First Sunday In Lent: That Something Missing

Reading for the first Sunday in Lent:  Genesis2:15-17; 3:1-7; Psalms 32; Romans 5:12-19, Matthew 4:1-11

So, this is the way the conversation probably should have gone :

Serpent:  Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the Garden?

Eve:  Well, not exactly.  God said we could eat from every tree, but not from the tree in the center of the Garden.  Eating from that tree will make us die.

Serpent:  Oh come on now – you won’t die.  God just doesn’t want you to eat from that tree.  God knows that the fruit of that tree will give you as much wisdom and knowledge as God has.  God just doesn’t want you to have all that.

Eve:  Why am I even talking to about this with you?  You’re just a serpent.  If you don’t mind, I think I’ll just check this over with God during our walk this evening.

Serpent:  Come on. God’s just keeping you down.  God is holding out on you.  This fruit is really tasty – the best in the garden.  Besides, you know you want wisdom.  You know you’re curious. Go ahead, and eat!

Adam:  Get lost.   Why don’t you go pester the hippo?  I’m sure he’d be delighted to listen to your blather.

  Or something like that, anyway.  But it didn’t.  And the question is why not ?

Because from the very beginning, we knew that there was something missing .  We knew that we alone were not enough.  Oh it wasn’t too bad at first.  God was there with us.  Somehow, when we were with God, we didn’t notice that nagging feeling that something was missing.  Actually, we didn’t have that feeling at all.  We were complete.  With God.

But out tending the garden that day – for God had given us the responsibility to care for that wonderful garden – when God wasn’t there right beside us, walking with us, we noticed that nagging feeling.  Something was missing.  Perhaps we were hungry.  The sun was high in the sky.  Yes, it must be hunger.

So we looked around at all the tasty fruit trees – which one would we snack on today.  Such a variety, such choices and each one so very delicious!  And up walks the serpent.

“Why not choose that tree today?  That one God said to avoid?” 

Why did we listen?  Because there, feeling that nagging feeling, the serpent sounded wise.  Maybe God WAS holding us back.  Maybe there was something better than God had already given us?  Maybe God wanted to keep us less, didn’t want us to be equal. 

It never occurred to us that the created could never be equal to the creator.  It never occurred to us to be grateful for all God had given us already.  It never occurred to us to trust God - that perhaps God knew we weren’t yet ready for the kind of knowledge that tree could give.  It never occurred to us that the nagging feeling inside was something only God could fill.

We decided that we could fill that something missing with the wisdom the tree could give.  So we ate.  The fruit may have filled our stomachs, but the wisdom it gave couldn’t fill the hole in our hearts. Something was still missing .

And we hid because we knew that we had betrayed the trust of the only One who could fill that hole.

God came and called us and cared for us.  True, there were consequences for our lack of trust.  True, the world changed. But God went with us from the garden into this changed world.  And anytime we were focused on God, we didn’t have that nagging feeling.   

You think that would have been enough for us. 

But it wasn’t.  There was just something in us – that thing that made us listen to the serpent and think that there was a way that we could fill that nagging feeling on our own – something in us made us look to all sorts of things to make that nagging feeling go away.  Something in us made us think that we could other ways, better ways, to fill that God-shaped hole in us.

Many years later, one of us stood in what used to be a garden before the world was changed.  In what was now wilderness, there was another conversation.  And that conversation went the way it should have. 

For the one of us who stood in the wilderness face to face with the Tempter, was also God-come-to-us.  He had that nagging feeling that there was a God-shaped hole, because he was one of us.  But he also knew that the only way to fill that hole was with God.

Still, he was tired and weak and hungry after 40 days of walking with God in the wilderness. And that’s when the Tempter said:

Call for bread.  Go ahead, you’re the Son of God.  The voice from heaven said so 40 days ago at the river.  So why should you be hungry?  Go ahead – turn these stones into bread and prove you are really God’s son.

Jesus responded:  Yes I am hungry, but bread is not all there is to life.  Only God’s word can give me what I need.

