Loading...I did not see very many children dressed in scary costumes on Friday night, when the street in our little neighborhood was filled with families walking from house to house, collecting treats. Even adults were dressed up, walking with friends, laughing and talking, greeting one another, enjoying the lovely evening.
Our neighborhood has a pumpkin carving contest and best decorated house contest. I have no idea how many skeletons filled many of the yards, but there were a lot. And inflatables of all sorts. Not us. We keep it pretty simple and predictable every year with our décor, but Jeff likes to play spooky music to be more in the Halloween spirit.
We are celebrating an important trio of days. All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls’ Day. We intentionally take this time to remember that death comes to all of us, leaving behind people to remember who we were in life. Sometimes leaning into the blessings, and at other times, leaning into the woes that were a part of everyone’s life experience.
That’s the crux of it, isn’t it? Our lives are only full if we experience both blessings and woes. How we are remembered will often be a mixed bag of life experiences left behind for others to sort through. If we live life right, we might recognize both the tricks and treats, the woes and the blessings, that make us who we are.
I wonder if how we respond to the blessings and woes in our lives creates a better understanding of the impact we have on others. Do we focus on what is going wrong over what is going right? Do we understand that we need both and everything in between to be fully human?
You might recall that we can find the Beatitudes in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus shares a list of “blessed are they.” He is speaking to a large crowd, seated on a big hill, and with the use of the word, “they,” his message implies that it is about other people.
The Beatitudes are also found in today’s Gospel from Luke, but here, they are known as the Sermon on the Plain. Here, Jesus is speaking to the disciples, saying, “blessed are you.” Unlike what we read in Matthew, Luke’s version adds a list of “woe to you.” Another big difference is that today’s Gospel is directed at the small group of people right in front of him.
The physical location may matter in Luke. This list of both blessed are you and woe to you is given on a plain, a flat area, perhaps as a physical way to understand that we are, as humans, on a level playing field. We are each capable of being blessed just as we can each experience woe.
Yet, Jesus flips the script on blessings and woes. What we expect to be a blessing sounds a lot like a woe, and what we expect to be a woe, sounds a lot like a blessing.
Jesus has a way of teaching opposites in a way that turns our thinking upside down to help us recognize, perhaps, the complexity of relationships with others and within ourselves. He shows us that all people, no matter their circumstances, are seen and loved by God. And God’s desire is that we live in ways that respect the dignity of everyone, even those we do not understand, or who we may think are very different from us.
While it seems like Jesus focuses on the less fortunate—you know, the widow, the immigrant, the orphaned, the poor, the sick, the hungry—he focuses on these in much of his teaching, I believe he does this to help those who are more fortunate recognize that while not everyone has the same opportunities or life experiences or histories, that they are equally beloved children of God. When we can see that, we are more likely to find common ground, a level playing field, if you will, that acknowledges that every person we see has the same value in God’s eyes.
We might also think Jesus makes it look like people who are more fortunate or who are in positions of power are the bad guys. His woe to you list in today’s Gospel can also offer the blessed are you people an unrealistic view. Unfortunately, we may lean into an us versus them. But I don’t think that is the point.
Because the reality is, most of us can fit into both lists at any time or even all the time in our lives. Remember, Jesus is providing these lists on the plain, where everyone is on the same physical level. No one is higher, no one is lower.
The question is, what are we going to do about it?
Are we going to focus on the times when our situation appears to be a “hard knock life,” or when our situation appears to be “walking on sunshine?”
Are we going to complain about what’s going wrong, or talk more about what is going right?
Are we going to compare ourselves with others, or do we dig deep within ourselves to find our personal truth?
Are we going to recognize our own blessings and rejoice -- and consider our woes as something from which we can grow?
In most of his teaching, Jesus gives us examples of what we can do to live in ways that are more loving to all people. To see in ourselves the places that might need to be transformed to express our belief that God loves and blesses all God has created.
Often, we look to those who have gone before us for their examples. We hope that we will take the best they offered and continue in their legacy. We also recognize that we all fall short, that those we have loved but are no longer with us may have also fallen short.
We hope that we have learned from those examples, and choose to live in different ways, expressing God’s love in ways that are inclusive, equitable, and less judgmental. Hopeful that we will leave our own legacies showing we strived to live more like Jesus. That we expressed our recognition that God loves us all, no exceptions.
Today, we celebrate All Saints’ Day. As we remember those who have died, may we recognize that our complex memories and experiences with them made them who they were. And while we may remember things that make us cozy or make us cringe, things that blessed us and things that caused us woe, they were and still are beloved children of God. Their lives have helped to mold us and shape us to be who we are, and for that, we give thanks to God for the lives they lived, the best they could.
Let us pray.
Father of all, we pray to you for those we love, but see no longer: Grant them your peace; let light perpetual shine upon them; and, in your loving wisdom and almighty power, work in them the good purpose of your perfect will; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
