Pastor's
Weekly Sermon
Epip 4A – Jan 22, 2023
Matt 5:1-12 – The Beatitudes
“Kingdom of Fools”
When I was 4 yrs old, I was fascinated by words. Words are just a bunch of sounds, so I wondered who decided what each word meant? How did those meanings come about? So I invented an Imaginary land called “backwards land.” And I reimagined all the words. In backwards land, Yes meant no, and no meant yes. Up was down and left was right, “Do” meant “don’t” and “sit” meant “stand.” You get the picture.
You might say The Kingdom of God is a backwards land too, because things work contrary to the way things usually are in our human Kingdoms. In the Kingdom of God, the last are first and the first come last. The people on the bottom are on the top. The meek and the weak and the lowly are the important people. And the ones who think they are powerful in the ways of the world, are powerless in the Kingdom of God.
Jesus gives us a vision of the citizens of the Kingdom of God in our reading today…. In our Gospel Passage, Matthew begins what we have come to call “The Sermon on the Mount” It’s a body of teachings that cover 3 chapters—Ch 5, 6, & 7. It begins with what we call “The Beatitudes”—Blessed are the poor in spirit—theirs is the Kingdom of God…blessed are the meek—they shall inherit the earth…blessed are those who are merciful…blessed are the pure in heart…blessed are the peacemakers… etc.
Most people might think this kind of Kingdom is just plain crazy! Too idealistic…Sure it’s a nice religious sentiment but the world doesn’t really work this way. The meek are fools. Mercy? Give someone an inch and they take a mile. People will take advantage of mercy. and peace? Well we haven’t been able to make it work yet. You’d be foolish to operate in the world like this.
You can quickly see that these Beatitudes turn the values of the world upside down! These are reversals of everything the worldly culture considers to be true. We live in a world that admires the self-sufficient. It rewards the assertive and the powerful. The world sees these beatitudes as nothing but a wish-list for fools.
The Beatitudes define for us what constitutes blessedness—not good fortune or prosperity or personal achievement, but rather being surrounded by blessing and grace and God’s favor. What is blessing? In the Greek it can mean “happy,” “fortunate,” and “well off,” Some have even called these the “Be-Attitudes” or even The Be Happy Attitudes.
But for now, let’s stick with the traditional word “blessed.” It has several meanings. It can indicate special favor, unique standing, permission, empowerment, endowment, and so on. So maybe the question isn’t what it means, but rather what it feels like. What does it feel like to be blessed?
It feels like you have someone’s special favor. It feels like you are not and will not be alone. Being blessed feels like you have the capacity to rise above present circumstances, like you are more than the sum of your parts or your past experiences. Being blessed feels like you have worth -- not because of something you did or might do, but simply because of who you are. Blessing is something that can’t be pursued, (Like our constitutional “pursuit of happiness”) but it can only be received as a gift.
Jesus' Beatitudes have a paradoxical twist because they call "blessed" conditions we would not typically associate with someone who receives God’s favor.
The people the world sees as pitiful… those who are meek, the mournful, the persecuted—are the very ones that Jesus claims are truly blest! Jesus is describing the citizens of the Kingdom of God. and to all the world, it looks like a Kingdom of fools.
Why these people? I mean, think about it, the people Jesus names as blessed most certainly are not the people society considers blessed, which is partly why I think Jesus chooses them. In these verses, Jesus is not -- offering a recipe for success or the keys to happiness or a roadmap to having your best life now. Rather, he is demonstrating once again that God regularly and relentlessly shows up just where we least expect God to be, in order to freely give to us what we can neither earn nor achieve on our own—Blessedness.
I also think that Jesus chooses these states or conditions to lift up because it’s precisely in our moments of disappointment or mourning, or feeling meek and powerless that we are most likely to feel vulnerable and unprotected, and it’s in those kind of times that we are most open to the presence of God—a God who gives and blesses us so that we might be a blessing to others.
Author Andy Root writes that “to be human is to be broken.” And when we are in our broken states (poverty of spirit or mourning) and vulnerable, our defenses are down and we are blessed to experience the power and healing and presence of God.
Jesus' beatitudes are less about insuring individual success and reputation and more about risking it all for the sake of God's kingdom. It is our alignment with the values of a risky faith, radical mercy, and an active search for justice for the entire community that matters to God.
Death of Princess Diana (Aug 31, 1997) (Funeral on Sept 6) Weeping and wailing and royal pageantry. We had lost our fairy princess—a person of beauty, wealth, position and celebrity. In stark contrast, A few days later, (Sept 5, 1997) Mother Theresa of Calcutta also died—that saint of the church who went where no one else would go. She went into the back streets of India to the homeless, the sick and the dying.
Jesus said if you give even a cup of water to the least of my brothers or sisters, then you have given it to me. If Jesus was to be found among the least and the lowly, then Mother Theresa set about seeking him there.
