It’s also true of our Gospel lesson today.  There were two groups gathered: the disciples and the multitude.  And within the multitude there were two groups, the religious insiders, consisting of those from Judea and Jerusalem and the outsiders, the outcast from the coast of Tyre and Sidon.  Either/Or.  That’s the way it’s set up for us in Luke’s account of those gathered there on the plain. 

 And Jesus continues the pattern with his account of those who are blessed or those experiencing woe.  Blessed are the poor, the hungry and the weeping.  Woe to the rich, the well fed, and those who are filled with laughter.  Once again, Jesus has turned the known world upside down.
 
 There is a person who serves as pastor of one of the largest churches in the United States.  He is a self appointed pastor, having seceded his father, who founded the congregation.  This mega pastor did not graduate from seminary, and in fact only went to college for two years.  The entirety of his ministry is based on what is called the “prosperity gospel”.  God wants you to be rich.  God wants you to be prosperous.  God wants you to drive a Lexus like he does says this Pastor whom I’ll call J.O.  But J.C., Jesus Christ, says Blessed are the poor. Woe to the rich.  

 I decided to check out Pastor J.O.’s ministry.  A visit to his web site let me know that “God Wants 2007 to be Your Best Year Ever!”  Alright!  That’s great!  I’m on board!  How does that happen?  Well, according to this web site, my best year ever will begin after I’ve made a donation to J.O.’s ministry.  This donation is apparently needed to help sustain his lifestyle, which includes a $1.4 million dollar home.  In fact, Pastor J.O.’s web site was filled with words such as “order”, “donate”, “buy”, “purchase”, “support”, “give”.  Blessed are the poor.  Woe to the rich. 

 Pastor J.O goes on to say that Christians will receive preferential treatment in life.  That we can be successful in business, prosperous financially, and lucky in love.  He says that if we just tell people that we are Christians they will go out of their way to assist us.  In John 15 we hear these words from Jesus: “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you.”  And again in our Gospel reading from Luke today Jesus adds: “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.”

 The words of Jesus are often not easy to hear.  Especially when they seem to point a finger at the way we are living.  Those of us who are rich, well fed, and laughing like to think that we are the blessed ones, that we are the ones who have it figured out. We think that somehow there is a direct correlation between our goodness and our prosperity.  That somehow God’s love and favor toward us can be measured by our possessions.  That’s why on any given Sunday Pastor J.O.’s church, housed in a former basketball arena, draws 42,000 worshippers.  But they are hearing a message that is different from what Jesus Christ is saying to those gathered on this level place.  Blessed are the poor, the hungry, the sorrowing. 

 I don’t know how Pastor J.O has missed it.  I don’t know how we miss it.  Jesus is clear about who God’s preference rests with:  the widow, the orphan, the outcast, the lonely, the poor, the hungry, the sorrowing.  Think of the preferred character in all of Jesus’ parables:  the prodigal son, the widow’s mite, the shepherd boy with a sling, the youngest Son of Jacob.  This God came to earth not as a king, not as a powerful warrior, but as an infant born in a barn, to an unmarried girl from the wrong side of the tracks.  Blessed are the poor, the hungry, and the sorrowing.
 
 These words of Jesus are hard for us to hear and comprehend.  But as we seek understanding, it becomes clear that Jesus is not making a judgment on a whole portion of society.  Jesus is not saying that our salvation is in jeopardy because of what we own, or what we eat, or because we are cheerful people.  Jesus, I believe, is telling us two things. 

 One, Jesus is telling us that when we experience financial or material comfort, when our pantries and refrigerators are full, when life is generally treating us well, it is easy to bask in what we have.  It is easy to imagine that we deserve what we have, to depend on our own resourcefulness. 

 It is in times of want that we are more likely to turn to God.  It is in those times when we are struggling, perhaps financially or in relationship.  Maybe we are trying to come to grips with the fact that our lives have taken an unexpected turn.  And it is in those times that we are likely to turn to God, to find ourselves either asking why or for help or in lament.  And in that relationship with God, in that turning back to God, we are, in fact, the blessed ones.
 
 The second message we receive from Jesus in this passage is that the ways of the world are often in direct conflict with the ways of God.  The world turns its nose up at the hungry, it turns its back on the poor, it avoids those who are sorrowing.  How much more are we drawn to those who are prosperous.  Just look at the tremendous numbers of people flocking to that arena and Pastor J.O.  Just consider the people who attend his seminars and buy his books and listen to his tapes and download his podcasts.  We want to be like him.  We want the Lexus and the mansion and the fancy suits and the full stomach and the constant smile.  
 But we are made in God’s image.  And God came to earth, not as a sportscar driving preacher, telling us that 2007 is our year, but as the son of a poor carpenter, telling us that we are more blessed when we are struggling, more blessed when we are turning to God than when we are depending on our own devices.  Jesus, the one we are called to follow, leads us into place we may be reluctant to go.  Places where we will encounter the hungry, the poor, and the sorrowing.  Places where we will