Luke 6:20-31
20 Looking at his disciples, he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.
23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
25 Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
“Good Hearts”
“Blessed are the pure of heart, (those who have opened their hearts to the redeeming goodness of God’s love) for they will see God.”(Matt. 5:8)
And they will be a blessing. It will be said of them “He/she had a good heart!”
All Saints Sunday has to do with our hearts. The Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:20-49)) and the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) both speak to issues of the heart.
Heart. The word appears 872 times in the Bible.
It is an all inclusive word which captures all that we are -body, mind, spirit and means everything we are, the very center our our being, the very soul of our existence. In the O.T. as well as new and even today, “the ‘heart’ is at the center of a person’s motivations and actions. It is the deepest fiber and sinew of the human willpower”
John S. McClure
As Jesus says a bit further in the sermon on the Plain:
“The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of the evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.” Lk. 6:45
How is it with your heart?
Believe it or not, want it or not, God would, through Word and Sacrament search us, cleanse us, call us, equip us, change us, enrich us, forgive us, so that from the heart we might “be merciful, just as (our God) is merciful.” Mt. 6:36
Jesus words to his disciples and to us call us to be open to having our hearts touched by the grace which blesses us and challenges us to live as those who, rich or poor, know we are blessed beyond human understanding.
The irony of life is that the deepest blessings sometimes come out of the deepest hurts - for the hurts open our eyes to see what is really important in life and if we will let them, they tenderize our hearts so that we become more alive and more sensitive to the grace of God at work in our world.
It makes all the difference in the world when our hearts are turned towards God and God’s grace is at work in our hearts and lives, taking the worst which happens to us and making it a blessing; and taking the best that happens to us and making that a blessing too - for others who need to know they too are loved by God.
Then we too are numbered with the Saints for a Saint is someone with a “good heart”; a heart which has been captured by the awesome love of God!
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