I Am What I Have

luke’s gospel finds Jesus teaching the crowd. It is a message of blessings and woes. If we read it carefully we find a list of contradictions. If we ask ourselves honest questions, we might ourselves on both sides of the equation.

This is a comforting passage to read and a challenging passage to examine. However, Jesus does provide a clue as to what these blessings and woes are meant to accomplish. 

Scripture: Luke 6: 17-26

Henri Nouwen was a Dutch Catholic Priest (1932-1996) wrote, taught, and served extensively on matters of spirituality, identity, pastoral ministry, and social justice. At the center of his life’s work was a desire for people to know their belovedness as children of God; in fact, much of his work revolves around this core message. Take, for instance, Nouwen’s sermon at the Crystal Cathedral in 1992, where he discusses the central question that keeps us going as human beings: “Who am I?” In it, Nouwen outlines how we often answer this question in three ways: I am what I do; I am what other people say about me; and I am what I have. (Thanks to Chelsey Harmon for the sermon illustration).

A comment you may have heard me make in previous weeks and one which I’ve shared in bible study is that there are a variety of different ways and a variety of different reasons to read scripture. One of the questions that we can ask of scripture as we read it is: Who am I in this story?

It helps situate us in the story and figure out what scripture is saying to us. Sometimes this helps us feel good about how things are going in life and sometimes we can be challenge. It can also be helpful to try to put ourselves in different shoes as we read a story to assist us in gaining perspective. 

As we read this passage, which is full of opposites, there are many questions we can ask.

Am I poor? If so, how? Materially, spiritually?

Am I hungry? For what? Food and sustenance or do you hunger for a deeper longing?

Am I weeping? The loss of a loved one, a job, a dream?

Am I hated? By who, why? Have I done wrong?

These are the easier questions in this passage. We can probably identify in one way or another with each of these questions. We have all perhaps at times felt or experienced aspects of each of these questions. However, the responses Jesus gives to each of these questions can be equally troubling.

For the poor, the kingdom of heaven. Not material wealth, but the kingdom. This should move us to ask questions about what the kingdom looks like or represents.

For the hungry, they will be filled. We assume with nourishment whether the hunger is physical or otherwise.

For those who weep, laughter. An odd mix, but perhaps a hint at the promise of things to come and joyous reunions.

For those who are hated on account of their faithfulness, vindication.

I am what I do

I am what other people say about me

I am what I have

Who are we in this story and what is Jesus trying to tell us?

Then the coin flips and there are messages there for the rich, for those who are not hungry, for those who are laughing, and for those who are spoken of well.

While we can identify with the first set, each of us probably also fits within the descriptions of this second set of ‘people’. Many of us are well off or at least comfortably in the middle class, each of eats (I hope) good meals each day and we come to church to be spiritually fed, each of us has laughed I heard as much before the service started, and I believe each of us thinks well of the other who are gathered here in this sanctuary.

Suddenly, a message that is uplifting and promising for us is hard.

I am what I do

I am what other people say about me

I am what I have

This passage is full of reversals and opposites and what is at first an uplifting passage could soon become troubling. What is Jesus going on about? What is it we need to learn and understand from this passage? What message was Luke trying to convey about Jesus in this passage? I believe it’s found embedded with the first blessings, ‘blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.’

Jesus is surrounded by a crowd of troubled people, poor people, hungry people, oppressed people and contained in that first blessing is the clue to what Jesus is speaking about. The kingdom of God. Or perhaps put more simply and in non-theological terms, a more just and equitable society.

Sarah Henrich writes, “The “wealth gap,” “food deserts,” the “education gap,” the “health gap,” and myriad other gaps and failures around the globe mark the two sides of the blessings and woes. It’s the gap we are called to address by this passage for God’s sake and our own. It’s what children of God do and what they repent of not having done, confident that God gives new opportunities to live with generosity and attention.” (Sarah Henrich)

The blessings and woes in this passage are connected. We are connected to them, the disciples were connected to them and those Jesus spoke to that day were connected to them. We have experienced both sides, been blessed and heard the warning in the woes.

By invoking the kingdom of God Jesus is talking about a re-ordering of society. Not that the rich must become poor and the poor become rich. That isn’t what he says at all. However, the sense that comes out of it is one of balance and equity. It’s ok to be well off, but don’t be overfull. I’m actually reminded of the Monty Python sketch in the Meaning of Life, where the restaurant is offers the customer who is already overfull a dessert stating “it is but wafer thin.” The excess is the issue, we aren’t to be greedy or horde. If we experience and know joy and laughter we are to share that. We are encouraged to invite people to sit at our table, not exclude them from it.

To live as Jesus instructed is to live lives that are rich in God’s abundance. As we seek to discover who we are in this story, part of the understanding is how is who I am going to change based on my relationship with God. 

Karoline Lewis frames this message of blessings and woes as follows, she writes, “[it is] A message from Jesus that pulls us up short. Makes us acknowledge what is truly important about our calling and what we believe. What is at stake for us in our ministry. What we hold on to, no matter what comes our way. And “whoas” or “woes” seem especially appropriate for the season of Epiphany. Revelations, manifestations, epiphanies of the glory of God are “whoa-ful” moments. (Karoline Lewis)

I am what I do

I am what other people say about me

I am what I have

The questions that this passage raises can’t be answered by me. Except one: I am what I have.

What you have is the never-ending, never-faltering love of God. Abide in that. Amen.