Due to yesterday’s snow storm, this week is text only.

Jeremiah 17:5-10 & Luke 6:17-26
As I start this reflection, I want to take time to return to the opening verses of Luke.
Who is the intended audience for this accounting of Jesus life and ministry?
Because the author makes that very clear in a passage that is rarely read.
“Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative about the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I, too, decided, as one having a grasp of everything from the start, to write a well-ordered account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may have a firm grasp of the words in which you have been instructed.”
Most excellent Theophilus. From these words it is evident Theophilus is someone looking to enter the community of believers, seeking to be baptized into a new life in Christ. As Luke is actually writing down this account for him, we can also presume he is a man of some means and education. A man of standing in the wider community.
We are left wondering how he would receive many of the words that are part of this gospel. This good news. Consider how the rich and powerful are described by Luke over and over. I am left thinking that Luke is telling most excellent Theophilus that he has not chosen the easiest of paths if he is serious about becoming a follower of Jesus.
Can Theophilus identify himself amongst those who are hungry now? Who are weeping now? This of course is Luke’s variation on what is known in Matthew’s gospel as the sermon on the Mount. Here it is on a plain. People have come from a long way to hear Jesus and to be healed by Jesus. To simply be in his presence.
When he begins teaching it is a mixed bag. He offers reassurance that those who are suffering; who feel and are left all too frequently on the outside looking in, whose basic needs are rarely met – they will be fed. They will be healed. They will be comforted.
On the other hand, if you are comfortable? If you have all that you need materially? That’s all you will get. You have had your consolation. This can be harsh. Remember who is Luke’s first reader. A man who is presumably comfortable, well established, wealthy. But also, someone seeking more meaning and purpose in his life. We need to be careful not to completely spiritualize this lesson. He is speaking of comfort and hope for those who are hungry, now. What are your conditions now, and what are you doing, now?
In this passage, Luke returns to his theme of a reversal of fortune. As in the song of Mary and Jesus reading from Isaiah; we are told the world will be turned upside down. The poor shall be lifted up and those in power will be brought low.
If life is treating you well? That won’t last forever. If you are hungry and suffering? Well that too is not forever.
It is an assurance and also a caution. It is comfort and a challenge.
I suspect we frequently, if not always, look to see ourselves as the favoured in scripture. We identify as those who Jesus or God stands with. To paraphrase another writer; we don’t want to see ourselves among Pharaoh’s court. For many of us, life is good, but God’s concern and liberation are focused elsewhere. We prefer to see ourselves with the enslaved Hebrews who are about to be freed and promised a new life.
Scripture is a reassurance. We are assured of God’s love. We are constantly reminded of God’s grace; that unending and unconditional love extended from God and taught by Jesus. But it is also a challenge. If we are blessed by God in our worst moments, if we are promised that things will change or that there is comfort offered; then how will we respond? How will we live our lives? How will we be grateful?
When we are comfortable. When we have enough to eat. When we are given cause to laugh. How will we respond? Because we must know that even as we laugh, there are those who are weeping. Even as we fill ourselves with food, there are many who go hungry. And Jesus tells us where God stands. Who, Jesus stands with. We have our consolation.
When we reflect on scripture, we can consider what it tells us of what our world looks like for us and so many others. It can also offer us an image of what the world can be, if we listen and open our hearts. If we are willing to pray and reflect, we can hear God speak to us in these words.
How often are we Theophilus? Comfortable and influential, but knowing we are missing something. We have standing and honour within our society, but life is lacking in some mysterious way.
We are told Jesus stands with the poor, the slaves, the marginalized. Those more often than not despised by proper society. So, if we are looking for God, if we are seeking to find Jesus; don’t look among the powerful, the influential, the wealthy, those who are seen as proper and upstanding.
Jesus stands in a long line of prophets who were despised and abandoned over the years, but through whom God spoke to the people and the nations. And Jesus invites his disciples to be part of that tradition.
To speak truth.
To stand with the poor and the outcast.
To be like Jeremiah and proclaim that our trust is not in human beings or in the work of the flesh, but rather in God.
Step outside your comfort zone. Challenge yourself.
Frequently it is not where we desire to be. It brings difficulty. It brings heartbreak.
But it also has its rewards and its comforts. And that is where you will find Jesus.
Jesus offers us a purpose. Through Jesus our lives find new meaning. To love one another; to work alongside Jesus to bring about God’s reign, a world of love, justice, peace and mercy. The promise that the dark valleys we walk through do have an ending is the promise of hope. That our work for a world of love is not in vain.
By loving one another; feeding the poor, visiting the prisoner, caring for the widow, and offering healing and care for those struggling along the way. We are part of God’s vision of reversing the fortunes that is so much a part of Luke’s story.
We may not be the poor that Jesus offers so much reassurance. We may be the comfortable that Jesus says should be careful. But we should not forget that the power that spread out from Jesus did so indiscriminately. All who came to Jesus were healed. No matter who they were or where they came from.
God’s love is for everyone, but we have decisions to make in how we respond to that love and that healing. Do we want to remain and abide in Christ’s presence? Do we want to be part of God’s vision for what God’s world can be? Then we need to sit with Jesus, walk with Jesus and follow Jesus as he cares for the ill, feeds the hungry and comforts the heartbroken.
If we can do that then we are truly taking our places as the disciples Jesus blesses.
Amen
Rev. Warner Bloomfield