Leap For Joy (Luke 6:23)


 

Tuesday, February 18, 2025


Psalm 107:1-22

Genesis 27:30-46

Luke 6:12-26


Leap For Joy (Luke 6:23)


Over the next three days we travel through St Luke’s transcription of Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount. If you have a keen eye, you may notice St Luke calls this not a mountain but “a level place”. However, the pattern of St Luke seems to be that he is actually more accurate than anyone else, and this is no different; there is a plateau on the side of the mountainous region near Capernaum where Jesus preached this sermon. However, in spite of the fact that it is always fun to point out the fallacies of non-Christian biblical scholars, all this is neither here nor there.


St Luke’s translation of Jesus’ words into ancient Greek leads him to this nicely balanced double grouping of fours: four types of circumstances, in which a person is either sitting on one side or the other. Depending on which side one sits leads to either a blessing or a woe. And they all culminate in this final thought: that it all depends on your relationship to the Son of Man – that is, Jesus the Messiah.


While it may be wildly unfashionable to think in terms of one or the other, it is the way Jesus presents these blessings and woes. He doesn’t seem to have room for fence-sitters, pickers and choosers, or happy mediums. The other thing to keep in mind with St Luke’s presentation of these words is the tenderness with which Jesus speaks them: “Blessed are you”. Jesus is clearly marking out the line between blessing and woe; and then he speaks tenderly and personally to the one upon whom the blessing is coming.


It is no wonder that this passage has been held in such high regard all throughout Christian history. The Christian life is filled with trials and suffering. So too with the life of the non-Christian; but for the Christian, we have this promise that our trials and suffering prove to us the blessing of the Lord. In fact, we should rejoice, and leap for joy, for behold: your reward is great in heaven.


What are your spiritual struggles right now? Which of the four categories do those spiritual struggles fall under (poverty; hunger; weeping; exclusion)? What is the corresponding blessing that Jesus has pronounced upon you?


Son of Man, you speak gentle words of blessing and comfort to your people: teach us to see your blessings in our lives, that we may rejoice and leap for joy; and, by your great mercy, lead us finally to the great reward in heaven you have prepared for us.

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