Text: Mark 13:24-37
Today we begin the season of Advent, the time of preparation for the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ. In comfortable places like Canada, we generally think of Advent as a time to get geared up for Christmas: shopping for gifts, sending cards, baking cookies, decorating the house, planning our holiday entertainment. In much of our world, even as we speak, those things are not even on the horizon. People in Mumbai, India, a city of more than 10 million people, mostly very poor, have even more to contend with this week: a terrorist attack in the financial district which targeted foreigners, killing 120 people, injuring more than 300 and holding others hostage. And it isn’t even clear who did it and for what reason. The lack of information makes it more frightening because people don’t know what will come next and if they are in danger. You can’t protect yourself against the unknown. So in Mumbai, people have more on their minds than getting ready for a big holiday celebration.
But not everyone in Canada is basking in pre-Christmas warmth and looking forward to the holidays. The recent financial meltdown has had dire consequences for people who depend on the stock market for income, on workers in the automobile industry and the forest industry, on people who work in construction and in the housing market. And it’s tough for people with large debts and seniors on pension incomes. The CBC in Calgary did a survey this week: 800 people responded and 51% of them said they plan to spend less on Christmas this year; another 8% said they were making their own gifts and 10% said they were not giving any gifts. Only about a third of those who responded said they intend to spend about the usual amount on Christmas. Well, for most of us that isn’t a tragedy, but it will have an impact on those who make a living in the retail business.
Do you ever have the feeling that you live a charmed life? That when most people in our world struggle with poverty, and many of them are constantly hungry and undernourished, our concerns are kind of trivial? In fact, we feel a fair amount of guilt about being so well off. We don’t exactly know what to do about it. We are blessed to live in a land of peace and plenty, and it doesn’t make sense to wish that we were poor. We wish everyone could be as fortunate as we are, but we know that realistically, it’s not possible for everyone on earth to live so well - there aren’t enough resources. So what can we do? Find out what people need and share what we have.
The fact is, we may not always be so fortunate. And that doesn’t mean that God will stop blessing those of us who have peace and plenty. Sometimes God even blesses people with conflict and need, though we often don’t see that kind of struggle as coming from God. Yet we can’t assume that God only cares about those in the western world and blesses us with material wealth. We see in Jesus’ way of doing things that he has a special care for the poor and suffering. So our turn may come when there will be struggle and difficulty. The recent troubles in the economy make it seem possible. Perhaps we should prepare ourselves for that eventuality by gaining understanding of the poverty and suffering which exist in our world and learning ways to help.
That’s not so very easy either - at least it’s not easy to help those who live far away in very different situations. How can we know what they need? And if we know about a need, how can we see that they get the resources we’re willing to share? Canadian Lutheran World Relief is our way of entering that world. Today we focus on the work of the Lutheran Church in our world. Lutheran World Relief does what we cannot do on our own: reaches out beyond our borders to do large and small projects in the name of Christ on our behalf.
One area that I know a little about is Peru, where I visited some projects in June this year - projects where Canadian Lutheran World Relief is a partner. On the front page of the summer issue of CLWR’s quarterly newsletter called “Partnership” there is a picture of a woman sitting on a steep mountainside in Peru. I saw many women like her and many mountainsides like that. This woman is a farmer. You’d wonder how people grow crops on such steep rocky hillsides, but they do. It’s hard just to stand up on those hillsides, and you certainly can’t use motorized implements of any kind - no tractor or plough or baler or combine can operate on those steep slopes or among those rocks. And the people don’t have funds to buy farm implements anyway. They’re lucky if they have a pair of oxen or a couple of donkeys. Most of the work is done by hand. Everything must be carried down the mountain to market. See the cloth tied around the woman’s shoulder? She carries bundles in the cloth - bundles of firewood, potatoes, cabbages, hay for animal feed. She carries the bundles up the mountain, and then more bundles down the mountain. If a truck goes by, everyone piles in the back. The roads are unbelievably rough and steep. The people are short and stocky and strong - the result of thousands of years of working the ground and leaning into the hills.
I met several farmers in Peru. The one I remember best is Rosita. She is a woman about 40, the mother of five children. She lives in an adobe brick house on the side of a mountain - a beautiful place in the sunshine, as it was when I saw it, but no doubt a hard place to live when the wind blows and the rains come down every day. Rosita is the star farmer in her community. She readily understands what the agriculturists are teaching the local residents: how to diversify their crops, how to build a greenhouse out of local materials, how to grow vegetables at all seasons of the year, how to conserve water, how to make fertilizer in a compost pond, how to keep the soil from blowing away in the wind. Rosita proudly showed us her groves of avocado and mango trees, her small patches of grain and corn and potatoes, her enclosures with guinea pigs and rabbits and chickens. She was recently invited by the project leaders to come to the capital city of Lima and tell some German funders about her farming methods. They were not especially interested in listening to a peasant woman from a remote village in the Andes Mountains. But when one of them challenged her by suggesting these methods don’t make a real difference to her family, Rosita had something important to say. “Because we now have vegetables all year round, my children are better nourished. And because we have extra cash from the produce we sell, my oldest daughter can go back to school. She quit school before, but now we can afford to send her to high school. And you think these methods don‘t make a difference!” The foreigners were impressed.
