A World Full of Blessing -- Matthew 5:1-12 (4th Sunday After Epiphany)

Scott Clark
4 days ago
10 min read

Artwork: Jan Richardson, used with licensed permission

To listen to the sermon, you can click here.

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE:

We’ve been moving through the Gospel of Matthew, and today we get to the Beatitudes – this beloved passage of Scripture. But before we dive in, let’s remember where we’ve been – the journey that got us to this moment when Jesu sits down to teach.

Remember: The Gospel of Matthew began with a genealogy – so and so begat so and so – the flow of humanity down through the years, God’s faithfulness down through the ages. That led us to Joseph, a righteous man, one who knows the rules – and even more than that, a good and decent man. An angel tells Joseph that the woman to whom he is engaged is going to have a child. And in his conversation with that angel, Joseph chooses a greater righteousness. He and Mary align their lives with God’s good will for the world, exceedingly good, exceedingly generous.

But their world is not without peril, and they have made a dangerous choice – as Mary sings elsewhere – God is bringing down the powers, and lifting up the lowly. And the powers never like to hear that.

Enter the Magi – wise people from far away, following a star: The world is drawn toward to this child born king to a humble family The Magi encounter King Herod, a crazed despot terrified of losing his power-over, who tries to coerce the Magi to help him find and destroy this child. But they outwit him, and go home by another way – not Herod’s way. Herod unleashes his flailing, violent power – as crazed despots do – and launches a genocide of all male children born at the time of Jesus – and Joseph and Mary flee to Egypt. Jesus begins his life part of a refugee family.

But in the midst of this bewildering, terrifying world of Herod – a world of power-over and violence, we glimpse Jesus’ baptism – a moment of mutuality – Jesus and John the Baptist standing in the waters of baptism – “It is good that we do this together, to fulfill all righteousness” – to align ourselves and this world with God’s good and loving intention.

And then just before this morning’s Scripture, Jesus begins his ministry. We find him teaching, and preaching good news, and “healing every disease and sickness among the people.” People are bringing to him all who are ill with every disease, suffering severe pain, haunted by their demons. In this hurting world, they bring them all to Jesus. And healing abounds.

And all of that leads to this moment – that treacherous journey through Herod’s world – leads to this. Jesus sits down to teach. And while Herod’s chaos roils all around, here’s what Jesus teaches:

SCRIPTURE: Matthew 5:1-12

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, ²and he began to teach them.

He said:

³“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

⁵Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.

⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.

⁷Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

⁸Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God.

⁹Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God.

¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹²Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

SERMON:

What a shock that must have been.^[1] “Blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, and the peacemakers.” You see, the folks who are hearing Jesus teach these things – they live in Herod’s world – and the words that Jesus speaks – that is not the world they see and know.

No, the world all around them looks more like this:

Blessed are the rich, the haughty, and the proud,

for their money always makes more money.

Blessed are the violent and the mighty,

for with their power-over they can impose their will.

Blessed are the merciless, for they are not restrained or held back by compassion, or human decency, or concern for others, they get to do what they will.

Blessed are the warmongers, as they smash and burn and kill,

they get to take what they want,

no matter the rubble they leave as they go.

Blessed are those who persecute,

for they know how to keep their enemies broken and bent.

That’s the world they know. That is Herod’s world – the world they see every day. We know that world too.

And, Jesus sits down to teach, and, after 4 chapters, gets to the heart of the matter. In the midst of Herod’s world, God is birthing something entirely new – a new vision for a new world – coming to life in the midst of them – ready to be embodied in them... and in us:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful,

the peacemaker, and those who hunger and thirst for justice.

Now, that Greek word that’s translated “blessed” – it doesn’t have a precise equivalent in English. Some translations translate it as “happy” – “Happy are the poor in spirit.”^[2] And, it isabout well-being. But these days, “happy” might be too light a word. When we say “Blessed”we are talking about a depth of well-being. We’re talking about a well-being that is coming from God. It is the good that God is infusing into creation.

So who are these folks Jesus calls Blessed, these folks God is infusing with good?

Blessed are the poor in spirit. To be sure, that includes the actual poor.^[3] And, it includes all “those for whom the systems do not work” – those who are caught up in the daily grind.^[4] And, “poor in spirit” also embraces those who may have some power, but who don’t misuse it – those with humility – the humble – those who don’t need to hoard or harm.^[5]Blessed are the poor in spirit for they are already living out the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn. Jesus acknowledges and honors the pain and loss in the world – “for they will be comforted” – Jesus affirms that our suffering and grieving never have the last word. Jesus teaches that, in the fullness of our humanity, the human condition includes not only suffering, but also consolation.^[6]

Blessed are the meek. Now that – for the first-century people listening to Jesus – and maybe for us – that turns the world on its head. We could translate “meek” as “gentle” or “unassuming.” ^[7]It embraces those who know that, whatever power we have, it’s not there for individual gain at the expense of others. It is there for the well-being of all – for every bit of creation. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness – for justice. One scholar translates it – those who “hunger and thirst justice”^[8] – those who are living and breathing God’s good and generous will for the world. Not the petty tyrant, but the midwife, the teacher, the nurse.

Blessed are the merciful – not those who merely think mercy – those who do mercy – feeling and longing and doing tender mercy in this hurting world.

Blessed are the pure in heart. In their world, the heart is the center of their being – blessed are those whose whole being has

an undivided intention to align us with God’s loving will for the world.

