Blessed (Matthew 5:1-12)

At the beginning of Rob Bell’s book Love Wins, the author describes this scene…

The church where he was a pastor was hosting an art show. One of the works on display included a quote by Mahatma Gandhi.

At some point, someone attached a piece of paper to the artwork, and on the piece of paper was written: Reality check; he’s in hell.

Rob Bell’s response to this was:

Really? We know this for certain? That a loving and just God would send someone as good as Gandhi to hell, simply because they never affirmed faith in Jesus Christ?

It’s true that Gandhi never considered himself a Christian. Yet Gandhi admired Jesus, and was greatly influenced by Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

The Sermon on the Mount appears in Matthew, chapters 5, 6, and 7. The Beatitudes, these blessings, are just the beginning of it.

I’ve heard that Gandhi read the Sermon on the Mount, or portions of it, nearly every day of his life. And it’s easy to see how Gandhi lived out the teachings of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in his lifetime.

Yet, as I said, Gandhi didn’t consider himself a Christian. Gandhi didn’t agree with all the claims Christianity makes about Jesus. Even more so, Gandhi was bothered by the hypocrisy of so many Christians who don’t follow the teachings Jesus actually gave.

Like Gandhi, I am bothered by those who claim to follow Jesus, but who so flagrantly ignore his teachings; those who claim that they and they alone are going to heaven; yet they do not work for peace, they do not help the poor, they do not hunger or thirst for what is right. They turn their back on their neighbors, showing contempt especially to anyone who is not like them.

Nearly every instruction Jesus gives in the Sermon on the Mount, they ignore!

Therefore, it seems to me a good idea to spend some time reading and re-reading the Sermon on the Mount. The lectionary begins reading through the Sermon on the Mount, but not until the end of this month. And then it gets interrupted by Lent. 

So I’ve started us on it a few weeks early. 

I wanted us to have more time with the Sermon on the Mount before Lent. It is such a key part of the gospel. If someone has never read the Bible and wanted to know where to start, I’d tell them: start here. 

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***** The Sermon on the Mount focuses on what life is like in the kingdom of heaven. The sermon is filled with teachings about the kingdom.

And that’s true for Matthew’s gospel as a whole. When John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, he proclaimed: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

And then, when Jesus began his ministry, he also proclaimed: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Then, after making this proclamation, Jesus calls disciples to follow him, and he begins traveling throughout Galilee, healing people…

And then, with crowds following him, Jesus takes his disciples up a mountain, and—in the Sermon on the Mount—begins teaching them what the kingdom of heaven is like.

Reading through the Sermon on the Mount, it becomes clear that the kingdom is not some far-off, otherworldly realm. When Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven (or, the kingdom of God as the other gospels call it), he’s talking about the kingdom that dwells in the hearts and minds of all who follow God’s ways. It’s the world we live in, when we follow God’s ways. The world as God would have it be.

• In the kingdom of heaven, those who are poor in spirit are blessed. 

• In the kingdom of heaven, those who mourn are comforted. 

• In the kingdom of heaven, those who hunger and thirst for what is right are filled. 

• In the kingdom of heaven, the merciful receive mercy. 

• In the kingdom of heaven, those who make peace are called children of God. 

Amy-Jill Levine wrote that “These three chapters [in Matthew] tell us that the kingdom of heaven is not some abstract place with pearly gates and golden slippers, harp music, and a bunch of angels flapping their wings. The kingdom of heaven occurs when people take the words of Jesus in these chapters to heart and live into them.”

Let’s go through some of these blessings in this first section of the Sermon on the Mount.

***** “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” 

In Luke’s gospel, it’s just “blessed are the poor…” 

And some have used Matthew’s version to justify not helping the poor. Matthew’s version talks about the poor in spirit, which they say points to an other-worldly realm. They say Jesus was concerned about the spirit, not the body.

No!

The spirit and the body cannot be separated. If one is poor, one will also be poor in spirit. Without adequate food, shelter, and care, one’s spirit is brought down.

Jesus said to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, body, and mind. These things are all connected. They cannot be separated.

Modern science agrees. Last week, a study was released saying that exercise is just as good as medication or therapy when it comes to fighting depression. Physical health and mental health are connected… along with spiritual health.

When Jesus encountered people who were hungry… he fed them. 

And Matthew himself later says that when you feed the hungry, you do it unto Christ. 

