Those Who Most Need A Blessing
Sermon
Sermons On The Gospel Readings
Series II, Cycle A
Object:
Can a child pass up a tasty marshmallow? A researcher who wanted to know set up an experiment. He left a succession of four-year-olds alone in a room, seated at a table. On the table was a single marshmallow. The researcher told the children that they could eat the marshmallow when he left the room, or they could wait until he returned. If they waited, they would receive a second marshmallow. The children had a choice: one marshmallow now or two marshmallows if they were patient. The researcher then left the room. As you would guess, the researcher watched and recorded the responses of the children through a hidden window. You can probably guess the results. Some of the children snarfed down the marshmallow as soon as the door shut. Some squirmed and fidgeted for a while, but, in the end, couldn't hold out long. They gave in and ate the marshmallow after a couple of minutes. A few of the children -- in a show of steely self-discipline -- picked the marshmallow up, licked it, and nibbled just a bit to get the taste, but didn't eat the whole thing. The heroes of the experiment endured the agony, waiting for the experimenter to return, so that they could savor the second marshmallow.1
What's true of children is true for all of us. We don't like to wait for something good. Even if we know we will get something better in the long run, we don't like waiting. We don't even like to wait for our blessings from God. We want them now.
Jesus offers blessings in the opening lines of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has been traveling throughout Galilee preaching, teaching, and healing. Jesus' ministry manifests the realization of his proclamation that the dominion of heaven has come near (Matthew 4:17). Matthew refers to the dominion of heaven, rather than the dominion of God -- as the other gospels do -- because strict members of the Jewish faith avoid saying the word "God" whenever they can. The New Revised Standard Version reads the "kingdom of heaven" as a translation of the Greek. Kingdom is not a wrong translation, but it makes what Jesus is talking about sound like a place. The dominion of heaven is as much a time as it is a place. The dominion of heaven is the time and place where God will restore the creation, making the creation what God wants it to be. In the restored creation, sin, death, and evil will be vanquished, so that God's creatures can thrive in harmony and peace. Jesus' ministry brought the dominion of heaven near. We cannot follow Jesus' teachings in the Sermon on the Mount unless we are willing to wait for the fullness of the dominion of heaven.
After manifesting the dominion of heaven through his ministry, Jesus ascends a mountain. A common assumption in biblical times was that mountains were a kind of bridge between earth and heaven. Important things happened on mountains. Moses received the commandments, the law of God, on Mount Sinai. Now, as a kind of new Moses, Jesus ascends the mountain to offer new teachings.
Jesus begins his teaching with a series of blessings, the well-known beatitudes. When Jesus speaks these blessings, he does not describe the people we most think of as blessed. Jesus' words have power. Jesus' words promise blessing for the future, but that future stretches back to the present. Jesus' blessings will not be fully realized until the dominion of heaven, but they transform our understanding of the present. They sustain and comfort us. Jesus' blessings are often misunderstood. They are not attitudes that will make us happy. Jesus pronounces God's favor on people, sometimes for situations beyond their control. Let us open our ears to Jesus' unexpected blessings.
Jesus speaks his first blessing to the "poor in spirit." If we are poor in spirit, we are at the end of our spiritual ropes. If we are poor in spirit, we are spiritually exhausted. Life may have sapped our spiritual energy. Poverty can sap our spirits. Loneliness can sap our spirits. Being abused can sap our spirits. All of us are poor in spirit sometimes, but some people spend their whole lives poor in spirit. Besides simply being the first in line, this beatitude seems to set the tone for the next few verses.
Jesus then pronounces a blessing on those who mourn. Surely, we feel least blessed when we mourn. Grief can be a long, arduous process. In our deepest grief, we don't feel like doing anything. The pain seems to clutch at our souls, unwilling to let go of us. No matter how much we cry, it is never enough. When we grieve, we surely are poor in spirit.
Many of us might decline Jesus' next blessing. We do not much admire the meek in North American society. We want others to respect us. We want leaders who are tough, who stand up to our enemies. We do not want to be victims. Yet, here is Jesus, offering a blessing to the meek. Sometimes the meek are those who choose not to retaliate. Sometimes the meek are those who simply cannot fight back. The meek can be those who lack the resources, the power, money, and organization to take care of themselves.