So the tempter changed tactics.  Taking Jesus to the top of the temple, he said:

Go ahead.  You are the Son of God.  Prove it!  Jump off this temple.  If you are really the Son of God no harm will come to you.

Jesus responded:  I don’t have to prove anything.  I don’t need to test God’s word in this way.  I know who I am and whose I am. 

The tempter tried one more time.  Taking Jesus to the tallest mountain, he said:

Why do things the hard way?  If you just bow down and acknowledge me as ruler, I will give you everything you see – the whole world is yours.  Do you know what is in store for you – how hard life is and what will be required of you?  This way is much better.  You can have it all now – everything you need, everything you want and more.

Jesus responded: I have everything I need in God and God alone.   Get lost.   Why don’t you go pester the hippo?  I’m sure he’d be delighted to listen to your blather.

Jesus knew that the created could never be equal to the creator.  Jesus was grateful for all God had given us already.  Jesus trusted God – even though the way was hard and maybe a bit unclear right then.  Jesus knew that the nagging feeling inside could only be filled by God.

Jesus collapsed to the ground in the wilderness.  And God came, sent angels and cared for him.  After he regained some strength, he came back to us and taught us. 

He told us about that nagging feeling that something was missing, that we were incomplete.  He showed us the many ways we tried to fill that something missing with all sorts of things.  And he called us back to the God who loves us, who created us to be in relationship, who is the only One who can give us what we are missing.

Later on, at the end of his time of teaching us, Jesus was in another garden.  A garden where he again sought God, where he prayed about the upcoming trip to the cross and death.   And because he was one of us, that nagging something screamed with doubt and fears and temptations to take the easy way out.  But God was there in the garden and the nagging something disappeared.

After the cross and pain and suffering and death, there was yet another garden .  This one had an empty tomb and abandoned burial cloths.  Jesus stood in the garden, back from defeating sin and death and the devil.  And he told us that because of him, we too could share in that victory.

Jesus gives us a way to fill that God-shaped hole in our hearts.  Because he tells us to, we stand at the river of the waters of baptism.  We, too, hear God call us ‘beloved child.’  We discover whose we are and that the something missing in our lives serves to call us to the only One who can give us rest and peace.

But there are other gardens , and other wilderness journeys, and families, and work and neighbors and all the places that make up life.  And although Jesus has filled the God shaped hole in our hearts, we discover that at times we still feel that nagging something.  We find ourselves trying to full that hole with something other than God.

We hear the voice of the serpent.  We hear the Tempter.  And instead of saying, “Get lost.   Why don’t you go pester the hippo?  I’m sure he’d be delighted to listen to your blather,” we actually listen.  And consider it good advice.  And do it.

We try to explain it – this puzzling tendency to turn to something besides God to satisfy our soul.  One of us started calling it, ‘the God’ shaped hole.”[i]  Another of the wise among us pointed out our restlessness without God.[ii]  Yet another wisely writes about how God gave us wonderful gifts, but also left room for our desire for God to pull us away from the bright shiny objects we would put in God’s place.[iii]  One of us said that it’s as if we are saints, fully in tune with God, but yet sinners, constantly pulling away from God at the same time.[iv]

It’s just the way we are, the way we have always been, from the very beginning.  The longing for God is part of being human.  And the desire to meet that longing with anything but God is part of us too. 

Sometimes the conversation goes the way it should and we tell the tempter to get lost and go pester the hippo.   And then we go talk to God about it during our walks together.

 Sometimes we listen to the tempter and grasp at something bright and shiny to try to fill that longing ourselves.

When that happens, we don’t hide from God anymore. 

We don’t hide –

because the one who is one of us and also God-come-down-to-us has freely given us abundant grace. 

We don’t hide –

we go and tell God what we have done

We don’t hide -

Because God calls us by name and forgives us and tenderly cares for us.

The something missing is found,

The gaping hole is filled.

