Scripture:
Luke 6:17-23
Quick Summary:
Jesus blesses
the people who thought they were cursed.
The Point:
No matter what is going wrong in your
life, God still love you and is with you!
Questions for Family Time:
1.
Why did people think they were cursed by God?
a.
Bad stuff was happening to them.
2.
Like what bad stuff?
a.
They were poor and hungry. People they loved kept
dying.
3.
What was the
good news Jesus proclaimed?
a.
When we go through hard stuff, it’s not
because we are cursed by God.
Deeper:
In the Old Testament,
when the Hebrews came into the Promised Land, they were told to stop in a
valley. On one side was Mount Gerizim, on the other side Mount Ebal. There in
the valley, the whole Law was read to them. Every rule, every commandment was
said in front of all the people. Then half of the Hebrews went and stood on one
mountain the other half on the other mountain. The ones on Mount Gerizim
shouted out what would happen if they followed God’s Law. They shouted The
Blessings. Then, those on Mount Ebal shouted out what would happen if the law
was disobeyed…the curses.
Right at the birth
of the nation, the people learn that if they do right by God, they will be
blessed. If they do wrong by God, they will be cursed. For thousands of years
later, they held this belief that if your life appears to be cursed, like you
live in poverty, or are disabled, or keep losing people you love, you must have
broken God’s law to receive such a curse.
This is the
world that Jesus comes into. In this world, to these people who seem to be
cursed by God, Jesus comes down the mountains to the people. He proclaims good
news by blessing the cursed people:
“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.
Jesus takes the cursed and rejected and he tells them that
God has not cursed them. Instead God has blessed them.
God has given his kingdom to the
poor.
He will feed the hungry.
He will bring joy to those with
sorrow.
He will bless the lonely and
rejected. God
has an eternal home for these people.
Jesus lifts the curse that these people were carrying. When
everyone around them are accusing them of sin, and telling them they must have
deserved their misfortune, Jesus shows up. Is there really any news that could have been better for
them?
This is the good
news He proclaims for us: No matter what circumstance you find yourself in, God
loves you. Our blessings are not how well it rains, or how well the stock
market does. Our blessings are not even if we are popular and well liked. Our
blessings are this:
Ours
is the kingdom of God!
We
will be satisfied.
We
will experience joy again.
God
does not reject or desert us!
We
have an eternity with him waiting for us.
This is the Good
News! Even when the world tells us we are cursed, We know that God is for us!
Personal Reflection:
When have you been surprisingly blessed in moments of hardship? What hardships
are you facing right now? How do you see God blessing you in the midst of them?