Blueprint for Life and Ministry

 

Epiphany 4A; Micah 6:1-8; Matthew 5:1-12; St. Paul’s 1/28/2017

Jim Melnyk: “Blueprint for Ministry”

“When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.”  There are more than just The Twelve with Jesus – the whole community probably follows him up the side, and Matthew wants us to think about Moses, the ultimate teacher and prophet of the Hebrew tradition, when we hear this story.  And those seated or standing on the hillside before Jesus come with the same thoughts many of us might have – they wonder if Jesus will address their particular situations – address their particular human condition.

What they hear is not totally new.  It’s a summation of what the Law and the Prophets teach.  The proverb that says there is nothing new under the sun holds true in many ways for what we have come to call The Sermon on the Mount.  What Jesus says to the crowd in the story, and so what he says to us nearly two thousand years later, is not something that is radically new to Judaism in his time – in fact, if anything, he doubles down on the tradition and holds us to an even higher standard in many of his teachings (You have heard it said…but I say to you…).

Jesus begins to teach a reversal of what was, and still is commonly thought to be, the equation for worldly success and a happy, fulfilled, life.  These teachings of Jesus, including what have come to be called the “beatitudes,” are the starting place for everywhere Jesus will go – they, along with the verses which immediately follow, are a blueprint for his life and preaching – an explanation and an expansion of the prophet Micah’s words we just heard read.  The words we will hear read over the next couple of weeks are Jesus’ own summation of all that is taught in the Law and the Prophets.

           

And although we hear this lesson from Matthew’s gospel often, it still has the power to capture our attention and perhaps even cause us to scratch our heads a bit.  This call from God to be a part of the unfolding kingdom of heaven certainly doesn’t sound like something that will make blessedness, or happiness, possible.

When we hear the words “Happy, or blessed, are the poor in spirit,” or “Happy, or blessed, are those who mourn,” it doesn’t seem to add up.  Most of us have felt poor in spirit from time to time.  Most of us have had an occasion to mourn over a loss.  Happy, or blessed, are not words that come immediately to mind at those moments of life.  Our modern idea of being happy or blessed doesn’t include things like being poor – in spirit, or any other way.  Our modern day idea of being blessed doesn’t include grieving or being meek. 

But, what if we tried translating the phrase as “God’s favor rests upon the poor in spirit,” or, “God’s favor rests upon those who mourn?”  Perhaps it can begin to make more sense.

God’s favor rests on the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Perhaps because they best understand that only God’s Holy and life-giving Spirit can fill the emptiness which inevitably comes to all of us at some time in our lives.  The things of this world just cannot fill that void.  They will learn to give of themselves out of love.

God’s favor rests on those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  One of the earliest and important definitions of the word “comfort” is “to strengthen.” Comfort is more than a gentle conversation or a caring hug when we need one – though those responses are meaningful.  This is about being strengthened to withstand the circumstances of life.  God’s favor rests on those who mourn – because God has known deep grief and loss as well – God knows what it’s like to lose a child to senseless violence.  God understands the brokenness and the separation that under-girds many of life’s hard experiences.  God knows that our grieving can lead to a longing for communion with one another and with God as well – and the strength that can come from being in community with one another.

God’s favor rests on those who hunger and thirst after righteousness – promising that they will be filled.  In part that means seeking justice for all persons - a part of our baptismal covenant.  As our bodies hunger and thirst for food and water, our souls hunger and thirst for God’s vindication and support.  God’s favor compels us to fulfill what the prophet Micah proclaims: that we are to “do justice, and love kindness….”  This is a challenge for all who seek God’s promise for this world, for as the late Verna Dozier once pointed out, we are much more comfortable with loving justice and doing occasional acts of kindness than we are with practicing steadfast love for others – especially those who are different from us.

God’s favor rests upon the merciful, for they will receive mercy themselves.  When we have mercy for others, we show forth steadfast love and forgiveness.  Without God’s help our ability to show mercy soon runs out.  But with God’s help, our ability to show mercy for one another, for our neighbor, and for our own selves can become limitless.         

God’s favor rests upon the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  On the days when our hearts are pure, we come before God with no other motive or purpose that to be in the presence of the One Who Creates Us, Who Loves Us, and Who Lives Within Us.  When we “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves” - which again is a part of our baptismal covenant - we begin to see God – if only because we begin to see God in the face of our neighbor – and we remember from Luke’s gospel whom it was Jesus named “neighbor.”  It was a Samaritan – an enemy – a dangerous enemy who was named as neighbor.

God’s favor rests upon the peacemakers – they are called children of God.  We are peacemakers when our attitudes, words, and actions preserve friendships and respect the dignity of every human being - once again, part of our baptismal covenant brought to life.  We are peacemakers when we use all our energy to restore friendships where they have been fractured or destroyed by human friction and strife.  We are peacemakers when we honor our own boundaries and care enough for our own soul’s peace to leave behind destructive behaviors.  We are peacemakers when we love our neighbor, when we welcome the stranger among us, and when we pray for our enemies – when we welcome the refugee among us – something that is making headlines around the world these days. 

We welcome the refugee because we remember that Jesus and his parents were once refugees welcomed in Egypt.  We welcome the refugee because we know that Israel was once a refugee people enslaved in Egypt – we know what it means to be turned away or abused.  If anyone welcomes the refugee it should be the Church.  We are peacemakers when we refuse to consign any fellow human being to the trash heaps of society.

God’s favor rests upon those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  We human beings, when we are emotionally healthy, rarely seek out opportunities for which we will be persecuted or reviled.  But these words from Jesus carry special meaning for us, for we are a people called to respond to the injustices and prejudices which cause persecution in our time – and that, my friends is a risky calling in life.But Jesus never says, “Follow me and you will be safe and secure in your homes without a worry.”  What we do recall our Lord telling us is that we must be willing to take us his cross and follow him – and that the cross is an instrument of death – although through Jesus it becomes a promise of resurrection life as well.  As the prayer of St. Francis – which we just sang a few minutes ago reminds us – dying we live.

And we must remember that our faith must never be an instrument used for the persecution of others, simply because they do not look, or sound, or believe as we believe. 

These beatitudes which we read today – these sayings of Jesus captured at the opening of what we have come to call The Sermon on the Mount – are not mere platitudes to be cherished or trashed depending on how we feel at any given moment.  As the late theologian and Editor Carl Henry once wrote, “Jesus clothes the beatitudes with his own life;” and as such they are words that speak to the very meaning of Christ’s life; and are words that call us to action as followers of Christ (Carl F. H. Henry, Synthesis Today, 1/23/2017).  These words are Jesus’ blueprint for life and ministry, and they are meant to be our blueprint as well.

The Good News is that we have the Spirit of God to empower our lives, to fine-tune us a people upon whom God’s favor rests.  Like those disciples gathered to hear Jesus speak so long ago, we come here hopefully looking for meaning in our lives – we come here hopefully looking for a word spoken toward our particular situations in life – and to receive comfort - to receive strength - as we take within ourselves the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We travel this road of life as the Body of Christ gathered together and then sent into the world. Perhaps we struggle to understand how we can be all the beatitudes call us to be.  But we take heart in the words of the great Reformer, Martin Luther – words we hear each Sunday as we leave this place: “We are not what we shall be, but we are growing toward it; the process is not yet finished, but it is going on; this is not the end, but it is the road.”