Sermon: January 29, 2023 Fourth Sunday After Epiphany

Preacher: Rev Ryan Slifka

Scriptures: Matthew 5:1-12

Today’s scripture begins what’s called the Sermon on the Mount, so named because Jesus takes his disciples up a mountain and begins to teach. Not for the views and the cold crisp mountain air. But because Jesus is re-enacting the journey in the Old Testament where Moses travels up a mountain to be in God’s presence to receive divine teaching, the short form being the Ten Commandments. Here Jesus, like Moses is doling out divine teaching, but this time it comes straight from God on the lips of Jesus, God’s Word in the flesh. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is delivering the definitive teaching on the life he calls us to. No matter who we may be.

Now, like I said, today’s scripture is the beginning of this Sermon. The whole thing spans three chapters that expand things even more. But it begins with nine blessings, which in Latin is beatitude. Hence these are known as the Beatitudes. The great 5th century theologian Augustine of Hippo said the Beatitudes represent a “compressed form” of the whole of Christian teaching.[i] The whole deal is contained in these nine blessings. These nine blessings sketch out the blessed life.

The first four blessings are kind of weird, though. Listen:

Blessed are the poor in spirit.
                Blessed are those who mourn.
                Blessed are the meek.
                Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Sounds weird because these aren’t the kind of people who pop up when you click #blessed.

Poor spirits: people who are crushed and demoralized by life. Could be the stress of poverty, lack of life prospects, anxious, depressed, fearful of the future. Mourners: people who’ve experienced devastating loss. Spouses, children, parents, livelihoods, you name it. Meek ones: the powerless, the uneducated, those who’ve been trampled, whose gentleness is a liability. People hungry and thirsty for righteousness: the ones who’ve faced injustice, have had their rights trampled, and long for wrongs to be righted.

These are unlucky people, sure. People deserving of sympathy, worthy of pity, even. But not blessed. If you’re blessed you have stuff. Money, family, career, success, virtue. A turkey on thanksgiving. Those are all what we consider blessings. But these blessings Jesus drops are the opposite. Poorness, loss, powerlessness, hunger and thirst for righteousness. It’s weird. Because they’re not blessed. If anything they lack blessing.

It’s a weird place to start. But you know, it illustrates the weirdness of Jesus. The oddness of God, and God’s kingdom, God’s reign on earth as it is in heaven. We tend to believe that blessing, happiness, that enoughness is the product of our virtues and our achievements. If we have enough discipline, enough, enough skill, follow the right directions, raise our kids right, then it’s all ours.

But the Christian message is actually the opposite. From the beginning of the Bible—Abraham and Sarah are super old, God blesses them with children. Joseph is the runt younger brother who’s sold into slavery by his older brothers, but ends up in government in Egypt, saving his people from starving. David’s a boy shepherd who sheds armour and defeats a giant. And of course, Jesus is the Messiah whose victory comes not with trumpets in a triumphant parade, but in crucifixion. In death on a cross.

The great Reformer Martin Luther said it like this:

“God receives none but those who are forsaken, restores health to none but those who are sick, gives sight to none but the blind, and life to none but the dead. He does not give saintliness to any but sinners, nor wisdom to any but fools. In short: He has mercy on none but the wretched and gives grace to none but those who are in disgrace.”[ii]

Which is to say, simply, that “God blesses broken people.”[iii] Blessing comes to us, God comes to us, not in our strength, but in our weakness. Where we’re in pain, where we fall short. This can be a really hard pill to swallow. Because we spend so much time trying to demonstrate our worthiness, to God, to ourselves, to others. Our jobs, our education, our reputation, money, fame, clicks, likes, and social recognition. I mean, we’ve managed to even turn our own victimhood into a kind of virtue that can give us power.

But Jesus says that it’s “those who’ve reached the bottom, spiritually, emotionally, physically, too, who cannot live without God’s supernatural help and miraculous intervention… for all such persons, for all those whom the world calls ‘failures,’ God is especially there.”[iv] The Apostle Paul says that this is a stumbling block for religious people who are looking for great signs of power and secular people who are looking for pure reason alike. But God is cross shaped. God’s power is made perfect in weakness. Or, as the old phrase goes, “God’s office is at the end of your rope.”

Has life trampled you down? Are you materially poor, spiritually bereft, morally estranged? Jesus says the kingdom of heaven belongs to you.

Is your life one loss after another after another? A long road of pain? Jesus says healing’s on the horizon. Consolation is yours.

Do you feel pushed around and powerless? Blown around by the winds of history with nothing to hold on to? Jesus says the whole of God’s green earth is coming your way.

Do you hunger and a thirst for a life where the scales of justice are balanced, where evildoers are held to account and those who’ve been wronged receive recompense? Where you can be just and merciful, instead of cold and indifferent. Jesus says get ready to be satisfied cuz you’re gonna get all you can eat… and more.

And if you resonate with “none of the above,” hey that’s a weakness God can work with, too.

Blessing, joy, healing, satisfaction. God blesses broken people. Like Leonard Cohen says “Forget your perfect offering, there’s a crack in everything/it’s how the light gets in.”[v] To a perishing world it all looks like foolishness, but to those of us who are being saved it’s the power of God.

Now, of course, there’s more.

The next three Beatitudes kind of chart out the kind of life that’s possible with God’s grace at work in us. The first four are all about grace, the next three are all about gratitude.

Blessed are the merciful, it says, 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.

