“Life’s Leveling Truth”
February 13, 2025
This season of Epiphany ends in 2 weeks. Known for light and enlightening in Epiphany we read about the revelation of Jesus to the world. The manifestation of God’s dominion of love.
Diana Butler Bass, author of The Cottage: Sunday Musings writes: “The birth of a Child, the Prince of Peace, opened the way for a contest here in the world. Love and light spread, yes. But not without resistance from the powers that rule this world. Where are we in this struggle? Following the Star, journeying a different way home like the Wise Men away from the dominion of evil seen in Herod? Or, do we remain subjects of Herod and Caesar, pawns cowering under their murderous schemes of Domination of Power?”
As it is written in John 1, “in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” Be sure that the light is still bright even as the darkness deeper. We live on the edge.
Luke 6:17–26 He came 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 coast of Tyre and Sidon. 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. “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. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. “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. “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets. ****
Some of the most meaningful aspects of my life as a pastor came while accompany families through the rituals of funerals and burials. I came to know these as times when people stand on the same level. While there are varying reactions to grief and loss at such times none of the usual ways of delineating between people, whether it be age, class, wealth, education, race or religion mattered at such times.
I recall the first time I rode to the cemetery in the hearse with the funeral director. Riding at the front of a procession of grieving people awakened me to a juxtaposition of life. This ride provided an opportunity to notice people in vehicles beyond the procession who were going about their daily lives. Yet the world for the family and friends I was serving had dramatically changed.
Years and variety of experiences has expanded my awareness and sensitivity to recognize that at all times and every place people live on different plains, yet the griefs and losses we carry are part of life’s leveling truths.
In the story Luke tells, Jesus has just spent the night alone on a mountainside, praying before he chooses his twelve disciples. Come morning, the thirteen descend the mountain to find a vast crowd waiting for them. The multitudes have come from all directions seeking help and Jesus, with all his miraculous power heals them all.
Standing “on a level place” with the crowd, Jesus tells his would-be disciples what discipleship actually looks like. It is a world turned upside down, an economy of blessing that sounds ludicrous and a reordering of privilege and priority that people still today assess with varying perspectives of awkwardness and offense. Blessed are you who are poor, hungry, sad, and expendable. Woe to you who are rich, full, happy, and popular. You see how this does not play well with some Christians.
Luke’s story is often called Sermon on the Plain because it is set on a level place. It contrasts to Matthew who placed this sermon on a hillside, making this Jesus’ central teaching in what is called the “Sermon on the Mount.” Indeed, the setting matched the prose. “Blessed are the poor in spirit for there’s in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3).
But when Jesus comes down to stand on the level, amidst those who are troubled, any sense of hierarchy — that “up” and “down” of human social structure is gone. All the characters are standing equally with Jesus. All look at Jesus face-to-face: Blessed are you who are miserable right now because the kingdom is with you.
It wasn’t enough for Jesus to insist on this seemingly elusive reality. He added that oppressors aren’t really as powerful as they believe: But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
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.
Maybe Luke thought Matthew was being too subtle. So, Luke lowered the sermon from mountain to plain — and made his point plainer, too. Blessed are you who are poor…Woe to you who are rich. There’s nothing “spiritual” or uplifting here. This is worldly, tough, and prophetic.
Jesus repeated warnings like this throughout his career with harsh rebukes and threats toward the rich. This is one of the major themes in Luke’s gospel. He began his book with Mary’s prophecy of the rich being cast down, it runs through Jesus’ parables about Good Samaritans, rich fools, and sending the privileged away, and ends with Jesus’ poorest followers sharing meals of gratitude to overcome their grief.
There is no question about how Jesus saw the poor. Or how he treated them. Blessed are the poor; woe to the rich.
That’s the Bible. Jesus got these “radical” ideas from the Hebrew scriptures, through prophets who warned that societies who neglected or abused the poor stand under God’s judgment. Leveling the economic playing field between the rich and poor was the intention. Jesus was born among the poor; he was poor. His teaching challenged the hierarchy of wealth and power. The early church was built on common property. Period. Full stop.
Like it or not, Jesus physically and verbally levels with us in the blessings and woes, and in this leveling out, our lives are never the same. We are not alone in our experiences and needs, and we cannot leave others alone in theirs.
There has never been a more critical time in my life for Christians to stand firmly on the teachings of Jesus. The primary truths are about being merciful, compassionate, standing with the powerless and loving all people. These are to inform and enliven our daily lives and actions for others.
