Mark Mizer 

Gospel  Luke

'Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.' (Matthew 5: 4)

'Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.' (Luke 6: 25b)

I do not like the Gospel of Luke. I apologize to those of you that do. Yes, Luke has the Christmas narrative that is not in Matthew and certainly not Mark. (Some would say that reading the Gospel of Mark is like watching paint dry).

But, if Luke was the only Gospel in the Bible...well... I don't know if I could ever try to measure up to what being a Christian is. To me, Luke's Jesus is far from being warm and fuzzy.

In Luke's Beatitudes, the first four verses are comforting. However, in the final three of the seven Beatitudes, Jesus pronounces the 'woes'. (Luke 6: 24-26) The one that troubles me the most is verse 25: 'Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.' One can ask the questions; what does it mean to be full and what does it mean to laugh?

And different people will give different explanations of each. But, for a person who is not a Biblical scholar it can be very troubling. I am neither hungry nor am I mournful, so, does this mean I will have to suffer in eternal torture? If I take Luke at face value the answer would be yes. And, why is Matthew so comforting and uplifting while Luke is rather depressing to me?

I think the answer(s) would be found in continued study, prayer and contemplation. And, is my personal relationship to Jesus solid? I hope so. In Jesus there is no hunger and no sadness, and Luke can't irritate me.

Prayer: Holy God, you gave us minds to examine and question your Word. Above all things, you gave us our Christ, Jesus, who loves us in spite of our doubts. Alleluia, Amen.