Epiphany is the season that honors the recognition of Jesus Christ as Savior of the world. It marks the coming of the Magi who, in bringing gifts to the Christ child, “revealed” to the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and King. We no longer have Magi to reveal the Savior to our contemporaries; that responsibility falls on us. There are many ways for us to accomplish this responsibility and many arenas that need the light of Jesus Christ. However, on this 6th Sunday in Epiphany, we are focusing on the poor in our midst.

The temptation is to focus on the poor in the world. It is very easy to focus on the starving children around the world and forget about those around the corner. It is very easy to focus on the effects of poverty that we see halfway around the world and ignore those effects that are halfway across town. Sometimes a harsh, straightforward sermon is what is needed to shake us out of our revelry.  This is what Luke provides. In what has come to be called the Sermon on the Plain, Luke does not add the spiritual elements that are found in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. Luke is clear that the poor are the blessed group and the rich had better wake up and smell the coffee! The riches that bring you comfort now will not comfort you for long. The satisfaction you now have with life in general will change when we enter into the Kingdom of God.

From the very beginning Luke removes any notion of status. Christ comes down from the mountain to a level place, to a place where all can reach him and all can be healed. He is talking to a mixed crowd, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, allowing this text to be seen as an admonition to the local community as well as a more global community. Once the healings are complete, Jesus settles down to teaching what it truly means to be a disciple of Christ in a world that has very different values. For Luke, being a disciple means dealing with real socio-economic issues, those issues that cause poverty, hunger, weeping and hatred. Being a rich disciple means a drastic change in the status quo and a shift of thinking to stand with God and the poor. In the spirit of removing the log from our own eye before removing it from another’s, I submit that this text is encouraging us to pay more attention to those in our midst while we are helping those around the world. Many of us will never have the opportunity to travel around the world to experience the life changing moments that come when you are genuinely engaged in the work of God with the poor. We must keep in mind that many of us do not need to travel around the world to work hand in hand with the poor: the poor are right here with us.

By Rev. Jocleen McCall, Religion Instructor, Johnston Community College, Smithfield