I remember very favorably
a teacher at the University of Virginia
some 40 years ago.

Habitually, he came down from the podium
to us poor in knowledge,
and asked:
Do you understand?
What do you think about this?
I desire you to be your best.

He even came to places where we gathered
to study in the evening:
What can I do to help?
Isn't this exciting?
Do you want to talk about it?

This teacher spent all his time teaching,
so never published anything
or hung out with the other faculty.
He was released at the end of that year.

But, I think of him often to this day.
I have forgotten the published, ivory tower academics,
and still enjoy the subjects for which he had passion.

The gods of the Greeks and Romans
stayed on their mountain tops,
and didn't much care what happened
down below.

The one, true God of Abraham, Isaiac, and Jacob
was perceived by the People of Israel
as being aloof:
lived on Mount Horeb
hung out in that mysterious place
where went the smoke of their
burned sacrifices,
or was in residence on the Day of Atonement
once each year
in the Holy of Holies at the Temple.

We also, in our time and culture
Think of God as far away.
"From a distance" is the title of a song
that was popular a few years ago.

Not so, says Jesus
by his witness and his acts.

God is very near.

In today's Gospel reading
Luke makes a point of this, saying:
Jesus came down from the Mountain
and stood on level ground
with a great multitude of people.

They came from all over:
Judea in the South,
The holy City, itself,
and Tyre and Sydon in the far north.

If Luke had heard of a Baltimore
we would have been included in the list.

They came because
they were troubled by unclean spirits
and because they felt a connectivity with God
in the person of this man, Jesus,
which they had never before experienced,

for, he came down and stood with them
on level ground.
and he taught them
saying such things as:
Blessed are you poor,
for yours is the Kingdom of God.
But, woe to you who are rich,
for you already have that which
your hearts most desire.

Do you understand?
May I help you with this?
I desire for you everything God can give.

Some 500 years before Jesus
in the time of the prophet, Jeremiah,
occurred one of the two major defining events
in Jewish religious history.

The first event was the Exodus of slaves from Egypt
and the gift of a new way of being,
- in touch with God
- and blessed with
a new faith community.
The second was the Exile in Babylon.

That second defining event
was caused by the rich and powerful of Judah
caring only for their influence and wealth
and playing world power politics
with the Babylonians and Egyptians
and loosing.

The powerful army of King Nebucanazer
came out of the hills
and leveled Jerusalem.
The Temple, the heart of the People,
was utterly destroyed.
The able-bodied men, women, and children
were carried off to Babylon
to serve in slave labor camps once again.

The children and grandchildren of these people
lived to return in hope and great joy,
after having been freed by King Cyrus of Persia.

But, we are taught in scripture and Jewish tradition
most to pity those
who were left behind in Judah
in that dark day of destruction.

They were the sick, the weak,
the lame, the elderly,
the people no master wanted.

They were left behind by the thousands
in the rubble of what once was,
deserted,
to glean grain from weeds
drink bad water
and slowly starve.

They were separated from their families,
left with nothing,
dispossessed,
and existed on the ash heap of their dreams.

These unfortunates are called in Jewish history
"These Poor".

It is their sense of abandonment, fragmentation
and isolation
to which Jesus refers
in today's Gospel reading.

Blessed are you poor
for the Kingdom of God is yours.

How God must have wept for those who were left behind,
and for his other poor,
- at times for each of us as well
- when we are poor in spirit,
- feeling abandoned, isolated, and fragmented,
- separated for our God
- and from one another.

But, Jesus came down from the mountain
and stood on level ground.

One translation reads,
"Jesus Otook his stand' on level ground."
Such a phrase implies a powerful presence
and a confrontive attitude.

And such might just be appropriate
For the other side of the coin is this,
The "Poor" of destroyed Jerusalem
were betrayed, dispossessed, and abandoned
because of the attitudes, actions,
and in-actions
of people with wealth and secular power.

"Woe to you who are rich,"
implies two things:

Firstly, that their concern for greater power and riches,
their playing the game,
caused the calamity
and made many into "the Poor".

and, Secondly, the driven kind of success
of such people
is all they care about.
They have what they think they want.

But, People are more important.
God is more important.
Wealth is temporal,
and is at best a trust
we are to use as God's stewards

By their own choices, says Jesus
the rich might have cast aside as valueless
that which they most desperately need.

I note, however, that in the language of Jesus
in Luke's so-called "Sermon on the Plain",
the rich as well as the poor
are included in the multitude
among which Jesus walks and speaks.

Jesus came down
and stood on level ground
and asked:
Do you understand?
Can I help you get there?
I want you to be God's best.
I want you to be healed
from being rich of goods
and poor in spirit.

We each have more than we need
so the challenge by Jesus is our challenge.

We can be poor in spirit,
fractured, isolated, fearful,
and God loves us,
and comes and stands with us
on level ground.

And, we can be rich
and fractured, isolated, fearful
and God loves us,
and comes and stands with us
on level ground.

But what then?

What does God expect of us?
What must folks have thought
as Jesus walked among them?
and looked them each in the eye?
- looks us each in the eye?

This congregation exists
to give us a laboratory
and the resources of word and spirit
for acting faithfully
in good times as well as bad.

This church is the beacon of light
in a contentious, self-serving society
calling us to faithfulness of living
in all times and circumstances.

The economy, the culture, the political climate,
Our jobs and our schools,
even our illnesses and losses,
all constitute the stage
on which we have the possibility
of living faithful lives,
connected with our God
and acting out his will
in a world of the Poor.
In today's first reading,
Jeremiah, the prophet
who stood on the wall of Jerusalem
as Nebucanezer's army attacked writes,

"Thus says the Lord;
Blessed are those who trust in the Lord
even when the enemy is at the gates
They shall be like a tree
planted beside water,
sending out its roots into the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
and its leaves shall stay green.
In the year of drought it is not anxious,
and it does not cease to bear fruit.

Be not anxious, beloved of God
be healed, be reconciled
be joined into God's faith community
have a great time emulating God's ways
They are better than the ways of the world.

And, rejoice in the Lord, always,

for, Jesus came down
and stood with us
on level ground.