We cease to listen - so the tempter goes off to pester the hippo.

---

[i] What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in humanity a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This we try in vain to fill with everything around us, seeking in things that are not there the help we cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God alone."
    Blaise Pascal, Pensee 10.148.

[ii] "You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you."     St. Augustine, Confessions 1.1.1

[iii] When God at first made man,

Having a glass of blessings standing by

"Let us," said he, "pour on him all we can;

Let the world's riches, which dispersed lie,
Contract into a span.“

So strength first made a way,

Then beauty flowed, then wisdom, honor, pleasure:

When almost all was out, God made a stay,

Perceiving that, alone of all his treasure,

Rest in the bottom lay.

For if I should," said he,

"Bestow this jewel also on my creature,

He would adore my gifts instead of me,

And rest in nature, not the God of nature:
So both should losers be.

"Yet let him keep the rest,

But keep them with repining restlessness;

Let him be rich and weary, that at least,

If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to my breast.
 George Herbert, 1633

[iv] “There are other sinners who confess that they sin and have sinned, but they are sorry for this, hate themselves for it, long to be justified, and under groaning constantly pray to God for righteousness. This is the people of God."   "Simul justus et peccator“ = simultaneously saint and sinner             (Martin Luther, Freedom of a Christian)

Sixth Sunday of Epiphany: I'm not touching you!

My family loves the Sunday funnies. We fight over who reads them first and we share the ones we find particularly funny.  Sometimes a comic will go ‘viral,’ so to speak – the reader will stop in mid-read and share the strip with everyone in the room and it gets clipped and placed on the fridge.

One morning the very first strip went viral as soon as I read it.  It was Baby Blues – mom, dad, and the three kids were in the car.  Oldest-Daughter and Next-to-Oldest-Son are in the back seat, and their index fingers are outstretched but not touching - barely:

“I'm not touching you.”

“I’m not touching you either.”

“I'm still not touching you.”

“I'm still not touching you, either.”

“I'm not touching you way closer than you're not touching me.”

“No you're not.”

“Yes I am….[i]”

We all know how the game is played.  Brother and Sister are pestering each other.  Brother pokes Sister.  Sister snags Brother’s comic book.  In desperation, a parent says, “Keep your hands to yourself!”  And the game is on. 

I’m not touching you. 

We’ve all played it.

The Israelites stood on Mt. Sinai and listened to God give them commandments for living in the Promised Land as God’s chosen people.  They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has commanded.”[ii]  In our Old Testament reading today (Deuteronomy 30:15-20), the Israelites stand on the edge of the Promised Land and listen to Moses reminding them of God’s instructions for living as God’s chosen people.  Moses encourages them to choose life – to choose to live according to God’s commands, to choose to live in ways that bring life not only to themselves but to their families, their neighbors and the vulnerable living among them.

Over the next 14 centuries or so, a profusion of rabbinic interpretations of Torah, rulings on what actions kept the law and what did not develops.  It’s an elaborate game of “I’m not touching you”  

Did I murder someone today?  No.  I may have cheated that farmer out of a fair wage for his produce and his family may go hungry, but I didn’t kill anyone.

I’m not touching you.

Did I commit adultery, today?  No.  Well, maybe.  There’s someone else that I want more than my wife, but I’m not coveting her – I’m figuring out how I can legally have her.  I’m not committing adultery because I’ve divorced my wife according to the laws of Moses. 

I’m not touching you.

Did I misuse God’s name?  Nope, I never say God’s real name, so I don’t have to worry about misusing it.  It doesn’t count that I swore by heaven to show I really meant my promise.  People have to take oaths to show that I am telling the truth, so I can swear by heaven, or earth, or maybe on my mother’s grave – as long as it’s not God’s name, I’m ok.

I’m not touching you.

Somewhere along the line, Torah and the later rabbinic interpretations became more about keeping the law and less about living as God’s chosen people.   It became about what was allowed and how far we could push the edges.  Torah, God’s law no longer was understood to be about God’s love for us, living in relationship with God, and reflecting that loving relationship to others.

