A sermon from the fourth Sunday after Epiphany.
This sermon is the first in a four part series on the Sermon on the Mount. The series is titled "God's Radical Vision for Community."
The first movement is based in the Sermon on the Mount.
The Blessed - How God Encounters the World
Matthew 5:1-12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain. The movement was already catching on fire. The preacher who walked out of the wilderness and into the backwater town of Capernaum has gathered quite a following. Not only does he have disciples, among their ranks the simple fishermen we encountered last week, he is followed by a large crowd. He sits down on the mountain and gazes out upon an unnumbered mass of people who have come to hear him speak.
Perhaps they had heard of the healings he had done in Galilee, the ten cities, Jerusalem, or Judea. Perhaps the talk of a new kingdom had gotten their attention. Whatever the reason, there they sit. Drawn to the power of Jesus they wait for what he has to say next. Jesus walked up the mountain and sat down. The mic is checked. It’s showtime.
We too gather on the mountain today. We join the crowd of generations who have come before us to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn where he is leading us. We gather on this day to hear the words that mark the beginning of what we know as the “Sermon on the Mount.” For the next four weeks we will hear various parts of this most famous sermon. Pastor Casey and I will follow the flow of the lectionary as it takes us through the many and various teachings wrapped up in the words of this sermon. We will explore “God’s Radical Vision for Community.” Buckle up. Tell a friend. And come hungry. It’s going to be a nourishing ride. So up the mountain we go.
The stage is set. And the stage is important. The way Matthew describes the setting and the action of Jesus before teaching is important. Matthew tells us that Jesus goes up the mountain. For Matthew and his audience this is a nod to Moses. Moses ascended the mountain at Sinai to converse with God and receive the law. Matthew wants us to draw this parallel. Matthews wants us to engage the overtones of Moses and the law on Sinai.
The law that Moses receives is the way that God encounters the people of Israel. It’s a vision of how the community created and blessed by God is live out its calling in the world. The law, and here I speak of more than just the ten commandments, is God’s vision for the way God’s own blessed community will be a blessing to each other and the world. It’s as if God says, “I am the LORD you God, this is how I encounter the world - you should act accordingly.” With the law and Moses echoing in our memories we move to the Sermon on the Mount.
The Sermon on the Mount is the first of five teaching moments in the Gospel of Matthew. It sets the tone for the life and ministry of Jesus. It is the platform for the kingdom of heaven. It points us to where Jesus is going.
With these overtones in mind, Jesus begins with what we know as the Beatitudes. This series of nine blessings invites us to imagine the world with God. In these blessings God is giving us a glimpse of the community that makes up the kingdom of heaven. Wrapped up in these statements is a living picture of how God encounters the world.
I can remember as a child seeing these nine statements written out on many a poster in the hallways of the church Sunday school wing. I can remember reading in books about how we ought to post these on the lawns of our courthouses. About how these were the ultimate Christian teaching. I encountered them so often that my understanding of them began to soften.
For a long time I saw heard the Beatitudes as a moral code. I understood them as rules to follow, as if Jesus was saying “if you follow these rules you will be blessed.” They became another set of statements by which to measure my life - and when I fell short they were another tool for me to judge myself. But that’s not what these statements are. The Beatitudes are not rules. They are so much more. They are radical statements for our life in the kingdom of God. Let’s recapture their power today.
The Beatitudes are not imperative statements, they are not commands or requests. They are indicative statements. They point us to a reality that is created by God. These blessings named by Jesus are not something we are to strive for, they are something for us to look for in this world. They are not entrance requirements. They declare who the insiders already are in the kingdom of heaven. The Beatitudes are a picture of how God encounters the world. It’s as if God is saying, “I am the LORD you God, this is how I encounter the world - and I invite you to follow.”
It would take quite a while to work our way through these nine statements about how God encounters the world. So let’s engage the first to understand the depths of these blessings.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their’s is the kingdom of heaven.” The concept of “poor in spirit” comes from the Old Testament and points to the dispossessed and abandoned ones in Israel. Matthew takes this further. Jesus has come to engage the whole world, so we can understand the “poor in spirit” for Matthew to name the dispossessed and abandoned people of the world in general. These folk named by Matthew are not just financially poor, they are also without hope. They have lost any sense of hope in the world, having been pushed to the margins of life.
To hear these people named as blessed by Jesus was a shock to Matthew’s audience because this is not how the world worked. The blessed in the community were the wealthy and well-off. Those who had it made and lacked need for anything. But here Jesus turns the world around. “Blessed are the poor in spirit” - not the rich and famous. If we were to image this statement today, perhaps we would hear Jesus would say; “Blessed are the single moms who work three jobs and still live below the poverty line.” Blessed are the undocumented, migrant workers who pick the produce for our grocery store shelves.” “Blessed are the bus boys and construction workers and hospital custodians who work long hours without access to healthcare or insurance.” These are the poor in spirit in our midst, left hopeless by the world, and yet named as blessed by God. Quite a shock. But that’s how God encounters the world. And if that’s how God encounters the world, then maybe we who follow Jesus ought to get with the program.
