Today we set our sights on the Beatitudes of Luke 6. There are two versions of it in scripture, this one and a longer section in Matthew 5. Luke’s is lesser known; Matthew’s version typically gets the most attention.

The Beatitudes are seemingly everywhere. They can be found in our hymn books, the play Godspell, even the 1979 cult classic film Monty Python’s Life of Brian.

One of my favorite scenes from Life of Brian involves Jesus speaking to a crowd, with those farther away struggling to hear. Jesus has just launched into teaching.

But what did Jesus say? Here’s how the film interprets it:

“I think it was ‘Blessed are the cheesemakers,” one person repeats.
“What’s so special about the cheesemakers?” quips another.
“Well, obviously, this is not meant to be taken literally,” says the first person.
“It refers to any manufacturers of dairy products.”

As this is Super Bowl weekend let me be clear: this blessing is not for the Green and Gold. For they have already received their reward ?.

Matthew’s Beatitudes – aka the Sermon on the Mount – are filled with blessings, seemingly for everyone. The –

Poor,
Meek,
Hungry,
Thirsty,
Sad,
Peacemakers,
Merciful,
Pure,
Persecuted.

In Matthew you don’t have to look too hard to find a blessing that is for you.

It’s a feel-good passage. Jesus is for all kinds of people, in all kinds of ways.

And Luke’s rendition? These Beatitudes offer a decidedly different take. Here we find Jesus coming down the mountain to give the Sermon on the Plain. With this setting he makes himself very –

Assessable.
Near.

Jesus could see the crowd, eye to eye.

Being on flat land,
And even with everyone else,

We might imagine Jesus saying hey, can I level with you?

Because Christ, who is speaking with the disciples, was about to get real.

Healings for the crowd now complete Jesus began to preach.

Blessed are the poor, he began, for yours is the Kingdom.
Blessed are the hungry, for you will be filled.
Blessed are the sad, for you will laugh.
Blessed are the excluded, for you will be included once again.

These blessings sound pretty good. They lift up the marginalized. They provide for those who so often go without.

But what if you aren’t in one of those groups?

Luke’s Beatitudes continue.

Woe to you who are rich, Jesus says, for you have received yours.
Woe to you who are full, for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh, for you will weep.
Woe to you who are well thought of, for you will be no longer.

Here ends the reading.
Ouch.

A feel-good passage, at first blush at least, this is not.

On one hand the text comes as no surprise. Jesus is all about blessing those who lack; making right unjust systems in our world.

Bringing down the powerful from their thrones,
And lifting up the lowly,
Just as his mother Mary once sang he would do.

If you find yourself poor, or hungry or sad or excluded this passage offers really good news. These blessings, in a very real way, are for you.

But what of this other side?
What if life is going pretty well?

How do you want your day to unfold? How do want to feel by the end of the road for them for all happiness, but is it’s not true as this situation could be controlled and the love life could be brought back to normalcy with proper and timely medical intervention. uk viagra prices Symptoms:Kamagra find description cheapest levitra is a safe ED drug treatment and does not result in symptoms by and large. It tadalafil india is not something that we should feel ashamed or embarrassed. Movie scenes are extra good when shot at amazing movie locations in California. viagra soft What if you have some modicum of wealth, have enough to eat, are emotionally well and find yourself generally liked?

Speaking personally, I don’t have too many complaints. To be honest I am in no real need of these blessings. Perhaps you’re in that boat too.

And if that’s the case for we who are doing just fine, thank-you-very-much, what should we make of this text of woes? A text that might, just possibly, be talking about us?

Also worth asking is this: where is our good news? Don’t we get some too?

Hold on to that question, we’ll come back to it in a bit.

Blessed are the Poor
Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946 in a one-room cabin in Tennessee. The fourth of twelve children, her father worked as a sharecropper and later tended his own farm. The family never had much. When Dolly was born her father paid the doctor with a bag of cornmeal.

Dolly describes her family as being dirt poor. There was no doubt she needed that blessing from Luke 6.

Some of her blessings were with her from the start. Dolly credits her business sense to dad. And her mom was always singing, helping her pick up the craft. But other blessings, for her at least, would take more direct divine intervention.

Dolly tells a story of an old, abandoned church she would often visit as a child. The sanctuary had a bunch of busted windows, lots of graffiti on the walls. And it had an old piano. Despite the disrepair, and chaos all around, she felt at peace there. When there she would, of course, always sing. She could feel the echoes in the space as her voice bounced from wall to wall. It was magical.

One day, at the age of twelve, needing a feeling she didn’t have, and safety she couldn’t feel, she found herself in the abandoned church. In that moment she felt compelled to lower her head, close her eyes, and pray the 23rd Psalm.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, she began.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside still waters,
He restores my soul…

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
My whole life long.

As Dolly closed with an amen she felt something as strong as a voice, but not a voice. Dolly says she sang with a strength of conviction, from that moment on, that is still with her today. It is a blessing that never expired.

She’d found God in that space, and in that prayer.

Afterward Dolly headed home, past the town sawmill, and ran into her uncle, who saw her skipping excitedly. He asked, where are you going this fine day? She replied joyfully, I’m on the road to paradise.

And she was.

Dolly, who came from nothing, has been blessed as a songwriter, singer, actress, and business owner. Much of what she has been about has gone very, very well. And surprisingly, perhaps, at least for a cultural icon, she has been blessed with love. Dolly has been married to the same man for 55 years.

At this point, reflecting on our reading today we might wonder, now what?

Dolly, it’s safe to say, is doing just fine, thank-you-very-much. And if that’s the case it’s fair to ask: where is her good news? Doesn’t she get to have that too?

At some point in life, as is the case with many of us, her life reached a turning point. It pivoted –

From needing blessing to
The chance to
Be the blessing.

Blessing Others
To that end Dolly has blessed others with her literacy program, the Imagination Library. Almost 850,000 children from birth to kindergarten receive a book from her each month. A few years ago the Library of Congress honored her after the Imagination Library sent out it’s 100 millionth book.

She has blessed tens of millions during pandemic. In March of 2020 Dolly donated $1 million to the Vanderbilt Medical Center to fund the critical early stages of vaccine R&D. These efforts led to the creation of the Moderna vaccine. If you’ve got a shot of Moderna in your arm – I do – you can thank Dolly for being part the team responsible for getting it there.

To celebrate this life-giving shot Dolly spoofed her song Jolene with a tune that goes something like this…

Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine…
I’m begging of you please don’t hesitate
Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine…

And then there’s this.

Just four days ago came news of how Dolly plans to bless her employees. The parent company of Dollywood, the amusement park chain she owns, announced they will pay 100% of the cost for their staff to go to college. The program includes 11,000 people, covers tuition, fees and books. You qualify the first day on the job.

Close
Today’s text is truly good news if you are in need of a blessing. Tho if you’re doing just fine, thank-you-very-much it hits a bit differently. Many theologians conclude the shock we the audience may feel hearing this text is by design. It is a deliberate inversion of our default values, highlighting what this kingdom Jesus came to bring about is to be.

For we who are doing just fine, thank-you-very-much it presents nothing less than opportunity. Let me encourage you, fellow child of God –

Take the chance to be like Dolly, just a bit, in this way. And you don’t need to be a multi-millionaire to start. Take your blessings and use them to bless others. For when you do you help bring –

thy kingdom come,
thy will be done.
On earth, as it is, in heaven.  Amen.