In the first four Beatitudes, we heard that God blesses broken people. In the next three we find that blessed people bless broken people, and are, in turn, further blessed by that experience.

In terms of being merciful, our default mode is to be judgy. To hold sins against against others. To with-hold from the undeserving.

But in the way that God shows us mercy, by forgiving our transgressions, by not counting our trespasses against us, we can’t help but become more merciful. We see that every other human being is in the same boat, and that Christ died for all. Jesus came feeding, healing, forgiving, raising the dead. Even the undeserving… especially the undeserving. Mercy begats mercy. Kindness, generosity, compassion. Punishment is no longer something we seek for others, but the same kind of release we ourselves have been given. And we ourselves experience even more mercy, in that we’re freed from our need to seek revenge. We no longer have to be consumed with vengeance. Instead we can forgive. You can forgive. Because you have been forgiven. You have no need for vengeance… God blesses mercy with mercy.

In terms of having purity of heart, our default mode is to have impure hearts. The word “purity” has a lot of baggage, mostly to do with sex. Sex is part of it, certainly. But only in relation to the whole of life. In the Bible, the heart is our decision-making centre. The whole idea is that our hearts are busted, broken, they can’t live up to their original purpose. Our hearts are tainted with selfishness, and self-interest. We have a lot of trouble just knowing the good and doing it.

Because we know we are flawed, fallen, finite creatures, it means that we can stop pretending that we aren’t. Again, Martin Luther: “What is meant by a pure heart is this: [a heart that] is watching and pondering what God says, and replacing [our] own ideas with the Word of God.”[vi] Instead of certainty in our own rightness, God blesses us with what the other great Reformer, John Calvin calls a “teachable Spirit.”[vii] Purity of heart begins with the knowledge just how impure our hearts actually are. Seeing how far we are from being like Jesus paradoxically makes us more like Jesus. And more able to take our directions from him, rather than all the other false gods commanding our attention. God blesses us with purity of heart.

And in terms of being peacemakers, our default mode is the opposite: jealousy, anger, hatred, resentment, punishment, tribalism. Whether we’re talking about war, whether we’re talking about intergenerational trauma, or family systems, politics or inter-personal relations.

Because of that, Jesus blesses us with peace. God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, and because God offered up himself to end the war between God and humanity, and the war between human beings, we’re able to do the same. In Christ, the war is over. Between Jew and Gentile, between rich and poor, between men and women. Between nations, races, colours kinds or creeds. From the family unit to the international stage. We no longer need to feed into the endless cycle of antagonism, and powerplay and propaganda. We can put down our swords, and pickup our ploughshares. And come to know the peace that comes from the Prince of peace. The true peace that comes with being a child of the living God.

Mercy, purity of heart, peace-making. These three beatitudes sketch out the Christian life. Jesus says that once we come to know God’s blessing, a new mode of being is possible. Blessed people bless broken people. And find themselves blessed yet again in return.

Finally, you’ll notice a couple more blessings at the end. And they’re just as crucial as the rest.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, and blessed are those who are reviled, persecuted and defamed for the sake of Jesus.

Again, weird blessings. But the last couple acknowledge that blessing broken people in Jesus’ way ain’t a cake walk. Because the world’s default mode is what it is, mercy, purity in heart, peaceableness. They aren’t bound to be popular. Putting Jesus at the center of everything we do and believe… also, not bound to be popular. In fact, in our time and place the latter can be a real liability.

Which isn’t to say we should go out looking for trouble or embrace a Christian victim persecution complex. But it’s to say love of enemies, advocacy for the least, last and the lost. Love for the undeserving, grace for the wicked… all in the name of Jesus Christ. These may not make us friends. It may, in fact, make us enemies. It may, in fact, bring us considerable heartache and struggle. It’s always been that way from the beginning, Jesus says. Just look at the prophets.

But we can take heart.  We can have courage, we can be joyful even when all seems lost. We are blessed, even in times of trial, stress, and helplessness, because we have hope. Because, in the end, our reward is great. Jesus promises us the kingdom of heaven. He promises that one day, heaven and earth are gonna merge. It’s all gonna come together. “I believe in the Kingdom come, then all the colours are gonna bleed into one,”[viii] and God will be all in all. Blessed people bless broken people, because they know that—in the end—by God’s grace, it’s all gonna work out right. That every tear, every loss, every bruise, every broken heart, every lost piece of the puzzle’s gonna be put into place, and it’s all gonna be worth it in the end. Because, with God all things work for good.

The Beatitudes, dear friends, are the great summary of the gospel. The Christian life begins, and ends with blessing. That God blesses the broken. That the blessed bless the broken, and are blessed. And that each blessing is a promise… a foretaste of a future without end.

May these blessings be yours. Blessed are you, holy are you. Rejoice and be glad. For yours is in the kingdom of God.

AMEN.

[i] Rebekah Eklund, The Beatitudes Through the Ages (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2021), 2.

[ii] Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, vol. 14, Selected Psalms III, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1958), 163.

[iii] Frederick Dale Bruner, The Christbook: Matthew 1-12, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), 156.

[iv] Ibid., 161.

[v] Leonard Cohen, “Anthem,” The Future, 1989.

[vi] Quoted in Bruner, 176.

[vii] John Calvin, Commentary on Joel, Amos, Obadiah https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom27.iv.vi.xvii.html

[viii] U2, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” The Joshua Tree, 1987.