And Rosita’s story reflects another kind of success: the possibility that women can be equal partners with men. When I asked where Rosita’s husband was, the project leader said, “He’s probably out in the field.” And the leader smiled. “He works for Rosita;” she said, “Rosita’s the boss!” As a matter of fact, there was a large sign posted at the edge of the property. I don’t know if Rosita can read and write, but her children certainly can. This sign may have been printed by one of her children. I took a picture of it and I’ve translated the Spanish words: “Implementation and Action Project for Farm Ecology”, Owner: Rosa Carapo-Guiros (that’s Rosita), Village: Pariacolca, District: Quillo, Altitude 1880 meters (6110 feet), Project Leader: Diaconia (which was the organization I was travelling with), and down in the corner the letters “C.L.W.R.” I was impressed that Canadian Lutheran World Relief is known by people in a remote mountain area of northern Peru, and that it’s making a real difference in the daily lives of those people in terms of nutrition and education.
A certain degree of gender equality is the result of some careful work done by community development workers. Men and women are brought together through awareness meetings. Women need to be part of the development work if it is to succeed. Canadian Lutheran World Relief and their partners work within local community systems to support men and women working together in mutual respect and equality towards a goal of improved living conditions. Here’s a story about a woman in India: Anima Halder. Until 2004, Anima and her husband struggled to meet their essential needs. They were landless and depended on an irregular income from the seasonal work that Anima’s husband obtained.
After two years as the president of a CLWR-supported community group, Anima decided to take advantage of the group’s resources herself. She took out a loan of $69 and started a simple paddy-processing business, which involves preparing the rice for market after it has been harvested. The results were tangible - Anima earns about $58 a month, which is significantly more than the couple’s previous income. With her husband she managed to increase the family’s savings and invest in chickens, with their original brood increasing more than tenfold. “We have a mutual understanding,” says Anima about herself and her husband. “All decisions, including money matters, have to be taken by both of us.”
It’s known in development work that when girls have opportunities for education, even a few years of elementary schooling, their lives are significantly improved. They marry later, have children later, and have fewer children. Their incomes are better and their families are healthier. I think we would say that about the education of girls in our own country, so it makes sense that it is true for girls in the developing world as well.
How do these stories of development fit into the idea of preparation for Christmas? In the Gospel lesson today, Jesus is warning his followers: “…keep alert….keep awake….keep awake….” Keep awake for what? For the ‘Son of Man coming in clouds’. Do we know what that will look like or when it will happen? No, we don’t. We need to be “on the watch”, to be doing the things that Jesus expects of his followers, so that when he comes he will find us faithful. We must not fritter away our time doing irrelevant and useless things; we must be about our Father’s business, taking care of each other and of the needy in the world.
Last weekend we bought some new outdoor Christmas lights - solar lights. They’re more expensive than other kinds of lights. Lorne put them up on the deck and we had great expectations of them. The premise is that the little solar panel absorbs light during the day and stores enough energy to run these lights for six hours a night. They work, but not very well. In fact, they’re downright pathetic; they‘re a big disappointment. I think we need to take them back. They’re a good image for the glitzy images of Christmas that we insist on promoting. Let’s not waste our time preparing for Christmas with pathetically inadequate efforts to celebrate. Let’s focus instead on the true light that lightens the darkness: Jesus Christ himself and his promises to the world. He says to us, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Let’s focus on the real thing.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
GRACE MAKES LIGHT
Text: Matthew 25,1-13
This parable is another in a series of teachings by Jesus on the coming of the kingdom…or the end of time, or Judgment Day, or last things. The focus is not on knowing when that moment is going to happen, but on being ready whenever it comes. I sometimes have conversations with people about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and it’s common for people to look for signs indicating when that will be. They cite evidence like the floods and storms and droughts that seem to occur often in the world at present. They mention the evils of crime and violence and suffering, and make the assumption that the world is going to hell in a handbasket, as if that has never been the case before. We know that extreme weather patterns are directly related to global warming – which in itself could be part of God’s judgment on the world. We also know that violent crime at least in Canada is on the decline, probably due to better policing, good economic times, and a reasonably good social safety net. So it’s probably not justifiable to insist that Jesus is about to come back in the near future because the world is in such an evil state that it can’t survive much longer.
