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Background: During the next several Sundays we here Luke's
"Sermon on the Plain" -his account of the tradition which Matthew renders in his
Sermon on the Mount. There was obviously an earlier tradition of a compendium of the
sayings of Jesus which, as it was handed on, emerged in two somewhat different forms.
Matthew edited one version and Luke another. Despite different settings and
wordings (Matthew has eight beatitudes, Luke has four beatitudes and four woes) both have
the same theme: a description of the kind of lives the followers of Jesus will live if
they trust in Jesus' revelation of God's love. The beatitudes are not normative, not new
obligations to be added to the commandments. Rather they are descriptive, new insights
into the possibility of life when one trusts in God as Jeremiah says in the story. |
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Story: Once upon a
time there was a gifted young man from an impoverished background
that set out to prove himself. He studied hard, work his way through college and business
school, and dedicated himself to success in the company that hired him. Because he
combined street smarts and intellectual shrewdness, he was extremely successful and
rapidly moved up in the company, becoming a senior vice president before he was forty. He
married a fine woman and they had three splendid children, though he had little time for
them, so
determined was he to make it to the top. In the process he earned a lot of money and piled
up valuable stock options. Just ten more years, he promised his wife, then I'll be able to
relax and enjoy life. All our kids will be out of college by then. I'll make it all up to
them, he promised. Neither the wife nor the kids believe him. Then on the day of his 40th
birthday he keeled
over with a heart attack and almost died. Too much stress the doctors said. You've got to
leave your company and settle back to a more relaxed life. I can't he pleaded, I'll be the
next CEO! I can't pass up that opportunity. You'll be a dead CEO the doctor replied unless
you change your life style. I can't, the man said, I must make it to the top. Buy the best
insurance you can get the doctor replied because your wife will be a widow before you're
forty five.
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