Privilege of the Poor

Privilege of the Poor

Luke 6: 20-23

All Saints’ Day

HELLO, today, let’s talk about the Privilege of the Poor. The text before us is the Gospel of St. Luke, the 6th chapter, verses 20-23. This is All Saints’ Sunday.

INTRODUCTION: PRIVILEGE OF THE POOR

Some 35 years ago, I met a Jesuit priest at the Central American University in San Salvador. Though he and I had some theological differences, that man taught me something that I will never forget: He said that there is a PRIVILEGE THAT BELONGS TO THE POOR….. A PRIVILEGE THAT BELONGS TO, THE POOR!

Those who live at the Lowest Subsistence Level of life, Those who are the most destitute, most impoverished, and most helpless, THEY ARE among those who have the Greatest SPIRITUAL PRIVILEGE! 

WHAT DO YOU THINK HE WAS TALKING ABOUT???

Before I met that priest, I visited with 1,000 people, mostly women and babies, who lived in the margin of a railroad track. Emaciated dogs and barely clothed children played on a railroad track only a few feet away from where they lived. Their huts were made of blue plastic and scraps of corrugated aluminum. I spent time listening to them and learning from them.

The Privilege of the Poor is that they have nothing in which to put their hope or trust, NOTHING EXCEPT JESUS!

Several days later, I visited a group of 1200 people who inhabited what most would consider a worthless piece of ground. A woman used an oblong stone to grind corn and make me a tortilla. She cooked it on a filthy square of aluminum, on an open fire. Over 1200 people watched me eat a plate with a tiny bit of rice, some beans, and that tortilla. That plate of food would have fed a family for 3 days.

The Privilege of the Poor is that they have nothing in which to put their hope or trust, NOTHING EXCEPT JESUS!

This IS a level of POVERTY that, I suspect,  none of us has ever known. However, we may find that we share something in common with these Christians living at the basic, subsistence, level of life. We may find that there is a PRIVILEGE OF POVERTY THAT WE ALSO SHARE!

The Gospel reading for this All Saint’s Sunday is Luke 6: 20-23  Let’s take a closer look.

1. BLESSED ARE YOU WHO ARE POOR

Jesus begins His now famous sermon with these words: “BLESSED ARE YOU WHO ARE POOR.” 

PLEASE Listen Carefully! Jesus is not giving us a How-To lesson. This is NOT a PRESCRIPTION  for HOW TO become BLESSED. NO! This a DESCRIPTION of THOSE who Already ARE BLESSED, RIGHT Here and RIGHT NOW. 

“YOU ARE BLESSED. YOU ARE PRIVILEGED,” Jesus CALLS TO THEM. DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHO ARE THEY??? 

First, the Lord Jesus says, “BLESSED ARE – THE POOR.” There are a couple of words in Greek that JESUS could have used here. Our Lord Jesus chose the word: πτωχοὶ. Who are the πτωχοὶ? These are NOT the poor migrant workers or even the poor day laborers. Both of these have a legitimate place in society, and some hope of a day’s wage in order to buy a day’s food. 

But the πτωχοὶ, are the people who have NOTHING. They are women with no food. THEY HAVE NOTHING! They are the beggars, the bankrupt: Aged Men, with broken bodies. They are little children with NO clothes and FILTHY FACES. They stand by the hole in the road, where the trucks must slow down. They are hawking a baggie of UN-POTABLE WATER with a shred of lemon or lime in it. For a penny you can buy what they drink. Dysentery awaits the purchaser. 

Jesus is pointing to these who are BEGGARLY POOR, WITH NOTHING. They are a metaphor. They are a Living Parable in the Material world, for those who are BEGGARLY POOR IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. Who are they?

JESUS IS teaching YOU About those who  have NOTHING to offer a HOLY GOD. They are SINNERS and they know it. They have No truly GOOD WORKS, No Truly Good HEARTS, TO OFFER GOD. THEY  ARE SINNERS! They stand in their NAKEDNESS and filth. They are spiritually bankrupt and broken. These SPIRITUALLY POOR have only ONE HOPE: that GOD WILL BE MERCIFUL to Them. 

“Kyrie eleison!  Lord, have mercy,” Is their cry. “Agnus Dei!  Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Have mercy upon ME.”

To the POOR – IN SPIRIT, THE SINNER! –Jesus calls out a message of Promise and of Hope.  How BLESSED ARE YOU! How Joyous, how PRIVILEGED are YOU, who know your Spiritual POVERTY, your spiritual WRETCHEDNESS. The Kingdom of Heaven is YOURS!!! Yes. Right now! God’s Presence, God’s Blessing, God’s Mercy, are YOURS. GOD IS YOUR only HOPE. BUT, LISTEN!  BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH, the Lamb of God, the Crucified Savior, covers your Nakedness, Washes Your FILTH, and gives you RICHES beyond Imagining.  Believe it. Receive it! You Beggarly POOR, YOU ARE SPIRITUALLY RICH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST WHOSE LOVE ENDURES FOREVER!

