Matthew 5:1-12
The 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.
Luke 6:17-26
The 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 coast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil 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 men 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 fathers 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 all men speak well of you,
for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.
When I first read the Great Sermons of the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain, I found much sadness in them...I read both sermons as having this great lamenting tone as Jesus called out the words...I have read and reread these sermons over the years and now I feel and hear something different in their tone...I still feel a sadness and lament, but I also feel love, and a great hope...There is this feeling of actual life in these sermons, and I feel and see Jesus as the One who is telling us that He LOVES us and is there...Often there is this sting in life, that only this Man can heal and comfort...Jesus is there for us, all of us -even the meek and those that cannot help themselves...And we feel and read these things in His Sermons...
Jesus in these sermons shows us that He is completely unique...These sermons tell us and give us a language of shared loss...A shared loss in the sense that these verses can bring us together in our mourning and being poor in spirit, and being at times in these weepful moods...He certainly tells us in these sermons that the path to Him is a narrow one...And the path is anything but smooth...The road to Him can be rough and is full of potholes...Life is filled with our personal and many bumps along the way..But these sermons also come at us in a language of love, and a sharing of love with our neighbor and with the One giving us these Great Words...
Jesus did not give us these two sermons to bring us down to a low point to be depressed...No, He spoke these words to give us this hope, and to show us the LOVE He has for us...He brings together somehow a sadness and can still show us the love in His heart...And we can rejoice in His words, for there will come a day, when we will leap for joy, because great is our reward in heaven...