Doing the same thing over and over again is an excellent way to free our minds from the cares of this world so that we can contemplate eternal things.

Take, for instance, snow shoveling! Oh look, the snow plow! I have the “joy, joy, joy down in my heart!”

Jesus’ teaching in Luke is cause for contemplation and a bit unsettling. Luke 6:20 (NRSV) “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Luke 6:24 (NRSV) “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Luke 6:21 (NRSV) “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.” But, Luke 6:25 (NRSV) “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.”

At this point, we are prone to contemplate what is in our bank accounts and what is in our refrigerators and respond accordingly. If we’re doing pretty well, we get uncomfortable. If we’re struggling, we’re going to get ours. Either way, we miss Jesus’ point. We turn Jesus into an economist and reduce the kingdom of God to dollars and cents and meat and potatoes. We make the kingdom of God about what we value rather than allowing the kingdom to transform our values. We evade Jesus’ invitation to Matthew 25:34 (NRSV)
‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

We don’t use the word “blessed” or “bless” much, but down South they have a curious expression, “Bless your heart.” When our neighbor uses his snow blower to clear our sidewalk and driveway, we might say, “It was so kind of you to help, bless your heart.” But, when another neighbor brings us some cookies that could be used to scrape the ice off our windshield, we might say, “Her baking puts the die in diet, bless her heart.”

“Bless your heart” is both a heartfelt expression of appreciation and a kind-hearted way to degrade. It puts both the sweet and the sour in our lemonade, “bless your heart.”

Jesus’ teaching “blessed are you” and “woe to you” are also two sides of the same coin; the positive and the negative. The contrast between the two is our invitation to a new way of life; a way that will truly “bless your heart.”

Jesus points the way for us. He is our guide, our shepherd on life’s path. The first few verses describe what appears to be a typical day in Jesus’ ministry. The crowd surrounded him; they had come from near and far to hear him, to be healed by him, and to be freed from unclean spirits by him. They had come to Jesus for what he could give; they were there for “what’s in it for me.” Bless their hearts.

Does that kind of faith sound strangely familiar, or am I the only one who gets more devout the more desperate I become? But this way of life will not bless our hearts; we remain trapped in ourselves; our appetites control us; our desires ensnare us. Desperate devotion is devotion; it’s a start but it’s no place to stay; this way of life is filled with woe.

Jesus would bless our hearts, so he warns us in Eugene Peterson’s wonderful paraphrase of the Bible, The Message, Luke 6:24-25 (The Message) It’s trouble ahead if you think you have it made.What you have is all you’ll ever get.And it’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself.Your self will not satisfy you for long.

Think about it! What troubles you this morning? What are you anxious about? What weighs heavy on your mind and robs you of joy and peace and sleep?

If we keep doing what we’ve been doing, if we keep going the way we’ve been going, we will continue to get what we’ve gotten; we will continue to arrive at the same destination.

Right now, that may sound like good news. Life is good; money in the bank; food in our bellies; life is good. But how quickly that can change! How quickly our secure, stable lives can become insecure and unstable and we’re back on the path of desperate devotion.

“It’s trouble ahead” But there is a way; a way through the trouble; a way through the anxiety; not a way to avoid life’s challenges; not a way that exempts us from life’s trials; a way to be secure in the midst of insecurity, to be stable in the midst of instability, to be at peace in troubled times. There is a way to truly bless your heart.

I went for a hike on Neversink Mountain as part of my retreat in January. My journey began at the trailhead by Forest Hills cemetery. As I walked up the path, I enjoyed the new signs that directed me where each path led and that interpreted what I was looking at. A picture and a paragraph opened my eyes to the remains of the trestle that took the trolley over the Klapperthal Glen. Guided by those signs, I chose a different path and enjoyed a new view.

Jesus’ blessings and woes are like those signs; they are trail markers that open our eyes to new understanding and that direct us on the blessed path. Jesus paints with bold colors so the marks are easy for us to see; Luke 6:20 (NRSV) “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Luke 6:24 (NRSV) “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Luke 6:21 (NRSV) “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.” But, Luke 6:25 (NRSV) “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.”

Common sense tells us we cannot take these words at face value. Can we really say, “Blessed are the poor…blessed are you who are hungry now” in light of what’s going on in Haiti? If this is so, shouldn’t we stop working so hard on their behalf? God forbid!

The key is the contrast; the poor and the hungry live in faith and hope; every meal is a prayer answered; every day is an exercise in faith. When we’re rich and well-fed, we lose sight of that. We expect. God is obligated to us. So we’re not grateful; we grumble “what took you so long?” We demand “what’s in it for me?”

And Jesus loves us enough to say, we’ve wandered off the path; there is trouble ahead.

The blessed path is marked by faith; Jesus blazed the trail for us; he is the pioneer of our faith. We walk the blessed path by orienting ourselves to Jesus. “We walk by faith, not by sight” as the Bible tells us.  

Therefore, when hard times come, we draw near to God. We trust that God will care for us. And when good times come, we stay near to God. We give thanks for what we have received and we recognize that our gratitude is best expressed in generosity. Our circumstances do not determine our devotion; our devotion determines our response to our circumstances. We stay centered and balanced in the love of God that does not change; we find stability and strength in God; stability and strength we need to stand in life’s storms; stability and strength our neighbors need to stand in their storms.

This week’s “snowpacalypse” gave us an opportunity to walk the blessed path. We were rendered helpless. We were forced to be still. Wasn’t the silence wonderful? Everything shut down, except the kindness of neighbors, except our concern for one another. That kicked into high gear. Whether we needed help or not, wasn’t it nice to be thought of? And wasn’t it nice to think that way, to wonder about someone else’s need and what we can do to meet it? Wasn’t it nice to walk the blessed path?

This week’s storm is an invitation to walk the blessed path. Spend 15 minutes per day in silence; it will change your life! In hard times, draw near to God and know that God cares for you. In good times, stay near to God and know that God cares through you. At all times, follow the One who blazed the trail, Jesus Christ, and God will truly bless your heart. Amen.