This is the way of life we are invited to follow. It’s as if God is saying, “I am the LORD you God, this is how I encounter the world - and I invite you to follow.” God blesses those we do not expect or even notice and God expects us to follow suit. The whole of Jesus’ life can be seen engaging the world based on these blessings. Jesus went to the cross not for those the world honored but for all people. The whole world. And we do not get to set the boundaries. The very table we gather around is a reminder of the expansive grace of the kingdom of heaven. All are welcome. All are welcome. The bread and cup are extended to all people and through the ordinary things of bread and wine and God’s extraordinary promise we receive a foretaste of the feast that is to come.
The Beatitudes are a glimpse of God’s radical vision for community. They show us how God encounters the world. They change the way we live and how we orient our lives. It’s as if God is saying, “I am the LORD you God, this is how I encounter the world - and I invite you to follow.” So let us follow.
Showing posts with label Matthew 5:1-12. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matthew 5:1-12. Show all posts
Monday, February 3, 2014
Thursday, January 30, 2014
The Beatitudes and Privilege - Confronting Powerlessness
I have been blessed to be part of a conversation that engages privilege. I am not sure that some would see this as a blessing. I struggle with engaging this topic because it is truly a hard look in the mirror for me - a person of privilege. But it is a blessing for me because it has caused me to engage the world in a different way - a way that I trust is in line with what Jesus has called us to do with his invitation, “Follow me.” A life that engages the world as God engages the world - through love and mercy. It's a journey to be sure.
This week Dr. David Creech continued this conversation by writing a response to his initial 5 minute blog post.
This most recent post can be found here - Privilege Revisited.
He responded in two ways; Using power and privilege in the small acts of life, and the sense of powerlessness that can overcome those confronted with their privilege, namely the act of giving up power.
I want to address the second.
I too struggle with a sense of powerlessness. When confronted by systems (racism, homophobia, sexism, immigration) that seem too big to name and engage, I tend to shrug my shoulders and give away my power as a privileged person to name the injustice that I see. But this does not match up with the call to be a disciple that I hear from Jesus in the Gospels.
Enter the Beatitudes, the first movement of Jesus’ famous “Sermon on the Mount.” We are beginning a sermon series on this teaching moment from the Gospel of Matthew at the church I serve. I am preaching this weekend on these famous statements from Jesus. With the conversation of privilege rattling around in my mind, two of them jumped off the page at me in a entirely new way.
Here is something foundational. I understand the Beatitudes as a vision of how God encounters the world, not as a list of moral maxims or a set of rules by which to live. The Beatitudes, this series of blessings, is a glimpse of how God encounters the world through the kingdom of heaven. Jesus shows us what God sees, who God blesses, how God engages the world. God has already blessed these people - how will the community respond? I am thankful for Hauerwas and Willimon and their book Resident Aliens; A provocative Christian assessment of culture and ministry for people who know something is wrong. This book brought this new understanding to light.
With this understanding in place, I saw two of these “blessings” anew.
Matthew 5:5 - “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
I have always had a misguided understanding of the work meek. It registered in my vocabulary with an overtone of cowardice and fear - a bad understanding of “turn the other cheek” (we’ll get to that in a few weeks).
In seminary I learned that this word had a different nuance, that it pointed to a state of being that was gentle and humble. This week I came across this definition from Matthew Skinner; “Meek: those who are gentle and unobtrusive, who refuse to use power over others as a tool to make things happen.” I was struck by this. With the concept of privilege in my mind I began to understand meekness with a great sense of power - but power un-abused. A meek person understands their power, but does not use it to further systems of injustice and oppression, but to work against them.
For a privileged person, I think we can push it a little further. It’s not that privileged people are to “refuse use their power as a tool to make things happen” - I think this may only further a sense of powerlessness. I think that meekness points to a way of life that uses power and privilege in a way that is a critique of the system of power and privilege. I, as a privileged person, can understand meekness to be a state of being that recognizes its privilege, learns the effects of that privilege, and becomes a critical voice of that privilege, on behalf of those who are oppressed. Meekness is direct action to undo privilege, by the privileged, on behalf of the oppressed. It’s a way of life that encounters and engages the world based on God’s kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:7 - “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”
Mercy has also been interpreted anew. Skinner writes; “The merciful: people who willingly surrender their privileges or otherwise go out of their way to improve others’ well-being.”
Mercy understands power and privilege. Mercy can seen the difference between the haves and the have-nots. Mercy knows of inequality. And mercy is a state of being that critiques and combats these systems of injustice.
I also want to push Mr. Skinner’s definition a little. I understand mercy as a willingness to use privilege to go out of one’s way to improve the well being of another. Again, this is to combat the sense of powerlessness. The state of being that is mercy is an active force. It understands privilege. Mercy is a way of life by which the one with privilege names and engages that privilege in a critical manner, in an effort to end injustice and oppression. Surrendering privilege does not help in this instance. The privilege needs to be named, critiqued, and used as an avenue of renewal - always on behalf of the other.
