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.
Luke 6:17-26
Blessings and Woes
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 read Jesus' Great Sermon on the Mount and Sermon on the Plain, I figured that people who are poor in Spirit maybe weep a lot...Those that mourn probably also weep a lot...I figured that these two groups were probably in pain and suffering...And He says those that weep now will laugh...In fact, I still struggle with why God might want us to be poor in Spirit and why we might mourn and weep...These things just seem painful to me...
But I know that God is good…I know that God is not evil…I also know that He is all knowledgeable...
But how do we or I view pain?...Should I believe that pain is not evil and evil is not pain?…Yet sometimes we link these two subjects of pain and evil very closely together…Most of the time think of pain I think of any pains I have as a bad thing…But in reality, are they?…But how can pain be good for someone?...Are there things hidden in His Sermons, I have missed?...
Many atheists say they do not believe in God because of this problem of pain…So somehow the non-believer has many times associated pain and placed that association of pain with and on God…Many say that if there was no pain and suffering in this world they might believe in God...But not only has the non-believer associated pain with God, so has the believer…The believer in God, believes that since the Fall of Man happened, pain has entered the world…So God has allowed pain and suffering to enter the world ever since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit…So there is this connection between pain and Scripture and therefore God is linked to pain, when we left Eden and our paradise…
But we also know that the Son of God could very well be associated with just the opposite of pain as He is the Great Physician...He was the Greatest Healer ever to walk the earth…All those who came to Him were healed...
But just the opposite of pain is something is what the National Institutes of Health and the National Center for Biotechnology Information call CIPA…It is intriguing because how the people and their families are affected by this disease of CIPA…These organizations explain the disease as this: Congenital indifference to pain with anhydrosis (CIPA) is a well-defined entity among a group of sensory deficiency syndromes…Children with this genetic disease are insensitive to pain and temperature and do not sweat and suffer from psychomotor retardation…Self-inflicted trauma may be severe and lead to insoluble orthopedic problems…
So this group is telling us that people, especially the people with this disease need pain…They need their pain to get well...Those without pain and having CIPA can be burnt very badly and not feel it…You can sprain or strain or completely tear a muscle and not be aware of it and you can have a very bad outcome, because you do not feel pain…People and their families with children who suffer from CIPA want their children to feel pain…
So pain in itself is not the evil when looked at it from their perspective…So maybe we look at pain wrong...Maybe God has a reason for pain and suffering, which we cannot understand…Maybe pain gets us closer to Him...Maybe we bring some of our pains on ourselves...Maybe we have become so comfortable that when we get pain, we just quickly and automatically think we should be rid of it…Jesus in His Great Sermons on the Mount and Plain tells us a different story of about this uncomfortable life and its pains...Jesus offers us help in our times of pain as we read His Sermons...He is the One regardless of the type of pain we have, that can help...He is the Only One who can take all the different types of pain and sufferings away...Him and His Father alone really know what we need...