Mother Theresa lived the Kingdom values that Jesus gave in the Sermon on the Mount… Blessed are the Meek… the peacemakers… the humble…
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is describing what the Kingdom of heaven is like and the character of the citizens that are in it…the kind of people that are there. They’re not the kind of people you’d expect to find in the top rungs of any Kingdom. Jesus is giving us a window into the Kingdom of Heaven. He is casting a vision for us of God’s world and the way it works.
If The Beatitudes give us a vision of God’s Kingdom and a description of what a disciple looks like, then we all see the big contradiction here because this is not the way the world works now. The attitudes of the world currently seem to be “Blessed are those with the most toys, for they shall be the winners.” “Blessed are the aggressive, for they shall get ahead,” “blessed are the wealthy for they shall be satisfied.” “Blessed are those with the biggest army, for they shall rule the world. That’s the world we see now.
Jesus acknowledges that the Kingdom of Heaven is not quite here yet. However, He gives us hope with the promise that someday it will. Jesus’ words give us a vision of the way the world will be when God’s Kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.
Taken together, the Beatitudes give us insight into God’s vision for this world. where the poor stand at the center of our concern as a church, where those who mourn receive comfort, where those who resist the temptations of this world’s values inherit the earth. As people of God, we are invited to consider what it means to live according to this vision.
This brings up a question for us to ponder as individuals and as Nashville UCC Church. It’s an important question that helps us discern God’s way forward for this church. The question simply is—Where is your heart? What is your passion? Where is your heart’s passion in this Kingdom of God? Where do you see yourself in this list of beatitudes? What is this church passionate about? Where is the heart of this church? What Beatitude does our church embody?
GRAILVILLE—A PLACE OF 200 WOMEN WITH 200 PASSIONS…
Each one of us can’t be everything on this list. We have to find the call and passion God has given to us. And then together with all our passions and talents, as a community we will make up the Blessed Kingdom.
The Kingdom is still coming. We look forward to its arrival with longing like the saints of old. Until Then, we can take our cue from Jesus’ list of those who are the blessed ones. Be peacemakers, hunger and thirst after righteousness, practice humility and meekness, …. Until the day the Kingdom comes, let us stack pantry shelves, give money to our mission efforts, Until that day, bake another casseroles, serve another dish. Until then, invite others to join us. With every can of food we bring to the pantry, with every piece of clothing we give away or meal we serve to the needy, with every dollar we give to help the poor, we are literally building the Kingdom of Heaven brick by brick.
Let us keep the Beatitudes in the front of our minds. Let them be the center of our Christian life that the Blessings of God’s Beloved Kingdom and community will come on earth as it is in heaven.
Blessed be!
Matt 5:1-12 – The Beatitudes
“Kingdom of Fools”
When I was 4 yrs old, I was fascinated by words. Words are just a bunch of sounds, so I wondered who decided what each word meant? How did those meanings come about? So I invented an Imaginary land called “backwards land.” And I reimagined all the words. In backwards land, Yes meant no, and no meant yes. Up was down and left was right, “Do” meant “don’t” and “sit” meant “stand.” You get the picture.
You might say The Kingdom of God is a backwards land too, because things work contrary to the way things usually are in our human Kingdoms. In the Kingdom of God, the last are first and the first come last. The people on the bottom are on the top. The meek and the weak and the lowly are the important people. And the ones who think they are powerful in the ways of the world, are powerless in the Kingdom of God.
Jesus gives us a vision of the citizens of the Kingdom of God in our reading today…. In our Gospel Passage, Matthew begins what we have come to call “The Sermon on the Mount” It’s a body of teachings that cover 3 chapters—Ch 5, 6, & 7. It begins with what we call “The Beatitudes”—Blessed are the poor in spirit—theirs is the Kingdom of God…blessed are the meek—they shall inherit the earth…blessed are those who are merciful…blessed are the pure in heart…blessed are the peacemakers… etc.
Most people might think this kind of Kingdom is just plain crazy! Too idealistic…Sure it’s a nice religious sentiment but the world doesn’t really work this way. The meek are fools. Mercy? Give someone an inch and they take a mile. People will take advantage of mercy. and peace? Well we haven’t been able to make it work yet. You’d be foolish to operate in the world like this.
You can quickly see that these Beatitudes turn the values of the world upside down! These are reversals of everything the worldly culture considers to be true. We live in a world that admires the self-sufficient. It rewards the assertive and the powerful. The world sees these beatitudes as nothing but a wish-list for fools.
The Beatitudes define for us what constitutes blessedness—not good fortune or prosperity or personal achievement, but rather being surrounded by blessing and grace and God’s favor. What is blessing? In the Greek it can mean “happy,” “fortunate,” and “well off,” Some have even called these the “Be-Attitudes” or even The Be Happy Attitudes.
But for now, let’s stick with the traditional word “blessed.” It has several meanings. It can indicate special favor, unique standing, permission, empowerment, endowment, and so on. So maybe the question isn’t what it means, but rather what it feels like. What does it feel like to be blessed?
