"Woe to You When All Speak Well of You"

Introduction to the scripture

The Sermon on the Mount appears in Matthew’s gospel in the scriptures.. In Luke, it appears as the sermon on the level place, which we’re about to read this morning. We are far more familiar with the Sermon on the Mount than Luke’s version. Luke seems to be making a theological use of geography. For Luke the mountain is the place of prayer, and there Jesus chooses the twelve. Now, Jesus moves to the plain below to be with the people. The crowd on the level place is made up of three groups: the apostles, the disciples, and the people.

And I want you to note a unique literary device that Luke uses: the blessings and woes – parallels – opposites:

Poor – rich

Hungry – full

Weeping – laughing

Rejected – accepted

These parallels sound like proverbs, but they are not proverbs. Jesus is making a proclamation that this is the way life is in the reign of God. As one commentary observes, “They are God’s word to us, and God’s word is not empty.” (Interpretation, Luke, Fred B. Craddock, p. 87)

Luke 6: 17 – 26

Sermon text

A couple of weeks ago I felt a deep pang of sadness in my heart when I read an article from my hometown newspaper with a photograph of the four room red brick school house I attended grades one – seven. Although the building could have qualified for a historic site in eastern Ohio, built in 1876, its basic structure was a safety hazard, and the little village didn’t have money to restore it so the old schoolhouse was demolished. The village is selling the red bricks and sand stone from the foundation; and I’ve purchased three bricks, one for my sister and brother, and one for me. And, though the building is gone, my elementary school memories are still quite clear.

School in those days was different than today. A teacher could quote Proverbs quite freely, and one of the three teachers in the school actually did that. He used the proverb, a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. It was a way he held the hormonally charged older students in line. We knew that Mr. Thaxton not only ran the school, but we figured he must have had God on his side also.

Of all the proverbs that he’d use this one was the most common. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. That was a peripatetic proverb for all places.

When we were eating lunch and there was a temptation to throw grapes at the girls.

Laughing inappropriately during quiet time in the classroom.

Running up and down the steps from one floor to the other.

Anything that seemed to disturb this stern teacher could bring the proverb about dishonor to a family name.

Is that Proverb true? Is your reputation more important than your wealth? Is what people think of you so important that it shapes your behavior? I’ve known ministers that lived at both extremes of this question. I think of one minister who so much wanted to be liked and to please congregational members that he’d answer a probing question from one member based on his perception of what he thought would please that person, and the same question differently with another member. The upshot was that he was perceived as a liar.

I think of another minister who could have cared less what his church members thought. He’d always answer a question based on his understanding of the Bible, and what he perceived God was calling him to do. It seemed as if he took great pleasure in offending people and making them angry. It was as if he could not bear to have someone respect him or like him so he’d push people away. (Maybe he was a borderline personality?)

 Most of us would like to be well thought of, especially as leaders in a congregation. Most of us would like to think that others see us as persons of honor and respect, persons who can be trusted, and have compassion for others. A good name is important when it reflects things that matter, like character and honesty, and integrity. Why then would Jesus say, Woe to you when all speak well of you…?

This little “proverb” in Luke comes at the end of a list of parallel opposites. Actually, it’s a surprising list. Things are counted as blessings that we typically try to avoid:

  Being poor.

      Being hungry.

          Weeping.

              Being scorned and hated and defamed and excluded.

And the opposite is the same way – things we typically seek are things that Jesus says bring us woe:

  Wealth

      Being full

          Laughter

              And finally, woe to you when all speak well of you.

We need to remember that the world in which Jesus walked was not always a friendly place to people of faith. In the early years of the church’s life, no one was honored for living as followers of Jesus of Nazareth. Folks were expected to be loyal and devoted to the emperor of Rome. No one was commended for loyalty to God.

It’s also worth noting that this list of blessings and woes is directed to the second person plural. Or as they might say in the South, Woe to y’all when everybody speaks well of you. It doesn’t exclude us as individuals, but it does catch us as a congregation, a community of faith. What if this is a word addressed to this congregation, a people of faith, with newly elected leaders being ordained and installed?

It surely would seem strange on one level. We want people in the community to like us, and speak well of us. We want folks to be attracted to our church. We believe that we have something of substance to offer to people moving into north Scottsdale. We offer food for the heart, and mind, and soul. We say Pinnacle is a safe place to come with your Biblical, moral, and theological questions. People can grow here and test new expressions of the faith, people can serve others, and care for those who are on the margins of life. Of course we want others to speak well of us.

We want people to speak well of us because that’s how we’ll grow. You can be sure that every church in Scottsdale is trying to figure out how to present itself to the community in a way that stirs the motivation of those who don’t have a church home. We’re no exception. The reality is that visitors will come here more often than not because someone has spoken well of us, and invited them to come. Why then, does Jesus say, Woe to you when all speak well of you…? I have known churches in my ministry when all did not speak well of them, courageous churches who knew what it was like to be criticized.

I think of the first church I served on the edge of Shaker Heights, Ohio, where the year before I arrived as a minister to youth and adults, communion was served by all men, who wore tuxedoes with tails. But elders on the Session were courageous to suggest it was time to stop that practice, and time for the congregation’s nominating committee to nominate women to be elected to serve on the Session. One of the first comments to me when I arrived came from a member who was quoting Paul in the scriptures, “Women should keep silence in church.” This person assumed that leadership was only for men. Not everyone spoke well of that church.

Then the congregation I served in St. Petersburg, Florida faced difficult times when the neighborhood integrated, and this 600 member church fell to 120 members as nearly 500 white folks fled to other sections of St. Pete. That remnant of persons at Lakeview Church called the first co–pastors in the former southern Presbyterian Church, one black and one white, to be its next clergy team. Imagine the risk the Session of that church undertook in its leadership. Not everyone spoke well of them. And, after they were there several years I was called to be Lakeview’s minister, and we took more risks in serving the community, especially the youth of the neighborhood. Near the end of my ministry at Lakeview a pastor search committee showed up one Sunday morning to hear me preach, and unfortunately, at a dance the evening before when we had over 400 teenagers gathered together, two gangs showed up to use the parking lot for a fight and one teen was shot. And though it was out of the church’s control not everyone spoke well of that church. (And I never heard from the committee again, either.)

Woe to you when all speak well of you. Of course leaders of local churches want the members and community to speak well of them. But Jesus is right. There is something more important than having the approval of all. It is true for you. It is true for me. True for the church. Sometimes we will be condemned for doing what is good and just and right. You may even be blessed… and a blessing to the community. Thanks be to God.

I have used the following resources for this sermon: Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, Luke, by Fred Craddock. The New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume IX, Luke, John. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, The Anchor Bible by R.B.Y. Scott; and Biblical Preaching Journal, Winter, 2007