Plain

Luke 6:17-23 (The Message)

Coming down off the mountain with them, he stood on a plain surrounded by disciples, and was soon joined by a huge congregation from all over Judea and Jerusalem, even from the seaside towns of Tyre and Sidon.

They had come both to hear him and to be cured of their ailments. Those disturbed by evil spirits were healed. Everyone was trying to touch him—so much energy surging from him, so many people healed! Then he spoke:

You're blessed when you've lost it all. God's kingdom is there for the finding.

You're blessed when you're ravenously hungry. Then you're ready for the Messianic meal.

You're blessed when the tears flow freely. Joy comes with the morning.

"Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me.

What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable.

You can be glad when that happens—skip like a lamb, if you like!—for even though they don't like it, I do . . . and all heaven applauds.

And know that you are in good company; my preachers and witnesses have always been treated like this.

Just as Jesus has called his disciples, and they stroll (or maybe skipped like lambs) victoriously down to the crowd...we arrive at the plain.

The sermon on the plain. Perhaps it should more appropriately be called, "the good news of the plain life."

Because this message is all about a radical re-ordering of priorities.

Jesus himself is pretty plain about what he's trying to tell us:

If you seek the Kingdom, the Messianic Meal, and Joy that won't end, you're going to have to follow a path of loss, tears and hunger. It's the straightest shot to real life.

We are taught by this world to see our failures as reason for despair. If we have loss, if we experience disappointment, if we don't obtain the "right" material possessions, we believe that we are of little worth, and that our whole life's story is a failure.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The biblical message is all about embracing so-called "failure" as opportunity. The Old Testament is littered with stories of "heroes," who were really nothing but "failures" on their own.

The Apostle Paul teaches us to embrace failure and weakness because it's really the one-and-only way that God's power and strength can shine through. The path of real, lasting joy.

This is a deeply counter-cultural message.

And when you swim upstream, expect resistance. Jesus has told as much. Resistance from within, and without, will work to focus our attention and desire on the wrong things.

But nothing is as good as dependence on God. Nothing touches real peace and joy. And nothing that happens...not hunger, pain or tears can take the real thing away from us.

Prayer: Show us how to embrace the "plain" life of dependence on you. Steer us away from trouble and the temptation to prove our own worth through pride and worry. Thank you for your presence with us today.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.