But that doesn’t mean we should ignore Jesus’ clear warning to his followers. What is he saying? He tells this story about a wedding. A wedding is a festive and happy occasion. A wedding involves intense emotions. A wedding is about relationships and about investment in the future…a social highlight which takes preparation and requires every effort to provide an occasion which brings credit to the individuals and families involved. The focus in this parable is particularly on those who attend the bride and groom – they are the chosen friends and closest associates. A high standard of behaviour is required of them because they support the bride and groom and because their performance is in the public eye. What I’m really saying is that a wedding is a highly significant occasion in the lives of the people getting married and in the community gathered around them. I always marvel at this: in a time when marriage seemingly is losing much of its meaning, at the time of a wedding, the people at the centre of a marriage service - the bride and groom - are sometimes almost overwhelmed by the depth and seriousness of the occasion.
So when Jesus uses the image of a wedding, everyone knows and identifies with the idea that it is an experience of high emotion and great meaning. Who is the “bridegroom” in this wedding-image Jesus presents? Jesus himself. He is the bridegroom. Who is the bride? Well, it’s not one of the ten virgins or bridesmaids; they are attendants on the bride. The “bride” is the church, the Christian community. And the whole scene – the marriage and the celebration of it – is the kingdom of God.
But since the time of arrival of the bridegroom, Jesus himself, is not exactly known, the chosen attendants wait at the appointed place. Some of them, however, are not ready for his coming. They have lamps to light their way, but they are in danger of running out of oil. It is night and they begin to fall asleep. At midnight, the coming of the bridegroom is announced and the attendants immediately jump up to light their lamps. Those who don’t have enough oil cannot light theirs and are forced to rush out to buy more oil. Meanwhile, the doors are closed and the wedding begins. When the unprepared attendants return, they are refused admission. It is too late for them to join the bridal feast.
Again, we can interpret the details of this story as Biblical images: the lamps represent the light of faith and the oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit. Remember the image in the Psalms of the oil running down Aaron’s hair and beard as he is anointed? (Psalm 133:2) That oil, just like the oil we use in anointing people at the time of baptism, is a sign of the Holy Spirit – the presence of God which dwells within a person of faith. If we used the same amount of oil as the prophet did to anoint Aaron, we’d have very slippery babies!
Jesus’ point in telling this parable seems to be encouragement to his followers to be ready at all times for his return. It could be today, or tomorrow, or a hundred years from now. None of us can know the time. But we can be prepared. It’s not our responsibility to figure out the time; our task is to be ready. So when someone gets all worried about the signs of the times and insists that the world is about to end, don’t get carried away by their anxiety. If the world is about to end, our concern and our job is to be faithful to Jesus Christ. If the world is not about to end, our concern and our job is still to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Don’t use up energy trying to second-guess what God is up to. God is quite able to decide the future of the universe without any fuss from us.
Instead of looking for signs of the end, it would be far more worthwhile to look for signs of faith in ourselves and in our communities. If there’s anything God wants to see, I believe it’s evidence of our faith in God’s goodness, Jesus’ salvation and the Spirit’s presence. So instead of looking for signs of doom, look for signs of grace. Grace is God’s fingerprint. Whatever God touches is imprinted with grace.
The loudest voices in the church are the ones which complain about sin – other people’s sin. You don’t hear those voices announcing their own shortcomings; nope, they are much more concerned with the shortcomings of others, perhaps in order to distract anyone from noticing their own. Compare that with the gracious attitude of those who know their own sins and shortcomings and cannot with honesty accuse anyone else. Compare those loud accusations with the attitude of Jesus, who was remarkably gentle and kind to those who came to him admitting their unworthiness, but desperate in their need for healing and forgiveness. So don’t assume that the loudest voice is necessarily the voice of God.
Someone said this past week that if John McCain had made his speech accepting defeat in the election some weeks earlier, he might have won the election….Why do they say that? Because his speech in defeat was gracious: he honoured his opponent; he admitted his own failure; he displayed dignity and strength of character in a time of great disappointment. Instead of crass attacks on Obama and gross bragging about the Republican Party, he was forced to admit his own limitations and his party’s poor record in government. And he was genuine: finally, he gave an honest assessment of the situation instead of inflated claims that nobody could believe. It’s ironic, but it happens often, that when we behave in such a domineering manner we are setting ourselves up for a come-down. Pride goes before a fall. Did you know that’s actually in the Bible? It is, in the book of Proverbs, chapter 16, verse 18. “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” So watch out for pride and cultivate humility. And be aware of grace: how gracious God is toward us and how we may imitate that grace in our own attitudes and behaviour.
