Matthew
5:1-12
The Wisdom of God
“When
Jesus saw the crowds, he went up to the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to
him. Then he began to speak, and taught
them saying….”
Jesus
teaches a great many things. The content
of his teachings has filled university libraries and lecture halls around the
world. Jesus teaches a great many things
– and most of what Jesus teaches is view of the world and of our neighbors and
of our lives which runs contrary to most of what the rest of the world would
have us think and belief. Remember, it
is Jesus who tells us to never put ourselves or our own families first. Remember that it Jesus to insists that the
Kingdom of God is inhabited by good Samaritans – the sort of persons who attend
to broken bodies left lying at the borders of our world.
“When
Jesus saw the crowds, he went up to the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to
him. Then he began to speak, and taught
them saying….”
Time
will not allow us to examine each of the beatitudes, but the first three are
enough for us to begin to understand how different are these lessons which
Jesus teaches. Jesus says blessed are the
poor, those who mourn, and the meek. It is important to note that his words are
not addressed to those who once were the poor, the mournful or the
meek. Jesus speaks to those for whom
these adjectives are a current reality.
Conventional wisdom, the general flow of our society, would say you
can't possess these qualities and be blessed at the same time. Religious talk often leads us to believe that
poverty, mourning and meekness are the pre-conditions to receiving the
blessings of God. Pre-conditions
but not present reality. Too much of
popular piety would have us believe that once we are blessed; our status in
life will change. We will become rich,
we will be filled with happy thoughts and we will become heralded heroes in
Christ’s spiritual warfare. But that
isn't what Jesus says.
Jesus
says Blessed are the poor.
The
poor are blessed because unlike those who are self-sufficient the poor
understand the tenuous nature of their existence. The poor, because they can never relax and
assume things will be alright, must live every moment searching for that which
will bring salvation.
"Have
you been saved?" is an often asked
question. Those who ask are usually
looking for a resounding "YES!" The expectation is for those questioned to
express a sure confidence in the fate of their eternal souls. Such confidence is often lacking in the way
the poor speak of God. Not that they
lack a confidence in God’s grace, rather they are not so brazen as to speak for
God or to say what it is that God will do.
Those
who spend each day trying to find food for their family are more inclined to
respond, "Yesterday, God was gracious enough to save me. This day I lift to God my prayers, asking
that salvation may again come."
Such is the response of the poor.
It is a humble dependence upon God which brings them blessings.
Those
who mourn are
those who understand the value of relationship. Mournful are those who are aware of their
need for another and find themselves separated from the object of their
love. Mourners are folks who cry out
with their desire for more; more time together, more love, more appreciation of
the other's gifts.
Joseph
Sitter, a professor I had the chance to encounter during my years at the
seminary in Chicago, once commented that hunger is the strongest possible
testimony to the reality of food. It is
our mourning which heightens the awareness of our desire to be united with God.
Those
who mourn are blessed – blessed with assurance which comes from searching for
that which is lacking but has been glimpsed.
Blessed, because they know how empty their lives will remain unless and
until they find God.
Blessed
are the meek. I can never read this beatitude without
remembering an old cartoon. There is
this wimpy looking man making his way out of the church. As he shakes hands with the pastor he asks,
"Exactly when will the meek inherit the earth?"
The
meek are those who have no pretense of power. They are the powerless. As weaklings, they have to find their hope of
salvation somewhere else. They place
their trust in one who does have the power to care for them. "Blessed are the meek,"
because they have no option other than to turn to God.
That
old cartoon exposes the misunderstanding which too quickly surrounds this
beatitude. The false assumption is made
that I may have been meek at one time, but now I am meek no longer. The meek inherit the earth and become the
dominant. Meekness is considered to be a
pre-condition, not a current status.
Once the meek inherit the earth meekness is replaced with something
else. No longer meek - I am confident of
what I am able to do. When this happens,
self-confidence replaces confidence in God.
Personal power replaces the power of the cross.
Jesus
does not address persons who once were poor, mournful or meek. He speaks to those who are hungering,
thirsting, and merciful.
The
blessed are not those who have it made.
The blessed are those who spend their days searching, striving, and
hoping for the blessings of our God.
Jesus reveals to us the blessings which come to those who learn to
depend not upon themselves, but upon God.
Jesus
teaches us a great many things, but mostly Jesus teaches us to look at the
world differently. Jesus would teach
each of us to see the blessing which comes from turning to God and depending
upon God. Jesus would teach us that to
trust in our own might or strength or worth has the effect of separating us
from the blessings of God.
It
is way too popular, in our world, to project a rough and tough and non-wavering
identity. Such a goal for strong
individualism may be popular in our current culture, but it is not the way
lifted up by the traveling preacher who walked the dirty and dusty roads of
Palestine. Might we follow that
traveling preacher closely enough that we do come to be covered with the dust
kicked up by his footsteps.
Amen.
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