Over the years, we got really good at playing, “I’m not touching you.”  Then Jesus comes along and changes the game.

Jesus and his followers are on another mountain.  Over the last two weeks, we have heard Jesus lay out his vision for the kingdom of heaven in the Beatitudes and tell us that we ARE salt and light to the world.  He tells us that he did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law – and in today’s reading he shows us what it means to fulfill the law[iii]. 

So, you say you didn’t commit murder today?  Good for you.  But did you call someone a fool?  Did you argue with someone and not reconcile?  Are you sitting here today with a grudge against someone in the next pew? 

Stop playing I’m not touching you!  God touches you with love overflowing! Forgive and be forgiven.  I don’t expect you to not be angry.  We’re human and we sometimes get angry.  But don’t harbor that anger.  Don’t let it take root in your heart.  Reconcile and touch others with love. 

I’m touching you with the love of God.

So you didn’t misuse God’s name today?  Good for you.  But what about that oath you swore?  Are you such a person that you cannot be trusted to keep your word?  What about all those euphemisms you use for God’s name? 

Stop playing I’m not touching you!  God touches you with love overflowing!  God is faithful and just.  As a child of God, imitate your Father in Heaven, imitate my example.  Be trustworthy and speak kindly. 

I’m touching you with the love of God.

So you say you didn’t commit adultery today?  Good for you.  But did you, as President Carter once famously said, lust in your heart?  Are you hiding secret desires that get in the way of your relationship with your spouse?  Are those desires leading you to break your marriage vows?

Stop playing I’m not touching you!  God touches you with love overflowing!  Build a strong relationship with your spouse.  Love him or her as God loves you.  And honor the marriages of others. 

I’m touching you with the love of God.

So you divorced your wife according to the Law of Moses?  Sure, that certificate of divorce provides some protection for your wife.  It gives her the ability to remarry and saves her from shaming her family and keeps her from a life of begging or prostitution.  But you have reduced divorce to this casual thing – she does not please me, so I can divorce her, because Moses said so. [iv] This careless regard for relationship demonstrates an attitude of the heart not in keeping with God’s kingdom.

Stop playing “I’m not touching you!”  God is love, perfect love.  The marriage relationship is metaphor for the relationship between God and Israel and Me and My church.  No one wants a marriage that begins in love, faith and hope to end in bitterness, betrayal and hatred, even if there is forgiveness and second chances and grace.  Marriage is about a promise to be kept and a relationship of mutual caring, love, and respect. 

I’m touching you with the love of God.

Jesus’ words are so radical, so extreme, that they make us stop in our tracks.  We may think it sounds like we have a whole new, more stringent set of rules to live by.  But it's much more than that. 

Jesus is talking about the attitude of the heart and building relationships.  Jesus wants us to understand that it's not just the acts that hurt us - murder, theft, adultery, envy.  It's the intentions - the leanings of the heart - behind those acts that destroy life and relationship.  We may not actually plot murder when we harbor anger against our boss, neighbor, or spouse, but the anger kills nonetheless - it slowly strangles relationship.  Thoughts of lust may not be acted on, but when we hold on to those unhealthy desires, it consumes our mind and destroys love. 

Jesus changes the game from “I’m not touching you” to “I am touching you with God’s love.”

There was a marvelous picture making the news rounds in the last week or two.  Coptic Christians in Egypt formed a human shield for their Muslim brothers and sisters, so they would be safe from harm during prayer.  I understand that the Muslims returned the favor two days later and formed a shield around the Christians during Mass. 

I’m touching you with the love of God.

South Africa faced a daunting task of rebuilding after the ravages of Apartheid.  They formed a reconciliation task force, where the perpetrators of abuse could ask forgiveness and the victims heard the sorrow and offered forgiveness.  It was a majestic healing process for that country.

I’m touching you with the love of God.

Closer to home, care packages recently went out to Trinity youth in college – a gesture of love and a reminder of home.