Blessed are the peacemakers. When we were talking about this in worship team, someone lamented, “Where are the peacemakers in this world?” Where are those working for reconciliation, for shalom – working so that everyone might have everything needed for meaningful life.^[9]

Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of God’s good and loving will for this world. Jesus acknowledges and names that the fullness of humanity he is describing stands against the powers and the harm they do. And the powers will react. Blessed are you when they do. Rejoice in God’s good intention for the world coming to life in you.

Who are all these folks that Jesus is naming Blessed? This week, I read a Ukrainian writer, who puts it like this:

They are those who don’t live by the illusions of the world: They are poor; and they hunger and thirst as nothing of the world can fulfill them. They don’t succumb to illusions. They mourn, as mourning makes us fully present to reality. They have seen the kingdom with their heart, and they live by its values in a world where the kingdom is not obviously visible: amongst the meek, merciful, pure in heart, and peacemakers. They realize what usually happens along the way: insulting, false accusations, and persecution. But they have the courage to carry on.^[10]

For those up on that Mount, listening to Jesus teach the Beatitudes, this is not the world they see. And maybe not the world we see. The Beatitudes give us a lens to see a better world – not in some far-off distant future – but right here, right now.

I’ve struggled to figure out how to say this – and this is the best I’ve come up with:

The Beatitudes give us a lens,

that draws us into a vision,

that comes to life in us –

that comes to life in the lives we live.

Now, I want us to try something out – and I’m not sure how this will work – but I want us to use our imagination – to glimpse what this vision might look like. Remember last summer – we thought a lot about imagination -- the Spirit-given human capacity to envision and create a world better than the struggle and suffering we are experiencing now.^[11] Let’s bring that imagination into the world we see today.

I want us to imagine for a moment that moment just before Alex Pretti is killed – the one we have seen all too much. Alex and other protestors are in the street as ICE agents descend. There’s a woman there with him, and they huddle together for protection. She is thrown to the ground. And Alex Pretti reaches down and helps her up.

Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are those who use their power not for self, but for the well-being of others.

What if we brought this lens to what happens next. Blessed are the merciful, who use their power for the well-being of others. Alex is the next to be pushed down. What if... what if.. another one of those ICE agents had reached down, and helped Alex up.

Now that is not what happened. That’s not the world this regime has set in motion. But what if... in that moment... someone there had been drawn into and lived out this better vision. That one small action would likely not have changed the entirety of the national conversation. But living out of this vision, how might that day have turned out differently?

We could think even bigger than that. Some of the most abject suffering in the world right now is in Gaza, in the genocide that the world has forgotten. We have seen the suffering there – the destruction, the killing, the loss. I think of Sandra Killen and her Gaza Infant Nutrition Alliance – remember, Sandra came in June and shared first-hand what it’s like on the ground in Gaza, and this group of nurses and doctors trying to help a people cut off from the world.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, the merciful, the meek, those who hunger and thirst justice.

What if we – our nation – what if we lived out the values we say that we believe. Beginning with the healing that Sandra and her team are bringing, we could see trucks rolling in with the medical supplies that Sandra reports they so desperately need. Food. Water. A withdrawal of occupying forces. Rebuilding homes and hospitals. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst justice; blessed are the meek and the merciful. Blessed are those who mourn. I don’t know that my mind can grasp the comfort needed for those mourning so great a loss. What if we were drawn into this better vision and lived it out? How might that transform the world? How might that transform us?

We’ve gone big, and we can bring this to the day-to-day. What if in the ordinary moments of life, we viewed the world through this lens, and let ourselves be drawn into this vision. Blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek and the merciful, those who hunger and thirst justice? What if that was the way we saw and lived in the world? How might we be changed? And the whole world? (You’ve got blue copies of the Beatitudes to take home with you. Put them somewhere you can see them. Put them to use.)

You may have noticed that Jesus sits down to teach. Some scholars say that Jesus sits down because that’s what rabbis did in that day – they sat to teach. I read a Jewish New Testament scholar, though, who said: Well, teachers in that day taught sitting down, they taught standing up, they taught walking around. She says that Jesus sat down to teach because the Sermon on the Mount is three full chapters long, and it was going to take some time.^[12]

I think it’s also that experience we all know. “I have some news that I need to share with you, and you better sit down for this.” Jesus sat down to teach, because, with what he had to say, their lives would never be the same – everything was about to change... for good.

The Beatitudes have been drawing folks into this better, brighter vision for centuries now – and they follow and fulfill all the ways that God has been loving this world down through the generations – and how God always will.

In the troubles of every time,

the Beatitudes offer a lens

that draws us into a vision

that comes to life – against all odds – in our humanity,

transforming the world for good.

This is big – so Jesus sits down to teach. What we are learning, with Jesus, is nothing less than how to be fully human.

^[1] For general background on this text and the Gospel of Matthew, see M. Eugene Boring, “The Gospel of Matthew,” New Interpreters’ Bible Commentary, vol. viii (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995); Michael Joseph Brown, “The Gospel of Matthew” in True to Our Native Land: An African American New Testament Commentary (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2008), p.91; Kenyatta R. Gilbert, Commentary in Preaching God’s Transforming Justice, Year A (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013), p.82; Amy-Jill Levine, Sermon on the Mount: A Beginner’s Guide to the Kingdom of Heaven (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2020); Herman C. Waetjen, Matthew’s Theology of Fulfillment, Its Universality and It’s Ethnicity (London, UK: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017).