Dear Christian friends:

Christians sometimes have a misunderstanding about their life here on earth. They seem to think that since they are God's people He will bless them with nothing but good times and prosperity. They really like signs like “Smile, God loves you!” and “The happy home is the Christian home.” But when hard times come and difficulties come along, such as loss of health, and they have small money, they wonder if it's worth all the trouble to be a Christian. They become more upset when they notice that the unbelievers seem to be the happy people, the “fat cats” and “the beautiful people.”

We Christians need to have and keep the right understanding of the life and happiness of a Christian here on earth. In our text, which is the Gospel Lesson for this Sunday, Jesus helps us to focus on this problem. He tells us about:

Jesus implies here in our text that the Christian does not seem to be a happy person. He speaks of His disciples as being “poor, hungry, weeping and rejected.” This is not how we usually describe happy people. But this is exactly how Jesus described His disciples here in the text. More, Jesus describes these poor, hungry, weeping and rejected people as “blessed,” which means happy. (verses 20-22)

So we learn from Jesus’ words here that the happiness of a Christian is not like that of a non-Christian. Why? Because the Christian is a believer living in a world of mostly unbelievers. He is a person with faith living in a world without faith. And this causes the Christian much trouble and problems.

When Jesus in our text describes a disciple as being “poor” He does not mean small money or material things. Jesus means “poor in spirit,” not having holiness or goodness of his own. The Christian is humble in spirit, sad and contrite when he realizes that he is “a poor miserable sinner,” as we confess at the beginning of the worship service each Sunday. King David described this poverty in Psalm 51:1-5: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love, according to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight so that You are proved right when You speak and justified when You judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, from the time my mother conceived me.” So, when Jesus here in the text says, “Happy are you poor people” He means you people who know that you are sinners and confess your sins to God.

When Jesus here in the text describes His disciples as being “hungry” He does not mean hungry for bread or meat. He means hungry for a righteousness and holiness which they do not have and cannot have of themselves, but the righteousness which is a gift from God.

When Jesus describes His disciples as “crying” He does not mean those who cry because they lost their money or had a accident, but He means those who cry because they are sinners and have hurt Jesus as King David cried when he did adultery with Bathsheba and as Peter cried when he denied Jesus three times.

And when Jesus in the text describes His followers as being “hated, excluded, and mocked,” He does not mean that they suffer this because of their bad deeds, but because of their good deeds, because they stand up for Jesus against the evil world. When a Christian stands up for what is right, he often will suffer persecution from those who are not righteous, those who cheat, lie, steal and accept bribes. And when a Christian shows another person his wrong, that person may not thank him, but hate him. I am sure that you all have experience that persecution in the past.

Therefore, the Christian maybe seems not to be a happy person. The unbelievers do not think he is a happy person. The world does not think that the Christian is a happy person, but he really is a very happy person. The Christian has real and lasting happiness. His happiness is a secret happiness — a happiness of faith.

The Christian is happy because he believes God's promises that God loves and forgives sinners for Jesus’ sake. He knows and believes that God sent His son, Jesus the Christ, to win righteousness through His holy life and by His innocent suffering and death upon the cross.

In our text Jesus says, “Happy are you poor people, you have God's kingdom.” (verse 20) The kingdom of God is God's kind rule in the believer's heart through the Gospel Word and Sacraments, bringing the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. King David writes about this happiness in Psalm 32:1-2, “Happy are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Happy is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”

Jesus says in our text, “Happy are you hungry people, you will be satisfied.” (verse 21) The hungry Christians are satisfied, not with bread and meat, but with Jesus’ perfect righteousness, which they put on by faith. With Jesus’ righteousness the Christian can stand before the holy God without fear, but with boldness and joy and love for the heavenly Father.

Jesus says in our text, “Happy are you crying people, you will laugh.” (verse 21) The crying Christians also laugh with much joy because God has forgiven all their sins in Jesus Christ, their dear Savior. Jesus is now their Friend and Brother.

Jesus says, “Happy are you if people hate you and exclude you, mock you, and say you are evil because you believe in the Son of Man. Be happy if that happens and dance for joy because you will have a great gift in heaven. You see that long ago unbelievers persecuted the prophets the same. (verses 22-23)

This is the happiness of the Christian, a happiness that triumphs through all troubles even through death, a happiness for this life now on earth and for the future life in heaven, a perfect happiness given by God in Jesus Christ.

But the happiness of the unbelievers is soon gone and passed away. In our text Jesus warns, “But true terrible for you rich people. You finished have your easy life. True terrible for you people finished eating full. You will be hungry. True terrible for you people laughing now, you will cry and grieve. True terrible if all people praise you because people in the past also praised the false prophets.” (verses 24-26) The “rich, the full, those who laugh now” are the not-sorry-sinners, who feel no need for God's mercy in Jesus Christ. They may seem happy in this life here on earth, but in the next life, in hell, they shall weep forever.

Therefore, let us not be jealous of the prosperity and happiness of the unbelievers when we Christians have many trials and troubles because of our faith in Jesus. The Bible tells us to “Rejoice in the Lord always.” (Philippians 4:4) God's grace turns our poverty to riches, our hunger to satisfaction, our weeping into laughter, and our suffering of the cross into a crown of glory that fades not away.

Amen.