I KNOW YOU probably don’t believe in fairy godmothers, but humor me for a moment. Imagine that your fairy godmother appears to you one day and offers you a wish. “You have two choices,” she says sweetly. “One, you can be rich and well-fed for the rest of your life. You can be someone who gets to laugh a lot and have people speak well of you.”

She pauses a moment before continuing. “Or two, you can choose the opposite. You can be poor and hungry for the rest of your life instead. You can be someone who cries a lot, and have people insult and reject you.

“Hurry now, my dear, make a choice. I’ll wave my magic wand over you, and whatever you choose will be your life from now on.”

Here’s the question: which would you choose?

Right. So would I. Who wouldn’t? Whenever I’ve asked this question of a group, nobody chooses option two.

Then why does Jesus seem to think that the second choice — to be poor, hungry, and the rest — is the one that is blessed?

JESUS WAS SPEAKING to a large crowd of people who had come from near and far to hear him speak and to be freed of their diseases and demons. Luke tells us that the people were pressing in for a chance to even just touch Jesus, because “power was coming from him and healing them all” (Luke 6:19). I imagine that Jesus was still healing a throng of people as he said in a loud voice:

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. (vss. 20-23)

Because we are so far removed from that time and place, Jesus’ words may seem odd. Those who are poor, or hungry, or weeping, or hated are blessed? What kind of blessing is that?

But imagine yourself as one of the people who had come to him that day in pain and desperation. Don’t his words sound like good news? Isn’t it consistent with everything he’s doing to heal you and the others around you? Anyone who was suffering in some way and heard those words would have identified with something Jesus said.

And as we’ll see, for those who grew up with the Hebrew Scriptures, the language he used would have brought to mind ancient descriptions of the merciful, compassionate character of God. He told them was that they were divinely blessed, and through his healing ministry, he was blessing them as he spoke.

But in all likelihood, not everyone in the crowd that day had come to Jesus in need. Some may have come out of mere curiosity. Some probably came to spy on him; after all, he had already stirred up trouble and made enemies among the religious elite! And some may have dismissed Jesus’ words, thinking themselves to be blessed already — not like the pitiful, disorderly riffraff clamoring for his attention. These folks would have been confident that their success in life was a sign of God’s favor. It was to them, I imagine, that Jesus directed his next words:

But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets. (vss. 24-26)

Jesus isn’t saying that it’s intrinsically evil to want to have enough money; rather, as he does elsewhere, he’s warning that people can make money their god. If that’s the only thing you care about in this lifetime, he seems to say, then congratulations, you have your comfort already! But that’s all you have, and you’re missing what matters.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to have enough food to eat, but that can too easily turn to gluttony. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to laugh, but good times can’t be the only times. There’s nothing wrong with wanting others to speak well of you, but staking too much on the opinion of others can lead you down paths you’d be better off avoiding.

The so-called “prosperity gospel” is not a modern invention. We have always been tempted to turn goods into gods, into the things we seek and desire above all. We can chase comfort and success in this lifetime in a way that neglects the next. And we can shortsightedly kid ourselves into thinking that all these things are a sign that we’ve been blessed by God.

For those who would listen, Jesus was pointing to something bigger, something more eternal.

WHAT JESUS SAYS in Luke 6 is very similar to the way he begins the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. In both places, he speaks of blessing in a counterintuitive way — at least, counterintuitive for those of us who have in some way equated God’s blessing with having the things we want in life. Why does he do this?

Because he wants us to learn that God’s kingdom is not business as usual. It is upside-down and backwards from many of the values we’ve internalized from our world. If we want to understand what this kingdom is about, we’ll need to ponder why Jesus considers the poor and hungry to be blessed.

Let’s explore that next.