Good News is Proclaimed to the Poor

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?

Hope: Knowing it gets better than this

Scripture:

John 3:16

Quick Summary:

Jesus explains to Nicodemus that God loves us so much, that he sent Jesus to die for our sin. When we believe in Jesus and follow him, we are promised Eternal Life with God. (Most of our time will be on memorizing John 3:16)

The Point:

No matter what we struggle with here and now, we have hope in eternal life when we follow God. Hope is our virtue for this lesson.

Questions for Family Time:

                  1.      Can you tell me John 3:16?

a.      For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.  

                  2.      What does this tell us about future?

a.      When we believe in Jesus, we get to spend forever with God.

                  3.      What does this tell us about hope?

 a. Hope is believing something better is coming, and living forever with God is as good as it gets!

Deeper:

 Our scripture today is one of the shortest texts we will study. It also is arguably the most famous. It is plastered on signs, billboards, and even on sport enthusiasts’ chests. The reason for its popularity is that of all the passages in the Bible, it sums up the whole Bible the best. Check it out:

1.     It talks about how much God loves us and how far God is willing to go to make sure we know that.

2.      It shares the whole point of Christmas: that God gave the world his son in Jesus Christ.

3.     It talks about how Jesus is God’s son in a different way than us. He is begotten, 100% of God. We are only created, made by God, not one person of the divine Trinity.

4.     It talks about our choice of either rejecting Jesus and turning away from God, or following Jesus and being adopted into God’s family as a true child. Not only does it point to our choice, but says that God gives us all a chance, every human on the face of the planet…whoever believes.

5.     It talks about eternal life. Jesus’ resurrection of the dead was just the first. We are promised to live on after we are done with this world. Even death cannot separate us from the love of God. 

That’s what makes this small verse so powerful.
For me, having this verse memorized comes in handy when I am losing my way. When I can’t feel God’s love, it points to the proof of his love, Jesus. When I feel surrounded by death and destruction, it point to the promise of everlasting life. In those moments when I feel defeated and forgotten, this is what I repeat to myself, over and over again.

My prayer is that it will stay with your child to see them through the moments when they feel defeated and forgotten. It will remind them that God is bigger than the moment’s circumstances. It will remind them how deep God’s love is for them, and that he would do anything to share his love with them. I pray that it will be a beacon of hope for them when they are surrounded by darkness.

I also pray that for you. I encourage you to put this passage somewhere to remind you that there is always hope. In Jesus lowest moment, he was literally dead and buried. And yet, God loved him and us so much that Jesus rose from the dead. That is the kind of love that God has for you. And we get to share that love forever. It doesn’t get better than that.

Personal Reflection:

What part of this verse strikes you the most? Have you made the choice to accept God’s love and follow Jesus? How is that choice apparent in your life?