Epiphany 6

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: Epiphany 6
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: February 15,1998

TEXT: Luke 6:17-26 - "They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Then he looked up at his disciples and said: 'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.'"
See also:
Jeremiah 17:5-10 - The faithful shall be like trees planted by the waters, and they shall not fear when heat comes. In the year of drought they are not anxious.
Psalm 1:3 - They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; everything they do shall prosper.
ISSUE: Luke tells us that the poor, the large majority of people, found healing and hope in Jesus. The poor and dispossessed, the hungry, the sorrowful, and the defamed found blessing and honor through him. The self-assured without God, on the other hand, will suffer great emptiness should they encounter hard times. The passage calls humble people to trust in God as opposed to total self-reliance, and to be rooted in Jesus Christ.
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I have just returned from a very pleasant trip to the southwest. It is truly a land of enchantment. On of the aspects of the southwest that has always intriguewd me has been how the Native American peoples have survived in the desert areas. There are vast deserts that can be very hot and parched in the summer. Yet there are ruins in some of the canyons that bear witness to human beings being there and surviving in these places over the centuries. But human ingenuity and stamina is sometimes remarkable. An Indian guide took us into a canyon where there were some ancient cliff dwellings in the canyon. While the site, the Canyon de Chelly, is now a national monument, the land is still farmed by Navajo Indians. It is to me startling to think that a desert area can be farmed. These people came to know that even though the summer heat and drought could be brutal, the rains and the snows of the winter which eventually melted and ran down the canyon walls settled underground in the valley below, sometimes forming a stream. Along these streams and in these valleys, corn, squash, pumpkins, fruit trees and other vegetables could be planted and flourish. Cottonwood trees grow to be quite large in these canyons. But outside these unique canyon vineyards, nothing grows but some scrubby small bushes, tumebleweed, and spiney cactus. For abundant life to survive it has to be rooted in the proximity of life giving waters. Even today, Navajo Indians continue to plant in these canyons, and enjoy the fruit of their labors.
I am reminded of the passage from Jeremiah that we read this morning, "Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is in the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of the drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit." (Jer.17:5-10) Psalm 1 also addresses those who stay close to the Lord: "They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither." From ancient times people have come to learn that they are dependent upon that which is life giving. They must stay close to what gives life. For the Jewish people, it was not just staying close to life giving water in the desert that mattered. This being rooted in life giving water was a metaphor for staying close to God who was the real life giving source and hope for their lives. From the earliest of times much of humanity has recognized its dependence upon higher life giving powers. Without a source of life giving power life is diminished and cannot bear fruit.
Luke's Gospel account today gives the more primitive account of Jesus' Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are quite elaborate in Matthew's Gospel account and they are told to his disciples on a mountain, called The Sermon on the Mount. Luke's account is somewhat different though similar. Like the waters that come from the mesas into the canyons, Luke tells us that Jesus comes to the people on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all over; Jew and Gentile alike, from Judea and Jerusalem, Tyre and Sidon. They came to him for healing, and to have their unclean spirits cast out. Like people living in a parched and dry land they came looking to him for hope. Jesus was for them God's own life giving water of healing and hope. They were the poor, not people without money necessarily, but people without any power or status. They were the hungry searching people looking for lives with meaning. They were the people of sorrow and grief oppressed by their lives. These were the people who were the persecuted and the excluded. Jesus called them the blessed, the beloved of God. They were the ones whom God honored. Luke was relating that those who came to see Jesus as the life giving water of God would know a blessedness, and honor that the world could not and did not give. In him and through him their lives bear fruit and there is a sense of spiritual abundance and belonging.
Think of what these images mean for us today. Obiously we do not live in deserts, and most of us experience considerable material wealth. We think of ourselves as self-made men and women in total charge of our lives. Yet there are those moments and times that strike all of us that shakes and sometimes shatters our foundations. Losing someone we love creates a great loneliness. It is as if we were in a dry desert all alone. When we lose a job, go through a divorce, or face serious health problems, we become vividly reminded of our mortality. We are not always on top of things. We cannot always be self-assured. We need a resource beyond ourselves to keep us alive in the difficult dryer times of our lives. We need the close assurance of the healing love of God. Human beings need God so much at various difficult times of our lives. The gospel and the scriptures are that constant reminder that God is with us. For the faithful, for those who trust and recognize their need of God, they are like the trees planted by the streams of water whose leaves will stay green and will survive the droughts of life.
In all of my years in the ministry I'v never known a perfect family or perfect people. I know there are times and people we think have the better more perfect lives, but let me assure you that that image is only a fantasy. All people are human and have those moments of great stress and disaster. All know illness, and loss, and disappointment. All are sinners at times. All are human and all need God. All need planting in the valleys, but even when we are in the valley in the shadow of death, we fear no evil for God is with us.
It is out of our God given blessedness that comes through faith that we can bear fruit. That fruit is the compassion we ourselves have come to know that we can share with others. It is the fruit of being able to be giving, forgiving, and loving because in our faith it is forgiveness and love that has nourished, saved, and redeemed us. In our our closeness and love of God in Christ Jesus that conveys our own human need for God, we manifest in our lives of blessedness: the abundance of his healing, love, forgiveness, and hope. We stand like trees planted by streams of living waters, whose leaves are green, even in the valley of the shadow of death.