In a world where the weak are often trampled underfoot, or driven over at high speed, it’s not easy to be gracious. First, we need to know what grace is. Basically, it’s a thoughtful, kind response to negative behaviour. It’s important to be thoughtful because the automatic response will likely be negative – we need to be aware in order to catch our own bad reaction. It’s important to be kind because that will likely be more effective than nastiness in preventing the escalation of conflict. Do you know the term “de-escalation”? We used to use that word in the inner city ministry when we instructed our volunteers from the suburbs. “De-escalation” means you don’t react, because that will cause trouble, and trouble among street people can quickly become violent; instead, you think before you respond – perhaps you don’t respond at all for a few minutes – and then you use calmness and understanding. If you want to calm the waves, you pour oil on the water, not gasoline.
Second, you slow down. Slowing down helps you to pay attention, and paying attention means you are watching and listening. When I worked for L.A.M.P. in northern Canada back in the 80s and 90s, part of my job was to instruct the Vacation Bible School teams coming from the US and southern Canada about the aboriginal culture. Americans have a particularly hard time not rushing into a community loaded with enthusiasm and talking a blue streak. Native people are simply bowled over by that behaviour, and they back off and disappear. So I’d tell the visitors to watch and listen. I don’t think some of them got it, but it definitely worked better if they could keep their mouths shut and their ears open. And when they actually watched and listened, they could learn a great deal from these people whose ways are different. That’s where grace becomes evident – when we are receptive instead of aggressive.
Third, think small. I often have to speak with people who are suffering from serious illness or bereavement. Nothing I can say or do will take away the pain and fear and loneliness of their present experience. I am not God…I cannot remove the cause of their pain and make everything good again. But I do assure them that God will do something to help. My own experience of various kinds of pain suggests that there are always small things that happen to comfort and encourage us. These things usually come as small surprises – that’s why we need to be watching…otherwise we’ll miss them. It’s especially important to cultivate the gracious attitude: instead of being angry with God for letting us suffer, grace allows us to appreciate even the small gifts of relief, kindness and comfort.
And the fourth thing is to extend this grace to yourself. Sometimes we are hardest on ourselves – how often do you hear a good, kind, generous person run himself or herself down for not being good enough? Grace does wonders to change attitudes, even our attitudes to ourselves – so be kind to yourself and you’re more likely to be kind to others. Remember the patience and kindness of Jesus, and believe that he reflects the patience and kindness of God toward us. Grace is characteristic of God: expect that God will treat you graciously, and in turn treat others graciously. In the parable of the ten bridesmaids, think of the oil in their lamps as the grace of God, and be prepared to fuel the light in your life with the oil of the Spirit. You may not light up the whole world, but you’ll cast a gentle light on the world around you.
This parable is another in a series of teachings by Jesus on the coming of the kingdom…or the end of time, or Judgment Day, or last things. The focus is not on knowing when that moment is going to happen, but on being ready whenever it comes. I sometimes have conversations with people about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and it’s common for people to look for signs indicating when that will be. They cite evidence like the floods and storms and droughts that seem to occur often in the world at present. They mention the evils of crime and violence and suffering, and make the assumption that the world is going to hell in a handbasket, as if that has never been the case before. We know that extreme weather patterns are directly related to global warming – which in itself could be part of God’s judgment on the world. We also know that violent crime at least in Canada is on the decline, probably due to better policing, good economic times, and a reasonably good social safety net. So it’s probably not justifiable to insist that Jesus is about to come back in the near future because the world is in such an evil state that it can’t survive much longer.
But that doesn’t mean we should ignore Jesus’ clear warning to his followers. What is he saying? He tells this story about a wedding. A wedding is a festive and happy occasion. A wedding involves intense emotions. A wedding is about relationships and about investment in the future…a social highlight which takes preparation and requires every effort to provide an occasion which brings credit to the individuals and families involved. The focus in this parable is particularly on those who attend the bride and groom – they are the chosen friends and closest associates. A high standard of behaviour is required of them because they support the bride and groom and because their performance is in the public eye. What I’m really saying is that a wedding is a highly significant occasion in the lives of the people getting married and in the community gathered around them. I always marvel at this: in a time when marriage seemingly is losing much of its meaning, at the time of a wedding, the people at the centre of a marriage service - the bride and groom - are sometimes almost overwhelmed by the depth and seriousness of the occasion.
So when Jesus uses the image of a wedding, everyone knows and identifies with the idea that it is an experience of high emotion and great meaning. Who is the “bridegroom” in this wedding-image Jesus presents? Jesus himself. He is the bridegroom. Who is the bride? Well, it’s not one of the ten virgins or bridesmaids; they are attendants on the bride. The “bride” is the church, the Christian community. And the whole scene – the marriage and the celebration of it – is the kingdom of God.
