I don’t know whether you’ve met Mark. Mark has been sleeping on the doorstep of the Op Shop and spending his days sitting on the seat by the bus stop. People from the Op Shop have been giving him coffee and clothes, and people from other shops have been helping him with food. He’s been going to the Duke of Edinburgh across the road to have a shower, and if he sits down in front of the op shop door, he can watch the cricket on the big screen in the bar. Missionbeat, the Police and the Marrickville Mental Health team have tried to move him onto accommodation where he will be safe, clean and cared for, but he refuses to go. He is a big man with a loud voice and some passers by find him frightening. Recently he’s started shouting at children getting off the bus. He is obviously intellectually disabled, homeless and poor.

In today’s gospel Jesus said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” He also said, “Blessed are you who are hungry, blessed are you who are weeping, blessed are you who are hated.” In our Friendship Group and in the Our Place Support Group we often see hungry people, weeping people, people bruised and beaten by those who should love them.

And Jesus says that such people will be fed with good food, their tears will be dried and their wounds will be healed. What is more, they will have a great reward in heaven, says Jesus.

The people who heard Jesus speak would have been amazed. They had always been taught that poverty, hunger, grief and disease were God’s punishment for sin. And now Jesus says they are blessed!

And if they were shocked by this, Jesus had more to say. The rich, the well-fed, the cheerful, the influential – these people are under a curse. They will end up with nothing, hungry, weeping and rejected. Again the people would have said, “How can this be? Surely riches and food, comfort and a good position in society are God’s blessings, given to those whom he loves!”

How can Jesus say, “Woe to you.”? In our own community we know people who are well off, people who have worked very hard for what they have, generous, good hearted people, Christian people, people we are happy to know. Is Jesus saying “woe” to them?

Let me tell you that the people were asking the wrong question. Jesus was not blessing the poor and cursing the rich, he was telling the people that God is the true foundation of everyone’s life. Poverty and hunger, grief and human hate are no barriers to the love of God. People who are suffering are not forgotten by God, they are loved and precious in his sight. People who do the most dreadful things are loved by God. You’ve seen the signs, Jesus loves Osama. That is true. Osama may have along way to go before he returns that love, but there is no barrier to God’s love for us.

This is true for the rich and well fed. There is nothing wrong with being hard working and well off. It is right to give thanks for the good things we have. I try to say grace whenever I sit down to a meal, either aloud or quietly. I live in a big house, I eat well, I have a loving family, and it is only right that I should give thanks to God for these good things.

But woe to me if I forget God and God’s love to me. Woe to me if I forget God’s love for people like poor, intellectually disabled, homeless Mark.

When Jesus said blessed are you, he was talking to those who were seeking the love of God. He didn’t promise riches, he promised the kingdom of God. When Jesus said blessed are you, he was talking to those who trusted in God, and were hated because of this. People who trust God can find themselves on the wrong side of public opinion, like the prophets, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos and Hosea. You can read their stories in the Bible, Jeremiah, who was thrown down a well, Amos, who was banished from the sanctuary, Daniel, thrown to the lions, and Hosea, whose wife was a prostitute. Jesus is encouraging the crowd to be as steadfast in faith as those old prophets.

Jesus words to the rich echo what the psalmist says, “Blessed are those who have neither listened to ungodly advice, nor acted against the poor, nor treated others with contempt. Blessed are those who delight in the law of the Lord, they are like fruitful trees, well watered and with deep roots.”

To rich and poor alike Jesus has the same message. Trust in God alone; remember that God loves you and that you are called to love others. Let God be the foundation of your hopes and you will never be disappointed. You who are poor, your troubles cannot break God’s love’ you who are rich, do not let your riches get between you and God.

And remember those whose lives are different from yours, share God’s love with them, rich or poor – this is where true blessing is.

And as for Mark, who sleeps on the Op Shop step, what have we done? We, and the other shopkeepers, can feed him and give him coffee, we can listen to him and be friendly, we can pray for him and assure him of God’s love. But we cannot do everything for him; he really needs a place to live where he is safe, cared for and where he will not frighten others. We have asked Missionbeat, the Health Services and the Inner City Homelessness Outreach to care for him. Let us pray for God’s blessing on him and on us. Amen