Jesus' Blessings and Woes

Blessed are you who are poor, 

for yours is the kingdom of God.

But woe to you who are rich,

for you have already received your comfort.

Luke 6v20, 24 [TNIV]

Jesus' first sermon is reminiscent of Moses last sermon.  It was typical of Jewish prophets and teachers to preach about God's blessings and curses upon his people.  Deuteronomy 11 has a famous decree from the LORD on how he will bless Israel if they love him and keep his commandments and how he will curse Israel if they reject him and disregard his commandments. 

Since Jesus is working to restore Israel through the creation of a New Israel and a New Covenant, one would expect a sermon from him outlining the conditions of blessings and curses.  Jesus has come to proclaim good news about the kingdom of God - his reign has come now!  God is walking upon the earth in the man Jesus of Nazareth, and he is making his blessings evident through his healing of the diseased, disable, and demon-possessed.  But for those that reject God as revealed through Jesus, there will be cursing similar to that of those who rejected God as revealed through Torah.  

Israel was created through Abraham by God as a instrument of blessing for the whole earth.  If Israel had faithfully kept the Torah, the outcome would have been beautiful - the whole earth would have praised God.  But Israel was unfaithful, and so now Jesus has come - not only as the fulfillment of the Old Israel - but as God to initiate a New Israel - a group of men and women who will be an instrument of blessing for the whole earth.

On the heels of the blessings and curses Jesus instructs his disciples - the core of the New Israel (note the appointment of twelve apostles - representing the twelve tribes of the Old Israel) his Torah: love God by loving your enemies!  Become like God - be kind to the ungrateful and the wicked!  Be merciful just as your Father in heaven.  Do not judge without all the evidence, do not condemn out of hatred.  Give with the kind of generosity you would like to receive - mercy, forgiveness, kindness.  Make it your goal to become like God - not a God of the rich and powerful, but a God of the poor and excluded - a God who looks like Jesus.

Blessed are you when you give mercy like God.  Cursed are you when you resist giving mercy like God.  God is merciful - mercy matters; beware withholding mercy from the poor, and beware favoring the rich with mercy.  Give mercy out of the goodness in your heart, as prompted by the Spirit of Christ with no regard for whether the recipient deserves it or not.