Luke 6:17-26
Sermon on the Plain
17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, 19 and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
20 Looking at his disciples, he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22 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.
23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
25 Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
Matthew 5:1-12
Sermon on the Mount
1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them.
He said:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
John 14:27
Jesus Brings a Certain Peace, but not of This World
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
When I was young and naive and getting started at work, comfort was an important thing to me...When people ask me what I wanted from my new job, I told them I would like to have a career that I would be both comfortable doing and also provide me with a comfortable life...And by this comfort, I meant that I wanted to like and be able to do my job comfortably, and to have the ability to live my life outside of work with some ease and peace of mind...And after all, what is wrong with wanting to be comfortable, while we live...These thoughts of comfort were with me for many years...I never questioned my comfortable thoughts, until years later when I read Jesus' two Great Sermons, the Sermon on the Plain and the Sermon on the Mount...For me these sermons were not at all about earthly comfort and comfortable earthly living...His comments that those who are blessed were those poor and hungry and those who mourn and being poor in spirit were quite discomforting...His thinking and thoughts on comfort were different than what I was and had been thinking...
Jesus has a way of making one think of how we live our earthly life differently...Jesus gives great comfort to the poor, the meek, those who mourn, and the hungry...Jesus gives comfort to those who are not in comfort...He turned my comfort thoughts upside down...Jesus does not give much thought on earthly comforts, as I was thinking...His thoughts on comfort, covers God and doing His will...Jesus reshapes things and makes us think about our priorities in life...My thoughts on comfort had me thinking of being pretty much independent for myself, while He pushes me to think about dependence, and this dependence on His Father...I was wanting to work and take care of my own needs and comforts, while He teaches to depend on God for my needs, and His comfort...Earthly comfort is more of a personal thing, and not so much of thinking about others...Now I can say, I want my family to be comfortable, but that would always include my comfort as well...I could see that there is this self-ease in my comforting thinking...There maybe this lack of humbleness in my comfortable thoughts...God wants us to pursue the comfort of others, and not so much my own...His comfort is more Spiritual, and mine is personal...He is more humble than I am...
And through His Sermons, it seems He wants to take me to a place that is uncomfortable, yet somehow He can promise to bring a peace, but not of this world...A peace that I can only say that must be much better than any ease or peace of this world...Maybe if I sit at a comfortable desk, then take a comfortable car, to a comfortable home, I have missed some things...Jesus teaches that there are more important things than earthly comfort...I may have missed my desperate need of His humbling comfort and grace...Comfort was not what I thought it once was...