A Level Place - September 30
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 102; PM Psalm 107:1-32; Hosea 10:1-15; Acts 21:37-22:16; Luke 6:12-26
Today’s Reflection
Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. ... He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Luke 6: 12, 17-19
In today’s Gospel, Luke sets the scene for Jesus preaching a sermon that begins with a series of blessings that we now know as the Beatitudes. Just before this, Jesus had spent the night away from others, up on a mountain, praying to God all night. When day broke, he called together his disciples and chose the twelve who he would name apostles (Luke 6: 12-16). Then all of them came down from the mountain, and Jesus “stood on a level place” to speak to a “great multitude … who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.”
Jesus, rather than standing up above the crowd, has chosen to speak to them from their level. He who is divine and lifted up is choosing to come down to the crowd’s level, to speak from among them, which seems like an apt analogy for the message he has for them in this series of four blessings and four woes. One of the main, recurring themes in the Gospel of Luke, according to scholars, is something called “the great reversal.” This is what we hear Jesus preaching in this sermon. As one commentator explains, when Luke highlights Jesus’ message “in which the last are becoming first, the proud are being brought low and the humble are being exalted, Luke places great emphasis on God’s love for the poor, tax collectors, outcasts, sinners, women, Samaritans, and Gentiles. … many of the episodes that appear only in Luke’s Gospel feature the welcome of the outcast” (ESV Study Bible).
Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, highlights key aspects of pastoral care, all of which work together to “make my [God’s] joy complete” as we seek to be “in full accord,” having “the same mind” and “the same love” with another. As I “look to the interests of others,” I am challenged to “let the same mind be in [me] as was in Christ Jesus,” who “emptied himself” as he “humbled himself.” The focus must be on the interests of the one seeking pastoral care. Second, it’s important to “stand on a level place” alongside those seeking care. In Luke 6, we see how Jesus: “came down with them and stood on a level place.” What a clear model we as pastoral care providers are given when God, incarnate as Jesus, chose to “stand on a level place” with those seeking his care. The bishop’s address to the ordinand states: “In all that you do, you are to nourish Christ’s people from the riches of his grace, and strengthen them to glorify God in this life and in the life to come.” (BCP 531). Throughout the ordination liturgy, we hear repeated this theme of encouraging and incubating the people in the circle of our care.
Richard Burridge, in his consideration of Jesus’ pastoral ministry observes that, “Luke depicts Jesus as almost constantly available, meeting people on the roadside or by the lake shore, in houses or synagogues—and always having time to give them, asking them what they want, and trying to meet their needs or heal their sufferings.” However, achieving this balance between seeming constant availability with being faithful to our other life commitments is crucial. While Burridge highlights Jesus’ accessibility, it is also important to notice that Jesus also took time away from his disciples and the many people seeking his teaching and healing, withdrawing to quiet places to pray alone. In my own life, I seek to balance time providing care for others with continuing to care for myself—whether that be through time alone in prayer, time spent outdoors, time with a counselor or spiritual director, time at home with my family, time connecting with friends, or time spent walking, or running, or reading, or just watching something I like on television. As they always tell us before an airline flight takes off, you must first put on your own oxygen mask before turning to place a mask on your child or someone else needing assistance.
Becky+
Questions for Reflection
When has someone come down to a level place to connect more meaningfully with you?
When have you had to make a conscious choice to withdraw to a quiet place so that you could better handle the demands placed upon you by your responsibilities to others?
Daily Challenge
Find at least half an hour today or this weekend to withdraw to a quiet place to renew your strength and reconnect with God.