Matthew 5:1-9 (The Message)
When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions.
This is what he said:
- “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
- “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
- “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.
- “You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.
- “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.
- “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
- “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family."
-
First thing here, I have to admit I stole the title for this message from my daughter who is preaching elder at her church this week. But before I get into why this title struck me, let me set the stage for just where we are in Jesus’ beginning journey.
Last week we read the calling of the first disciples, according to Matthew. Matthew doesn’t give us a time line for what came next but it doesn’t seem as if it was a tremendously long time. Jesus and the disciples traveled all around the region around Galilee, teaching all the people. The Message translation puts it this way: God’s kingdom was his theme—that beginning right now they were under God’s government, a good government!
He not only taught them this, he healed everyone who came to him, and word began to spread and folks came from as far away as Jerusalem to see and hear him. And that's where today’s reading picks up the story.
This is obviously the passage we generally refer to as The Beatitudes. Now, the Beatitudes are fine – some of Jesus’ most important teaching – but we’ve heard them so many times, and we are so used to hearing them in the words of the Revised Standard Version that, for me at least, they have become something set aside, “Holy Words,” so familiar that it’s hard to even hear them anymore.
I really did want to “hear” the reading today but I just couldn’t get past the sameness of the NRSV – and so I turned to The Message to see if I could hear it better there. And t worked for me. I hope it works for you.
And then when I was skimming my daughter’s notes and came on the phrase “it’s all going to be okay,” I discovered I could hear Jesus speaking those actual words. “I know it isn’t easy. We have foreign soldiers in our land, and many of you are just barely scraping out a living, and all the religious authorities just tell you to obey the rules while they live in comfort and really don’t care what becomes of you. But ... it’s all going to be okay.”
So why is it going to be okay? Well, because: “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
Or: “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you, that’s when you can be embraced by the One most dear to you.
For the first time in, oh, maybe forever, I heard the Beatitudes as living, breathing conversation, not as sterile, holy words written in a holy book, about something that happened a long, long time ago. This is Jesus talking to us as the human-beings we are. None of us are saints, none are angels. We are what we are -- and Jesus is here with us.
These are words that are spoken to us now, about the lives that we are living now. Because that is where God is, right here, right now, always, in the midst of our not-even-close-to-perfect lives. And the promises here are not some quid-pro-quo – you do what I tell you and then somewhere down the line you will be blessed – oh, no, these promises are already given and filled.
If you are at the end of your rope you are already blessed because God is right there with you.
If you find yourself able to care about others then, not only are you blessed by that, but you will find yourself cared for as well, because God is right there with you, loving you like crazy. Already happening, not a vague promise for the future. You’re blessed right now.
Oftentimes we miss those blessings, they don’t get a chance to stick, because we are so oblivious that we simply don’t notice them. If life is going badly, then we can be so caught up in our misery that we don’t see or feel the love that is wrapped around us right in the moment of our deepest despair. We are so sure that we are so lost and abandoned that we can’t see or hear anything but ourselves.
If things are going well enough then we usually attribute it all to our own cleverness, again never noticing that someone is there with us, blessing us with all this goodness.
What the Beatitudes do is turn the prevailing wisdom of the present day on its head. They tell us that it isn’t the rich or the successful or the mighty who are blessed, it’s the poor, the broken, the peace-lovers. It’s all of us who feel we have no special value in this world; those who do not have the world knocking on our door who are blessed.
It’s the poor, the grieving, the ordinary among us who are truly blessed because God blesses us exactly because we are poor, grieving and ever so ordinary.
We had a kitten many years ago, her name was Willie. Willie came to live with us by a miracle. She was just weeks old; her eyes were still cloudy; so tiny she could curl up in the palm of my hand. And somewhere in the two or three weeks before she found us she had been mistreated. We never knew if it was starvation or some physical damage but Willie was never entirely “sharp.” She would try to jump left and end up going right. She would aim to jump on the couch and just fall over backwards – in slow motion. She was just never entirely on point.
We all adored Willie and loved her probably more than our other cats simply because she needed extra love and care from us. And she gave us so much in return. She taught us so much about gentleness and goodness and trusting. She was with us for nineteen years and we were never the same people again.
It’s not that God doesn’t care for the rich or the movers and shakers of the world. But they take care of themselves. God gives Godself to those who need love and comfort and strength and hope because they get too little of it from this world.
