This homily was delivered by this blogger on Sunday, February 13, 2022 in a Zoom service of Christ Episcopal Church in Yankton, South Dakota.
Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
whose trust is 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 drought it is not anxious,
and it does not cease to bear fruit.
Jeremiah 17:7-8
This passage from today’s reading of the prophet Jeremiah offers a beautiful metaphor of faith, of one’s trust in God; that deep stream of God’s surety for those who would tap into it. Jeremiah knew something of the blessedness Jesus is talking about in today’s reading from Luke. Like all prophets he found himself impoverished, hungry, deeply depressed, hated and persecuted for speaking truth to power by those in power, and yet like all the prophets Jeremiah knew his life was solely dependent on the blessed surety that God gave him.
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Luke’s account of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain has people from all walks of life, Jews and gentiles, rich and poor alike, a cross section of the world coming together at the cross-roads of world, the Middle East to be healed by Jesus and to hear what Jesus has to say to his disciples, that will heal the world’s woes. Jesus’ “Sermon” in Luke is one of balance; beginning with four beatitudes matched with four corresponding woes delivered on a level plain, to describe a level playing field today.
Unlike today’s reading from Jeremiah which starts with who is cursed and moves to who is blessed, Jesus begins with those who are blessed and contrasts them with those who by our world’s standards may seem blessed but are toying with woe. Jesus is not saying that poverty, hunger, sorrow, or being hated and persecuted is good or that having abundance, being happy, and admired is bad. Jesus is saying that often those who have abundance are more tapped into themselves, forgetting who they are and whose they are; claiming to be self-made, and entitled to the good life they claim to have created, owing nobody anything other than what enhances their popularity.
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Those who are blessed are those who are tapped into the surety of God ’s trust, knowing their dependence is on God and God alone; that they are made of God, made for God, and made for others.
Those who are blessed are those who see the poverty of one as the poverty of all, the hunger of one as the hunger of all, the sorrow of one as the sorrow of all, and the persecution of one as the persecution of all. They make no distinctions between those who have and those who don’t because all are dependent on God’s good will.
Those who are tapped into the surety of God avoid the pitfalls of entitlement and exceptionalism. They are level-sighted, seeing all as equally loved by God and deserving of our love. Their compassion and mercy does not dry up in times of despair or hardship, but flourishes and produces the fruit of God’s love given to all.
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Let us pray,
Loving God, our surety in times of plenty and in times need. Root us deeply in the stream of your life-giving love that we may produce the fruits of that love, a blessing to be shared with all that you have made through Christ our redeemer.
Amen.
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Until next time, stay faithful.
Norm