In the kingdom of heaven, the hungry are fed. The kingdom belongs to those who are poor… and to those who are poor in spirit.

***** Blessed are those who mourn.

In the kingdom of heaven, there is comfort for all who mourn… 

Many today are mourning the state of our world. I know that many of you feel the weight of all that is wrong with the world. We are filled with grief.

We grieve for the lack of humanity: 

• when we see the way people are treated, because of their skin color, or their immigration status; 

• or, the way they are treated, because of their gender identity; 

• or, the way they are treated, and the persecution they endure, because they refuse to abandon God’s vision of a world where every human is treated with compassion.

We grieve for the earth itself. A changing climate is leading to more destructive weather patterns. Species are going extinct. Once fertile lands are now incapable of supporting crops. How long civilization can survive this is anyone’s guess. And the fact that so many of our leaders just don’t care makes us mourn for the world.

If you are mourning the state of the world, feeling a heaviness and sorrow in your soul, Jesus says you are blessed. In the kingdom of heaven, you are blessed.. 

• You are blessed, because you have held on to your humanity. 

• You are blessed, because your heart is still in tune with God’s heart. 

• You are blessed, because you still love your neighbor, and you feel empathy with your neighbor who is being persecuted and oppressed and hunted. 

• You are blessed, because you refuse to give up the idea that every person bears within them the image of God, and thus to treat any person poorly is to treat God poorly.

• You are blessed, because you still recognize that this earth is God’s creation, sacred and full of beauty, and that we are called to be caretakers of creation.

***** Blessed are the meek

The meek are blessed, because they have not let the world harden them. Their gentleness is the antidote to the world’s harshness.

The kingdom of God is a place for those whose hearts are soft; those who weep with those who weep; those who sit silently with those who are oppressed, in solidarity, in love.

***** Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for what is right.

I like phrasing it this way, because the word “righteousness” has become overloaded with meaning that I don’t think it originally had. In the kingdom of heaven, those who long for and yearn for what is right are blessed.

This is especially true in a world where so many don’t care about what is right. They don’t care about what is true. 

They only care about what is good for them, what they can profit from. 

But those who hunger and thirst for what is right are right with God, and so they are blessed. 

***** Blessed are the merciful…

You cannot live in the kingdom of God if you do not show mercy. You cannot rightfully call yourself a Christian, a follower of Jesus, if you do not show mercy. 

Mercy is love shown to those who most need love. Mercy is doing what is necessary so that others may thrive, that they may live lives of wholeness.

Those who deny others mercy say they don’t deserve it, or that they have to earn it. Yet in the book of James, it says that God’s judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy. 

None of us have earned or deserve the mercy of God—yet God bestows God’s mercy anyway.

In this, we are to be like God. We are to be merciful to others.

***** Blessed are the pure in heart.

The pure in heart have one single motive: to love others as Jesus would have us do. They do not love in order to receive, they do not love only if certain conditions are met. They do not love only those who love them, but they also love those who hate them. Their love is pure.

And they will see God, for God’s love is pure. 

***** Blessed are the peacemakers

This week, the Department of Homeland Security released a video that features images of ICE agents and soldiers firing weapons at people and breaking down doors and hauling people away in handcuffs. The song “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” plays over the images, and, on the screen, the words Blessed are the peacemakers appear. 

The video glorifies war, and implies that aggressive force is how peace is achieved.

But the Greek word translated here as peacemaker implies nonviolent action. The true peacemakers are those who, as it says in Isaiah 2 and Micah 4, beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; according to these Bible passages, true peace comes when nations refuse to lift up weapons or engage in war. 

In the first century, Caesar called himself the bringer of peace, the prince of peace, because he kept uprisings and wars from happening. But he did that through strict authoritarian rule and aggressive military intimidation and oppression.

So when Jesus showed the world a true, nonviolent form of peacemaking, his followers recognized him as the true prince of peace, because his peace was lasting, it was real, and it was built on ending oppression and establishing justice.

Those who work for peace the way Jesus worked for peace are blessed. They are called children of God.

***** Blessed are those who are persecuted and reviled; blessed are those who are spoken of falsely.

Those in power, who use Christ’s name in vain, claiming to be Christians but who withhold love and mercy, will speak lies about those who challenge them, and who call them to repentance. They will bear false witness and attach labels to them that are not true. They will even arrest and kill those who speak truth, and who practice the way of love.

Jesus points out that this is exactly how the prophets were treated, how all those who speak for truth have been treated throughout history. The powers that be will discredit them with their lies.

