Who Will Laugh Last? (Told Plainly) Preach on February 13, 2022 for Wollaston Congregational Church Scripture: Luke 6:17-26 This morning we read a passage from the gospel of Luke that is not often acknowledged. When Christians talk about the Beatitudes or “blessings”, they generally refer to verses from Matthew’s gospel. These teachings are given during Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount” a text that is understood to be central to Jesus’s message. But Luke presents his Beatitudes a little differently. Jesus stands on a level place with the disciples and the crowd, the language is subtly different. Today we look at the Beatitudes from Luke’s perspective, and we meet Jesus’s gaze as he looks us in the eye. There is no squirming out of it. Jesus had recently gone up onto a mountain to pray. He spent the night praying amidst the craggy rocks. In the morning he calls his followers to join him. This is when he chooses the 12. These are the ones who will be the apostles, the ones who are sent out to bring Jesus’s message to the world. Having done all this, Jesus comes down with the disciples to a level place. This is where our gospel reading for today begins. There is a great multitude of people from far and wide and there are a many disciples who are already following him. The people press in on Jesus. They want to hear his words and many seek the healing touch that they have heard so much about. The people, the disciples and Jesus are all on a level. Then Jesus makes eye contact with the disciples. Perhaps they know what is coming. Perhaps this teaching is especially for them. He begins: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 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. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets." (Luke 6:20-26) I wonder if some of the hearers break eye contact with Jesus, as he recites these uncomfortable “woes”. Or perhaps they gaze at him in awe hearing these counter-cultural statements. The world says that the poor are to be pitied, they are not blessed. And isn’t wealth and prosperity a sign of God’s blessing, not a woe? In this teaching there are echoes from earlier in the gospel of Luke. Mary sang of the hungry being filled and the powerful being cast down from their thrones while Jesus was yet unborn in her womb. And when Jesus first spoke in the synagogue in Nazareth, he proclaimed “good news for the poor.” This theme is known as “the Great Reversal” of Luke’s gospel. God does not see the world with the world’s eyes. Worldly values are reversed. While the world rejects or pities the poor, God lifts them up and pronounces them blessed. While the world admires those who are wealthy, God anticipates their spiritual demise. God sees blessing where we see misfortune. God shows favor for the poor, the outcast, the mourning, and the hated. God sees misfortune for the materially rich, the ones who are full, the laughing, and the ones who are held in high esteem. Their reward is already here. Sadly their material reward causes them to separate from one another and from God’s purposes. They are poor indeed. It is as though Jesus is saying: “If you don’t mourn now, you will mourn later.” “If you cut yourself off from God, with wealth and status, you will suffer later.” “If you make jokes about the unfortunate ones on earth, you will be the one who is laughed at later.” It is not that God wants people to be poor. Rather, God shows compassion for the poor, and grieves that the wealthy who could help them, keep too much for themselves. And listening to the text, we may think that God wants us to refrain from laughter. I can’t believe that is true. Perhaps what the beatitudes have more to do with why we laugh? Sometimes people laugh because they enjoy flaunting their wealth. Or they laugh at others who lead miserable lives, glad that they are better off. Or they laugh at people they call “crazies”, the mentally ill and the addicted. We laugh at what we fear we might become. But, this is a lonely hollow laughter. And at the same time, life would be unbearable without laughter. Laughter is welcome in worship and in church life. Where would we be without it? But our sense of humor is better when aligned with the coming kingdom. Lasting laughter will be found in the joy of the hungry when they are filled with good things. Or it will be found in the joy of someone who has come through grief and has begun to live again. Last week I watched the movie “The Mauritanian” with my husband. I can recommend this movie, but I have to warn you, it has some very disturbing scenes. It’s not for everyone. The movie tells the story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a young Muslim Mauritanian man who was held in Guantánamo Bay for fourteen years. For many of those years Slahi was held without a charge. He now lives in the Netherlands, at the invitation of the Dutch government. Slahi is portrayed as a gentle person in the film. He is arrested while celebrating a family wedding in Mauritania. He fondly kisses his mother good bye, assuring her he will return home soon. American lawyers, Nancy Hollander and Teri Duncan, travel to Guantánamo to learn about Slahi’s case and to defend him pro bono. Their first objective is to find out the charges against Slahi and bring his case to trial. This does not occur until Slahi has been in prison for 8 years. It turns out that Slahi’s only connection with the September 11th attacks is that he had one of the bombers stay overnight in his apartment while he was studying in Germany. Over the course of his imprisonment Slahi is tortured because he will not confess. He endures all kinds of abuses and degradations. Gradually any kind of comfort is removed from his cell. He is expected to sleep in the freezing cold and unrelenting bright light. Heavy metal music is blasts day and night. Somehow Slahi survives. He prays at the prescribed times of day whenever possible. He continues to appeal to God to protect him, if that is God’s will. We had watched about three quarters of the movie when my husband turned to me and said “his faith is the only reason he got through it.” When the interrogators threaten to arrest his mother and bring her to Gitmo to be tortured and raped, Slahi finally breaks down and confesses. Slahi’s mother died in Mauritania while he was still imprisoned, he never saw her again. Slahi finally has his trial and is cleared. Then he is kept seven more years in Gitmo before being released. Tahar Rahim portrays Slahi in the movie, but film ends with shots and and a brief interview with Mohamedou Slahi himself. Slahi had written a book while imprisoned in Guantánamo called “Guantánamo Diary.” He laughs as he holds up many copies of his book in many different languages. He plays with his young son and revels in his freedom. This man speaks the truth about what happened to him and he is also full of joy. Perhaps Slahi is one of the reviled and defamed that Jesus is speaking of, when he talks to us on the level. Jesus eye contact with the disciples reminds me of my mentor who stops me when I joke at my own attempts to avoid what God would have me do. She smiles and then she looks me in the eye with a serious expression. She asks: “What are you afraid of?” “What are you afraid to let go?” I think the joking will distract her, but she doesn’t let me get away with it. “What is God’s invitation for you in this?” she asks as I attempt to skate around an “invitation” that is challenging me. I can be flip when I’m faced with a serious situation. This is an avoidance tactic. Making a joke allows me to wriggle out of uncomfortable conversations. It allows me to hold back tears of compassion and grief that ought to flow. As the Apostle Paul wrote in the letter to the Romans, we are to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. And so, we may ask ourselves who is weeping now? Certainly people of Ukraine, as they brace for war between powers on either side of their country. And also the suburban community where my children grew up. They are grieving the loss of a High School student who died in a tragic single vehicle car accident in the early hours yesterday People who have been bereaved are weeping whether their loved ones were taken by COVID, by other diseases, or by violence or accidents. People who are lonely and alone are weeping. Those who are addicted or love someone who is addicted weep now. And those who are homeless, without housing, or refugees who do not even have a home country. Friends, we may and we must laugh now, because life would be unbearable without laughter. And we must also grieve now, because our world – our families – our communities – are broken and bereaved. But we leap with joy at the prospect of the kingdom coming in our midst, where the hungry are fed, and the mourning are comforted and the poor are lifted up. Jesus tells us this plainly. May all God’s people say, Amen
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