A Concord Minute: A disciple’s orientation

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.” - Luke 6:24-26 ESV

I just learned recently that worker bees perform what are called “orientation flights.” These flights are close to home, close to the hive. Worker bees do not, apparently, immediately fly away from the hive in search of nectar. The bees perform circuits around the hive, gradually extending their radius from the hive until they are up to two miles away from home. The rationale behind such buzzling activity? Safety. The bees always know where home is. The bees always know how far away they are from the hive and how long (or short) the path back home is. These “orientation flights” are another example of God’s grand design for His creation.

In this weekend’s Gospel reading from Luke 6, God’s people will receive an orientation before flying back out of the “hive” as we hustle and bustle across creation. This orientation is from what is called the “Sermon on the Plain”, the same place as the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew. The two accounts do vary with Dr. Luke capturing Jesus’ words of woe to His disciples, whereas Matthew’s recording of eight blessings omits such woes.

In Jesus’ orientation to His disciples, Jesus teaches them that they can always come home to God and that they should. No matter if they hunger, thirst, have no belongings, or the world vilifies them for Christ’s sake, God will always welcome them home. Hence, they are blessed!

Yet, woe to any of these disciples who become so absorbed in their social status, their belongings, their bellies, or their own lives that they forget their teacher, Jesus. Those four blessings (social status, reputation, food, and belongings) are good gifts of God. Yet those blessings quickly become curses when any disciple finds in those things comfort, love, mercy, or even trust instead of belonging to Jesus. Put it another way, if the disciples orient themselves toward these earthly blessings they are far, far, far away from Jesus. If they are dys-oriented from Jesus, the disciples are dys-oriented from God.

You and I are given the same blessings and woes; the same orientation. Jesus joyfully gives you and I everything we need: our social status, our reputation, our food, and our belongings. Yet Jesus does not give these to you or I so that we would make our home in them. That is far from God’s design! We are given these blessings so that God would bless others through us. Woe to us when we place our faith in our material blessings. But thanks be to God who sent His Son to orient us toward Him at His cross and His empty tomb. May the church remain oriented to Jesus, Her true home.

The Rev. Matthew Berry is pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Sikeston, Missouri. Based in Sikeston’s Historic North End, Concordia is a member congregation of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), a theologically conservative, biblically sound, Christ-centered church.