Epiphany 4A
January 29, 2017
Matthew 5:1-12
Micah 6:1-8
If you
watched the Presidential Inauguration last Friday, you may have noticed that
one of the texts chosen as an invocation, read by the Rev. Dr. Samuel
Rodriguez, was the same as our Gospel lesson this morning: the Beatitudes, the
beginning of Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount. I admit I found it an unlikely
choice for the inauguration, with its blessing of meekness and humility. On the
other hand, perhaps it was just the right choice for that very reason.
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| "Kingdom Attitudes" by Elenore Dyck and Pat van Nes |
Whatever the case, it is certainly a
well-loved text. But I think over time it has lost its punch, as it is often
reduced to a list of Christian platitudes describing a Christian life. I think
that works for some of them – Christians should be merciful and pure of heart, for
example, and they should seek peace. Some of them, though, fall far short of
the warm, fuzzy filter we’ve put on them. Some of them, I think, can be
downright confusing, even discouraging, and I bet Jesus’ 1st century
audience would agree. You see, people in the first century were seeking exactly
what people in this century seek: a strong, bold leader who will save them from
the oppression they are experiencing. Someone who will rally the crowds and
stand up to the authorities and get the people out of this mess! But now here
is Jesus, in his first major sermon, and instead of making the big promises of
grandeur that they crave, he says, “Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the
grieving. Blessed are the humble. Blessed are those who are poor, hungry,
thirsty, who seek justice.” Why didn’t someone interrupted him to say, “Uhm,
Jesus, I think you missed the point. We don’t want to be those things anymore – meek, sad, broken. We were hoping
you would save us from those things. How can you say we are blessed?? We sure
don’t feel blessed!”
Yeah, these allegedly blessed groups
of people are not the ones we are used to seeing as
blessed. When do we usually
say that, “I’m so blessed”? It’s when we have good things happen to us, right?
Or maybe when we have come through something tough, made it to the other side.
Saying someone is blessed when they are mourning, persecuted, meek, hungry,
thirsty, etc. is so counter to our worldview, especially our American dream.
That’s why I thought it a strange choice for the inauguration. President
Trump’s speech was all about how America is going to come out on top, and be
the winners, finishing his speech as all presidents finish speeches, “God bless
America.” It’s what we love to hear, no? Yet in Jesus’ sermon, he names as
blessed not the winners, not those on top, but rather, those on the very
bottom, the very vulnerable, the weak, the oppressed, those who have lost
something or someone.
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| "Blessed are the refugees..." |
Why on earth would Jesus do that? Why
would he side with this bunch of, shall we say, losers?
If ever there was a text in the
gospel that shows Jesus’ priorities, this is it: it turns out, Jesus didn’t
come to stand with the winners. I have always read this text as Jesus lifting
up those who are downtrodden, preferring to focus on his use of future tense:
“They will be filled. They shall obtain mercy.” I saw it as a text
of hope for the future, like, “Wait it out, your turn will come.” This week
when I read it, I saw something different: I saw that just by mentioning them,
Jesus is already blessing those
groups of people, right here, right now.
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| Blessed are the Native Americans... |
My mom shared a story this week about
a conversation she just had with her friend – we’ll call her Andie. Andie’s
mom, Dee, is suffering from dementia. In a recent visit, Dee recognized Andie,
but did not recognize her own husband, to whom she’s been married 70 years. “He
says he’s my husband,” she told Andie. “Who is he?” At one point in the
conversation, Dee said to Andie, “I feel like I’m losing my marbles.” Andie’s
compassionate response was, “That must be scary.” And that’s true, isn’t it?
When we are in those uncertain places – mourning, hungry, confused, persecuted
– it is scary. We do not feel blessed. We feel alone, and scared, even
helpless.
In the wake of this encounter, Andie’s
family had a conversation with Dee about the state of things. The gist of the
conversation was to assure her: you are safe, and you are not alone. You are safe, and you are not alone. Now
that is a word of blessing. And that is the word that I hear today in Jesus’
sermon. Not, “It’ll get better, just wait and see.” Not, “It’s really not so
bad.” But rather, “You are safe with me. I am standing with you and holding you
in my arms. You are not alone. You are mine, and I am with you always, and
especially right now. You are blessed. I love you.”
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| Blessed are the women... |
My dad is currently in the Holy Land,
and each day we get an email from him telling us what famous sites he saw,
where Jesus did this or that. The stories and pictures he sends have really
gotten me thinking about context. The people around Jesus for this sermon had a
particular set of burdens they carried. They had particular concerns, many of
which had to do with their political situation, being under Roman rule as they
were. When they heard these words, whom were they picturing?
And whom are you picturing, in your
context? If Jesus were to stand on a mount today and say these words, who would
need to hear, “You are safe, you are not alone, you are blessed”?
Blessed are those suffering from dementia,
for they are not alone.
Blessed
are the refugees, for they will feel safe again.
Blessed
are the immigrants, for they will find home.
Blessed
are the women, for they will know life.
Blessed
are the workers, for they will receive recompense.
Blessed
are the Native Americans, for their land and water will be safe.
Blessed
are the children, for they will get what they need.
Blessed
are the elderly, for they will not be forgotten.
Blessed
are those who are persecuted for fighting for justice, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
Rejoice
and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they
persecuted the prophets who were before you.
We heard
from one of those “prophets who were before you” this morning as well: Micah. This
is certainly the best-known passage from the prophet Micah. Prophets, you
remember, were
people called by God to speak God’s message to the world.
Usually, they were calling out people’s bad behavior, and calling them back
toward faithful living. They often have a social justice bent, that is, a
particular interest in the poor or oppressed. In today’s text, God has reminded
Micah of all the ways God has saved the Israelites throughout time, and Micah
wonders what he should do in return for God’s graciousness. God responds with
this famous line: “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to
love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” I have often seen these words
on banners in church sanctuaries and fellowship halls – and why not! It is our
call as Christians in a nutshell. Do justice: stand with and speak for those in
need, seeing to it that they get what they need to thrive. Love kindness: the
response when we truly try to understand the plight of another and are moved to
compassion.
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| Blessed are the elderly... (this is my beautiful Grandma June!) |
And finally, walk humbly with your
God. This is the kicker. How will we do this, today? What does it look like to
walk humbly with our God in 2017? Does it look like walking humbly
toward the
capitol with 5 million others to make your needs and hopes known? Does it look
like walking over to a nearby retirement home and visiting with the residents? Does
it look like walking humbly into your local mosque and learning more about
Islam? Does it look like walking along the border to welcome people seeking
refuge from unspeakable violence, or the airport to protest their detainment? Does it look like walking to the phone to
call your legislator? Does it look like walking to your local school and
volunteering to tutor at-risk kids? Does it look like walking through your
house looking for donations for places like Willow Domestic Violence Center in
Rochester? Does it look like walking more in general and driving less to reduce
you carbon emissions?
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| Blessed are the workers... |
However it may look for you and your
particular interests, values, beliefs, and capabilities, know this: that
wherever you walk, Jesus walks with you. Jesus walked for you all the way to
the cross, and walked out of the tomb to bring us new life, so that we might
continue the walk toward and for those in need – for those who are already
blessed, but are even more so by us bringing the light of Christ into the
darkness.
Let us pray… Holy God, blessed is your name in all the earth. You have promised to
stand with the weakest and lowliest of your children, and you have called us to
do the same. Walk with us as we strive also to do justice, love kindness, and
walk humbly with you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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