Not the Blessing We Would Have Chosen

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February 2, 2014

Matthew 5:1-12

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.”

Sermon:

I love the Beatitudes.  Such cozy words of blessing.  They just make me feel so good.  I can even recite them from memory:

Blessed are the good investors, those with high credit ratings, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who always put on a happy face, never letting anyone see their sorrow, for God loves them best.

Blessed are the loud pundits and arguing politicians, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who eat at the best restaurants, lacking nothing, for their lives (and stomachs) are full.

Blessed are the score-settlers, the revenge-seekers, for God is on their side.

Blessed are the emotionally-detached, for they will see God.

Blessed are the war-makers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for what they post on facebook, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

That Jesus, what a way with words!

Okay, it’s possible I’ve edited his original words just a wee bit.  But my changes are in keeping with how society often interprets God’s blessing.  It is assumed that God’s blessing runs along the lines of earthly approval and validation.  When God blesses those who we feel most deserve it, or blesses those we most readily identify with, it feels good.  That sort of blessing doesn’t shock, or offend, or cause us to re-examine our lives. 

But if he was about anything, Jesus Christ was always about shocking people out of convention, offending the comfortably arrogant, and calling everyone to re-examine their lives in the light of a coming kingdom of justice and peace.

And so his words of blessing are not the polite, safe words uttered after a sneeze, or that Southern staple ‘bless your heart.’  This bizarre sort of blessing turns everything upside down.  Those who are most despised, most oppressed, most deemed unworthy are the very ones singled out for a special blessing by God. 

Now, there could be several reasons for Jesus singling out the poor in spirit, the mourners, the hungry for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and the persecuted. 

First, it could be said that Jesus was actually inciting a riot – stirring up those trampled by an oppressive regime, and calling those on the margins to rise up against tyranny and injustice.  This is what the religious elite and political leaders thought he was doing.  And so they crucified him for it.

Second, it could be said that Jesus was simply giving an extended benediction – blessing people with words that sounded nice so perhaps those crowds would feel a little better as they went back to their struggling lives.  Jesus might have just been a people pleaser for the poor and oppressed, telling them what they wanted to hear.

But, as you might expect, I don’t think either of these were Jesus’ motivation for uttering such a shocking blessing.  I believe that the beatitudes were much more than a political statement, though they were most certainly that.  And I believe that they were far more significant than empty warm-fuzzy words. 

This blessing announced the kingdom of God – a kingdom, or as some have said “kin-dom” (that is, family), where God chooses to stand with those who so often stand alone in this world.  A kin-dom, a family, of peacemaking and purity of heart, a kin-dom of those hungry for righteousness, a kin-dom where humility and meekness is seen as strength and not weakness.  A kin-dom where those who know true persecution (and not simply those who are angry at someone who thinks differently than them) are rewarded for their endurance and faith.

This is not the sort of kingdom we would have chosen.  And this is not the sort of blessing we would choose, were we the ones doing the choosing.  But that’s the thing about God’s blessing – we don’t choose it.  We don’t control it.  We don’t have the power to extend it to some and withhold it from others.  We don’t decide who deserves it, or who has burned too many bridges to receive it.   

God’s blessing comes, like snow falling on frozen ground, however God chooses for it to come.  It is a wild thing.  But the beatitudes do show us something predictable about this sort of blessing: it nearly always goes against the grain of how the world ‘blesses’ people.  Refusing to honor those who already have worldly success and comfort with special protection, God blesses those on the margins first.

No, this is not the sort of blessing we would have chosen.  It makes us want to avoid eye contact with Jesus until he finishes these pointed words.  It holds a mirror up to our lives, reminding us that all of those things we do (and things we acquire) to gain the approval of our peers, and perhaps to earn God’s approval, mean very little in the light of God’s kin-dom. 

If we want to participate in this kin-dom of blessing, as it comes even now, we must not confuse worldly approval with God’s.  Instead, we must do what Jesus did, in these words and even more so in his actions.

We must stand with those on the fringes, those who most of us would rather avoid eye contact with and shuffle past.  We must embrace the sorrow of another, make peace even at the cost of our own pride and power, be merciful especially when it’s not deserved and do good without needing publicity and praise for it.

No, my rendering of the beatitudes at the start of this sermon was not quite right.  Rev. Jorge Lara-Braud does a much better job, choosing to use the Spanish word for blessing bienadventurados, meaning “good adventure” to capture what this kin-dom of blessing is all about.

Good adventure to you whose hearts are genuinely with the poor: you are under God's protective rule. Good adventure to you who are without power: 
the whole world shall be yours. Good adventure to you who are hungry and thirsty for justice: your cup will be filled. Good adventure to you who look for truth with singleness of heart: you shall see God. Good adventure to you who work for peace: you shall be called children of God. Good adventure to you who are persecuted for the sake of justice. You, too, are already under God's protective rule; rejoice, be very happy, when others say evil things about you falsely because you are mine. God is preparing a great reward for you. Don't be surprised, prophets have always been an endangered species.

This is not the sort of blessing we would have chosen.  But it is exactly the sort of blessing we and those on the margins most need – the blessing of good adventure –where we stand with those society forgets, where we confess that the Jesus who spoke these powerful words still speaks, through those most often silenced, and where we proclaim an already-coming kin-dom that will never end.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.