Sermon: The Beatitudes

            Remember back to Christmas? When I offered up 12 questions to reflect upon,

to ponder as Mary pondered…
all ultimately impressing upon you the meaning of that great mystery
—God comes among us in Jesus Christ.

            That mystery spills out beyond personal ponderings at Epiphany.
And, despite the snow
(and this January where it felt like years have happened before our eyes)
we’re, in fact, 4 weeks into the Season after Epiphany.
We’re thick into that unfolding mystery,
beyond Mary, beyond the Holy Family, beyond John the Baptist, beyond the Brothers Zebedee
—what does that mean for the Whole World?
What does it look like when God comes near?

Prayer

 

            There are quite a few different ways to read Jesus’ blessings
—the Beatitudes.
When we covered it a few weeks back at Bible Study, I think I described them as:
Descriptive—Jesus did just heal a bunch of people before he blessed him.
Inspirational—keep on keeping on even in the worst of it.
Transformational—What if our world did bless these types of people.
Observational—What if we at least noticed the meek and impoverished?

            Bigger picture, there are two main ways of reading the Beatitudes:
as Virtues (be this way!)
or as Reversals (God’s going to flip your awful situation around)…
and neither way QUITE works… at least in Matthew.

 

            The tradition of these being virtues has heavily influenced how Jesus’ blessings get translated,
without getting into the weeds, this way of reading things assume Jesus is basically a Roman or a Greek philosopher… not a Jewish Holy Man.

Don’t get me wrong, “Be pure in heart. Be peacemakers.”
that works, but
“Be hopeless, miserable, humiliated, starved for justice.” Not so much.

 

Likewise, reversal works only up to a point
—sure turn mourning into gladness, please every day!
But surely Jesus isn’t telling us to be Merciless, hypocritical, warlike, or persecutors! It’s just not there!

 

So, Biblical Scholar Mark Allen Powel, looked at these two competing readings
—Jesus is offering virtues versus Jesus is pointing to reversal,
and essentially says, “Why not both?”
After all, Matthew’s Gospel always points to humans being messy and mixed up
—wheat and weeds, sheep and goats
—Simul Justus et Peccator to use Lutheran Language.

            What if, Dr. Powel asks, the first 4 beatitudes name reversals
—Because God is at work: kingdom, comfort, inheritance, and fullness have come. Because God has come near there will be reversal of fortunes.

 

            And the second set names 4 virtues to practice in such a reality
—if God is at work in the world practice: mercy, pure hearts, peacemaking, and a commitment to righteousness.

            Think back to your small Catechisms,
(if you have one of our new ELW next to you check out page 1163).
Luther explains that God does stuff without our asking for it,
but we’re asking that those things might come among us…
That we might notice it, that:
God’s name might be holy/ Thy Kingdom come / God’s will be done—and the like… for us, not simply in a universal and general sense.

            I’d mentioned the Holy Family earlier, think about Joseph, when he first hears that his fiancé is pregnant,
he decides to do the virtuous thing by “putting her away quietly”
but then he catches a glimpse of God,
and realizes the right and virtuous thing is to stay with her and raise the child who is God with us.
Virtues isn’t about moral rectitude, but seeing God! Virtue as vision.

            Or, to go back to the Beatitudes…
 those who directly experience God reversing their humiliation, will likely know it…
but those who are more fortunate
—they need a practice to see what’s right in front of their nose
—making war isn’t a good way to remember your baptism,
you can’t be merciless and still sing, “Lord have mercy”
without it catching in your throat.

 

            All that to say, this reading of the Beatitudes leaves a place where
the haves and the have nots,
those suffering and those just trying to figure out what’s going on,
can meet,
can both be citizens of the Kingdom of God.
The poor in spirit and the merciful meet,
those who hunger for justice, are upheld by those taking it on the chin for justice.

            It’s good news for everyone
—after all we’re all one medical bill or accident or stroke or societal shift
away from being one of these for whom reversal by God is our only hope.

           

            So, to make this all a little clearer—take out that green sheet.
I’ve reordered Matthew’s beatitudes, and interpreted them without the Greco-Roman flavoring, or at least be able to hear it without the dullness that familiarity brings:

 

 

Beatitudes

“Blessed are the hopeless, for God will reign among them
 and blessed are those who show mercy, for they will receive mercy.”

May the hopeless be met with a show of mercy.

 

“Blessed are the miserable, for they will be comforted
and blessed are the authentically honorable, for they will see God.”

May the miserable find comfort from someone who deeply cares.

 

“Blessed are the humiliated, for they will receive their share
and blessed are those who make things whole, for they will be called children of God.”

May the humiliated be made whole.

 

“Blessed are those who are starved for justice, for they will be stuffed with it
and blessed are those who are persecuted for their commitment to justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

May the justice-starved be fed by one who is doggedly committed to justice.

 

And finally, the 9^th blessing:

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

May we be found together when God comes near. Even when it’s hard. Especially, when it is hard. Beside the foolish cross, humble, kind, and just. Amen.