“You’re so fortunate!”  We’ve probably all said that to someone.  What might be the occasion for us to say something like that?  What kinds of things happen in people’s lives for us to call them fortunate?  Or for us to say, “You’re so blessed!  That’s a real blessing you’ve got there!” 

  • A pregnancy?
  • A job?
  • Winning a bid on an important contract?
  • Beating out everyone else and closing on the home of your dreams?
  • Negative biopsy results?
  • Being in an accident, maybe even totaling your car and coming out unscathed?

On the other hand, nobody is going to say, “Praise be, your car or your home was just repossessed.”  “You must be happy you just lost your job and now have to rely on the food pantry to get groceries for your family.”  “Lucky you: bedbugs!”  “Good news, cancer!” “Thank Heaven, the person who means the most to you in the whole world just died.”  Those statements aren’t just ridiculous. They’re insensitive, rude, clueless.  But the first few beatitudes are kinda like that.  “Blessed/happy/fortunate are the poor in spirit – the humble –” Humility is sure not in vogue today.  “Blessed are those who know their need of God” – often because they’ve been driven to their knees by misfortune, which the world considers very unlucky indeed.  “Blessed are those who mourn” – why would we rejoice over a loss?  We don’t mourn what or whom we don’t value.  “Blessed are the meek” – essentially, the homeless – poll the people in Trinity Episcopal’s Code Blue shelter in Asbury Park one of these subzero nights and see if they feel fortunate to be in their situation.  ‘Grateful for a warm place and some hospitality, sure, but not grateful for no home in the teeth of winter.

               The Beatitudes in St. Matthew’s Gospel can be confusing, comforting, challenging.  Is there one that especially comforts you?  Challenges you?  Puzzles you?  (Preaching on the beatitudes could be a series of 8 sermons, easily.  So much to discuss, so little time, even in our 1 ½ hour Bible study!)  So let’s focus on what interests you most.

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               The Beatitudes are a good example of classic literature, which invites us to dig deeper and find/mine more treasure each time we visit.   It’s been 3 years since we’ve heard the Beatitudes from Matthew’s Gospel in worship.  A lot has happened in our lives in the meantime and hopefully we’ve grown and not stagnated or backslid spiritually, so let’s be open to the Holy Spirit whispering new insights to our minds and hearts.  Here are a few things that speak to me strongly this year:

  • In The Message contemporary version of the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matt. 5:3) is “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope….” The idea is, when we’re desperate we’re more apt to turn to God for the assistance we can’t give ourselves.  We’re more apt to feel holy dependence on God when we’re between a rock and a hard place, instead of kidding ourselves that we’re quite capable of managing our own lives without Heaven’s help.  We don’t give up our sense of agency and become passive passengers on the journey of life, but we look to God for grace to endure, to survive, to thrive.  We recognize God as the Source of life and all our blessings, which is always true, but sometimes eludes us.  “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope….”  One of our church friends has a tee shirt that says, “If you’re hanging on by a thread, make sure it’s on the hem of His garment.”  Good advice!
  • “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”  (Matt. 5:4)  It’s just natural to think of our personal losses when we hear about mourning and comfort.  But Jesus always has the community and not just the individual in mind.  Someone has paraphrased this one, “Blessed are those that voluntarily share their neighbors’ pain.”1  Blessed are those blessed to live in well-heated, cozy homes, but whose hearts break for the homeless, and who pray for and also serve the unhoused by volunteering in or providing food, blankets, warm clothing, for various Code Blue and homeless shelters.  Blessed are those whose hearts hurt and whose consciences prick them on behalf of the hungry people and wartorn neighborhoods all around the globe.  Maybe a helpful question to ask is, “When is the last time I cried over somebody else’s suffering?”
  • “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matt. 5:6)  Righteousness is more than watching our P’s & Q’s.  Righteousness is living our faith out loud, as we hear the Lord direct through the prophet Micah in this weekend’s first lesson: “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”  (Micah 6:8)   A few years ago we studied Luther’s Small Catechism, and saw a cartoon with a woman sitting alone in a room with a closed door, eating crackers.  We may think our best bet for staying out of trouble with the Lord is cordoning ourselves off from the world and minding our own business, like that lady.  But of course, that’s not true.  We need to live our faith out loud.  We can’t do justice or love kindness solo.  Both require interaction with the world and with our neighbors.  And staying out of trouble, as the world defines trouble, isn’t always the best course.  Congressman John Lewis spoke about “good trouble,” making waves by being advocates and demanding justice for our neighbors.
  • “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”  (Matt. 5:9)  Peacemakers often catch flak,  so this one leads right into the next: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matt. 5:10)    The reality is that peacemakers aren’t apt to throw a punch, but they’re often on the receiving end of one.  Five Nobel Peace Prize winners were in jail or prison when they won the prize.  Jesus was a peacemaker and He was crucified.  Making peace can be as dangerous as waging war.  But: peacemakers will be called children of God.

If we hear the Beatitudes and feel like we’re not measuring up, that’s a very good thing.  It shows that we’re humble enough to qualify as “poor in spirit,” fully aware that we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, sadly realizing that we don’t take our neighbors’ suffering nearly seriously enough, and that we are dependent on God’s grace to fall back on God’s mercy and to spread God’s mercy in this world.  “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”  (Matt. 5:7)  Now that makes sense.  Amen

1Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 7, Matthew/Mark (Nashville: Abingdon, 1951), p. 281.

 

Pastor Mary Virginia Farnham

 

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