II. BLESSED ARE YOU WHO ARE HUNGRY 

Again, there were a couple of different words that Our Savior could have chosen for hunger. The one that He uses is πεινῶντες. This kind of hunger is NOT FROM an occasional FAST or because of Low Blood-Sugar. This hunger is because of Chronic Deficiency, and ENDLESS SHORTAGE. This Hunger Results in Certain Death. 

This is the HUNGER that Jesus is talking about. But You Understand, this is a SPIRITUAL REALITY. Jesus is describing the person who realizes that he or she has NO ABILITY to SURVIVE God’s requirement for Righteousness. “BE YE HOLY AS MY FATHER IN HEAVEN IS HOLY!” 

BUT, he or she IS NOT HOLY. SIN is his or her SPIRITUAL CONDITION.“If we say that we have NO SIN, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us!” “WE CONFESS, We have NO RIGHTEOUSNESS!

If we have broken ONE Commandment, we have sinned against ALL OF THEM. Not one is Righteous, no not one! 

TO THE UN-RIGHTEOUS, THE ONE WHO IS TRULY HUNGRY FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, THE HOLY LORD, Jesus Christ Proclaims: “YOU ARE UN-RIGHTEOUS!   YES! REPENT OF YOUR SIN!  

Now YOU shall be SATISFIED.” I WILL BE YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. I WILL BE YOUR SAVIOR. I MYSELF WILL COME TO LIVE IN YOU!!! 

YOU HWO ARE HUNGRY FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS,

YOU SHALL BE SATISFIED!!

III. BLESSED ARE YOU WHO MOURN

At the time of JESUS, those who mourned their DEAD, walked a slow funeral procession to the place of burial. But, they were accompanied bye instrumentalists and professional WAILERS. The purpose of the WAILERS was to loudly and effusively express the grieving family’s loss. 

The Wailing of the professionals, was NOT the word that JESUS used here for those who MOURN. Instead, Jesus uses the word κλαίοντεϛ. How blessed are the ones -NOT who make a pretense of sorrow- but who GRIEVE THEIR LOSS with DEEP SORROW. Blessed are the ones whose hearts are Broken and who cannot Repair THEMSELVES. 

That is the point. They CANNOT HEAL THEMSELVES. Their sorrow comes upon them in waves. They cannot fight it back; they are undone, beaten, bereft. They cannot pull themselves out of the sorrow and no one has a magic word to bring them comfort. No One except JESUS.

To the ones WHO MOURN with deep sorrow, Jesus declares a blessing, “YOU SHALL LAUGH AGAIN!!!” God is doing a new thing, a wonderful and glorious thing. GOD IS taking upon Himself the STING OF DEATH and the SORROW OF LOSS.  God on the Cross will Enact the Happy Exchange, and YOU Shall Be loosed from DEATH and SORROW. YOU SHALL RECEIVE HEAVEN’S BLESSINGS. God HAS DESTROYED DEATH! And CHILD OF GOD, THE LORD IS TURNING YOUR MOURNING INTO DANCING, AND YOUR SORROW INTO JOY!

CONCLUSION:  ALL SAINTS’ SUNDAY

Many years ago, I traveled to Central America and met a Roman Catholic priest. He told me something memorable. He said, “There is a Privilege that belongs to the Poor.” This is true, – Because The Poor know they have No Hope, No Help, BUT JESUS. 

In this Gospel, Jesus says much the same thing: “Blessed are you who are Poor.” Our Savior is not speaking about Material Poverty. JESUS IS SPEAKING ABOUT YOUR  SPIRITUAL POVERTY. Jesus is not giving YOU a How-To lesson about HAPPINESS. Jesus is offering YOU a Description of YOUR PATH TO ETERNAL JOY. 

THIS IS THE PRIVILEGE THAT BELONGS TO THE SPIRITUALLY POOR!

• YOU KNOW that YOU are spiritually POOR; YOU ARE FILTHY, SINFUL,  before God, When YOU  come as A BEGGAR before HIS Throne of Grace. YOU CLING ONLY to the Cross of Christ, THEN THE RICHES OF GOD’S  KINGDOM BELONG TO YOU.
  • • • • • YOU face the truth of Your personal Un-Righteousness, and YOU HUNGER for Purity and Holiness FROM GOD. LOOK WITH FAITH UPON THE CROSS OF JESUS. THEN YOUR DEEPEST LONGINGS ARE SATISFIED.
          • YOU MOURN WITH DEEP SORROW AND GRIEF. In those moments, YOU FIND,  YOU ARE EMBRACED BY YOUR LORD & SAVIOR. JESUS, Who HAS RESURRECTION POWER. HE Turns Your Mourning into Dancing. JESUS  TURNS YOUR SORROW INTO JOY!

YOU  Poor, You Hungry, and You Weeping;  ALSO ARE 

YOU RICH , YOU RIGHTEOUS, and YOU FILLED WITH JOY!

This ALL SAINTS’ SUNDAY: IT IS THE GREAT CELEBRATION 

FOR THE POOR – WHO ARE LOVED AND SAVED BY JESUS!

 

SO, OF COURSE, THIS ALL SAINTS’ SUNDAY 

 

IT IS THE GREAT CELEBRATION FOR  – YOU!!!

Amen