When we see how far the world is from where it should be, we hunger and thirst for righteousness. When we see children starving, when we see violence shatter bodies and souls, when we see poverty squeeze the joy out of people's lives, we hunger and thirst for righteousness. We hunger for things to be right in the world. We thirst for people to recognize God's sovereignty and our common humanity. Some people hunger and thirst for righteousness because they are the ones deprived of justice, fairness, and the chance to flourish.
With this beatitude, Jesus' blessings begin to make a subtle shift. Jesus blesses some people for the choices they make in life. Jesus blesses others simply for the way they find their lives to be. We cannot always make a sharp distinction between these two blessings. Sometimes we mourn because grief has intruded uninvited into our lives. We find ourselves mourning. Other times we mourn because we see the way the world is, and we mourn because we know it can be better. That kind of mourning can be a choice. By blessing those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, Jesus speaks both to our choices and the things we have no choice over.
When Jesus blesses the merciful, he moves fully toward those who make a choice. We do not choose to be wronged, to be violated, to be hurt. We can choose how we will respond. We can strike back, or we can be merciful. If we strike back, we keep the cycle of hurt going. We may feel better over the short term, but we will never fully heal. If we choose to show mercy, we take risks. Someone may sneer at our mercy. Someone may call us weak. Mercy may take more strength than we think we have. Yet, only mercy can bring healing.
If we find showing mercy difficult, purity of heart may be the trickiest beatitude of them all. Surely, we miss Jesus' blessing when we make no effort to focus our devotion on God and seek only our own needs, our own power. Even our most sincere efforts to give full devotion to God can be sidetracked. Temptation to idolatry sneaks up on us. We need money to live, so we don't notice when we begin to worship money. We want to succeed, not fail, so we don't notice when we begin to worship success. We want our families to be safe from threat, so we don't notice when we begin to worship our military might. We think we are most blessed when we are most comfortable, successful, and secure. Jesus blesses us when we are most devoted to God alone.
Peacemakers are those who take the initiative. Peace is more than the absence of violence and war. Peace is harmony and a sense of rightness about things. Peace is flourishing. Just as the merciful, peacemakers take risks. Peacemakers become vulnerable. Peacemakers fight conflict with love. Peacemakers seek healing.
Jesus saves his last blessing for those who are persecuted and reviled. Many of us in the mainline churches in North America don't know what to do with this blessing. We assume it applies only to Christians in countries openly hostile to Christianity. We may find, though, that if we really live out our faith, if we really challenge comfort and complacency, we may be more "blessed" than we ever imagined.
The blessing Jesus offers may not be obvious now. We may not see a blessing for the meek, or those who mourn, or those who take the risk to make peace. Jesus' blessings here are in the future tense. Those who mourn will be comforted. The pure in heart will see God. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. Jesus begins the beatitudes by saying that the poor in spirit are blessed because theirs is the dominion of heaven. The dominion of heaven is the second marshmallow. We in the church wait now for the dominion of heave to come in its fullness. Every now and then, we get to nibble at the first marshmallow. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper is a nibble at the first marshmallow. Experiencing God's presence in a crisis is a nibble at the first marshmallow. Feeling the love of other Christians is a nibble at the first marshmallow. Vibrant prayer is a nibble at the first marshmallow. Yet, we wait for the second marshmallow. We trust that God will fully bring in the dominion of heaven. The dominion of heaven is for all of us. Yet, when Jesus says that the poor in spirit will find that theirs is the dominion of heaven, maybe he means that, for them, the second marshmallow will be that much sweeter. The second marshmallow will be sweeter if we have hungered and thirsted for it. It will be just as sweet if we have chosen to hunger and thirst for righteousness, or if life has placed us in a position where we hunger and thirst.
Glen Mitchell, of Jacksonville, Florida, qualifies for Jesus' blessings many times over. More than a decade ago, his son was murdered in a senseless crime. That crime placed him among those who mourn. Rather than giving in to bitterness or seeking retribution, he began a relationship with one of the young men involved in his son's slaying. Of those who participated in the murder, Ellis Curry showed genuine remorse. He served twelve years in prison for his part in the crime. After Curry's release, Mitchell invited him to a meeting of those trying to address Jacksonville's crime rate. Now Curry and Mitchell speak at schools, reaching out to at risk youth. Curry praises Mitchell's spirituality. Mitchell is among the merciful. He hungers and thirst for righteousness; he is a peacemaker. The sense of meaning he derives now from his work is a taste of the first marshmallow. In the dominion of God, he will be among those who inherit the earth.2
Let us choose the values of the dominion of God. Let us keep our faith if we do not experience our blessings now. Let us sustain those who are poor in spirit. Let us show mercy and make peace. Let us live out our faith, even if that leads to persecution. Let us enable each other to wait for the second marshmallow. Amen.
