Blessed by the Best

By Rev. Heidi L. Barham |  February 13, 2022

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Read Luke 6:17 – 26 (NIV)
 
Every now and then, when asked how they are doing, I have heard people say, “I am blessed by the best!”  I have even heard some people take it a step further and say, “I am blessed by the best and I won’t settle for less!”  Both of these responses seemingly indicating that life is good because God is good.
 
Now, as I thought about the sermon for this morning, I thought about how Black History Month, American Heart Month, and the celebration of Valentine’s Day all intersect this weekend.  And I wondered how that might tie into our New Testament lesson for this morning and to the idea that we are BLESSED BY THE BEST.
 
And the thought came to mind that it does not matter whether one’s ancestors were born slave or free… and it does not matter whether one is in good health or poor.  It all comes down to a matter of the heart… a matter of love… God’s love for each and every one of us.
 
Because the fact of the matter is that we really are BLESSED BY THE BEST, and not based on the color of our skin, or even as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King would say, “on the content of our character,” but simply because God loves us… and loves us so much that He gave us His Son and our Savior.
 
And it is in our text for the morning, that we hear the words of our Savior, Jesus, as they were recorded by the physician Luke.  The sayings of Jesus found in the text are commonly referred to as “The Beatitudes” which comes from the Latin word which means, “blessing.” 
 
This list of blessings; however, seems rather upside down from our worldly way of thinking, particularly when they are contrasted with the list of woes that follow in the text.
 
But they are a reminder to us that the life of those who choose to follow Jesus does not look or feel like that of the average person.  It is not a life that one would describe as being filled with comfort and ease… but rather, compassion and empathy.  And the goals that one should aspire to do not lead to fortune and fame but to unconditional love and eternal life.
 
Now, to say that we are BLESSED BY THE BEST, is more than just a quaint motto… it is a recognition and acceptance that we have a responsibility to live our lives in a certain way… because to BE BLESSED BY THE BEST means we have been blessed to be a blessing.  It means we ought to be living lives of sacrifice and service… lives of giving and forgiving.
 
So, for our time together this morning, I want to explore the blessings that Jesus spoke about to the crowd that gathered around Him… a crowd that had come to hear Him speak… a crowd of people, some of whom had come looking to be healed of various diseases and to be freed from evil spirits.
 
It was to a group of hurting and troubled people that Jesus spoke back then but His words still hold particular relevance to us today. 
 
Looking at verse 20 of the text, we read, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”  Or as it reads in the Message Paraphrase, “You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all.  God’s kingdom is there for the finding.”
 
It reminds me of that saying, “When you’ve lost everything and all you have left is God, you realize God is all you really need.” 
 
The world tries to define our value and worth in terms of things that are tangible – houses, money, cars, clothes, jewelry, etc.  We are deemed to be successful if we have good paying jobs and receive awards and accolades that symbolize certain levels of achievement.  But these are all temporary.
 
Jesus, on the other hand, calls us to look at things from an eternal perspective.  In fact, when a rich young ruler asked Jesus what he needed to do in order to inherit eternal life, Jesus told him to sell everything that he had and give to the poor and he would have treasure in heaven (see Luke 18:18-22).
 
And when Jesus sat in the synagogue and watched as people gave their offering, it was the poor widow who had only two small coins to give, coins that were worth only a few cents, she is the one that Jesus held up as the example to follow… telling the disciples, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on” (Mark 12:41 – 44).
 
So, we see that it is really not our worth but our willingness that God desires.  “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”
 
Then as we look at verse 21, we find two more statements of blessing.  The first is, “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.”  Or as it reads in the Message, “You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry.  Then you’re ready for the Messianic meal.”
 
Some scholars hold differing opinions on this verse as to whether Jesus was talking about a hunger for righteousness as it says in Matthew 5:6… or if it was a literal, physical hunger to which Jesus was making reference. 
 
In either case, Jesus was speaking to a crowd for whom riches were seen as a sign of God’s favor, not so unlike the world we live in today.  So, for Jesus to declare that it was the hungry… those who were in need… that they were the ones who would be satisfied… in other words they were the ones who would be BLESSED BY THE BEST… let’s just say that probably did not sit well in the spirits of many of those who were listening to Him speak. 
 
But the reality is that when we have a hunger for that which Jesus alone can provide, we will feast at the Table of the Lord, and it will truly be a Messianic meal.
 
But Jesus did not stop there.  In fact, the second part of verse 21 reads, “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.”  In the Message Paraphrase, Eugene Peterson writes, “You’re blessed when the tears flow freely.  Joy comes with the morning.”  This appears to be a reference to Psalm 30:5 which reads, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”
 
Now for those who have ever encountered periods of grief, it does not feel like it will last just for a night, but we must keep in mind that God’s time is not the same as our time. 
 
Moses wrote in Psalm 90 (4), “A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.” 
 
And Peter wrote, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Peter 3:8).
 
Now, that is not to say that we will grieve for a thousand years before the joy in the morning comes.  But it is a reminder that the hands that are on God’s clock do not always move in sync with ours.  We can rest assured; however, that no matter how long the tears may flow, joy and laughter will come again.
 
And that takes us to the next verse in our text which reads, “Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.”
 
Wait, say what?  We have to endure hatred, exclusion, insults, AND rejection?  Seriously? 
 
Yes, indeed.  In fact, the Message says it like this, “Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable.”
 
When we are following Christ and living according to the example He has set for us, there are going to be those who really do not like it and will do anything and everything in their power to make us look bad… not because of who we are but because of WHOSE we are.
 
To ease their own discomfort with the truth about Jesus, they will try to make believers look bad… like we are fanatics or something for following Jesus.
 
And it’s okay if they do because verse 23 of the text says this in the Message:

Just remember, we should really only be looking to please the Lord, not our family and friends or even our bosses and colleagues, and certainly not our enemies.  We will all be called to give an account to the Lord someday and on that day, His opinion is the only one that will count.
 
That is why the last verses of our text caution us against pursuing the things of this world that may bring comfort now, but come at the cost of eternal life if we let them become our priority over following Christ.
 
Reading those last three verses as they are found in the Message, we see the stark contrast they represent to the blessings we have already discussed:   
Now this does not mean that you should never have any wealth or never have enough to eat or never have any joy in life or never be spoken of well by others.  What it does mean; however, is that those things cannot and should not be our primary motivation.
 
In fact, over in Matthew 6 (33), following the section in the Sermon on the Mount where He talked about the futility of worrying over what to wear or eat or drink, Jesus said, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
 
Seek first… give top priority to… make it number one on your to-do list… “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness…”  After that, everything else will fall into place, and that is when we are truly BLESSED BY THE BEST.
 
I guess you could say, it all boils down to our priorities.  What is it that matters most to us in this life? 
 
It is like that line in the poem, The Dash (by Linda Ellis):  
We have been truly BLESSED BY THE BEST, the One who spent His dash living and loving us so much that He was willing to give His very life in exchange for ours, so we can spend eternity in the kingdom of heaven with Him.  And let me just say, it does not get any better than that.
 
So, the next time challenging circumstances arise, just remember that no matter what things may look like to the contrary, we really have been BLESSED BY THE BEST, and we don’t ever have to settle for less! 
 
Amen.

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