry, who are weeping …

If Jesus ONLY gave us the blessings to wonder about, it would be easy for each of us to see ourselves as recipients of the healing, hope, comfort, joy, and favor, he promises. Who among us doesn’t or hasn’t wished for “more,” to the point that, without some perspective we might think we know what “poor” feels like? And who among us doesn’t know what it is to weep, or to hunger for something other than food, or to be left out, excluded, and misunderstood where faith – or something else may be concerned?

I’ll take that blessing every time and I’ll live in that hope whenever and wherever I can find it, thank you very much.

But Jesus gives us more than one option to think about – more than one perspective to consider – this morning, doesn’t he? To use my gas station example, Jesus sets up this little shop of BLESSINGS right next door to this little factory of WOES, does he not? He proposes this litany of BLESSINGS right across the proverbial street from that other list of WOES so that it’s harder to just drive on by, encouraging us to think more deeply about how they show up in our lives – whether we may want to go there, or not.

And, truth be told, I’m equally – if not more – convicted by the woes than the blessings in Jesus’ beatitudes. I’m not wealthy by the standards of many, but I am rich in ways most of the world cannot fathom. (Woe to me.) I am filled to overflowing – literally and figuratively – and have never known the kind of hunger – literal and figurative – with which so many struggle. (Woe to me.) I find opportunities for joy and light and laughter in this world, even though there is so much to be dismayed about and despairing over, for sure. (Woe to me. And to most of you, too, from what I can tell.)

So, again, if Jesus merely presented us with the WOES as he lays them out today, I could easily wallow in that shame, guilt and sadness, like a pig in slop. Woe, is me.

But, again, Jesus builds this house of WOES, right next door to this little gift shop of BLESSINGS, and inspires me to do more than just drive on by, or to say “yes” or “no” to my first instinct or inclination about how they apply to my life and faith in this world.

And it’s important to notice that this is a conversation and that these are choices meant and made, very specifically, for Jesus’ disciples. Yes, there were multitudes there from all over Judea, from the big city of Jerusalem, and from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. But when Jesus looked up and started saying these things in particular, we’re told he was speaking directly to his disciples – to those who wanted to follow in his footsteps, to do his bidding, to walk in his ways.

And that’s you and me on our best days, right?

Our lives are a swirl of blessings and woes so extreme that they can be difficult to reconcile – and God knows that. And God knows, too, that we find ourselves on either end of the spectrum of these blessings and woes, depending on what day or minute or moment we decide to take a good, hard look, as Jesus invites us to do, today.

How can we look at the world around us and not wonder who are the rich and privileged? (Global Refuge, which used to be Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, had 97% of their funding frozen in the last week or two, leaving refugees stranded instead of saved, as planned. They’ve laid off ¼ of their staff and couldn’t make payroll this week, either so it’s not getting better anytime soon.)

How can we see the poverty of food and the scarcity of resources that exist for so many and not wonder how we might pray and advocate for something better? (The recent halt to USAID funding will impact everything from AIDS testing and education to contraceptive healthcare to food and medical assistance for some of the most vulnerable people on the planet – including our friends in Haiti.)

And how can we see the weeping and mourning of others and not do whatever we can to provide comfort, peace, and hope in its place? (This is why we plan things like advocacy training workshops around here so that we might make a difference on behalf of people without homes in our own neck of the woods.)

See, I think Jesus lays out these two competing realities – these blessings and woes – side by side before us, as he does – so that we won’t just go about our lives of faith asking simple “yes” and “no” questions, like blind, happy capitalists, on our way to the gas station, or the drive-thru, or the voting booth, or even to church on Sunday morning.

I think Jesus knows and wants us to assume that most of us will have blessings and woes aplenty in this life. And he wants us to wonder about how our blessings impact the woes of others, and vice versa, so that we will see our wants and needs, our blessings and woes, in the context of and in connection with the multitudes of neighbors – all children of God – in the wide world around us.

And I think Jesus wants us to ask better questions. Not merely IF or WHETHER we’ll step up and step out in faith to love our one another, for God’s sake, but WHEN and WHERE and HOW. And he wants to watch us do something to turn the tables – to create more blessings where there seem only to be woes – for us and for others, on this side of heaven, in his name.

Amen

Widows, Lepers, and Foreigners, Oh My

Luke 4:21-30

Then he began to say to them, "Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!" And you will say, "Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum."

And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet, Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow in Zarephath of Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."

When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

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If you heard last Sunday’s sermon, it was full of good news, but I warned you that things were going to change. Back in Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown – his friends, family, and neighbors had heard what he’d been up to – preaching and teaching his way around Galilee, and when he showed up in the synagogue, where we find him, still, today – he had that good news for them, which he has been anointed by God to share: “good news for the poor, release for the captives, recovery of sight for the blind, freedom for the oppressed, and the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And they were all over it. Their home-town boy made good. A local hero. An anointed prophet, filled with spirit and good news and so many gracious words falling from his lips.

And Jesus knows they’d like more than just to hear about these things. They’d like to see some of his best work, too, which is why he kind of teases them with that old proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself.” “Show us a trick.” “Give us a show.” “Let’s see just how ‘anointed’ you really are.”

He knows what else they’re thinking, too: “Jesus, do something for us – your family, friends, and neighbors – like we’ve heard you’ve been doing out there in the world. Release some captives, here. Heal some of us who are sick. Give some of the Lord’s favor to those of us who know you best, now that you’re home. If you’re doing it for them, surely you can do it for us, too.”

But Jesus reminds them – not so subtly – that this “Lord’s favor” the prophets spoke of wasn’t about playing favorites, or taking sides, or “us and them.”