I’m touching you with the love of God.

Wednesday night, a meal will be shared.  Everyone is welcome to attend and those who are homebound will have meals brought to them. 

I’m touching you with the love of God.

Trinity youth collected donations Souper Bowl Sunday for the food pantry.  This was in addition the monthly donations and the time the people from Trinity volunteer at the food pantry.

I’m touching you with the love of God.

Last Youth Gathering, Trinity youth were part of an army of Lutheran youth that helped in the rebuilding of New Orleans.  Plans are already underway to do it again at the next Youth Gathering.

I’m touching you with the love of God.

What else?  There are couples who are struggling to keep marriages intact, someone who is working on forgiving that long held grudge against a family member – myriad of ways we seek to follow Jesus’ example of

I’m touching you with the love of God.

It’s much more than a new checklist of things we need to do. 

Jesus teaches us what it means to be fully human, about realizing who God created us to be.  Jesus calls us back to our relationship with God.  Jesus calls us back to relationships with each other that are whole, respectful, mutually beneficial.  Jesus calls us to be the people we are created to be – salt and light to a flavorless, dark world, an overflowing cup of God’s love to a world dying of thirst from hate. 

Remember Jesus started with his vision of the kingdom of heaven.   In the kingdom of heaven, not only is there no murder, but anger that destroys relationship is dealt with in a healthy way, reconciled and forgiven,  because those who are peacemakers work to resolve all conflict.  In the kingdom of heaven, envy and lust are put aside for love that is real, healthy, respectful, mutual and life-long.  In the kingdom of heaven, a yes is yes and a no is no without the need for swearing an oath, because those who are pure in heart (everyone) are known for their truthfulness and integrity.

In the kingdom of heaven, the only game played is “I’m touching you with God’s love.”

---

[i] Kirkman, Rick, and Scott, Jerry, Baby Blues, http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=43144.

[ii][ii] Exodus 24:3. All scripture references are from the NRSV.

[iii] Smith, Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament, Matthew, pg 94.

[iv] Deuteronomy 24:1-4.

Monday Musings: Kicking it up a notch

Boy, Jesus is really kicking it up a notch!  That was my first thought after reading the gospel lesson for this Sunday: Matthew 5:21-37.  We're in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus has just finished laying out his vision statement for the kingdom of heaven - the Beatitudes - and reminding us that we are salt and light in this world.

Now he begins to get to specifics.  "Ok - everyone knows the commandment about murder.  But listen!  If you even are angry at someone, if you call someone a name, you are just as guilty as if you murdered that person."  Talk about kicking it up a notch! 

It's an impossible set of standards.  Jesus takes the Ten Commandments and raises the bar even higher.  You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not covet, you shall not take the name of the Lord in vain - these become you shall reconcile with anyone you are angry with, you shall control your envy and lust and not entertain thoughts that would lead you to sexual impropriety or acts that would ruin a marriage, you shall let your yes be yes and not try to skirt taking God's name in vain by using clever euphemisms.

The thing on oaths sort of reminds me of a conversation I had when my kids were in early elementary school.  They were acquiring colorful vocabulary and it was my job to teach them which words were acceptable and which words were not.  Our conversation that evening went something like this:
Daughter:  "Gosh darn it!!!!  Oh - I can say that can't I?  I didn't use the bad 'd' word."
Me:  "Yes, but you know that 'darn' stands in for the 'd' word.  And 'gosh' stands in for God.  So it's really not much different from saying the bad words, is it?"
Daughter, interest piqued: "What about 'heck?'  Can I say that?  Pastor said 'hell' in his sermon last week, so is that ok, too?"
Son, intently listening in up to that point: "What about the Christmas carol that calls the donkey the bad 'a' word.  Can we say that if we're talking about donkeys?  What if we think someone is acting like a donkey?"

