Sermon on the Plain

Each church season offers a unique “movement of the soul,” a particular way of growing in grace. The movement of the soul Epiphany offers is not something we do, but instead something we receive. In Epiphany, we receive a revelation of God’s character in the person of Jesus Christ. Do we see him clearly? Do we receive him? To that end…

On Sunday, we will read Luke 6:17-26, which is the beginning of the “Sermon on the Plain” (the sermon ends at verse 49). The full sermon overlaps a great deal with the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7), but the emphases are different. As a traveling teacher and prophet, Jesus likely taught this material in a number of settings, choosing his points of emphasis for the setting and the audience anew each time.

Even though “mount” and “plain” indicate where Jesus stood as he delivered each version of the sermon, these words do more than just set the geography. Both are loaded with theological weight, and Jesus was too immersed in the Scriptures not to realize what he was communicating by standing in a particular place while he delivered each message. Standing on a mountain would have reminded his audience of Moses, and so the version Matthew records should be heard as Torah—God’s Law and instruction for his people. But standing on a plain is equally significant, because in the prophets, plains are a picture of obstacles being removed so that God would return to dwell with his people (e.g., Is. 40:3-5).

It is with this in mind that we should hear Jesus’ words in Luke 6. When he says, “blessed are the poor” and “woe to you who are rich,” or, “blessed are you who are hungry now” and “woe to you who are full now,” do we hear him saying that our pursuit of wealth and satisfaction can prevent us from dwelling with God? When he says, “blessed are you who weep now” and “woe to you who laugh now,” do we hear him saying that our pursuit of pleasure and unwillingness to grieve can prevent us from being with God?

His words are not easy words, but we make them harder if we turn them into a denial of self for denial’s own sake. Jesus is not calling us to deny ourselves food, money, or laughter because these are evil; instead, he is pointing out what often prevents us from seeing and dwelling with God. Pursuing anything—even the good things—in place of God is like placing a mountain or valley in the middle of the road between us and God. Our Lord does not call us to self-denial out of harshness, but instead out of love. Much of what we pursue does not bring life, and it certainly does not prepare us for the presence of God.

“Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed!” (Is. 40)

Steven+