____________
1. David Brooks, "Marshmallows and Public Policy," The New York Times, May 7, 2008 (Online). The name of the researcher was Walter Mischel.
2. Ron Word, "Man, Son's Killer Work to Stop Violence," AOL News, September 12, 2006.
What's true of children is true for all of us. We don't like to wait for something good. Even if we know we will get something better in the long run, we don't like waiting. We don't even like to wait for our blessings from God. We want them now.
Jesus offers blessings in the opening lines of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has been traveling throughout Galilee preaching, teaching, and healing. Jesus' ministry manifests the realization of his proclamation that the dominion of heaven has come near (Matthew 4:17). Matthew refers to the dominion of heaven, rather than the dominion of God -- as the other gospels do -- because strict members of the Jewish faith avoid saying the word "God" whenever they can. The New Revised Standard Version reads the "kingdom of heaven" as a translation of the Greek. Kingdom is not a wrong translation, but it makes what Jesus is talking about sound like a place. The dominion of heaven is as much a time as it is a place. The dominion of heaven is the time and place where God will restore the creation, making the creation what God wants it to be. In the restored creation, sin, death, and evil will be vanquished, so that God's creatures can thrive in harmony and peace. Jesus' ministry brought the dominion of heaven near. We cannot follow Jesus' teachings in the Sermon on the Mount unless we are willing to wait for the fullness of the dominion of heaven.
After manifesting the dominion of heaven through his ministry, Jesus ascends a mountain. A common assumption in biblical times was that mountains were a kind of bridge between earth and heaven. Important things happened on mountains. Moses received the commandments, the law of God, on Mount Sinai. Now, as a kind of new Moses, Jesus ascends the mountain to offer new teachings.
Jesus begins his teaching with a series of blessings, the well-known beatitudes. When Jesus speaks these blessings, he does not describe the people we most think of as blessed. Jesus' words have power. Jesus' words promise blessing for the future, but that future stretches back to the present. Jesus' blessings will not be fully realized until the dominion of heaven, but they transform our understanding of the present. They sustain and comfort us. Jesus' blessings are often misunderstood. They are not attitudes that will make us happy. Jesus pronounces God's favor on people, sometimes for situations beyond their control. Let us open our ears to Jesus' unexpected blessings.
Jesus speaks his first blessing to the "poor in spirit." If we are poor in spirit, we are at the end of our spiritual ropes. If we are poor in spirit, we are spiritually exhausted. Life may have sapped our spiritual energy. Poverty can sap our spirits. Loneliness can sap our spirits. Being abused can sap our spirits. All of us are poor in spirit sometimes, but some people spend their whole lives poor in spirit. Besides simply being the first in line, this beatitude seems to set the tone for the next few verses.
Jesus then pronounces a blessing on those who mourn. Surely, we feel least blessed when we mourn. Grief can be a long, arduous process. In our deepest grief, we don't feel like doing anything. The pain seems to clutch at our souls, unwilling to let go of us. No matter how much we cry, it is never enough. When we grieve, we surely are poor in spirit.
Many of us might decline Jesus' next blessing. We do not much admire the meek in North American society. We want others to respect us. We want leaders who are tough, who stand up to our enemies. We do not want to be victims. Yet, here is Jesus, offering a blessing to the meek. Sometimes the meek are those who choose not to retaliate. Sometimes the meek are those who simply cannot fight back. The meek can be those who lack the resources, the power, money, and organization to take care of themselves.
When we see how far the world is from where it should be, we hunger and thirst for righteousness. When we see children starving, when we see violence shatter bodies and souls, when we see poverty squeeze the joy out of people's lives, we hunger and thirst for righteousness. We hunger for things to be right in the world. We thirst for people to recognize God's sovereignty and our common humanity. Some people hunger and thirst for righteousness because they are the ones deprived of justice, fairness, and the chance to flourish.
With this beatitude, Jesus' blessings begin to make a subtle shift. Jesus blesses some people for the choices they make in life. Jesus blesses others simply for the way they find their lives to be. We cannot always make a sharp distinction between these two blessings. Sometimes we mourn because grief has intruded uninvited into our lives. We find ourselves mourning. Other times we mourn because we see the way the world is, and we mourn because we know it can be better. That kind of mourning can be a choice. By blessing those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, Jesus speaks both to our choices and the things we have no choice over.