And in the kingdom of heaven, those who are persecuted and reviled and spoken of falsely are blessed even now, because they stand on the side of truth, and on the side of mercy, and on the side of love.

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The blessings of God that the beatitudes talk about aren’t necessarily blessings the way many understand them today. People get a new car or a new house, or they go on a vacation to some luxury resort, and say that they are blessed.

In the kingdom of God, those who are blessed are those who are on the side of God, those who are considered children of God, those who receive God’s mercy and love, those who find comfort and assurance.

Things in the world still may not go the way you want. Your heart may be heavy because of all that’s happening. 

But still, in the kingdom of heaven, you may rejoice, for the blessings are yours. And you, with your heart full of love and your life committed to what is right, get to dwell in the kingdom of heaven, now, and forever.

Made New (Matthew 3)

 When a pastor in our denomination—the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)—is looking for a church to lead, the pastor is asked where they would like to have their profile sent.

The pastor can choose to have the profile sent to one region, several regions, or to all the regions.

Eighteen years ago, when I was looking for a church to lead, I updated my profile, and chose to have it sent to the regions that were closest to where I grew up, and where my extended family lived. 

My kids were young, my nieces and nephews were young (some weren’t even born yet), and I wanted to be close to family. I wanted my kids to know their grandparents and know their cousins, and vice versa.

That’s how we ended up in Long Beach for 15 wonderful years, in a wonderful congregation with some of the best congregants a pastor could hope for. And my parents, and my sisters and their families, were all within about an hours’ drive.

At the end of those 15 years, I felt God calling me to say goodbye to that wonderful congregation; it was time for something new.

This time, when I pondered where to send my profile, I thought: my kids are grown. My parents have passed away. Two of my nieces are off to college, and my other niece and nephew from southern California are growing up… maybe this time, I should leave the location completely up to God…

And that’s how I ended up here in Bloomington, Illinois.

And even though I’ve been here over two years now, people still ask: Why’d you move to Illinois?

And sometimes I say it’s because I fell in love with this congregation. And sometimes I also say it’s because I fell in love with this community.

Both are true.

But I suppose that the real answer is that I came to Illinois because I was willing to let God do something new and different with my life.

It’s not easy to let God do something new and different with your life. Just those two words—”new” and “different”—bring a lot of anxiety. It’s challenging. It’s scary. It involves a lot of trust… and faith.

Today, I’m reflecting on today’s scripture, and the theme of baptism, and I realize that one thing baptism represents is a willingness to let God do something completely new and different with your life…

In the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), we recognize all forms of baptism, but we normally practice baptism by immersion, for those old enough to make their own decision to follow Christ. 

And that decision to follow Christ—and the baptism that goes along with that decision—represent a willingness to let God do something completely new and different with your life.

*****John the baptist—a relative of Jesus—was in the wilderness, proclaiming: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

To repent means to change your ways; to embrace a new and different way of living.

To repent means to leave the old you behind, and embrace a new you. 

To repent means to leave the old world behind, and embrace a whole new world.

And many, who longed for a new world, came to John, confessed their sins, and were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

Then Jesus came to John, to be baptized. 

John is confused by this, and—let’s be honest—we are, too. Right? Aren’t we confused, a little, by Jesus being baptized? Why did Jesus have to be baptized? What did he need to repent of? What change did he, the son of God, need to make?

But baptism isn’t just about repenting of one’s own personal sins. That’s a part of it; but baptism is bigger than that. 

Baptism is about being willing to leave the destructive ways of this world behind, and embrace a new future, a new way of living; something that Matthew calls the kingdom of heaven.

Baptism symbolizes our willingness to leave our old home behind, and to live in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus, obedient to God, was baptized, which demonstrated his willingness to embrace and live in the kingdom of heaven.

***** One chapter back, when Matthew tells the story of the magi bringing their gifts to Jesus when he was still a baby, Matthew contrasts the magi with Herod. 

The magi are captivated by Jesus and the new different world he represents; one could say that the magi also represent something new and different. 

Herod, on the other hand, sees this new and different world as a threat, and Herod does everything he can to preserve his power as king of the old world……….

Next week, we’ll move forward a little bit in Matthew’s gospel, and begin reading through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus describes how one lives in this new kingdom. It is a completely new and different way of living.

In the kingdom of heaven, all things are made new.

