There's a good chance that............

........you'll be persecuted.  Or at the very least, things are not going to go the way you had planned.

This upbeat message (of truth, I might add) was brought to us by Pr. Chris Boerger at the Upstate NY Synod assembly.  It is easy to see why the church is not in the advertising business. This kind of motto won't sell anything to anyone.

Pr. Boerger was preaching from the gospel of Matthew, beginning here  "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account......."  (Matthew 5.11)

Thousands of people were gathered 'on the mount' as Jesus delivered this, the final beatitude.  Blessed are you when people revile you......."  No one ever thinks that this is good news.  I can't imagine anyone feeling blessed as the dust storm envelopes them.

Perhaps that is because we have a skewed definition of 'blessed.' We tend to equate blessed with 'happy' ("I'm so happy").   Perhaps it's because we fail to realize that what Jesus is teaching and preaching in this famous Sermon on the Mount is founded on his very presence as the Son of God.

We are not blessed by the world.  We are not blessed because of the world.  The world is very stingy when it comes to handing out blessings.  No, we are blessed because of Jesus, present in our world in the most real way, and continually present in our world today.....when the persecutions come.

Blessed are you because of Jesus, the one who is source of light and life, the one who can mend the broken places of our bodies, our minds, our relationships and our lives.  Blessed are you (and me too!) because of Jesus leaning into us, carrying us and leading us toward the light.

But we are not just passive recipients of this blessedness; we are at the same time 'the salt of the earth.'  Salt is essential to life.  Without enough salt, the heart stops beating.  With too much salt, the body becomes water logged (a non-medical term).  Now, through Jesus, we are the salt of the earth and are called to be salt wherever we are and whatever befalls us.

The truth is: things are not going to turn out as you had planned.  What are you going to do then?  How are you going to face the trial or persevere into the future?  How could you be salt in that place?  How will your presence bring light into a dark situation?  How will you point others to a life giving relationship with Jesus?

You are blessed; you are salt.  Shake it out for the good of the world!

Who are God's beloved children?

The poor, the sorrowing and the meek are God's beloved children.

That's what the Beatitudes, those iconic "blessed" statements from the gospel of Matthew, are trying to teach us:  in God's eyes, these (the ones who many think are of no worth) are the beloved ones.

My question is:  How are you personally and the community of faith to which you belong making that belovedness evident in the world?

Or, put another way, how would the world come to know that these are God's beloved children?  Are our actions and words consistent?  Are we living out what we claim to believe?

What do we need to do together to assure that both the world and the poor know that God's love is for them?

Blessed are the meek.......

This being Super Bowl weekend, it is hard to decide which of the beatitudes are the direct opposite of the over-the-top craziness which is this last week of the NFL.  Blessed are the meek has to be a front runner (my alternate choice is blessed are the poor in spirit....)

Meek is the last work we would use to describe any of the men who make their living playing professional football.  I was reading an article this week about one player who was caught on tape (the ultimate faux pas) being outrageous, ridiculous, and at moments incoherent.  The author noted that this man (like all the others who play his position) had to be a warrior in order to enter the fray of this physically destructive 'sport' and sometimes warriors get a little crazy.

OK, back to the meek.  The American tendency is to equate meek = weak.  Doormat.  Walter Mitty.  Mice. Cowards.  Meek is not what any American wants to be called.  So we need to ask, What did Jesus mean by 'being meek'?  Perhaps we are missing something here because Jesus promises that they will inherit the earth.....and that surely sounds like a good thing.

A great deal of what Jesus teaches is about power and how it is used in this world.  He speaks of political power (John 18) and economic power (Lazarus at the rich man's gate Luke 16) and relational power (see Matthew 5: marriage and enemies) and religious power (healing of the crippled woman Luke 13). Jesus is not fond of folks who use their power to make the lives of someone else miserable.  Using power to get more for yourself, no matter how you define 'more' is the antithesis to being a neighbor or a brother or even a friend.  Using power to secure your position is the perfect example of counting yourself more worthy than the other. And there is no way you can Love God. Love your Neighbor. if you are busy ignoring someone's humanity in order to use them as your stepping stone.

