THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN

Jeremiah 17:5-10; Psalm 1; I Corinthians 15:12-20; Luke 6:17-26

From late September to mid-October 1781, a battle raged on the banks of the York River in Virginia that would change the course of history forever. The British troops under Gen. Cornwallis occupied the city of Yorktown, now besieged by the Americans under Gen. Washington on land, and the Chesapeake Bay blockaded by the French under Gen. Rochambeau. The great British Empire was shaken to its core, and for the first time in the history of the world, subservient colonists were about to remove the foot of their oppressors and shake off the chains of tyranny.

On the 19th of October, nearly 8,000 troops laid down their arms, as Cornwallis surrendered, turning the tied of the war culminating in the Treaty of Paris some two years later and an end to the American Revolution. Legend says, that as the British troops marched in surrender, their fife and drum played a popular drinking song of the day. Based on an old English nursery rhyme, the tune they played had a most poignant title, “The World Turned Upside Down” It is this title and this theme that brings me to this morning's Gospel.

The blessing’s of this sermon by Jesus, known as The Beatitudes, can be found in some form in both the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The verbiage is pretty similar across the board, but the two authors have one striking difference in the setting. Both take place in The Galilee, near the city of Capernaum. But Matthew has us on a Mount. The traditional site of this great sermon is remembered with a convent and a beautiful Franciscan Chapel. Today it is known as Mount Beatitudes. I have been there, and I can assure you, the ground is not even. From the edge of the bluff,  one can see nearly the entire shore of the lake, the sun glistening off the waves as fishing nets dry in the summer breeze.

I believe that Matthew’s account and the tradition of the last two-thousand years probably have the map marked right. No offense to the author of Luke, but it is very well documented that this author does not know the geography or the terrain of the places he mentions. For example,  a few weeks ago the people of Nazareth took Jesus to a cliff in order to throw him over the edge of the mountain. In reality, it probably was not so dramatic. The only viable cliff is about a three-mile hike from the center of town over rough terrain. It is very clear that our author is taking poetic license.

Here it is no different.
“Jesus came down with the twelve apostles, and stook on a level place.”

Luke does not situate us on the mountain. Instead, he has come down, a mass of people from all around the countryside have come up, and here they meet on a level place. Luke is setting the stage. We are thinking of a plain. We are imagining an equal footing. There is no higher or lower. The castes of the age have been disrupted by Jesus words. The systems have been shaken and the world is turned upside down.

Luke begins with the encouraging bit.
Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Oh isn’t that nice? Those reduced to the least of these by the systems of this world, in God’s economy, you are the heir apparent.

Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.

The base of Maslow’s hierarchy is a physiological foundation. Before anything else can be met or accomplished we humans require rest, warmth, water, and food. In this economy, you may have need and want, but do not fear, the Lord will provide.  We will get to how in a moment.

Blessed are you weep now, for you will laugh.

This is not just a momentary respite from pain and sorrow, this is a joy unspeakable and full of glory. This is a joy that does not end because in God’s kingdom there is no night.

Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.  Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

In God’s kingdom, there are no bullies. In God’s kingdom, there is no exclusion. In God’s kingdom, there is no hate. In God’s kingdom, we are all family . . .  The Family. In God’s kingdom, we live by love. In God’s kingdom, we care for our neighbor. In God’s kingdom, we lift each other up.

God’s kingdom does no look like the kingdom of this world. But God is about the work of transformation. God is about turning the systems of mankind on its head. God is about casting down the mighty and lifting up the lowly. God is about love and joy whenever the world is about fear and hate.

So Luke gives us the flip. Blessed are you who are poor . . . Woe to you who are rich and do not care for those with less than you, for you have received your consolation. Blessed are those who hunger . . . Woe to you who are filled with good things while others go without. Blessed are you who weep now . . . Woe to you who fill your days with laughter at the expense of others. Blessed are you who are hated by the world . . . Woe to you who seek her praise and adulation.

This flip is not the spinning of a wheel, but it is about coming together.
It is not about mountain hights or crevasses deep but that place of equality found in between. Last week I warned you that the Kingdom of God is where transformation happens. This is the clearest way in manifests. And it is not a new sermon. So has it been said by prophets of old, and all true prophets heirs. So is it recounted in Mary’s song – Magnificat. So is it said by Jesus the Christ, over and over and over again.

This is the Kingdom of God. This is the will of the Father we sing in the prayer Christ taught us. One of the ancestors of our faith was once asked by a student, why we continue to pray for our daily bread? The answer, said the teacher, is clearly an act of repentance. We pray for daily bread to remind us that as the Body of Christ, as ONE family, none of us can ever truly be filled until ALL of us are fed.

As long as oppression continues, we are all under the heel of this world and the Kingdom is not yet fully realized. As long as children weep for fear in the night, none of us can truly know joy. As long as there are poor among us, none of us can truly be rich.

So come with me to a level place, let us together proclaim the good news, and in all works strive to help the Kingdom of God break through, until that most glorious day when all of this is realized, when the systems are forced to surrender and the world is turned upside down.

May that be the song we sing. 
My soul magnifies the Lord,
Blessed are the poor, the sorrowful, the hungry, and the rejected. 
Thy Kingdom Come.

AMEN.

Rev. J. Nelson - Epiphany 6C Sermon - February 17, 2019
St. David of Wales Episcopal Church - Elkhart, Indiana