selfie

He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Then he looked up at his disciples and said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. ‘Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. ‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. ‘But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.  ‘Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. ‘Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. ‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets. (Luke 6:17-26, NRSV)

Like the Matthew version you might have heard this weekend, Jesus is just plain blessing people here. He is not setting up conditions by which you could be blessed. He is saying that the poor, hated, excluded, reviled, defamed, those who are weeping are blessed. Not because of what they have, what they’ve done, or what the have been through. Simple because God can and does bless those the world does not deem acceptable.

But then Jesus goes on to say that if you are not looking out for the other, than you are not doing what God has called us to do. If you are hungry and know of others who aren’t then there is an issue. You see there is nothing we can do to be blessed, but once we are blessed, we are blessed to be a blessing. Not to continue the blessing, but because we were first blessed.

We can not selfie our way through life. We can not make it on our own, we need others.

So do not claim to have it all together and that you don’t need anyone else. But be a part of the community in giving and receiving.