But since the time of arrival of the bridegroom, Jesus himself, is not exactly known, the chosen attendants wait at the appointed place. Some of them, however, are not ready for his coming. They have lamps to light their way, but they are in danger of running out of oil. It is night and they begin to fall asleep. At midnight, the coming of the bridegroom is announced and the attendants immediately jump up to light their lamps. Those who don’t have enough oil cannot light theirs and are forced to rush out to buy more oil. Meanwhile, the doors are closed and the wedding begins. When the unprepared attendants return, they are refused admission. It is too late for them to join the bridal feast.
Again, we can interpret the details of this story as Biblical images: the lamps represent the light of faith and the oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit. Remember the image in the Psalms of the oil running down Aaron’s hair and beard as he is anointed? (Psalm 133:2) That oil, just like the oil we use in anointing people at the time of baptism, is a sign of the Holy Spirit – the presence of God which dwells within a person of faith. If we used the same amount of oil as the prophet did to anoint Aaron, we’d have very slippery babies!
Jesus’ point in telling this parable seems to be encouragement to his followers to be ready at all times for his return. It could be today, or tomorrow, or a hundred years from now. None of us can know the time. But we can be prepared. It’s not our responsibility to figure out the time; our task is to be ready. So when someone gets all worried about the signs of the times and insists that the world is about to end, don’t get carried away by their anxiety. If the world is about to end, our concern and our job is to be faithful to Jesus Christ. If the world is not about to end, our concern and our job is still to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Don’t use up energy trying to second-guess what God is up to. God is quite able to decide the future of the universe without any fuss from us.
Instead of looking for signs of the end, it would be far more worthwhile to look for signs of faith in ourselves and in our communities. If there’s anything God wants to see, I believe it’s evidence of our faith in God’s goodness, Jesus’ salvation and the Spirit’s presence. So instead of looking for signs of doom, look for signs of grace. Grace is God’s fingerprint. Whatever God touches is imprinted with grace.
The loudest voices in the church are the ones which complain about sin – other people’s sin. You don’t hear those voices announcing their own shortcomings; nope, they are much more concerned with the shortcomings of others, perhaps in order to distract anyone from noticing their own. Compare that with the gracious attitude of those who know their own sins and shortcomings and cannot with honesty accuse anyone else. Compare those loud accusations with the attitude of Jesus, who was remarkably gentle and kind to those who came to him admitting their unworthiness, but desperate in their need for healing and forgiveness. So don’t assume that the loudest voice is necessarily the voice of God.
Someone said this past week that if John McCain had made his speech accepting defeat in the election some weeks earlier, he might have won the election….Why do they say that? Because his speech in defeat was gracious: he honoured his opponent; he admitted his own failure; he displayed dignity and strength of character in a time of great disappointment. Instead of crass attacks on Obama and gross bragging about the Republican Party, he was forced to admit his own limitations and his party’s poor record in government. And he was genuine: finally, he gave an honest assessment of the situation instead of inflated claims that nobody could believe. It’s ironic, but it happens often, that when we behave in such a domineering manner we are setting ourselves up for a come-down. Pride goes before a fall. Did you know that’s actually in the Bible? It is, in the book of Proverbs, chapter 16, verse 18. “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” So watch out for pride and cultivate humility. And be aware of grace: how gracious God is toward us and how we may imitate that grace in our own attitudes and behaviour.
In a world where the weak are often trampled underfoot, or driven over at high speed, it’s not easy to be gracious. First, we need to know what grace is. Basically, it’s a thoughtful, kind response to negative behaviour. It’s important to be thoughtful because the automatic response will likely be negative – we need to be aware in order to catch our own bad reaction. It’s important to be kind because that will likely be more effective than nastiness in preventing the escalation of conflict. Do you know the term “de-escalation”? We used to use that word in the inner city ministry when we instructed our volunteers from the suburbs. “De-escalation” means you don’t react, because that will cause trouble, and trouble among street people can quickly become violent; instead, you think before you respond – perhaps you don’t respond at all for a few minutes – and then you use calmness and understanding. If you want to calm the waves, you pour oil on the water, not gasoline.
Second, you slow down. Slowing down helps you to pay attention, and paying attention means you are watching and listening. When I worked for L.A.M.P. in northern Canada back in the 80s and 90s, part of my job was to instruct the Vacation Bible School teams coming from the US and southern Canada about the aboriginal culture. Americans have a particularly hard time not rushing into a community loaded with enthusiasm and talking a blue streak. Native people are simply bowled over by that behaviour, and they back off and disappear. So I’d tell the visitors to watch and listen. I don’t think some of them got it, but it definitely worked better if they could keep their mouths shut and their ears open. And when they actually watched and listened, they could learn a great deal from these people whose ways are different. That’s where grace becomes evident – when we are receptive instead of aggressive.