As you might expect, the conversation deteriorated from there.  I valiantly tried to explain that just by changing the word a bit - damn to darn, hell to heck - they were still really saying the curse word.  I admit most of it went over the heads of my 5 and 8 year old, but it opened the door to further conversation about the difference between what we say and do and what we really mean.

I tried to kick it up a notch, and failed utterly.

I am also reminded of Martin Luther's Small Catechism.  In the section on the Commandments, Luther first states the commandment and then asks, "What does this mean?"  He goes on to explain that 'we are to fear and love God, so that..." - and then he kicks it up a notch.  For example, for the commandment against murder, Luther teaches that we are not only to not kill, but we are to preserve and protect life, to build up our neighbor and be reconciled to everyone.  Every commandment has an explanation, kicking the commandment up a notch, turning a list of don'ts into a list of what it looks like to live in the kingdom of heaven.  Of course, Luther got his ideas directly from Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount.

Yeah, Jesus really kicks it up a notch.  He goes beyond the actions that we do, to what is in our very hearts - our thoughts, our intentions, our grudges, our secrets. 

Jesus wants us to understand that it's not just the acts that hurt us - murder, theft, adultery, envy.  It's the intentions - the leaning of the heart - behind those acts that destroy life and relationship.  We may not actually plot (or carry out) murder when we harbor anger against our boss, or neighbor, or spouse, but the anger kills nonetheless - it slowly strangles relationship.  Thoughts of lust may not be acted on, but when we hold on to those unhealthy desires, it consumes our mind and destroys love. 

Jesus kicks it up a notch, and it sounds like we have a whole new, more stringent set of rules to live by.  But it's much more than that.  Remember Jesus started with his vision of the kingdom of heaven.  Kicking it up a notch here is not heaping more rules on us - it's telling us what the kingdom of heaven is like.  In the kingdom of heaven, not only is there no murder, but anger that destroys relationship is dealt with in a healthy way, reconciled and forgiven,  because those who are peacemakers work to resolve all conflict.  In the kingdom of heaven, envy and lust are put aside for love that is real, healthy, respectful, mutual and life-long.  In the kingdom of heaven, a yes is yes and a no is no without the need for swearing an oath, because those who are pure in heart (everyone) are known for their truthfulness and integrity.

Jesus kicks it up a notch and we humans, who want to know just how far we can push things, who want to know what we can and cannot do or say and still be considered 'good,' start squirming.  Because suddenly the Law is no longer about what we do, but about how we think, about how we live out our faith.  It's about our relationship with God and how that relationship is reflected in all other relationships.

The Fourth Sunday of Ephiphany: Kingdom Vision

Gospel text for today is Matthew 5:1-12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. ²Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
What familiar words!  Even someone who has a tenuous connection to Christianity has heard these words - at least in some form.  Thomas Jefferson praised them, and the entire Sermon on the Mount, as a marvelous ethical system.  Monty Python’s Life of Brian has the crowds on the outer edge wondering what Jesus means by “Blessed are the cheesemakers.”  On Oprah’s website, you can vote on which Beatitude best describes you.  Wikipedia has no less than 41 songs, movies and books which reference one or more of the Beatitudes – and that’s probably not a complete list! Robert Schuller calls them the “Be Happy Attitudes” and claims the list of eight blessings is “Positive Attitudes that Can Change Your Life.”[i]
³“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. ⁵“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. ⁶“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. ⁷“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. ⁸“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. ⁹“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. ¹⁰“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹²Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Such well-known words.  Everyone knows them and everyone has an idea of what they mean.  So, I want you to set everything you think you know about this very familiar passage aside for now.  Let’s look at Jesus’ words with fresh eyes.

We have to start with the context.  We sometimes forget that the gospel lesson we hear each week is part of a larger story.  Last week, after Jesus called the fishermen to follow him, we read that he then went around preaching the good news that the kingdom of heaven is here.  He then healed all kinds of illnesses, a demonstration that God’s rule is indeed here.  Today we read that Jesus sits down to do some serious teaching on what the kingdom of heaven is all about.  You could say that the Beatitudes are Jesus’ vision statement.  The rest of the Sermon on the Mount will be concrete examples of what it looks like to live under God’s rule – which is what Matthew means by the kingdom of heaven.  