It feels like you have someone’s special favor. It feels like you are not and will not be alone. Being blessed feels like you have the capacity to rise above present circumstances, like you are more than the sum of your parts or your past experiences. Being blessed feels like you have worth -- not because of something you did or might do, but simply because of who you are. Blessing is something that can’t be pursued, (Like our constitutional “pursuit of happiness”) but it can only be received as a gift.
Jesus' Beatitudes have a paradoxical twist because they call "blessed" conditions we would not typically associate with someone who receives God’s favor.
The people the world sees as pitiful… those who are meek, the mournful, the persecuted—are the very ones that Jesus claims are truly blest! Jesus is describing the citizens of the Kingdom of God. and to all the world, it looks like a Kingdom of fools.
Why these people? I mean, think about it, the people Jesus names as blessed most certainly are not the people society considers blessed, which is partly why I think Jesus chooses them. In these verses, Jesus is not -- offering a recipe for success or the keys to happiness or a roadmap to having your best life now. Rather, he is demonstrating once again that God regularly and relentlessly shows up just where we least expect God to be, in order to freely give to us what we can neither earn nor achieve on our own—Blessedness.
I also think that Jesus chooses these states or conditions to lift up because it’s precisely in our moments of disappointment or mourning, or feeling meek and powerless that we are most likely to feel vulnerable and unprotected, and it’s in those kind of times that we are most open to the presence of God—a God who gives and blesses us so that we might be a blessing to others.
Author Andy Root writes that “to be human is to be broken.” And when we are in our broken states (poverty of spirit or mourning) and vulnerable, our defenses are down and we are blessed to experience the power and healing and presence of God.
Jesus' beatitudes are less about insuring individual success and reputation and more about risking it all for the sake of God's kingdom. It is our alignment with the values of a risky faith, radical mercy, and an active search for justice for the entire community that matters to God.
Death of Princess Diana (Aug 31, 1997) (Funeral on Sept 6) Weeping and wailing and royal pageantry. We had lost our fairy princess—a person of beauty, wealth, position and celebrity. In stark contrast, A few days later, (Sept 5, 1997) Mother Theresa of Calcutta also died—that saint of the church who went where no one else would go. She went into the back streets of India to the homeless, the sick and the dying.
Jesus said if you give even a cup of water to the least of my brothers or sisters, then you have given it to me. If Jesus was to be found among the least and the lowly, then Mother Theresa set about seeking him there.
Mother Theresa lived the Kingdom values that Jesus gave in the Sermon on the Mount… Blessed are the Meek… the peacemakers… the humble…
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is describing what the Kingdom of heaven is like and the character of the citizens that are in it…the kind of people that are there. They’re not the kind of people you’d expect to find in the top rungs of any Kingdom. Jesus is giving us a window into the Kingdom of Heaven. He is casting a vision for us of God’s world and the way it works.
If The Beatitudes give us a vision of God’s Kingdom and a description of what a disciple looks like, then we all see the big contradiction here because this is not the way the world works now. The attitudes of the world currently seem to be “Blessed are those with the most toys, for they shall be the winners.” “Blessed are the aggressive, for they shall get ahead,” “blessed are the wealthy for they shall be satisfied.” “Blessed are those with the biggest army, for they shall rule the world. That’s the world we see now.
Jesus acknowledges that the Kingdom of Heaven is not quite here yet. However, He gives us hope with the promise that someday it will. Jesus’ words give us a vision of the way the world will be when God’s Kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.
Taken together, the Beatitudes give us insight into God’s vision for this world. where the poor stand at the center of our concern as a church, where those who mourn receive comfort, where those who resist the temptations of this world’s values inherit the earth. As people of God, we are invited to consider what it means to live according to this vision.
This brings up a question for us to ponder as individuals and as Nashville UCC Church. It’s an important question that helps us discern God’s way forward for this church. The question simply is—Where is your heart? What is your passion? Where is your heart’s passion in this Kingdom of God? Where do you see yourself in this list of beatitudes? What is this church passionate about? Where is the heart of this church? What Beatitude does our church embody?
GRAILVILLE—A PLACE OF 200 WOMEN WITH 200 PASSIONS…
Each one of us can’t be everything on this list. We have to find the call and passion God has given to us. And then together with all our passions and talents, as a community we will make up the Blessed Kingdom.
The Kingdom is still coming. We look forward to its arrival with longing like the saints of old. Until Then, we can take our cue from Jesus’ list of those who are the blessed ones. Be peacemakers, hunger and thirst after righteousness, practice humility and meekness, …. Until the day the Kingdom comes, let us stack pantry shelves, give money to our mission efforts, Until that day, bake another casseroles, serve another dish. Until then, invite others to join us. With every can of food we bring to the pantry, with every piece of clothing we give away or meal we serve to the needy, with every dollar we give to help the poor, we are literally building the Kingdom of Heaven brick by brick.
Let us keep the Beatitudes in the front of our minds. Let them be the center of our Christian life that the Blessings of God’s Beloved Kingdom and community will come on earth as it is in heaven.
Blessed be!
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