Dear Friends,
We hope this week's devotional will encourage you in your spiritual walk. You are welcome to share this and include it in your church newsletters if you wish; we just ask that you please give credit to NTC and the author. Thank you!
Luke 6:17-26
17 He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22 “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23 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.
24 “But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
25 “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.
26 “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
Devotional Thought:
This section begins Luke’s so-called ‘Sermon on the Plain,’ which parallels much of Matthew’s ‘Sermon on the Mount’ (Matthew 5—7). Nevertheless, there are some big differences between these two sermons, which are evident even from the start. For example, Matthew begins with eight beatitudes whereas Luke has a series of four beatitudes with corresponding woes. Additionally, Matthew’s beatitudes appear to be more spiritually focused, while Luke’s appear to be more physical. It is not the ‘poor in spirit’ or those who ‘hunger and thirst for righteousness' that Jesus addresses in Luke’s gospel. Rather, it is those who are materially poor, those who are literally hungry. These people who experience such hardships in the present are promised a new reality in the burgeoning Kingdom of God. Within these words are hope, yes for the future, but also for the present. Those in Christ are drawn into a new creation reality that offers the blessings of the future in the here and now. The Body of Christ, the Church, is called to embody such hope and to embrace the least of these in tangible ways that help reveal this new Kingdom reality to the world around us. For many, what we do and what we believe will not make sense. Nevertheless, a watching world may very well find healing and hope in the witness of Christ in and through us. May we be a blessing to someone this day!
Prayer:
Gracious Father, we praise you for the hope that is found in Christ. We who are filled with the Holy Spirit commit ourselves to live out hope in tangible ways each day. God, we ask for your presence and love to flow through us to those around us. Enable us not to live by the world’s standards of worth, nor by the seeming realities we see around us. Give us eyes to see your Kingdom come and to see others as you see them. Help us to be a tangible blessing to someone this day. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Rob A. Fringer
NTC Principal