2nd Sunday of Lent (March 16). A RIGHT-SIDE-UP WORLD, CONTINUED

Prepare to Listen.  Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me! (Ps. 27:7)
 
Prayerfully Read Luke 6:24-26
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.
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
What was your gut reaction to these 4 ‘woe to you who are’?  What would you like to say to Jesus about it?
 
For every blessed are you, (vv. 20-23) Jesus has a contrasting woe to you who are.  God’s kingdom, an eternal blessing, belongs to the poor; the rich have a temporary consolation now.  The hungry will be filled; those who are full now will go hungry.  Those who weep now will laugh; those who laugh now will mourn and weep.  The rejected are blessed; the popular are cursed.  Which would you rather be among—the blessed or the cursed (woes)?  When we see Jesus’ words side by side, I think the choice is easy.  Of course, we’d rather be with the blessed and enjoy a blessing ourselves.  But it’s a costly way, saying ‘no’ to our wants.  We often resist it and sneak over to the side of the cursed to enjoy their temporary gains.
 
But Jesus wasn’t asking us to make a personal choice.  He was teaching us that the code of the Kingdom seeks to right the wrongs of the poor, the hungry, the mourners, the rejected, all those on the margins of society. If we want to follow Jesus, his difficult narrow way and not an easy broad way,[1] we must be on the side of marginalized poor, not on the side of the powerful rich.  This way is Jesus’ right-side-up world.
 
Most, but not all of us in the West are rich, have never known hunger, have means to control our sorrow, and have never experienced the rejection of persecution.  If you’re one of them, how do Jesus’ words affect you?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord, help me use my advantages to serve your kingdom and uplift those in disadvantaged circumstances.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Side with the marginalized.
[1] See Matthew 7:13-14.