WHO DEFINES YOUR REALITY?
(Preached on Sunday, February 15, 2004)
Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” -Luke 6:20
In the middle of modern day Jerusalem, the members of the Bahai faith have built a beautiful, terraced garden. It is elegantly furnished with beautiful flowering plants and flowing fountains. Bahai’s from all over the world have contributed to its creation. Its striking terraces and beautiful vistas are quite a contrast to the hustle and bustle of the sometimes violent streets of Jerusalem.
What good does the garden do? Why have they built it? As an escape from the real world, as a means of cloistering themselves from the realities, the facts of life in strife-torn, sadly conflicted Jerusalem? The Bahais, who have suffered terrible persecution in places like Iran and Iraq, say that the garden is their depiction, their reminder to everyone, of the world as it is created to be, as it is supposed to be, as it will be when God gets God’s way with the world. The garden is open to everyone as a sign, a signal, and a picture of what is real.
I think Jesus, the preacher on the plain, would understand and applaud their action. Popular psychiatrist and author, M. Scott Peck once wrote: “The good life consists of a lifelong dedication to the pursuit of reality, at all costs.”
But the question is, “Who gets to define reality?”
Is it the government?
They try to tell us who our friends and who our enemies are and of whom we ought to be afraid, sometimes with faulty intelligence information? They try to tell us that giving up civil liberties is a good exchange for security and a patriotic act and duty. They try to tell us who is worthy of marriage and parenting and who is not; who is entitled to full protections under the law and who is not.
Is it our culture?
Which tells us that what we want is to be prosperous and rich; look at all the people desiring to be millionaires — all the lottery tickets sold each day in this country (in the billions) — there is always something else to buy, some new toy, or labor-saving device, some advance in technology, some new treasure that will bring you happiness!
Our culture tells us to strive for popularity, to be famous, or make sure we are beautiful, or in fashion — happy are you when everyone speaks well of you!
Or, you want reality, turn on the television.
No more dramatic stories or comic relief, we now have reality shows dominating the landscape.
Everything from games of scheming and plotting, to a contest for a job with one of the wealthiest businessmen of the nation, to talent competitions, to dating competitions, to just living with a group of total strangers for several months, to outrageous stunts contests, to a race around the world, to home decorating shows, cooking shows, talk shows. Of course, one of the serious questions raised is just how “real” are most of these “reality” shows?
Jesus came to show us reality.
Luke tells us he came down onto a level place among a crowd of people from all over the region, including the lands of foreigners, and he began to preach.
But what a sermon he preached.
“Happy are you poor, the presence of God is yours.
Happy are you who are now hungry, you shall be satisfied.
Happy are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
Happy are you when others hate you, exclude you, abuse you and throw you out as trouble makers because of follow my teachings. When that happens, be glad and dance for joy, for your profit is very great in heaven.’
Exhilarating stuff! Provocative stuff! Confusing stuff!
What is he saying? That poverty, hunger, grief, and unpopularity are good things?
But wait, it gets wilder.
“How sad for you who are wealthy now, for what will you do when you realize your riches can’t buy you comfort.
How sad for you who are overfed now, you shall find out what it is to be really hungry.
How sad for you who think life is a laugh, what a shock it will be when sadness, tragedy and grief strike you.
How sad for you when all around you sing your praises, for they don’t mean it and will turn on you in a heartbeat.”
What is he doing? Happy are the nobodies of this world? Everybody knows that life stinks for such people and is barely worth living. How sad for those who have made it, have achieved satisfaction; the powerful, the wealthy, the popular, the beautiful people? But everybody knows they have arrived and are to be envied and applauded, not scolded. What is Jesus talking about?
Assorted television and radio spots these days tell us that “friends don’t let friends drive drunk.” In the midst of the feel-good, carefree party, someone has to be sober enough to say, “I can’t let you get behind the wheel right now.”
Jesus is that sober voice here.
The Greek word (ouai) translated in most bibles as “woe” is not an expression of condemnation.
When we exclaim, “Woe is me,” we are not scolding ourselves; more likely, we are feeling sorry for ourselves.
So, when Jesus says “Woe,” we should not sense his finger pointing so much as his heart breaking.
Also, to quote my sixth grade English teacher, all his sentences here “are in the indicative rather than the imperative mode.”
Jesus is simply stating the facts of life, the way things are.
Jesus is defining reality for us.
Not reality as the world would have us believe, but reality as God created it to be.
There is not a single imperative or directive statement in this entire opening section of the sermon.
Jesus doesn’t tell anyone to go out and do anything.
He is simply trying to describe reality from God’s perspective.
He is trying to state what is important to God. He is trying to teach something about God and what God is up to.
What he is teaching was uncomfortable for many people 2,000 years ago and is uncomfortable for many people today. I expect it was a shock that day, for all the good, church-going, Bible believing folk to see a portrayal of God that didn’t fit their received Sunday school images of God.
I expect it was a shock as great as climbing out of the darkness of a deep, dark cave into the blinding light and reality of the sun at midday.
Perhaps, though, this is the point of preaching?
Not first to tell us what to do, but first to help us see.
The acting follows the seeing.
Perhaps that’s why Jesus begins this sermon with healing in verse 18, as a sign that a whole new world is breaking in to the old world, a new reality is shining through the darkness where those on the bottom are now brought to the top, and those who are poor, weeping, and despised are put at the center of what God is up to in the world.
If you keep reading in this sermon in chapter 6, Jesus pushes the message even further and he takes this description of reality, of God and what God is up to, and draws out implications for action.
He goes on to speak about turning the other cheek and going the second mile. He says that we should love our enemies and bless those who curse us. He asks us to be cheerful givers, and lenders who don’t expect reward.
He turns the idea of “the good life” upside down.
And all this because of who Jesus understands God to be.
A God who blesses those whom the world tends to curse.
A God who is kind and good to the bad and the ungrateful.
A God who is not rational and reasonable as the world understands those things, but who loves wastefully.
None of this is easy to listen to. None of this is easy to preach.
But, if it is reality, what else can we do?
Karl Barth in his book God’s Search for Man, wrote:
“Were we to hear only of a God who, fortunately for Him, measures up to our rule and is able to do what we can also do ourselves without Him, what need have we of such a god? Whenever the church has told [people] of such a tiresome little god it has grown empty. That radical daring, our yearning for the living God, will not be gainsaid.”
I know of someone who is a cardiac nurse.
She assists in the surgery and the care of people who have seriously ill hearts. Many of her patients don’t make it through the delicate, risky surgery. Some of her patients have a very difficult time in their lengthy recovery.
It can be depressing, difficult work.
“How do you keep going?” I asked her.
“Walks in the park” was her reply. She explained, “I take an hour off for lunch, and go to walk in the park. I see people who are happy, healthy. I see children playing and older people sitting on benches having a great time talking with one another. I am thereby reminded this is how things are meant to be. This si the real world. It helps me to keep going in difficult situations.”
Are her walks in the park and escape from reality, a trip into never-never land?
No, they are for her, a realistic engagement with reality, a sober look at the way things really are and are meant to be that keeps her going in a shadowy world where it is easy for her to forget what’s what.
That’s a major reason why we gather her for worship on a weekly basis, to be reminded of what’s what, to get a vision, to receive a picture of reality now that God in Jesus has reached out to us.
There are many, many competing voices trying to define reality for us today. But only Jesus is offering a definition of reality that leads to life and true love.