Somebody once said: ‘There are two types of person in this world. There are those who say “There are two types of person in this world”, and those who don’t.’ Hold that thought in your mind for now, and we will return to it in a moment.

The series of studies on Mark which was published in the Eagle (our Eagle, that is, not the Dan Dare one) has now ended. It was, as you know, a series originally commissioned by the Methodist Recorder, and which they kindly agree we could reproduce.

What I have been trying to get across in that series of studies has been a bit more understanding of what the gospel is about. Central to the ‘good news’, as we sometimes call it, is the concept of what the gospel writers called ‘the Kingdom’. Curiously, this term is much used, but much misunderstood, and that is precisely why I chose it.

Luke, then, is no exception. The Kingdom is the keynote of his gospel, and shines through all that he wrote. It comes across as what may be called ‘the new Israel’. The followers of Jesus belong to this new ‘people of God’. You and I are people of ‘the new Israel’. As such, our lives are governed by what we might call ‘Kingdom values’ Luke here is endeavouring to spell out what some of those values are.

The passage we heard this morning is saying ‘There are two types of person in this world – the blest, and the woebegone’.

If I asked you which category you think you are in, what would you say? Is your life blessed, or is it woeful? Luke makes a clear distinction between the two, and they are not quite what you might think.

The first point to make is this. In its fullness, the Kingdom belongs to what theologians call ‘the end time’, when, so we are told in the scriptures, ‘all things will be fulfilled’. That is the time we talk about in the Creed when we say ‘he will come again in glory’. Jesus says the good news is that this kingly rule of God – the Kingdom – is already breaking in upon the present time, so that we can - here and now - begin to experience its blessings.
The second point to make is a challenge to us all. If we decide that by an act of will, that is to say, we change our mind about the kind of life we are living, and go for this new Kingdom way, then we are, to put it bluntly, in for a bit of a shock. Because this new life stands the values of our society - and this especially true of our society at this present time – it stands the values of society on their head. Think about it. The pursuit of happiness is very much to the fore in the goals people set for their lives. ‘I just want to be happy’. And what is the recipe for that in the eyes of our society today? The same as it always has been – prosperity, comfort, peace of mind, and popularity. But what does Jesus say? Exactly the opposite! He pronounces his blessing on those who have failed to find satisfaction in these goals.

But do not misunderstand him. These four blessings are not a general benediction upon misfortune, as though poverty, hunger, grief and persecution and bitterness will guarantee you eternal bliss. Think about it. Who enjoys a good meal the most? Is it the fat and the prosperous? Or would it be, do you think, the hungry person, who hasn’t eaten well in weeks?

It is precisely because Jesus has proclaimed the presence of the Kingdom now that the advantage belongs to those who approach it with the greatest need, who have the greatest capacity to appreciate its riches, and who are not distracted by the shallow and spurious values of the world.

The one thing Jesus requires of us, his disciples, is a discontent with the world, which will lead us to the wealth, the satisfaction, the consolation and the comradeship of the Kingdom.

I do not really need to make the third point, about the ‘woes’ in Luke’s Beatitudes. They are precisely about the things many of us chase, or have chased in our lives in the past, perhaps. Riches, prosperity, comfort, peace of mind, and popularity, as I have already suggested. Make those your goals, and you turn your back on the Christ and his Kingdom way. And that is a hard lesson for us to learn and take on board.
A certain American person in the choir lent me a copy of an American Methodist hymnal last Sunday, which took me back to my boyhood, for we also had a copy in our home then. As a family, we would sing together, often from that book. So I spent a good hour or so going through it, singing aloud some of the hymns in it, and I guess I knew about two-thirds of them. But do you know, as I sang them (Lizanne was out of the house, so she was spared) as I sang them, I was struck by how much they were about turning one’s back, not so much on the world, as on the world’s values, and how different a life they represented from life today. They were about putting Christ first, letting him shape your life, how true joy and happiness came from following him. And, as a young man, that was the way I followed.

So different from now. What do people want? Ask almost any young person now what they want to be and they will soon tell you. They want to be celebrities! They want to be famous. And this only very slightly grumpy old man says: “When everybody is famous, nobody is famous”. To have goals like that is the way only to sorrow and sadness, and with three of my grandchildren here in our church this morning, I say that with some feeling My deep, deep concern is how we can connect the Kingdom way with a generation whose values, in some degree, are a just the opposite. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not for a minute suggesting that there are no good values to be found among today’s teenagers and ‘twenty-somethings’. Far from it. But I do worry about this quest for celebrity status as a life goal. And I do worry that as Christians, as churches, we are not connecting with that generation.

Until quite recently the Church of Scotland parishes in Dumfries employed a young man as a youth worker, to try to do just that. I hear that the money ran out, and he now fits kitchens for a living. What a lost opportunity! If only they had asked for help from the other denominations in the town, perhaps together we could have funded that work, and reached out to youngsters whose lives are filled with dreams which will take them nowhere.

‘Your reward is great in heaven’, says our gospel of those who are blest. Nothing wrong with that. It is really about reaping what we sow. A girl practices piano because her parents bribe her, while another simply because she enjoys music. A businessman cultivates friendship with those who will be useful to him, while another simply enjoys friendship. The joys of the Kingdom are the result of living in the Kingdom way. Such folk will enjoy being with God because they have already found in God their ‘exceeding great reward’.

Blessings or woes. What will your goals give you?

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