Perhaps there is a nuance of surrender here that I am missing. This is after all a work in progress. A journey. A way of life.
God has blessed both the meek and the merciful. They are not powerless. They are blessed, already and forever, to be workers in the kingdom of heaven. When the meek and merciful are confronted with their privilege and power they know they are called to action, to work against the injustice and oppression brought on by fallen systems of power and privilege. They are blessed to be a blessing. And to live out God's radical vision for community that is the kingdom of heaven.
I want to keep the conversation moving. How do these definitions help the conversation? What are your thoughts? Do you encounter the tension of privilege and powerlessness? What do you do when you see it?
Blessings on the journey. Now it’s back to sermon writing.
Peace,
Travis
This week Dr. David Creech continued this conversation by writing a response to his initial 5 minute blog post.
This most recent post can be found here - Privilege Revisited.
He responded in two ways; Using power and privilege in the small acts of life, and the sense of powerlessness that can overcome those confronted with their privilege, namely the act of giving up power.
I want to address the second.
I too struggle with a sense of powerlessness. When confronted by systems (racism, homophobia, sexism, immigration) that seem too big to name and engage, I tend to shrug my shoulders and give away my power as a privileged person to name the injustice that I see. But this does not match up with the call to be a disciple that I hear from Jesus in the Gospels.
Enter the Beatitudes, the first movement of Jesus’ famous “Sermon on the Mount.” We are beginning a sermon series on this teaching moment from the Gospel of Matthew at the church I serve. I am preaching this weekend on these famous statements from Jesus. With the conversation of privilege rattling around in my mind, two of them jumped off the page at me in a entirely new way.
Here is something foundational. I understand the Beatitudes as a vision of how God encounters the world, not as a list of moral maxims or a set of rules by which to live. The Beatitudes, this series of blessings, is a glimpse of how God encounters the world through the kingdom of heaven. Jesus shows us what God sees, who God blesses, how God engages the world. God has already blessed these people - how will the community respond? I am thankful for Hauerwas and Willimon and their book Resident Aliens; A provocative Christian assessment of culture and ministry for people who know something is wrong. This book brought this new understanding to light.
With this understanding in place, I saw two of these “blessings” anew.
Matthew 5:5 - “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
I have always had a misguided understanding of the work meek. It registered in my vocabulary with an overtone of cowardice and fear - a bad understanding of “turn the other cheek” (we’ll get to that in a few weeks).
In seminary I learned that this word had a different nuance, that it pointed to a state of being that was gentle and humble. This week I came across this definition from Matthew Skinner; “Meek: those who are gentle and unobtrusive, who refuse to use power over others as a tool to make things happen.” I was struck by this. With the concept of privilege in my mind I began to understand meekness with a great sense of power - but power un-abused. A meek person understands their power, but does not use it to further systems of injustice and oppression, but to work against them.
For a privileged person, I think we can push it a little further. It’s not that privileged people are to “refuse use their power as a tool to make things happen” - I think this may only further a sense of powerlessness. I think that meekness points to a way of life that uses power and privilege in a way that is a critique of the system of power and privilege. I, as a privileged person, can understand meekness to be a state of being that recognizes its privilege, learns the effects of that privilege, and becomes a critical voice of that privilege, on behalf of those who are oppressed. Meekness is direct action to undo privilege, by the privileged, on behalf of the oppressed. It’s a way of life that encounters and engages the world based on God’s kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:7 - “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”
Mercy has also been interpreted anew. Skinner writes; “The merciful: people who willingly surrender their privileges or otherwise go out of their way to improve others’ well-being.”
Mercy understands power and privilege. Mercy can seen the difference between the haves and the have-nots. Mercy knows of inequality. And mercy is a state of being that critiques and combats these systems of injustice.
I also want to push Mr. Skinner’s definition a little. I understand mercy as a willingness to use privilege to go out of one’s way to improve the well being of another. Again, this is to combat the sense of powerlessness. The state of being that is mercy is an active force. It understands privilege. Mercy is a way of life by which the one with privilege names and engages that privilege in a critical manner, in an effort to end injustice and oppression. Surrendering privilege does not help in this instance. The privilege needs to be named, critiqued, and used as an avenue of renewal - always on behalf of the other.
Perhaps there is a nuance of surrender here that I am missing. This is after all a work in progress. A journey. A way of life.
God has blessed both the meek and the merciful. They are not powerless. They are blessed, already and forever, to be workers in the kingdom of heaven. When the meek and merciful are confronted with their privilege and power they know they are called to action, to work against the injustice and oppression brought on by fallen systems of power and privilege. They are blessed to be a blessing. And to live out God's radical vision for community that is the kingdom of heaven.
I want to keep the conversation moving. How do these definitions help the conversation? What are your thoughts? Do you encounter the tension of privilege and powerlessness? What do you do when you see it?
Blessings on the journey. Now it’s back to sermon writing.
Peace,
Travis
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