And every day, I am challenged by this. I am challenged by the implications of my baptism. I am challenged by the decision I made, so many years ago, to be baptized, and to let God do something new and different with my life.

Following Jesus really means going against the flow; when the world goes one way, we are so often called to go the other way.

And that’s not easy.

***** We want to fit in. We want to be accepted. We want to be respected and admired.

But people who follow Christ are often called to go in the opposite direction.

We admire people who go against the flow. We admire people who are willing to let God do something new and different with their lives.

A recovering alcoholic commits to a life of abstinence; in a world where there is much pressure to drink, pressure that he used to give in to, he has chosen to follow a new and different path.

A teenager who, like all his friends, eats junk food, studies only when he has to, and spends way too much time on his phone, decides to do something new and different; he decides to turn his life around by eating right, exercising, studying hard, reading his bible, and taking good care of himself.

These are two real people I’ve found on instagram by the way. And one thing they both have in common is that they both admit that making the change in their lives was—and is—hard. Creating a new and different version of themselves—or, allowing God to create something new and different in them—is not easy.

It requires discipline and focus. It’s a decision that one has to make every day.

Which brings me to another point. You may have heard someone ask, “When did you get saved?”

As if your salvation was a one-time event.

But salvation is something that happens every day. Every day we are called upon to remember our baptism, and remember the change that God has made in us, and to commit ourselves to that change, every single day.

Because every day we face the challenge of choosing between going with the flow, and following along with the world; OR going against the flow, and following along with God.

***** It would have been easy for the magi to go along with Herod. Herod probably would have even rewarded them, if they had returned to him like he asked. “Just come and tell me where the newborn messiah is,” Herod said. 

They could have obeyed his command. And then, when Herod went to where they said Jesus was, and killed Jesus, those magi could have said, “We didn’t know! We were only following orders! Herod is the king, after all!”

But they chose the harder thing. They chose to disobey Herod. They did NOT tell Herod where Jesus was… and scripture doesn’t say what happened to them after that. They returned to their own country, but then what? 

 Did Herod send troops after them? Did they go into hiding? I’m sure they never set foot in Judea again, at least not as long as Herod was alive and on the throne…

Every day, we are faced with decisions like that. Do we follow the crowd, or do we follow Christ?

Remember the decision you made the day you were baptized… and let that decision guide you today.

***** There are three aspects to baptism. The first is personal. In baptism, we recognize that God has created a new person; so there is a personal aspect.

In baptism, one has been born anew, or born of the Spirit, as Jesus says in John’s gospel.

Like those people I saw on instagram, who have made personal decisions to improve their lives, baptism is a personal decision to be a new you, to turn away from the person the world tries to make you into, and to be the YOU God wants you to be, the YOU God created you and calls you to be.

But there is also a social aspect to baptism. You aren’t just embracing a new version of you; you’re embracing a new world—the kingdom of heaven. It’s a world with new and different priorities. 

Again, we’ll hear more about this when we read through the Sermon on the Mount.

And then there is the institutional aspect. Ideally, baptism takes place in the midst of the congregation, because we aren’t just individuals who have been baptized; we are part of a community of baptized believers who, together, are willing to embrace the new and different way Christ calls us to. We are a community, a church, that is willing to be changed, and willing to be an agent of change.

I know; churches are not always known for being places willing to change, or embrace change, or be agents of change. Right?

Yet don’t you think God is calling the church to be something new and different than the church has been in the past?

It’s not that everything in the past is bad. I love learning about and celebrating the history of First Christian Church, and the history of our denomination, and the history of the universal church. 

But God is always calling us to grow and change, to move beyond where we’ve been and where we’re at, so that we can then help the Spirit in creating that new and different world, that kingdom of heaven, the kingdom that—every week—we pray will come on earth, as it is in heaven.

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This year, we at First Christian Church will embark on “New Beginnings,” a process that will help us discern how God is leading us, and what changes the Spirit might have in store for us.

My past experience with New Beginnings has shown me that it is Spirit-filled, Spirit-guided, and that it focuses on the many ways that a congregation is a blessing to both its members and to its community. It is a joyful experience!… as we examine the many wonderful ways that God has already changed us and changed others through us. 

Now, maybe for some, just the name “New Beginnings” is… scary… because they don’t want to begin again.

But God is always beginning something new in us and among us. That’s the very nature of the kingdom of heaven. And that’s the very essence of what our baptism represents.

For the one who is baptized, every day is a new beginning.