Next, we need to take a closer look at the word we most commonly translate as ‘blessed’ or sometimes as ‘happy’ – the Greek word, “marakio.”  It does not refer to an emotional state, so ‘happy’ as in the emotion ‘happiness’ is not a good translation.  Neither is the typical, everyday meaning of ‘blessed’ – by which we mean we got something good in our lives.  As in, “I am so blessed to have such a loving family.”  “I am so blessed to have my health.”  Rather, we need to think of ‘blessed’ as ‘God’s favor.’ 

God favors those who…..

Just who is it that God favors? 

The Beatitudes have been interpreted as a road map to earn God’s favor.  If you just become poor in spirit, meek, a mourner, if you hunger for righteousness… then God will favor you.[ii] 

Read by themselves, it’s easy to make such an interpretation.  However, this isn’t a stand-alone teaching.   Remember, the Beatitudes are the opening illustration for the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is telling us what the kingdom of heaven looks like, not giving us the entrance requirements.

So what does the kingdom of heaven look like? Who does God favor?

We tend to look at the first four blessings as virtues, good habits to learn in order to please God: [iii]

·        poor in spirit are those who know they need God,

·        those who mourn are grieving over their sins or grieving a loss,

·        the meek are people who are humble,

·        people hungering and thirsting after righteousness are those who strive to do what God wants.

By which we mean:

God favors those who confess their need for God and their sins, and humbly try to follow God’s commandments. 

That’s undoubtedly true, but it doesn’t hold up as a vision statement.  It becomes all about what we do, and not about what God is doing in the world.

We gain more insight when we look at Luke’s slightly different version of these blessings from Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain.[iv]  In Luke’s account, Jesus blesses:

·        the poor,

·        those who weep,

·        those who hunger,

·        those who are hated, excluded, reviled and defamed.

Then to make it perfectly clear, Jesus pronounces woes on:

·        the rich,

·        those who are full now,

·        those who are laughing now,

·        those who are spoken well of.

That paints a very different picture of who God favors!

In the kingdom of heaven, God favors the poor in spirit:

·        those whose spirit is cast down,

·        who have been spiritually beaten up, 

·        whose lives and situations are such that they have no hope.

God favors those who mourn:

·        those who weep for their losses and for the things they never had,

·        who find their lot in life to be only misery,

·        who have no joy in life

God favors the meek:

·        We need to re-define “meek, because it doesn’t have the same connotation today as it did in Jesus’ time.  It’s not ‘meek’ as we mean it – timid or shy, or mild.

·        In Hebrew writings, it means to be humiliated.  The meek are the downtrodden, the oppressed, and the victims of injustice. 

·        In Greek writings, meekness is a virtue for women, slaves, and children (humble, submissive, know your place) – an undesirable trait for citizens. 

·        Matthew most likely used the meaning from the Hebrew Scriptures:  God favors the downtrodden, the oppressed and the victims of injustice.

God favors those who hunger and thirst for righteousness:

·        those who are starving for justice,

·        who earnestly desire to have what is right done to them,

·        who have been treated wrongly.

·        The same Greek word is translated righteousness sometimes and justice other times (it actually means what both of those words convey).

In the next four Beatitudes, God favors those who work on behalf of the first four:

·         the merciful - who extend mercy to others,

·         those who are pure in heart – having honesty and integrity,

·         the peacemakers –who work to resolve conflict and restore, relationship,

·         Those who are persecuted for righteousness sake - who are persecuted because they took a stand against the evil forces in the world.

This is the picture Jesus is painting: 

Under God’s rule,

there will be no one who is poor in spirit,

no one who is mourning,

no one who is oppressed and humiliated,

no one who is longing for justice and righteousness. 

Why?        