When Jesus blesses the merciful, he moves fully toward those who make a choice. We do not choose to be wronged, to be violated, to be hurt. We can choose how we will respond. We can strike back, or we can be merciful. If we strike back, we keep the cycle of hurt going. We may feel better over the short term, but we will never fully heal. If we choose to show mercy, we take risks. Someone may sneer at our mercy. Someone may call us weak. Mercy may take more strength than we think we have. Yet, only mercy can bring healing.
If we find showing mercy difficult, purity of heart may be the trickiest beatitude of them all. Surely, we miss Jesus' blessing when we make no effort to focus our devotion on God and seek only our own needs, our own power. Even our most sincere efforts to give full devotion to God can be sidetracked. Temptation to idolatry sneaks up on us. We need money to live, so we don't notice when we begin to worship money. We want to succeed, not fail, so we don't notice when we begin to worship success. We want our families to be safe from threat, so we don't notice when we begin to worship our military might. We think we are most blessed when we are most comfortable, successful, and secure. Jesus blesses us when we are most devoted to God alone.
Peacemakers are those who take the initiative. Peace is more than the absence of violence and war. Peace is harmony and a sense of rightness about things. Peace is flourishing. Just as the merciful, peacemakers take risks. Peacemakers become vulnerable. Peacemakers fight conflict with love. Peacemakers seek healing.
Jesus saves his last blessing for those who are persecuted and reviled. Many of us in the mainline churches in North America don't know what to do with this blessing. We assume it applies only to Christians in countries openly hostile to Christianity. We may find, though, that if we really live out our faith, if we really challenge comfort and complacency, we may be more "blessed" than we ever imagined.
The blessing Jesus offers may not be obvious now. We may not see a blessing for the meek, or those who mourn, or those who take the risk to make peace. Jesus' blessings here are in the future tense. Those who mourn will be comforted. The pure in heart will see God. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. Jesus begins the beatitudes by saying that the poor in spirit are blessed because theirs is the dominion of heaven. The dominion of heaven is the second marshmallow. We in the church wait now for the dominion of heave to come in its fullness. Every now and then, we get to nibble at the first marshmallow. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper is a nibble at the first marshmallow. Experiencing God's presence in a crisis is a nibble at the first marshmallow. Feeling the love of other Christians is a nibble at the first marshmallow. Vibrant prayer is a nibble at the first marshmallow. Yet, we wait for the second marshmallow. We trust that God will fully bring in the dominion of heaven. The dominion of heaven is for all of us. Yet, when Jesus says that the poor in spirit will find that theirs is the dominion of heaven, maybe he means that, for them, the second marshmallow will be that much sweeter. The second marshmallow will be sweeter if we have hungered and thirsted for it. It will be just as sweet if we have chosen to hunger and thirst for righteousness, or if life has placed us in a position where we hunger and thirst.
Glen Mitchell, of Jacksonville, Florida, qualifies for Jesus' blessings many times over. More than a decade ago, his son was murdered in a senseless crime. That crime placed him among those who mourn. Rather than giving in to bitterness or seeking retribution, he began a relationship with one of the young men involved in his son's slaying. Of those who participated in the murder, Ellis Curry showed genuine remorse. He served twelve years in prison for his part in the crime. After Curry's release, Mitchell invited him to a meeting of those trying to address Jacksonville's crime rate. Now Curry and Mitchell speak at schools, reaching out to at risk youth. Curry praises Mitchell's spirituality. Mitchell is among the merciful. He hungers and thirst for righteousness; he is a peacemaker. The sense of meaning he derives now from his work is a taste of the first marshmallow. In the dominion of God, he will be among those who inherit the earth.2
Let us choose the values of the dominion of God. Let us keep our faith if we do not experience our blessings now. Let us sustain those who are poor in spirit. Let us show mercy and make peace. Let us live out our faith, even if that leads to persecution. Let us enable each other to wait for the second marshmallow. Amen.
____________
1. David Brooks, "Marshmallows and Public Policy," The New York Times, May 7, 2008 (Online). The name of the researcher was Walter Mischel.
2. Ron Word, "Man, Son's Killer Work to Stop Violence," AOL News, September 12, 2006.