He reminds them about how – during a famine once, way back in the day – when all of Israel – the nation of God’s chosen ones – could have used a little release and recovery and a dose of the Lord’s favor, the prophet Elijah was sent outside the fold, to help some widow at Zarephath in Sidon. And he reminds them about how, during the good ol’ days of the prophet Elisha, there were plenty of Hebrew lepers who could have used a cleansing, but that God sent the prophet to an outsider – some foreigner named Naaman, from Syria.

And when they hear it, Jesus’ newly minted fans lose their minds. They turn on a dime. They turn on Jesus. And they run him out of the synagogue, and straight out of town.

“You mean this grace and favor and this recovery and release stuff isn’t just for us?!” “You mean we aren’t supposed to look out for number one?!?!” “You mean we don’t take care of our own, first, and then pick and choose who we think might be worthy?!?!?” “You mean this ‘recovery’ and ‘release’ and ‘freedom’ and ‘favor’ is for them, just as much as it is for us?”

And, to begin to grasp what was so upsetting and unsettling to Jesus’ hometown crowd, we need to be reminded about the insignificance of these widows and these lepers and these foreigners about whom he was telling them. They were at the bottom of the barrel as far as social standing was concerned. They were outcasts. They were outsiders. They were unclean, unworthy, unloveable, and unwanted by the rest of the world. (They were probably undocumented, too, if you know what I mean.)

Because, not only was Jesus talking about the outcast, the sinner, the shamed, and the shameful, he was talking about people outside of the Jewish circle. Jesus was saying that, just like the prophets Elijah and Elisha had shown … foreigners to Israel were welcome to the grace of God, too. Not only was God’s grace for losers – like lepers and widows – but it was even for Gentile widows and Gentile lepers, too. Which seems to imply that there wasn’t anyone beyond the reach of God’s love, or beyond the reach of Jesus’ own ministry, as a result.

Could this be a more hard, holy, timely lesson for us, these days? If Jesus walked into the midst of his people this morning – Christian churches on Sunday morning, filled with those of us who call ourselves, friends and family and brothers and sisters and siblings in Christ – what would HE find, and what would WE do, if he reminded us about the likes of Naaman, the Syrian, or about that widow from Zarephath in Sidon – outsiders and outcasts and foreigners, too?

It reminds me of how Bishop Mariann Budde, from the National Cathedral simply, humbly, faithfully, graciously, kindly asked our President to show mercy to immigrants who are afraid of what border policies and deportation practices could mean for them and their families – and about how at least one US Congressman proposed she be deported for it; the 21st Century, American version of being hurled off a cliff, you might say.

It makes me think of the rabbit hole of reels and Tik Toks I found myself in, just this week, where Christian-flavored people spend a lot of time explaining why women can’t be and shouldn’t be allowed to be priests and pastors in the Church. These were men and women, young and old, red and yellow, black and white followers of Jesus – in the year of our Lord, 2025 – who are blind to the fact that, other than Jesus, the very first person EVER to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel, was Mary Magdalene on that first Easter morning.

It makes me think, too, of a conversation at the Wellness Center, right around the corner – and quite recently – where someone made note of how, as more people of color find their way there that “the quality of the clientele seems to be going downhill.” I couldn’t help but wonder where she might be worshiping Jesus this morning.

And did you know that just this past Monday, the Idaho House of Representatives passed a memorial suggesting the US Supreme Court reconsider – and undo – the legalization and protection of same-sex marriage in our country? Heather Scott, the Idaho state representative behind it all, blamed it on Jesus, suggesting that Christians across the nation are being targeted by having to welcome the idea of marriage equality.

The sad truth is, too many Christians are still too busy looking for cliffs whenever the message of God’s grace and love and mercy and favor gets too wide and too mighty and too scary and too uncomfortable and asks too much of us. And Naaman, the Syrian, and that widow at Zarephath, in Sidon – and those knuckleheads in Nazareth – are all just First Century examples of our 21st Century reality.

So today, “this Scripture that is fulfilled in our hearing,” convicts us to ask, who are the 21st Century “widows” and “lepers” among us – because none of this is about widow and lepers anymore. Who are the unloved, the unloveable, the unworthy, or the unwanted as we sit here this morning? Even more, who do we pretend is outside the circle of God’s grace as far as Christians in the Church and our community are concerned?

We can try to limit God’s grace or draw lines in the sand and keep it for ourselves. We can even vote for politicians and policies that do our bidding one way or another. And we can pretend that Jesus’ preaching and teaching has nothing to do with those politicians or those policies.

We could even try to silence the truth by running the messenger out of town or by hurling him off a cliff or by nailing him to a cross – but we have been there and we’ve done that and we know how that story ends.

Or, rather, we know how that story begins, thanks be to God.

Because it is the resurrection that reminds us that God’s grace will be shared – no matter what. It will bring good news to the poor. It will release the captive. It will restore sight to the blind. It will let the oppressed go free. The Lord’s favor will be proclaimed – whether you and I – Jesus’ friends, family, and neighbors are on board or not.

And what always gets me when I hear about Jesus’ near-death experience that day in Nazareth, is the invitation to get with the program. What I hear is a call to the Church – our congregation at Cross of Grace and the larger Church as God’s people in the world – to not be left standing on the cliff like the people of Nazareth, only to find that Jesus has passed through the midst of us – untouched.

What I don’t want any of us to find is that he’s continued on his way sharing grace, doing justice, and offering God’s blessings to a world so desperate for it, but that we were too busy or too angry, too self-absorbed or too blind, too partisan or too proud, too selfish or too scared, to join him in that work.

Amen