Third, think small. I often have to speak with people who are suffering from serious illness or bereavement. Nothing I can say or do will take away the pain and fear and loneliness of their present experience. I am not God…I cannot remove the cause of their pain and make everything good again. But I do assure them that God will do something to help. My own experience of various kinds of pain suggests that there are always small things that happen to comfort and encourage us. These things usually come as small surprises – that’s why we need to be watching…otherwise we’ll miss them. It’s especially important to cultivate the gracious attitude: instead of being angry with God for letting us suffer, grace allows us to appreciate even the small gifts of relief, kindness and comfort.
And the fourth thing is to extend this grace to yourself. Sometimes we are hardest on ourselves – how often do you hear a good, kind, generous person run himself or herself down for not being good enough? Grace does wonders to change attitudes, even our attitudes to ourselves – so be kind to yourself and you’re more likely to be kind to others. Remember the patience and kindness of Jesus, and believe that he reflects the patience and kindness of God toward us. Grace is characteristic of God: expect that God will treat you graciously, and in turn treat others graciously. In the parable of the ten bridesmaids, think of the oil in their lamps as the grace of God, and be prepared to fuel the light in your life with the oil of the Spirit. You may not light up the whole world, but you’ll cast a gentle light on the world around you.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
“THE THEOLOGY OF THE INSECURE…”
Text: Matthew 5:1-12
This body of teaching by Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Matthew is called the Sermon on the Mount. Today’s reading is the heart of it – what we call the Beatitudes…nine “blessing statements”. My Bible commentary calls it “Matthew’s masterpiece” (The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, p. 640). It contains the main point of the Gospel, not just of Matthew’s Gospel, but the whole gospel of Jesus Christ. This is very important teaching; we could say these are the most important things that Jesus has to say to his followers in all times and places.
Some modern translators replace the word “blessed” with “happy”. I think blessed is a better word, because it suggests not everyday happiness (if anybody is fortunate enough to be happy on a daily basis) but the happiness that comes as a gift of God. There is happiness that is mere human pleasure, like eating a good meal or getting a new bicycle, and there is happiness that is deeper, like the birth of a new baby or the occasion of a wedding or the enjoyment of a loyal friendship. But in teaching his disciples the way of the Christian life, Jesus goes beyond even the deepest human experience to the heart of God. When we look at the occasions for blessedness in these beatitudes, we see that they are surprising, even unbelievable. Jesus uses a common device in Jewish rhetoric: putting together ideas that are incompatible. We call this “paradox”, and we also see it in Luther’s teaching: for instance in the concept that we are both saints and sinners at the same time. How can things which are opposite both be true? Well, they can, and that is the challenge of this central teaching of Jesus.
We should note a couple of important details in the introduction: Jesus sits down, it says; that’s the usual position of Jewish rabbis while they teach. And secondly, “his disciples came to him”. He is not teaching the crowds here; he’s teaching his committed followers. This teaching is for those who belong to the kingdom. And once they are seated and ready to listen, Jesus gives them the whole load.
The first “blessedness” is the condition of being “poor in spirit”. The second is the experience of mourning. The third is the quality of meekness. So what is “blessed” about poverty, sadness and timidity? The Hebrew word for the poor is “anawim” – the little ones. This reminds us of Jesus’ teaching that his followers should come before God like children – those in need of protection, whose virtue is their readiness to trust. The “blessing” that these needy and trusting ones receive is the kingdom of heaven – Jesus’ crucial gift to his followers – comfort for their sadness, and paradoxically, ownership of the earth. In other words, these little ones will be heirs to all of God’s future. One commentator says “God’s priority is the care of the poor….” (Ibid., p. 640) I think of this every time I conduct a service at Bethany. To go there and minister in some way to the residents seems a marginal activity; that is, there are only 20 or so who come to the services, some of them hardly know they are there, and there are only a few who can appreciate the opportunity for worship and respond. But all of these are God’s “little ones”, a very important group…in Jesus’ words, those who will inherit the earth, so perhaps we can say they are the people whom it is most important to serve. Fortunately, the few who are able to respond appropriately are very sweet and very gracious. So strangely enough, it’s extremely worthwhile for those of us who have that experience; it seems unimportant, but paradoxically it’s very important.
The fourth “blessedness” is the pursuit of righteousness; the fifth is mercy; the sixth is purity of heart. In our world, we are pretty cynical. Do those whose purpose is goodness, forbearance and purity get ahead? Not likely! Maybe they get elevated to sainthood after they’re dead, but not in this life! But Jesus says this is to be the purpose of those who follow him, and there will be rewards: the righteous will be satisfied, the merciful will receive mercy, the pure in heart will see God. I venture to guess we often find ourselves saying or thinking, “No point in trying to do good – I’ll only be taken advantage of by some scam artist.” Or, “I’m not about to forgive that kind of behaviour – it simply encourages more of the same.” Or, “Those who are pure are kidding themselves – it’s just a matter of time before they’re hit on by some bad actor.” We excuse ourselves from the hard work of virtuous thought and action by saying it can’t happen.
