There is a TV show called Sweet Magnolias about a small town close knit community. When the character Bill Townsend they show his funeral. The pastor said he once told her the lesson he leaned on most was something his troop taught him when he was in scouts. When you leave a campsite, or any place where you leave a mark, leave it better than you found it. Put the fires out, erase your footprints, plant something that will benefit the next camper. I know our scouts today are learning many lessons, life-long lessons. We are glad they are here today and we are glad our church facility is being used for their meeting place.

Our gospel today is also about leaving a mark. Leaving a place better than we found it. And keeping our footprints to a minimum. There is the importance of minimizing the carbon footprint for the sake of future generations. Also, it is not about getting glory. Someone said a true test of character is what you do when no one is watching.

I once ask a group of people what they want their legacy to be? What do you want to leave people after they have known you for a while? I will never forget what Father Fran Dorff said. He was a monk living in Albuquerque, NM. He said, “No footprints. I want to leave no footprints.” He had in mind Psalm 77:19, in reference to God,
“Your way was through the sea,
your path through the mighty waters,
yet your footprints were unseen.
Fran wanted to live this life without having to have credit. I showed a video a few months about of a story called: “The Rabbi’s Gift”. Fran died a several years ago and he left an indelible mark on my life whether he wanted or intended to or not. I told him when I saw the film with M.Scott Peck being the voice over, that he was never given credit for the film. He said to me, “Why do I need credit?” I said, “Because you are not getting any royalties for the intellectual property.” He said, “Why would I need royalties.” I want to be like Fran when I grow up.

We read a portion of what we call the sermon on the plains today. Luke’s version of the beatitudes was not delivered on a mountain top, but on the plains. This is more than symbolic. It is more than a metaphor. We like to have mountain top experiences. Yet, we also need a God that is there in the trenches where the rubber meets the road.

You may have heard this and thought, “Pastor, my Bible says, blessed are the poor in spirit not blessed are the poor, and blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, not blessed are the hungry. Did you leave out verses for effect?” The answer is no. Matthew’s version of the beatitudes on the mountaintop are different from Luke’s down on the plains. Perhaps Matthew is talking to a different audience. Luke knows we need actual food not simply spiritual nourishment. Luke knows sometimes we are poor, not just spiritually in deficit.

Of course, we in our congregation’s settings tend to lean toward Matthew’s version because we are not hungry and we are not poor. Yet, Luke is saying blessed are those who have physical needs because they will be fed and they understand they are in need.

Luke doesn’t stop at the blessings. He then goes on to add woes.
Woe to you who are rich – you have your consolation now, but in the reversal of the kingdom there will come a time you will not.
Woe to you who are full now, for someday you too will be hungry.
Woe to you who have the luxury of laughing it up, there will come a time you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you who speak well of you, that is what they did to false prophets.

A couple of days ago was Valentine’s Day, and this made me think of something that the Jewish commentary said about why God hardened Pharoah’s heart. It says, “The only way for a hard heart to change is to let it harden until it breaks.” Someday you too will mourn. Someday you will experience the pain others now face.

I know a family who has given their child everything she has ever wanted. The grandmother once said to me, “I don’t want anything bad to happen to my children, but I think they will have to face hardship before they will understand the need for faith and to show empathy for others.”

I do not know how many times someone has told me, “No where in the Bible does it say we can’t have wealth, it is only about the love of money as the root of evil.” That is just not true. It does say a great deal about the ills of accumulating wealth at the expense of others. No wonder we leave out Luke’s sermon on the plain. It hurts. It is convicting.

The danger for us I believe, here in a well-to-do congregation is to hear these words and say, “Yeah, but I am not buying it.” No pun intended. “I will stick to what I know.” I will continue measuring success the way the world does. That path is just too hard.

Do I have to sell everything and become poor? No, yet we do have to take seriously the fact that Jesus elevates the poor to an equal plain, no pun intended. Death is a great equalizer. When we die, money will not go with us. It will not help us in the world to come.

These words make me squirm in my seat when I read them. This gospel does not let any of us off the hook. You have heard I am sure many times that God comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.

We are not called to be comfortable. Where is God calling us to look up and see the needs around us? What can the church say? What can we do?

Mark Twain said, “It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it’s the parts that I do understand.”

It isn’t that we do not understand these words. They are the sermon on the plain and simple words. Now what? Maybe I can look at the poor and those hungry and homeless as not to be pitied but ones that God sees and has compassion toward. Not to be pitied, but they know their own need.

If you are thinking, “I will be glad when this message is over and we can read about Jesus loving us again next week” then you are not the only one. Maybe it is just me that is thinking that.

Yet this is the gospel, plain and simple. May we sit with it this week. Maybe even remember it when we listen to the news. It will not be quoted, at least not on certain channels. Yet, it is the message of our Lord.

Blessed are the poor because yours is the kingdom of God. Hmmmm, looks like the Kingdom in all its glory cannot be bought only given freely by God.

Blessed are the hungry now, for there will come a time when it will be reversed and you will have your fill. This takes us back to the words of the Blessed Mary in the Magnificat. Remember when she sang,

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty. Luke 1:52, 53

If I was poor and if I was hungry the words would have been life giving, a hope in a world of despair, a drop of cool water on a parched tongue and wounded soul.

I hope you read this scripture again when you get home. Luke chapter 6. Maybe even sit and read the whole book of Luke. Not that you haven’t read it before. I am sure many of you, perhaps most of you have. But read it with new eyes. Try to imagine what it is like for the poor to read it. And see if there is a message for us today.

We do not live in 1950 or 1970 or whatever you consider the hay day of this church and of your life. We live today and as Esther was told by her cousin Mordecai, you just may have been called for such a time as this. We live now today, with greed all around us. What are we going to do and say?

You talk of prayer, well, let us read the verses with prayerful hearts and open minds. God is calling us to do just that. Take it seriously and you will be attacked and hated by those who want to remain comfortable, so it was with the prophets of old.

God is with us as we squirm and try to live out our faith. Let’s not put the words back on the shelf. May we hear and heed the call. AMEN.