Luke 6. 20-31
God changes the world not by taking away suffering,
but by adding love.
The story begins like so many others. “In a far away land, long, long ago ….” There lived a king, a queen, and a princess. And for a while, the world was filled with joy. There was beauty. There was song. And of course, there was love. But then, one day, evil drew near and took hold of the world. Colors faded to gray. The land turned cold … and silent … and still …. Life slept as it awaited true love’s kiss. And when that kiss came, the world was born again. And, naturally, after all was done and said, the story ended just like so many others. “And they lived happily, ever after!”
“And they lived happily, ever after!” That’s the phrase that came to mind as I read the words from the prayer of the day. “Grant us grace,” we prayed, ”to know the inexpressible joys you have prepared for those who love you!” It sounds so familiar! Being awakened from slumber. The world growing brighter, warmer. Tears wiped from our eyes. Death no more. Mourning, crying, pain, gone forever. All because of that magical kiss.
As a people of god, we invest so much of our energy into wishing life wasn’t what like it is. Wishing – with all our might – that it’s different. We pray of the day when we become someone else. Someone different. Someone nothing like the reflection we see in the mirror. When we dream, we dream of perfection. We yearn for that paradise lost. We wait for that so-called second coming. When creation is made all over, again.
We talk a lot about changing the world. About transforming lives. Truth is – reality is – over the past hundred generations, very little is different. We aren’t any less sinner. We’re not any more saint. After all this time, people are still, pretty much, just people. After two thousand years, we haven’t come near to a happily ever after. Just the same old same old, over and over, again and again. People still grow old. People still wear down. They wear out. They still break and bleed. But we cling to that happily ever after. Promises are broken. Dreams are shattered. Relationships are joined together and, then, put asunder. We are born childre3n of a fallen humanity. We are reborn children of god. But what is it about us that changes. What’s different. We’re still people. Even god’s people. We continue to fall short, to miss the mark. We make mistakes, poor choices. God meant for us to be people. Just people. Not angels.
Wars. Rumors. Insurrections. Nation against nation. Kingdom against kingdom. Earthquakes. Famines. Plagues. Portents. Signs. Nothing much changes. We weep. We mourn. We grieve. What if there is no happy ending. At least, not like the ones in the stories. What if we’re just looking for change that never comes. What if the poor and the hungry and the thirsty will, really, be with us always. Forever.
In today’s gospel, that’s what it sounds like Jesus is saying. What it sounds like Jesus is telling us. We’re blessed not when we have it all. We’re blessed not when we lack nothing. But we’re blessed when we are needy – in every sense of the word! We’re blessed when we’re hungry. We’re blessed when we’re thirsty. We’re blessed when we’re naked and homeless and sick and alone. We’re blessed when we fall short. Blessed when we miss the mark. Blessed when we’re blemished, when we’re flawed, when we’re scarred. Blessed because those are the moments, the times, when we recognize that we’re loved!
And then, to drive the point home, Jesus adds a series of woes. To those who are rich. To those who have enough. To those who have more than enough. Woe to those who don’t need anyone. Woe to those who don’t need anything. Life doesn’t start with loving. It begins with BEING loved. It starts with wanting! With needing! It’s the lack that opens our hearts, that opens our minds, to the gift! Free! Unearned! Undeserved! That’s when things like grace and mercy come to us! Wake us with a kiss!
The first step isn’t loving god. And it’s not loving others. As popular opinion has it. We must, first, BE loved! BE loved by god! BE loved by others! And unless that happens, until that happens, our world remains asleep! Unless that happens, until that happens, we never experience the power, the magic, or that kiss. You see, that’s the happily ever after we dream of! It’s the love! The love that’s always ready! The love that’s always there! Seeing us! Hearing us! Coming to us! Even here! Even now! In our humanness! In our neediness! It takes both – our humanness and our neediness – to give faith purpose, meaning.
We’re not blessed when we have it all. We’re not blessed when we need no one. We’re blessed only when we are who and what we are! Just as we are! We’re blessed, first of all, when we receive! And we’re blessed, again, when we – in turn – share that blessing with others! With others who are just … like … us! “Give to everyone who begs from you!” That’s Jesus’ advice. “Give to everyone who begs, just as others gave to you when you, too, begged!” It’s not weakness. It’s not disadvantage. That’s just the way love works! One person lingers and another enters in! One person withdraws and another reaches out! One person heals, one person makes whole, while another is cleansed, cured! One person is lifted up on a cross, while another falls down on their knees in wonder, love, and praise. That, for us, is the happily ever after! It’s not that we have everything we need, everything we want. It’s that we’re give the very thing – the only thing – the one thing – vital! Crucial!
And the world goes on … and on … and on … Pretty much as it always has. Gloom. Despair. Agony. Poor. Hungry. Crying. It never goes away. But there, in the midst of it all, is love! In the midst of it all is the love! And it’s that love – the love with which we’re love and the love with which we love – that remakes the world. That wakes it up. That changes it, forever and ever and ever. God’s story, the church’s story, our story, doesn’t end with a happily ever after. It ends as it begins … with a cross! With a cross and with the love that only a cross can bear!