The Sermon on the Mount
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5:1-12)
“Blessed are the meek… Blessed are the merciful… Blessed are the peacemakers… Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
When the circumstances of life overtake us and overwhelm us, it becomes so easy to forget we might need to seek God’s blessing. What is a blessing, anyway? I have so many friends who, when I ask how they are doing, respond by saying, “I’m blessed.”
I’m blessed? When we feel we need care or protection, we pray for God’s blessing. When we say, “I am blessed,” when we pray a blessing over a meal, when the priest blesses us at the end of the service, we are calling on God to be with us and to protect us. Protect me when I feel sad. Sustain me when I feel lonely. Remember me when the spirit is fading away and doubt and anxiety and lack of faith hide the beauty of your world.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
In isolation, the loud voices in the head have the potential to overtake the spoken care and concern of the people of God. In desperation, we exit off the path taking the dirt road over to a small hill where Jesus calls us forward, reminding us of everything that ever was, and is, and is to come. “You are blessed.” “Yours is the kingdom of heaven.”But, we need each other to remember that. It is so easy to get out of sync and get sucked into a spiral of despair. We come here to remember that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Mark McIntosh, who died last year, was a priest in the Episcopal Church, a member of St. Luke’s, Evanston, and a professor of theology at Loyola University Chicago. His elegant writings point out how we experience blessing when worshipping together. “I have always loved the simple movement of life in a church. An empty room slowly fills as people trickle in, and soon it becomes a place of prayer filled with all the longing, hope, and pregnant quiet that prayer brings with it. Then a designated band moves up the aisle and into that mysterious space the altar gathers round itself. Later, another group with lights and sacred book comes back down into the people’s midst, speaking a Word too intimate to be uttered from far away. Later still the whole place breaks into movement as the flow of communion draws all into its pattern of life poured out, given freely away.”
We come here to claim the blessing together so that we can be a blessing to others.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”
Prior to the editing together of the first Gospel, the Gospel of Mark, which we believe appeared 30 - 40 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the sayings of Jesus were whispered and shared and passed around through the backroads and alleyways of all the towns and villages.
“I am the bread of life.”
“I am the good shepherd.”
“I am the vine and you are the branches."
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near.”
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, are descriptive. They describe spiritual realities, circumstances, and conditions of all people of faith. They are a roadmap Jesus shares with us from the side of a hill, teaching us how to live and how to love and how to be the people of God, right here and right now, today.
The great German theologian, Dietrich Bonheoffer, in his work The Cost of Discipleship, explored the meaning of the beatitudes and how living the beatitudes has the potential to shape our spiritual souls. Bonheoffer says, “All are called to be what, in the reality of God, they already are. The disciples are called blessed because they have responded to the call of Jesus, and all of us are blessed because we are heirs of the promise.”
Will we have the faith and the courage to recognize our blessings so that we can share and celebrate the blessings of others? The spiritual realities Jesus speaks about in his Sermon on the Mount, are everyday spiritual struggles for all of us on the journey of faith.
The Beatitudes, be attitudes, being attitudes, appear in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In Matthew, these sayings of Jesus are known as Sermon on the Mount. Matthew collected these teachings for those who were at the center of the Hebrew tradition, those who regularly attended temple worship, those who could afford to make the appointed sacrifices and pay for the rituals required of the Intelligentsia of religious life. According to a recent survey conducted by the Religious News Service, “data shows that people who attend church regularly are more likely to believe God cares more about individual morality than social inequalities, regardless of their political affiliation.” In Matthew, a blessing was a privilege, an entitlement, an expectation of God by those who were Bethlehem bourgeoisie.
In Luke’s Gospel, this same teaching moment by Jesus is known as the Sermon on the Plain. Luke is for those whom the temple forgets. Jesus proclaims them for the people who don’t go to church, to remind them, and to remind us - the churchgoers - that God’s protection is for everybody. The Beatitudes call on all of us to share God’s love through community. Everything we do in this holy community matters.
Eric Law, in his book Holy Currencies: Six Blessings for Sustainable Missional Ministries, shares this, “We have a choice in what we do with the blessings over which we have control. We can choose to hold on to them and let them turn rotten, or use them to further divisive and destructive causes; or, we can choose to let them flow in life-giving, truth-telling, relationship-building, community-enhancing ways.
Right now, we worship together, putting ourselves before God, just before our annual meeting. We pray. We sing. We gather. We come here to remember that we are blessed so that we may become a blessing to others. During the Annual Meeting, we reflect together on the mission and ministry of this place. We take a moment to recognize and to acknowledge the challenges ahead and the possibility we may experience some failures.
Rachel Held Evans, in her book Searching For Sunday, reminds us of this, “It’s strange that Christians so rarely talk about failure when we claim to follow a guy whose three-year ministry was cut short by his crucifixion… As nearly every denomination in the United States faces declining membership and waning influence, Christians may need to get used to the idea of measuring significance by something other than money, fame, and power. No one ever said the fruit of the Spirit is relevance or impact or even revival. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control - the sort of stuff that, let’s face it, doesn’t always sell.”
Although there is some challenging work ahead, it is crucial to remember that we are blessed. We live and move and have our being with God and with each other. Blessed are you and me and them and this place and all the places beyond our red doors. The Beatitudes are scandalous because they challenge our expectations. They call on us to see the world differently from the way the power and principalities of this world use and abuse the world’s resources while taking advantage of and disposing of God’s people. The Beatitudes remind us of God’s priorities; not humankind’s.
As we read the reports, as we examine our finances, and as we face head-on challenges ahead, may we remember that we are blessed. We are enfolded by God’s protection. McIntosh encourages us to remember, “the different ways God is speaking, the different mysteries by which God is present among us— creating, revealing, saving, re-creating. (May we) explore these mysteries in such a way that we come to see them as invitations… into the one great and eternal mystery of God’s life and our life in God.”
McIntosh, Mark. Mysteries of Faith. New Church's Teaching Series. p. 25. Cowley Publications.
Law, Eric H. F.. Holy Currencies: Six Blessings for Sustainable Missional Ministries. p. 10. Chalice Press.
Evans, Rachel Held. Searching for Sunday: loving, leaving, and find the church p. 112. Nelson Books.
McIntosh, Mark. Mysteries of Faith - New Church's Teaching Series. pp. 19-20. Cowley Publications.