Sermon on the Plain: The Beatitudes and Woes - a podcast by Rev. W. Reid Hankins

Sermon preached on Luke 6:17-26 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 10/03/2021 in Novato, CA.















Sermon Manuscript







Last week we saw that Jesus selected his inner circle of twelve disciples who would also be his twelve apostles that he would one day send out into the world with the gospel message. But first Jesus must train them. And that is what he immediately proceeds to do. As verse 17 shows, as soon as Jesus selects the twelve, he then goes with them and begins to teach them along with a great crowd. His teaching would be applicable to all the crowd who sought to be discipled by Jesus. But we can appreciate how his words here would also especially speak to the twelve. It would tell them of the sort of life that Jesus was calling them into, in how they would need to take up their crosses and follow him.







This famous sermon of Jesus is known here in Luke as the Sermon on the Plain. We only read part of that sermon today, but it extends through the end of this chapter. It is likely Luke’s record of the same sermon in Matthew 5-7 known as the Sermon on the Mount. When you compare Luke’s account versus Matthew’s account, the similarities are abundantly clear, but there are also some notable differences. Luke’s account is much shorter. In today’s passage specifically, we see that Luke has less beatitudes than Matthew’s, yet Luke also records these contrasting woes. Also, Matthew’s beatitudes clearly draw out a spiritual application that is not explicit in Luke’s beatitudes. If in fact, Luke and Matthew are both reporting the same exact sermon, which seems like a likely case, I would note that there are various possible ways to harmonize the two accounts. But that would also tell us that we should not think of either of these accounts of this sermon as an exact transcript of what Jesus said, as if someone was like a courtroom stenographer and giving us a complete record. Rather, both are surely faithful, and divinely inspired, summaries of what was surely a much larger and longer sermon that day by Jesus. So then, today and over the next few sermons we’ll have an opportunity to consider Luke’s divinely inspired account of this memorable teaching by Jesus.







Let us then begin to dig into this Sermon on the Plain. In our first point, we will consider Luke’s emphasis in these beatitudes and woes on one’s outward estate. Compared to Luke’s account, Matthew’s gospel clearly spiritualizes these beatitudes. Where Luke says in verse 20, “Blessed are the poor”, Matthew says instead, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Where Luke says in verse 21, “Blessed are the hungry”, Matthew says, “Blessed are those who hunger for righteousness.”In light of Matthew’s account, it could be tempting to just spiritualize Luke’s versions. Yet, a spiritual application would not be the most immediately natural way to take Luke’s simple statements. And Luke’s contrasting woes such as, “Woe to the rich” and, “Woe to the full”, also don’t lend themselves to an immediate spiritual application. To be clear, I think Matthew’s spiritual applications can be an extended application of Luke’s beatitudes. But since we are studying Luke today, we should start with the more immediate emphasis and focus of his account.







So then, it’s here we need to make a clarification right away. With a superficial application, you might think Jesus is saying that you are blessed simply if you are poor, hungry, and sad, and you are cursed simply if you are rich, full, and glad. In other words, a superficial reading of this might sound like you can only be saved if you are downtrodden and miserable and you are damned if you have experienced any prosperity or happiness in life. But such a superficial understanding can’t be right,

Further episodes of Reformed Sermons and Sunday Schools at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Petaluma, CA

Further podcasts by Rev. W. Reid Hankins

Website of Rev. W. Reid Hankins