I think one of the things that becomes more important late in life, after we’ve pursued all sorts of other goals like good looks, money and possessions, social success and all those other things that preoccupy us, is the desire to please God. Sadly, we don’t seem to come to this point until we begin to feel more vulnerable ourselves: when our health is threatened, our income is reduced, and our children are busy with their own lives. But I do think there is a time in life when righteousness, mercy and purity of heart become more important; hence, the lovely attitudes of the old folks at Bethany. They are marginalized and largely forgotten, but the faith of a lifetime bears fruit in some of them – perhaps more so in those who can’t even express it. Is true godliness more likely to be found at Bethany Care Centre than most other places around here? I think so.
The seventh blessedness is the goal of making peace. And the eighth is the willingness to suffer for the sake of doing right. These are closely related, and they both involve taking risks in order to achieve the common good. We don’t make peace only for ourselves, and we don’t suffer persecution in order to bring about good only for ourselves. The ninth blessedness expands on the eighth: it describes the persecution that we might suffer as a result of following Jesus Christ. That’s not a familiar thought to us, is it? We tend to think that when we follow Jesus, everybody will admire us and love us. But not at all. They didn’t all admire and love Jesus, and we can’t expect to fare much better than he did. Except that in our more soft and sentimental age, we are more likely to be ignored than persecuted. But there are rewards: to be named as children of God, to be members of the kingdom of heaven, to receive a great reward in heaven.
In the early Middle Ages when religious orders were first established in the church, priests and monks and nuns were thought to have a higher calling than the average Christian. They were the ones who really made sacrifices in order to follow Jesus. I think to a great extent we still think this way. But in our time – in the last 50 to 100 years – it’s become clear that not many people are willing to live that life. In the Sermon on the Mount, is Jesus only talking to priests and monks and nuns when he speaks of the blessedness of these various forms of commitment? I don’t think so. He is talking to his disciples, who are ordinary citizens with families and jobs. They are committed to following him but they must live out that commitment in the midst of their everyday responsibilities. There are not two tiers of Christian commitment: there is only one. Jesus calls all of his followers to the same level of faithfulness. So these “blessed” statements apply to us, right where we are. As difficult as they seem to be, they are not impossible. We will not achieve them perfectly but that is not what we are called to do: we aim to live that way, and Jesus’ death and resurrection fills the gap between our efforts and God’s perfection. So rejoice and be glad – get on the right path and keep walking forward. Jesus is right in front of us…and when we stumble, he is right beside us…and when we fall down, he is right behind us.
The Celtic Christians have what they call an “encircling prayer”…the idea being to pray for protection and support to surround us as we follow Jesus in this world. It goes like this:
Circle me, Lord.
Keep protection near
And danger afar.
Circle me, Lord.
Keep hope within
Keep doubt without.
Circle me, Lord.
Keep light near
And darkness afar.
Circle me, Lord.
Keep peace within
Keep evil out.
(David Adam)
Some modern translators replace the word “blessed” with “happy”. I think blessed is a better word, because it suggests not everyday happiness (if anybody is fortunate enough to be happy on a daily basis) but the happiness that comes as a gift of God. There is happiness that is mere human pleasure, like eating a good meal or getting a new bicycle, and there is happiness that is deeper, like the birth of a new baby or the occasion of a wedding or the enjoyment of a loyal friendship. But in teaching his disciples the way of the Christian life, Jesus goes beyond even the deepest human experience to the heart of God. When we look at the occasions for blessedness in these beatitudes, we see that they are surprising, even unbelievable. Jesus uses a common device in Jewish rhetoric: putting together ideas that are incompatible. We call this “paradox”, and we also see it in Luther’s teaching: for instance in the concept that we are both saints and sinners at the same time. How can things which are opposite both be true? Well, they can, and that is the challenge of this central teaching of Jesus.
We should note a couple of important details in the introduction: Jesus sits down, it says; that’s the usual position of Jewish rabbis while they teach. And secondly, “his disciples came to him”. He is not teaching the crowds here; he’s teaching his committed followers. This teaching is for those who belong to the kingdom. And once they are seated and ready to listen, Jesus gives them the whole load.