Yet my friends, Chrisitan Nationalism besets us and it is growing as it marries itself with powers in our country. There are several religious affirmations of CN (read all of them at the end) but alongside Jesus’ teachings in the “Sermon on the Plain” there are worth your attention.
*Christianity (or a particular form of Christianity) should have privileged status in the United States, particularly in matters of law and political policy;
*that, even when their presence is tolerated, people who practice other religions or none cannot be fully American — they are not welcomed, their voices are discounted, and they are not to be trusted with political and cultural leadership;
*that Christians in general and some Christians in particular should enjoy a level of legal protection not granted to those who practice other religions; and,
*that Christians have been made to suffer unjustly, leaving them no alternative but to respond with revolutionary zeal to preserve the United States as a great Christian nation.
The National Council of Churches writes of the dangers of Christian Nationalism in the USA saying, “Theologically, Christian nationalism elevates the nation, or a particular concept of the nation, to a role closely aligned with God. In its more militant forms, it encourages its adherents to believe they are battling the forces of darkness on all fronts, but this combative outlook actually grows out of fealty to symbols and champions unaffiliated with historic Christianity.
This mindset of embattled righteousness is applied to the perceived enemies of the state (e.g., liberals, humanists, pluralists, atheists, and various minoritized communities), and true believers are directed to employ any and all means, even undemocratic and violent ones, in order to win political contests. In this quest for political power, Christian humility is lost, as is the message of God’s love for all humanity.” (See: National Council of Churches “The Dangers of Christian Nationalism).
Today people in power are working to advance Christian nationalism and there is no level plain to hear Jesus’ words of blessing and woe.
In an interview on 1/29/25 the Vice President referred to “old school Christian values.” He said: “There is a Christian concept that you love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country. And then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.” (from National Catholic Reporter, 2/11/25 by Christopher White).
Pope Francis in response wrote to the U.S. bishops decrying the “major crisis” triggered by current actions against powerless people. Calling this a “decisive moment in history” the Pope said it requires reaffirming “not only our faith in a God who is always close, incarnate,(on the level plain) migrant and refugee, but also the infinite and transcendent dignity of every human person.”
The Pope went on reject use of Chrisitan theology to defy Jesus’ call to love, , “What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly,” the pope warned.
Speaking truth to powers that misstate Christian teachings and uses power against the innocent is the leveling mission for us right now.
As the kingdom of God comes to us directly through Jesus, we not asked to rank our love for others. For we are bound to one another in his grace, leveled out and loved and we move forward with this gift through our acts of mercy for all in Jesus’ name.
Christian Nationalism affirms:
*God has given the United States particular blessings and privileges not available to people in other countries, and the nation must remain Christian in order for those blessings to continue;
*that only Christians are the proper custodians of this nation’s heritage;
*that Christianity (or a particular form of Christianity) should have privileged status in the United States, particularly in matters of law and political policy;
*that, even when their presence is tolerated, people who practice other religions or none cannot be fully American — they are not welcomed, their voices are discounted, and they are not to be trusted with political and cultural leadership;
*that Christians in general and some Christians in particular should enjoy a level of legal protection not granted to those who practice other religions; and,
*that Christians have been made to suffer unjustly, leaving them no alternative but to respond with revolutionary zeal to preserve the United States as a great Christian nation.
“You, Beyond our Weary Selves” (Prayers for a Privileged People” by Dr. Walter Bruggeman)
You God, Lord and Sovereign, You God, lover and partner, You are God of all our possibilities. You preside over all our comings and goings. All our wealth and all our poverty. All our sickness and all our health, All our despair and all our dying. And we are grateful.
You are God of all our impossibilities. You have presided over the emancipations, and healings of our mothers and fathers. You have presided over the wondrous transformations in our own lives.
You have and will preside over those parts of our lives that we imagine to be closed. And we are grateful.
So be your true self, enacting the things impossible for us, That we might yet be whole among the blind who see and the dead who are raised; That we may witness your will for peace, Your vision for justice, Your vetoing all our killing fields.
At the outset of this day, we place our lives in your strong hands. Before the end of this day, do newness among us in the very places where we are tired in fear, We are exhausted in guilt, we are spent in anxiety.
Make all things new, we pray in the new-making name of Jesus.
Image credits: (1) Pixels.com; (2) Myazin.com
