Blessing others, blessing life
Sermon for Epiphany VI, 2022, delivered at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY. Text: Luke 6:17-26 Our Gospel reading this morning is known as the Beatitudes, delivered in Luke’s version as the sermon on the plain. These pronouncements of blessings and warnings are also found in the Gospel of Matthew, but in that version, Jesus is on a mount. In either case, the setting is similar to Moses bringing the ten commandments down from Mt. Sinai to the faithful as rules for righteous living. Except that these aren’t commandments. Let’s hear them again, the blesseds and the woes, but rearranged into couplets: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. / "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. / "Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.” “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. / "Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and we