The first “blessedness” is the condition of being “poor in spirit”. The second is the experience of mourning. The third is the quality of meekness. So what is “blessed” about poverty, sadness and timidity? The Hebrew word for the poor is “anawim” – the little ones. This reminds us of Jesus’ teaching that his followers should come before God like children – those in need of protection, whose virtue is their readiness to trust. The “blessing” that these needy and trusting ones receive is the kingdom of heaven – Jesus’ crucial gift to his followers – comfort for their sadness, and paradoxically, ownership of the earth. In other words, these little ones will be heirs to all of God’s future. One commentator says “God’s priority is the care of the poor….” (Ibid., p. 640) I think of this every time I conduct a service at Bethany. To go there and minister in some way to the residents seems a marginal activity; that is, there are only 20 or so who come to the services, some of them hardly know they are there, and there are only a few who can appreciate the opportunity for worship and respond. But all of these are God’s “little ones”, a very important group…in Jesus’ words, those who will inherit the earth, so perhaps we can say they are the people whom it is most important to serve. Fortunately, the few who are able to respond appropriately are very sweet and very gracious. So strangely enough, it’s extremely worthwhile for those of us who have that experience; it seems unimportant, but paradoxically it’s very important.
The fourth “blessedness” is the pursuit of righteousness; the fifth is mercy; the sixth is purity of heart. In our world, we are pretty cynical. Do those whose purpose is goodness, forbearance and purity get ahead? Not likely! Maybe they get elevated to sainthood after they’re dead, but not in this life! But Jesus says this is to be the purpose of those who follow him, and there will be rewards: the righteous will be satisfied, the merciful will receive mercy, the pure in heart will see God. I venture to guess we often find ourselves saying or thinking, “No point in trying to do good – I’ll only be taken advantage of by some scam artist.” Or, “I’m not about to forgive that kind of behaviour – it simply encourages more of the same.” Or, “Those who are pure are kidding themselves – it’s just a matter of time before they’re hit on by some bad actor.” We excuse ourselves from the hard work of virtuous thought and action by saying it can’t happen.
I think one of the things that becomes more important late in life, after we’ve pursued all sorts of other goals like good looks, money and possessions, social success and all those other things that preoccupy us, is the desire to please God. Sadly, we don’t seem to come to this point until we begin to feel more vulnerable ourselves: when our health is threatened, our income is reduced, and our children are busy with their own lives. But I do think there is a time in life when righteousness, mercy and purity of heart become more important; hence, the lovely attitudes of the old folks at Bethany. They are marginalized and largely forgotten, but the faith of a lifetime bears fruit in some of them – perhaps more so in those who can’t even express it. Is true godliness more likely to be found at Bethany Care Centre than most other places around here? I think so.
The seventh blessedness is the goal of making peace. And the eighth is the willingness to suffer for the sake of doing right. These are closely related, and they both involve taking risks in order to achieve the common good. We don’t make peace only for ourselves, and we don’t suffer persecution in order to bring about good only for ourselves. The ninth blessedness expands on the eighth: it describes the persecution that we might suffer as a result of following Jesus Christ. That’s not a familiar thought to us, is it? We tend to think that when we follow Jesus, everybody will admire us and love us. But not at all. They didn’t all admire and love Jesus, and we can’t expect to fare much better than he did. Except that in our more soft and sentimental age, we are more likely to be ignored than persecuted. But there are rewards: to be named as children of God, to be members of the kingdom of heaven, to receive a great reward in heaven.
In the early Middle Ages when religious orders were first established in the church, priests and monks and nuns were thought to have a higher calling than the average Christian. They were the ones who really made sacrifices in order to follow Jesus. I think to a great extent we still think this way. But in our time – in the last 50 to 100 years – it’s become clear that not many people are willing to live that life. In the Sermon on the Mount, is Jesus only talking to priests and monks and nuns when he speaks of the blessedness of these various forms of commitment? I don’t think so. He is talking to his disciples, who are ordinary citizens with families and jobs. They are committed to following him but they must live out that commitment in the midst of their everyday responsibilities. There are not two tiers of Christian commitment: there is only one. Jesus calls all of his followers to the same level of faithfulness. So these “blessed” statements apply to us, right where we are. As difficult as they seem to be, they are not impossible. We will not achieve them perfectly but that is not what we are called to do: we aim to live that way, and Jesus’ death and resurrection fills the gap between our efforts and God’s perfection. So rejoice and be glad – get on the right path and keep walking forward. Jesus is right in front of us…and when we stumble, he is right beside us…and when we fall down, he is right behind us.
The Celtic Christians have what they call an “encircling prayer”…the idea being to pray for protection and support to surround us as we follow Jesus in this world. It goes like this:
Circle me, Lord.
Keep protection near
And danger afar.
Circle me, Lord.
Keep hope within
Keep doubt without.
Circle me, Lord.
Keep light near
And darkness afar.
Circle me, Lord.
Keep peace within
Keep evil out.
(David Adam)
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