Jesus takes a different road.  He refuses to play by this world's rules.  He refuses to strike back.  He refuses to destroy the humanity of the one who is destroying him.  Jesus chooses meekness.

Jesus does not hesitate.  He does not run away when the situation gets hot.  Speaking the truth, Jesus holds up to the light the actions of the oppressors, and calls them to choose truth and  love over power.  Jesus prays for his enemies as much as he prays for himself and his followers.  Jesus allows his own death for the sake of those who are killing him.

Jesus is meek, but it takes an enormous degree of courage to be that strong.  Follow this Jesus and along with him, you too shall inherit the earth.....no matter how awful today might look.

Blessed are those who mourn.........

.......for they will be comforted.  Matthew 5.4

Now, that's a promise.  When you are sitting in the darkness of grief, knowing for certain that comfort is coming may be hard to believe, but it is at least something to hold on to. God's comfort in the face of our grief as a very real blessing.

But there is more.  Jesus is not just teaching about our personal faith life; he is teaching about the kingdom of heaven (other gospels use the phrase kingdom of God but Matthew prefers kingdom of heaven).  Jesus is laying out before his disciples and potential followers the dimensions of the kingdom Jesus is creating even as he sits teaching the crowds.

These crowds are well aware of the kingdom in which they currently live.  They understand the power of the ruling Romans, their oppressive taxation system, the tendency of their own people to take advantage of fellow Israelites, and the terrible toll that life itself takes on a body.  Jesus is announcing the intervention of God in this system through Jesus.....and in Jesus....and the establishment of a new kingdom with new ways of being.

In this kingdom, God blesses a series of behaviors and attitudes. Kingdom behaviors include those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the merciful.  These are the folk you will find in God's kingdom. At the same time, those who seek the kingdom of heaven will become those who are poor in spirit, mourn, etc.

So this mourning is rooted in a larger picture.  Jesus is calling out to those who mourn the system that oppresses and destroys.  These mourners are crushed by the evildoers and the powerful elite whose actions lead to the kind of mourning that all families know.  They mourn the very presence of such evil in the world. In God's kingdom, those who have been oppressed will see freedom; oppression will not have the last word.

Perhaps that is the most helpful of images when dealing with the Beatitudes.  They are about who gets the last word - and what that last word will be.

Jesus tells the crowds the last word is blessing...God's blessing... and it will include those who know no blessings today.

Blessed are the poor in spirit........

It's Beatitude time again, that time in the cycle of our Sunday gospel readings where we wrestle with Matthew's massive teaching block known as the Sermon on the Mount (because Jesus went up the mountain and sat down to teach).

The Sermon runs from chapter 5 through chapter 7 of the gospel of Matthew.  It begins with a series of pronouncements known as The Beatitudes.  A beatitude is an announcement of blessedness.....ergo, 'blessed are the poor in spirit.'  A whole series of human conditions are covered by these verses 5.1-11.  Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and the persecuted ones.

So you and I need to uncover what it means to be blessed, and then we have 8 other conditions to figure out as well.

Some Bible translators decided that 'happy' would convey the core meaning of the Greek word markarios. That translation has gone out of favor.  Some have suggested the word 'luck' since in 21st century America our closest concept to receiving a blessing is to have good luck.  Luckily (ha!) none of the Bible translations took up that 'lucky' suggestion.

Commentators wrestle with this word because most of our English words lack the understanding that this blessedness is deeply rooted in our relationship with God.  One cannot be blessed apart from God. In fact, the 'happiness' we experience is because we are in right relationship with God.  So perhaps a better translation would be 'blessed [by God] are' the poor, the meek, etc.  God favors certain human actions; certain human actions are consistent with the kingdom of God and how it operates.

The second concern is how to interpret this blessedness.  Is it an experience of the present or is it a hope for tomorrow? Is Jesus trying to tell us that the poor in spirit are content now?  or that they will be content one day?  Are the Beatitudes an announcement of reassurance to those who experience these sometimes dire circumstances that God's favor is with them [in spite of apparent evidence to the contrary]?  Could they be requirements for participation in the reign of God?

Oh, we love to quote these pithy statements, but I have to confess, they are challenging for preaching.  It took me all this space just to explore the meaning of the word 'blessed.'  What am I going to do with 'poor in spirit'?