"Blessed are you who are poor"

Monday musical meditations on God's good news

An opening prayer:

Speak, O Lord, as we come to You

To receive the food of your holy word.

Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;

Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,

That the light of Christ might be seen today

In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.

Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us

All Your purposes, for Your glory.

Teach us Lord full obedience,

Holy reverence, true humility.

Test our thoughts and our attitudes

In the radiance of your purity.

Cause our faith to rise

Cause our eyes to see,

Your majestic love and authority.

Words of power that can never fail;

Let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;

Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us.

Truths unchanged from the dawn of time,

That will echo down through eternity.

And by grace we’ll stand on your promises;

And by faith we’ll walk as you walk with us.

Speak, O Lord, ’til your church is built

And the earth is filled with your glory. Amen.

After coming down with them, he stood on a level place with a large crowd of his disciples and a great number of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon.
¹⁸ They came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those tormented by unclean spirits were made well.
¹⁹ The whole crowd was trying to touch him, because power was coming out from him and healing them all.
²⁰ Then looking up at his disciples, he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, because the kingdom of God is yours. ²¹ Blessed are you who are now hungry, because you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, because you will laugh. ²² Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you, insult you, and slander your name as evil because of the Son of Man.
²³ "Rejoice in that day and leap for joy. Take note— your reward is great in heaven, for this is the way their ancestors used to treat the prophets.
²⁴ "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort. ²⁵ Woe to you who are now full, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are now laughing, for you will mourn and weep. ²⁶ Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for this is the way their ancestors used to treat the false prophets."

helpful notes on Luke 6:17–19

helpful notes on Luke 6:20–23

helpful notes on Luke 6:24–26

Jesus thinks the poor, hungry, insulted, weeping ones who follow him are blessed. What does that mean for you now? Forever?

BWV 20 (YouTube, "O, eternity, word of thunder")
The cantata puts into words the sinner's dilemma: "O, eternity, word of thunder ... I do not know which way I should turn."
The cantata stresses how horrible it will be to suffer God's eternal judgment.
Christ is our only hope: "As I face great sorrow I do not know where I should turn.
"Take me, whenever it pleases you, Lord Jesus, into your tent of joy."