The Healer Teaches
Thursday, November 6, 2025
Perhaps all the world needs is enough of us to risk believing and putting the beatitudes into practice.
—Megan McKenna, Blessings and Woes
Theologian Megan McKenna focuses on the way Luke’s Gospel presents Jesus and the Beatitudes, known as the “blessings and woes.”
[In Matthew’s Gospel], Jesus, the new Moses, is the law-giver who goes up the mountain with his disciples around him, while the crowd remains. In Matthew Jesus teaches them from the mountain. In Luke [6:17–35], Jesus … comes down with [the disciples] to a level place that is crowded with hordes of people from all parts of the region and beyond to the coastal cities: believers, unbelievers, outsiders, and probably many not welcome in religious society.
Before he teaches, he heals; or perhaps as he heals, he teaches. Those who have come to him are ill, diseased, troubled by evil spirits, despised by society. They are desperate, seeking to touch him…. The scene is one of motion, reaching, grabbing, and we are told simply that “the power which went out from him healed them all.” This power, his spirit and presence, is healing, comforting, soothing, calming, promising. But the most startling line of all is the last one: “Then lifting up his eyes to his disciples, Jesus said….”
He lifts up his eyes: he is positioned below them, probably kneeling on the ground, tending to those in pain and suffering, attentive to the needs of those reaching for him…. He is in a position of vulnerability, of solidarity with the masses of people in need. From this position he speaks the beatitudes: the blessings and the woes…. In Luke’s Gospel Jesus is more comfort-giver than teacher; more attentive than discursive; more tender than instructive; more embracing of the pain of others than distant as law-giver.
The blessings and woes are taught from this place of vulnerable solidarity and are meant to be put into practice.
These few lines of blessings and woes are followed by a staggering sermon that is … seemingly impossible to put into practice. There are exhortations to love your enemies and do good to those who persecute you and malign you, to turn the other cheek and go an extra mile….
It seems that the blessings and woes and what follows from them in practical action form the foundation of the kingdom of God in the world…. The words of Jesus empower and sustain those called to be responsible for the new public order and common good, the defense of the poor, the care of the despised and diseased…. When the words of Jesus are put into practice the kingdom comes.
Thich Nhat Hanh has said: “The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now…. It is not a matter of faith; it is a matter of practice.” [1] We need to practice reading and hearing the beatitudes; we need to put them into practice.
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Jesus Calling: November 6th, 2025
Jesus Calling: November 6th
Seek to please Me above all else. As you journey through today, there will be many choice-points along your way. Most of the day’s decisions will be small ones you have to make quickly. You need some rule of thumb to help you make good choices. Many people’s decisions are a combination of their habitual responses and their desire to please themselves or others. This is not My way for you. Strive to please Me in everything, not just in major decisions. This is possible only to the extent that you are living in close communion with Me. When My Presence is your deepest delight, you know almost instinctively what will please Me. A quick glance at Me is all you need to make the right choice. Delight yourself in Me more and more; seek My pleasure in all you do.
RELATED SCRIPTURE:
John 8:29 (NIV)
29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.”
Hebrews 11:5-6 (NIV)
5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Psalm 37:4 (NIV)
4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
