Jesus is on a level place, a plain, with a “great crowd” of his followers and with a “great multitude” of people who want to hear him and be healed by him. As Jesus begins to teach, I almost expect one of the disciples to interrupt him. “Excuse me, Jesus? You may have your notes upside down. Sorry, but I think you mean the opposite of what you’re saying.”
In this famous bit of teaching, Jesus says that the people who are most vulnerable, least valued or honored by the culture are, in fact, the ones who are most respected or looked up to in God’s kingdom. The poor, people who are hungry, people who are weeping, people who are hated and rejected for their connection with Jesus and his worldview; those who need the most are the ones who Jesus lifts up as admirable.
The people who are usually thought well of from human worldview, the people who are rich, well-resourced, happy, and have excellent reputations are given a warning. While Jesus isn’t cursing them when he says, “Woe to you,” he is letting them know that things are going to change. Wealth and resources and happiness often are short lived, and situations change in every life. It may be that those who seem to have everything have trouble seeing need for the community or God.
Over and over again in the gospels, we see that power is something different in God’s way of viewing the world. It is no accident that Jesus is teaching on a “level place,” where no one is higher or lower. Where all receive the love and healing and teaching of Jesus. Those who seem to have the least and need the most AND those who seem to have the most and need the least are all part of the kingdom of God.
No one interrupted Jesus’ teaching because the followers had been with Jesus for a while. They heard him several chapters earlier when he borrowed words from Isaiah to lay out his mission of bringing good news to the poor, release to the captive, recovery to those needing healing, freedom to the oppressed. They have seen how he is living that out. The disciples are still learning what this mission means for them as they follow. Yet they are drawn by this upside-down way of looking at the world, where power is something different, and love of God is abundant for everyone.
We are also still learning what Jesus’ mission means for us, as we follow him. We are discovering what a rich and abundant life can look like, when we see the world through God’s vision instead of our own. May we be drawn in by Jesus’ upside-down way of looking at the world, where power is something quite different, and the love of God is abundant for everyone.
Peace,