Audio recording Sermon manuscript: How did Jesus’s words strike you this morning? “Blessed are you who are poor, because yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, because you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, because you will laugh. Blessed are you whenever people hate you because of the Son of Man.” Then, on the other hand: “Woe to you who are rich, because you are receiving your comfort now. Woe to you who are well fed now, because you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, because you will be mourning and weeping. Woe to you when all people speak well of you.” How did these words strike you? Unfortunately, they probably didn’t strike you very hard. We are lazy. These words are hard. Jesus is saying something that sounds like the very opposite of how we naturally think. And so, like a math problem you don’t know how to solve, you might look at it for a few seconds, and then push it aside. We can’t understand it. And it’s not our fault. According to our customs, if something is said, but not understood, then it is always the speaker’s fault. The hearers are never held responsible for their lack of effort. If the speaker wanted to be understood he should have said it better. So it’s Jesus’s fault. However, we won’t even let our thinking get that far. That conclusion might come around to bite us. We might be held responsible for coming to the conclusion that Jesus just isn’t a very good teacher. So we just mentally push it aside without further ado. This is a simple, common way to make Jesus’s words have no effect. There is another, more sophisticated way to deal with Jesus’s words. If you can’t figure it out and you stare at it like a math puzzle, who is there better to turn to than an expert? Call a theologian. They can turn Jesus’s extremely plain words into something a little less definite. They can give us some wiggle room. A couple very handy tools that the theologians have in their tool bag are principles and distinctions. By applying principles and distinctions he can probably shape and mold Jesus’s words into whatever you might want to have those words say. So, with the text at hand, a theologian might immediately point out that here we are dealing with something that is quite unworkable. It doesn’t fit in with what we already know. Jesus’s words can be taken to mean that being poor, hungry, sad, and not well liked is the way that a person can earn his or her way into heaven. On the other hand, no one is allowed to have nice things, nice food, good times, or lots of friends. Hell is the reward for these things. This, of course, is not what Jesus actually says, but, close enough right? We know that it is not necessarily a sin to be rich or well-fed or well-liked. We especially know that the opposite of these things doesn’t get us any closer to heaven. The price that is needed to get into heaven is much costlier than that—the very blood of God is what is necessary. And so Jesus’s plain words get pitted against other truths in such a way where what Jesus says is emptied of its meaning. The lawyer-like handling of his stark words make them say hardly anything at all. Or, if the theologian is really good, he might even manage to make them sound something like the very opposite. Instead of “Blessed are the poor,” for example, you might get “Blessed are the rich,” “so long as they give their fair share in the offering plate.” But I’m not against doing a lot of learning when it comes to God’s Word. How could I be? I’ve spent many years and many thousands of dollars to learn principles and distinctions. Even with the words that we are considering today, it’s helpful to have someone lead you into understanding them. The assumed meaning can be too hard so that we push them aside in the hopes that we won’t be responsible for having heard them. That won’t do if we wish to be Jesus’s disciples. Note the way Jesus begins this talk. Luke says, “Jesus lifted his eyes to his disciples and said