We are all connected to God. Therefore, we are all connected to each other. The rich and the poor, the successful and the struggling, the strong and the weak. God, in the person of Jesus, lives among us all, reminding us that we are all related – brothers and sisters, children of God. Every one of us.
And ... it’s all going to be okay.
Last week we read the calling of the first disciples, according to Matthew. Matthew doesn’t give us a time line for what came next but it doesn’t seem as if it was a tremendously long time. Jesus and the disciples traveled all around the region around Galilee, teaching all the people. The Message translation puts it this way: God’s kingdom was his theme—that beginning right now they were under God’s government, a good government!
He not only taught them this, he healed everyone who came to him, and word began to spread and folks came from as far away as Jerusalem to see and hear him. And that's where today’s reading picks up the story.
This is obviously the passage we generally refer to as The Beatitudes. Now, the Beatitudes are fine – some of Jesus’ most important teaching – but we’ve heard them so many times, and we are so used to hearing them in the words of the Revised Standard Version that, for me at least, they have become something set aside, “Holy Words,” so familiar that it’s hard to even hear them anymore.
I really did want to “hear” the reading today but I just couldn’t get past the sameness of the NRSV – and so I turned to The Message to see if I could hear it better there. And t worked for me. I hope it works for you.
And then when I was skimming my daughter’s notes and came on the phrase “it’s all going to be okay,” I discovered I could hear Jesus speaking those actual words. “I know it isn’t easy. We have foreign soldiers in our land, and many of you are just barely scraping out a living, and all the religious authorities just tell you to obey the rules while they live in comfort and really don’t care what becomes of you. But ... it’s all going to be okay.”
So why is it going to be okay? Well, because: “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
Or: “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you, that’s when you can be embraced by the One most dear to you.
For the first time in, oh, maybe forever, I heard the Beatitudes as living, breathing conversation, not as sterile, holy words written in a holy book, about something that happened a long, long time ago. This is Jesus talking to us as the human-beings we are. None of us are saints, none are angels. We are what we are -- and Jesus is here with us.
These are words that are spoken to us now, about the lives that we are living now. Because that is where God is, right here, right now, always, in the midst of our not-even-close-to-perfect lives. And the promises here are not some quid-pro-quo – you do what I tell you and then somewhere down the line you will be blessed – oh, no, these promises are already given and filled.
If you are at the end of your rope you are already blessed because God is right there with you.
If you find yourself able to care about others then, not only are you blessed by that, but you will find yourself cared for as well, because God is right there with you, loving you like crazy. Already happening, not a vague promise for the future. You’re blessed right now.
Oftentimes we miss those blessings, they don’t get a chance to stick, because we are so oblivious that we simply don’t notice them. If life is going badly, then we can be so caught up in our misery that we don’t see or feel the love that is wrapped around us right in the moment of our deepest despair. We are so sure that we are so lost and abandoned that we can’t see or hear anything but ourselves.
If things are going well enough then we usually attribute it all to our own cleverness, again never noticing that someone is there with us, blessing us with all this goodness.
What the Beatitudes do is turn the prevailing wisdom of the present day on its head. They tell us that it isn’t the rich or the successful or the mighty who are blessed, it’s the poor, the broken, the peace-lovers. It’s all of us who feel we have no special value in this world; those who do not have the world knocking on our door who are blessed.
It’s the poor, the grieving, the ordinary among us who are truly blessed because God blesses us exactly because we are poor, grieving and ever so ordinary.
We had a kitten many years ago, her name was Willie. Willie came to live with us by a miracle. She was just weeks old; her eyes were still cloudy; so tiny she could curl up in the palm of my hand. And somewhere in the two or three weeks before she found us she had been mistreated. We never knew if it was starvation or some physical damage but Willie was never entirely “sharp.” She would try to jump left and end up going right. She would aim to jump on the couch and just fall over backwards – in slow motion. She was just never entirely on point.
We all adored Willie and loved her probably more than our other cats simply because she needed extra love and care from us. And she gave us so much in return. She taught us so much about gentleness and goodness and trusting. She was with us for nineteen years and we were never the same people again.
It’s not that God doesn’t care for the rich or the movers and shakers of the world. But they take care of themselves. God gives Godself to those who need love and comfort and strength and hope because they get too little of it from this world.
We are all connected to God. Therefore, we are all connected to each other. The rich and the poor, the successful and the struggling, the strong and the weak. God, in the person of Jesus, lives among us all, reminding us that we are all related – brothers and sisters, children of God. Every one of us.
And ... it’s all going to be okay.
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