The Reversal

ByJim Stephens

Scripture: Luke 6:20-26

20 Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “God blesses you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. 21 God blesses you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. God blesses you who weep now, for in due time you will laugh. 22 What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. 23 When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way. 24 “What sorrow awaits you who are rich, for you have your only happiness now. 25 What sorrow awaits you who are fat and prosperous now, for a time of awful hunger awaits you. What sorrow awaits you who laugh now, for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow. 26 What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds, for their ancestors also praised false prophets. (Luke 6:20-26 NLT)

I told you at the beginning of this year of Luke and Acts that I was reading slowly and asking the Holy Spirit to dig deep in my heart and life. GraceNotes is meditation toward maturity, focused on being a Jesus-follower. The Holy Spirit is digging deep!

Here Jesus says, God blesses you who are poor, hungry, and sorrowful.  In due time you’ll be rich, full, and joyful! And then he says, Sorrow awaits you rich, so enjoy it while it lasts because it’s all you get! And you who are fat and prosperous can look forward to hunger and lack in your future. And you happy party people have only mourning and sorrow to look forward to! And if you’re popular and everything you post gets lots of “likes” and your reels go viral, it’s going to pop like a bubble!

Here’s the challenge: This is a complete reversal of the way we’ve learned to look at life, blessing, and success! We expect our faith and faithfulness to bring only blessing. In fact, we’ve come to believe that outward success, freedom from hardship, and growing popularity are the proof of our greatness and God’s approval! Our focus is on blessing now and if we don’t get it we think something’s wrong. When loss and sorrow come, we feel we’ve failed or God has let us down. It’s the exact opposite of what Jesus says here. Does it hit you that way?

Friends, I’d love to hear what you think about this. Do we read this literally? Do we explain it away? Do we just skip on to the next chapter and hope it gets better? I’d love it if you replied to this email with your thoughts and comments.

Prayer:

Father, Please guide us in the Jesus Way as we learn and pray and seek to please and honor you with our lives and our actions in this world. We love you! Amen!