January 29, 2023 Sermon
Sermon title: "The Beatitudes"
Scripture: Matthew 5:1-12
(Other lectionary choices include Micah 6:1-8, Psalm 15, and I Corinthians 1:18-31.)
Matthew 5:1-12
The Beatitudes
1When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: 3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11"Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
What is a Beatitude? It means "blessed". We also have the word "beatific", such as "a beatific vision", which simply means a "blessed" vision. If a person achieves sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church, that person is said to be "beatified" or blessed. In Latin, "beatus" means BLESSED. What is REALLY important is what Jesus says about being blessed, and he turned the concept upside down. Up until the time of Jesus and even today, people thought of as being blessed were thought to have had good fortune. Examples: you and I are BLESSED to live in the United States, we were BLESSED with good parents (if we had good parents, and I know that not all of us did), we were BLESSED with good jobs and good health and access to good medical care, and that list of blessings can go on and on. But NO, NO, says Jesus. He starts out by saying Blessed are you POOR! (I know it says, "poor in spirit", but that may be a later add on. Stick with Blessed are you POOR for the moment.) Part of the point was that most people WERE poor, and Jesus was saying that you are FINE, just as you are. That was part of the "good news" Jesus was announcing. In GOD's kingdom, "Jesus is offering wonderful news for the humble, the poor, the mourners, the peacemakers."
In a way, to preach on only today's Scripture passage is hard to do, because "The Beatitudes" are part of the larger Sermon on the Mount, which starts at Matthew 5 and goes through chapters 6 and 7. Later on in Chapter 5, for example, Jesus talks about loving your enemies. The old way of doing things, "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth", was fine in not letting revenge snowball. For example, you might have wanted to take TWO eyes and an arm and a leg for good measure - but that old law was meant to keep passions in check. Jesus really is coming up with a new concept: instead of thinking of ways to get even, that new concept was to love your enemies, a concept that we humans have yet to achieve.
Also, the Lord's Prayer that we pray every Sunday comes from right here, The Sermon on the Mount.
I guess for me what the Beatitudes and the rest of the Sermon on the Mount are saying is that God's way for us to live is to upset the applecart of how we live now. God's way for us to live is for us NOT to think too highly of ourselves. God's way for us to live is to NOT take revenge on those who have wronged us. The Apostle Paul got it right when he says in I Corinthians 1:20-25 (one of our lectionary suggestions for today), {{READ verses 20-25 20Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. 22For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.}}. And Paul goes on: "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong."
You have heard me say before that quote from Isaiah, "My ways are not your ways. Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord." Jesus is saying the same thing, perhaps, in the Sermon on the Mount: "You have heard it said.........But I say to you........" "You have heard it said to do this, But I say to you to do THIS." And what Jesus says to do may come across as foolish in the eyes of the world.
We all like to use Common Sense, or what we regard as Common Sense. But what I think Jesus did in the Beatitudes and in the Sermon on the Mount and in his whole life is go against Common Sense! It's common sense to want to get even, right? Well, Jesus is saying DON'T think that way! It's common sense to wish ill for our enemies, right? Well, Jesus is saying DON'T think that way! I love Jesus's illustration elsewhere of a dinner party: DON'T go into that party expecting to take the seat of honor; DO take a LOWER seat, and maybe you'll be raised to a higher one. Don't go places expecting to be insulted, and then plan your revenge. Think about that OTHER person. Maybe he or she had a bad day, so put yourself in THAT person's shoes. I know of a minister, now retired and in his nineties, who helped a parishioner find a job....and this was after that parishioner wanted this minister OUT of his church! That's right: my minister friend, back in Kansas, lost his preaching job, largely because this one guy didn't like him - and even after he was ousted from his church, my minister friend helped find this guy a job. Is Jesus alive or what?! My minister friend followed the words of Jesus: he loved his enemy, and even helped his enemy find a job! That just goes against Common Sense, doesn't it? But that's just what we're supposed to do, according to Jesus: adopt a Common Sense consistent with the Kingdom he says was coming on earth, and in fact is already here! We might look like fools, but we should act that way anyway. The Danish theologian and philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said we must all endeavor to be "fools for Christ".
Let me conclude with these words from Nicholas Thomas Wright, whom I quoted earlier: "The life of heaven - the life of the realm where God is already king - is to become the life of the world, transforming the present 'earth' into the place of beauty and delight that God always intended. AND THOSE WHO FOLLOW JESUS ARE TO BEGIN TO LIVE BY THIS RULE HERE AND NOW. That's the point of the Sermon on the Mount, and these 'beatitudes' in particular. They are a summons to live in the present in the way that will make sense in God's promised future because that future has arrived in the present in Jesus of Nazareth. It may seem upside down, but we are called to believe, with great daring, that it is in fact the right way up. Try it and see." Amen.
Pastor Skip
