Flashback Episode — Four Blessings and Four Warnings: Luke 6:17-26

As we continue moving through Jesus’ life, focusing on events that the gospel writers included, we come to an event that is a little less well known, but one that is incredibly powerful when we stop to focus in on it.

Early on in Jesus’ ministry, the gospel of Matthew dedicates a significant amount of space to an event known as the Sermon on the Mount. However, if you were paying attention to our introduction, we aren’t going to be reading from Matthew’s gospel in this episode.

Instead, lesser known is a sermon Jesus shares in Luke’s gospel, which is known as Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain. However, this other sermon shares some similarities to Jesus’ famous sermon, and it begins in a similar way before taking a significantly different turn.

Our passage for this episode is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 6, and we will be reading from the God’s Word translation of the Bible. Starting in verse 20, Luke tells us that:

²⁰ Jesus looked at his disciples and said,

“Blessed are those who are poor.
    God’s kingdom is theirs.
²¹ Blessed are those who are hungry.
    They will be satisfied.
Blessed are those who are crying.
    They will laugh.
²² Blessed are you when people hate you, avoid you,
    insult you, and slander you
        because you are committed to the Son of Man.
²³             Rejoice then, and be very happy!
                You have a great reward in heaven.
                    That’s the way their ancestors treated the prophets.

²⁴ “But how horrible it will be for those who are rich.
    They have had their comfort.
²⁵ How horrible it will be for those who are well-fed.
    They will be hungry.
How horrible it will be for those who are laughing.
    They will mourn and cry.
²⁶ How horrible it will be for you
    when everyone says nice things about you.
        That’s the way their ancestors treated the false prophets.

In this passage, we have four blessings and four warnings. On the surface, these blessings cover the range of economic, physical, emotional, and social areas of life, but on a deeper level, the “economic” blessing and warning is really a spiritual blessing and warning.

As far as I am aware, humans are the only species on planet earth to have created an economic system, and we are the only species on earth that are described as “spiritual” beings. According to the first two chapters of Genesis, all life has the breath of God, but only humanity has the fingerprints of God after He hand-formed us as a species. This leads me to believe that parts of humanity that are unique to us (such as economics in this case), are an extension of our spiritual nature, since we are the only creatures to have built an economic system.

While it is tempting to gloss over Jesus’ clear message about those who don’t have now will have later, and those who have now will not have later, if I try to simplify this passage down to one broad theme, We likely will miss the direct nature of these blessings and warnings.

Jesus promises encouragement for those who are hurting spiritually, which also includes those who are hurting financially, as well as those who are hurting physically, emotionally, and socially. In these blessings, He wants to remind all of us that when times are bad, He still is in control, and when things are unfair, they will be made right in the end.

In the warnings, Jesus tells us to watch out for being spiritually and financially rich, because this does not last. Wealth is not guaranteed, nor is the true value of that wealth guaranteed either. In this warning, the comfort wealth brings is stated in the present and past tense – signifying that it has an end point. Jesus says in the last phrase of verse 24, “They have had their comfort.”

In the physical warning, Jesus warns those of us who have enough to eat to understand that this situation will not last. I don’t know if this is Jesus talking to individuals or to societies at large, but the clear statement is that those who are well fed should not count on being well fed in the future.

In the emotional warning, Jesus tells us to not expect life to be all high points. Life is a mixture of peaks and valleys, and this is symbolized here as laughter and crying. While I know I would like life to be more laughter than crying, I understand that the sin in this world is responsible for pain, disease, and death. While we are living in this sinful world, God doesn’t want us to get so attached to it that we don’t want the future sinless life and world He has planned for us when this age ends.

And in the last warning, Jesus tells us to be very careful when people begin to say good things about us, because when this happens, we are dangerously close to how the false prophets were treated. In Old Testament Israel, the true prophets tried to warn the people of destruction and punishment, and they were tortured, mocked, thrown in jail, and largely ignored. The false prophets were welcomed, because they said what the leaders and people wanted to hear, even though it was a lie.

Jesus cautions us to be wary when things are going our way, because it is when things are up that we are tempted to lose our focus on Him and on God. When life is good, the temptation is to think that our skill, ability, and well-placed investments were the cause. We discount God’s blessing and think the gift was given by us to us and not from the true Giver Himself.

In this passage, we discover four blessings and four warnings. Jesus wants us to succeed when things are looking up and when things are not going so well. He said these words specifically to the disciples, but with the crowd present. As followers of Jesus, we are to heed these blessings and these warnings as being relevant to our lives today.

The blessings are given for our encouragement, and the warnings are given to protect us from the temptation of pride.

If all of us individually keep this teaching in our minds and let it absorb into our hearts, we will become even more like Jesus, and the more like Jesus we become, the more God will be preparing us for Jesus’ return and the end of sin!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and let the promises and warnings we focused on in this episode impact how you live your life.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn who Jesus is and what He is really like. Discover through the pages of the Bible a God who passionately wants you redeemed in heaven, but a God who values your freedom of choice over His desire for you to be saved for eternity.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or walk away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!