Because everyone in the kingdom of heaven

is merciful to others,

acts with honesty and integrity,

works to resolve conflict and rebuild relationship and

is so committed to righteousness and justice that they are willing to give up everything to pursue it.

In the kingdom of heaven, everyone will do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.[v]

And maybe that’s why the Beatitudes are so well known.  They offer a vision of life the way we want it to be – an alternative to the harsh realities of a world that fights the rule of God. The world works on a whole different value system where the strong prevail and the weak go without.  A blog I read this week sums up the world’s version of the beatitudes quite nicely:

·        Blessed are the self-reliant (not the poor in spirit),

·        the cheerful (not those who mourn),

·        the bold (not the meek),

·        the proactive and the ambitious (not those who hunger and thirst for righteousness),

·         those who demand to be treated fairly (not the merciful),

·        those with a single, driving ambition (not the pure in heart),

·        those who stand up for themselves (not the peacemakers),

·        those who have a high quality of life (not the persecuted),

·        those who have a good reputation (not those who are reviled and slandered).[vi]

The Beatitudes reveal the world’s values for the cheap deception they are.   It’s a complete and total reversal of the earthly status quo. It’s good news for those whom the world denies life abundant and for those who work on their behalf.

Jesus offers a vision of life the way God intended it to be, the way we long for it to be.  Most people want life to be fair.  Most people want everyone to have their needs met.  No one is going to say, “No, I think we should ignore the concerns of the poor, or leave the mourners to grieve by themselves, or let the unjust ride roughshod over those unable to defend themselves.”

We long for Jesus vision of the kingdom of God.  We pray for it each week, in the prayer Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount: your kingdom come, your will be done. 

Our problem lies in figuring out our part in that vision.

And here’s where Jesus surprises those listening to him.  So far, we’ve only talked about the first eight blessings.  Those are the ones that are so well known.  So far everything Jesus has said is in the third person:  blessed are those people, him, her, them.  Suddenly, Jesus turns to those around him and says, “Blessed are you!” 

Second person – Jesus is talking directly to us. 

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.”

It doesn’t sound like it, but this is good news too.

It’s good news because when we act with mercy, God’s grace melts the heartlessness of the ways of the world.

It’s good news because when we act with hearts full of honesty and integrity, God’s truth undermine all life-denying lies.

It’s good news because when we work to bring peace and to resolve conflict and restore relationship, God’s love breaks through hatred.

It’s good news because when we steadfastly work for justice and righteousness, we become the very hands of God at work in the world.

It’s good news because when we live into Jesus’ vision of the kingdom of heaven, God’s favor is proclaimed throughout the earth.

Blessed are you,

Familiar words, yet full of meaning -

Do you know you are blest?

Jesus called you to follow,

and in that calling,

gifted you

with the love of God,

the grace of Jesus,

the power of the Holy Spirit.

Blessed are you.

[i] The Be “Happy” Attitudes: Eight Positive Attitudes that Can Change Your Life is the title of Robert Schuller’s book on Matthew 5:1-12.

[ii] As Lutherans we may shudder a bit at such an interpretation.  After all, we believe we are saved by grace and every good thing we do comes from God.  This interpretation of the Beatitudes sounds a bit like works righteousness.  Still, this is a popular way of looking at them and perhaps, Lutheran teaching aside, we really do believe that’s what they are all about. 

[iii] I had the privilege to study the gospel of Matthew with one of the top Matthew scholars in the world, Dr. Mark Allan Powell.  The following insights on structure of the passage, and meaning of the Greek were gleaned from my class notes from Dr. Powell’s lecture on the Sermon on the Mount, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, September 23, 2009.  Thank you Dr. Powell for your generous permission to use any and all materials from your classes in our ministries!

[iv] Luke 6:20-26.

[v][v] Micah 6:8, NRSV.

[vi]“Fan or Friends: Reflections on Matthew 5:1-12,” Alyce McKenzie, Patheos blog, http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Fans-or-Friends-Alyce-McKenzie-1-20-2011.html.

---