Sermon on February 16, 2025
“People of Both-And”
By: The Ven. Margaret Grayden
The Via Media, or “the middle way,” is one of the most distinctive characteristics of the Anglican tradition in which the Episcopal Church is rooted. In theological terms, the Via Media represents the blending of elements from the Protestant Reformation with elements from Roman Catholicism in a kind of happy medium—the best of both worlds. Not surprisingly, this approach to faith works well for people who tend to see the shades of gray in a situation, rather than black-and-white absolutes. Indeed, you might say that as Episcopalians who follow the Via Media, we are the people of “both-and” rather than the people of “either-or”: our view of God’s reign is expansive and inclusive rather than narrow and exclusive.
That said, the readings appointed for this Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany present us—the people of “both-and”—with what at least at first glance is a series of “either-or” propositions, or what Pastor Joslyn Ogden Schaefer calls “binaries.”[1] The Prophet Jeremiah tells us that those who trust in the Lord are blessed; those who trust in mere humans are cursed. Psalm 1 repeats that theme: the righteous are like well-watered trees that flourish; the wicked are like chaff blown away by the wind. Then there’s the Gospel reading, an excerpt from Luke’s version of the Beatitudes, sometimes referred to as the Sermon on the Plain (in contrast to Matthew’s version, known as the Sermon on the Mount). Here we get not one but four contrasting states: poor and rich; hungry and full; weeping and laughing; and hated and revered. Four blessings paired with four woes. What are we to make of this?
Let’s take a closer look at these verses from Luke. It is important to understand their context. In the verses immediately preceding the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus has spent the night up on a mountain, praying to God. When morning came, He called his disciples and chose twelve of them to be His apostles. Then Jesus came down from the mountain with the apostles and the larger group of disciples to a level place, or a plain, that is filled with a great crowd from all of Judea—from Jerusalem in the south to Tyre and Sidon in the north—a crowd that included Jews and Gentiles alike.
The fact that in Luke’s version the sermon occurs on a level place or a plain rather than on a mountain is significant. Theologian Ronald J. Allen has noted that in the writings of five of the prophets (Jeremiah, Daniel, Joel, Habakkuk, and Zechariah), level places were associated with human brokenness. The level places were “places of corpses, disgrace, idolatry, suffering, misery, hunger, annihilation, and mourning.”[2] In Luke’s account, Jesus met people in the level places of their lives, in the midst of their suffering, bringing them both healing actions and healing words. In so doing, Jesus illustrated vividly what the reign of God looks like here on earth. All are welcomed—poor and rich, hungry and satisfied, weeping and rejoicing, hating and revering—and all are healed.
But what about those binaries? It is all too easy to fall into the trap of treating the Sermon on the Plain as prescriptive—basically, do this or else. Read this way, the Sermon on the Plain is at best a warning and at worst a judgment about who will get into heaven (“blessed are you”) and who will not (“woe to you”). No wonder so many people have found it so difficult to relate to the Beatitudes. If you follow this logic, we should all aspire to being poor, hungry, sorrowful, and/or reviled. That just doesn’t make sense. It flies in the face of our understanding that God is a God of love, who creates us in God’s own image, who calls us “good,” and who desires shalom—a sense of completeness, healing and wholeness—for all creation.
What does make sense is to understand the Sermon on the Plain as being descriptive rather than prescriptive in nature. It describes what is: God is with us in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, whether we are rich or poor, hungry or well-fed, happy or sad, popular or reviled. In First Century Palestine, it was assumed that health, wealth, happiness, and the esteem of others were signs of God’s favor or blessing. So, Jesus did not need to assure his listeners that God favors those who are rich, well-fed, happy, and revered by others. What Jesus did need to do was to assure them that God also favors those who are poor, hungry, sad, and/or hated by others. This is a “both-and” not an “either or”: God’s blessing is available to all—no exceptions. Another way of putting this is to say that Jesus was describing what is life-giving and what is not. Pastor Jo Anne Taylor summarizes it nicely, “We are blessed when we are God-centered, regardless of our earthly circumstances, and we find woe whenever we are self-centered.”[3]
Friends, in these disorienting times, many people are feeling for a variety of reasons that they are living in one of those level places, a place of brokenness, a place in which hope is hard to find. Perhaps you are one of those people. And even if you are not, perhaps you can remember a time when you were in that painful level place, desperately in need of the assurance of God’s blessing. I invite you to remember that experience with deep love, compassion, and empathy for people who are feeling that way today. That’s living according to the Gospel, according to the way of blessing. And if you are wondering, “What can I do in the face of so much suffering?” take a look around you. Notice who is marginalized, who is under threat. Do what you can, where you can, with what you have been given in time, talent, and treasure. Be God’s hands and feet and heart in this broken world. No one (except God) can do everything. But everyone can do something. We can all pray without ceasing. We can all find ways to support efforts to alleviate suffering on the local, state, national, and international levels by direct action and financial support. In all these things, we can actively choose to be a blessing to others. May God give us the courage and the strength to do so, now and always.
AMEN.
[1] Joslyn Ogden Schaefer, “God’s Yes, Epiphany 6(C),” https://www.episcopalchurch.org/sermon/gods-yes-epiphany-6-c-february-13-2022, accessed on 2/15/25.
[2] Ronald J. Allen, “Commentary on Luke 6:17-26,” https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/sixth-sunday-after-epiphany-3/commentary-on-luke-617-26, accessed on 2/15/25.
[3] Jo Anne Taylor, “From a Level Place – Sermon on Luke 6:17-26 for Epiphany 6C,” https://pastorsings.com/2019/02/16/from-a-level-place-sermon-on-luke-617-26-for-epiphany-6c, accessed 2/15/25.
