Matthew 5:1-12
A favorite passage of mine in the New Testament is the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel.
- A number of years ago when in Israel…
- I remember fondly sitting on the Mount of Beatitudes on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee.
I was thinking that day about how it can be easy to view the beatitudes…
- The “blessed ares” we just heard…
- As Jesus’ command for us to try really hard to be meeker…to be poorer and to be more mournful.
- In order that we might be blessed in the eyes of God.
- The Beatitudes are always the Gospel reading on All Saints Sunday.
- And each year we set aside this day to honor and remember the saints.
Well…it can be easy to look at a saint like Mother Teresa and think:
- She is a saint because she was meek.
- And so…if I too want to be blessed…I should try and be meek like her.
- Don’t get me wrong…we could use a few more people trying to be like Mother Teresa.
- I just do not think that Jesus blessed her because she was meek.
OK then…the beatitudes are not about a list of conditions we should try and meet to be blessed.
- They are not really virtues we should aspire to.
- But instead…the pronouncement of blessing that grants the blessing itself.
- That is…Jesus…in the preaching of these beatitudes…is lavishing blessings on the world around him.
- Especially those whom society does not seem to have much time for.
- Especially the people who never seem to receive blessings otherwise.
- I mean…does not that just sound like something Jesus would do?
- Profligately…extravagantly throwing around blessings as though they grew on trees?
So…for this All-Saints Sunday…
- A time when we remember and celebrate the lives of those who have gone before us…
- Those who Jesus would bless.
- I like to imagine Jesus standing among us saying:
Blessed are the poor in spirit…for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- Blessed are they who doubt.
- Blessed are those who are not sure.
- Blessed are they who are spiritually impoverished…
- And not very certain about anything.
- Blessed are those who feel they have nothing to offer.
- Blessed are they for whom nothing seems to be working.
Blessed are those who mourn…for they will be comforted.
- Blessed are they for whom death is not just an idea.
- Blessed are they who have buried their loved ones…for whom tears are as real as an ocean.
- Blessed are they who have loved enough to know what loss feels like.
Blessed are the mothers of the miscarried.
- Blessed are they who do not have the luxury of taking things for granted any more.
- Blessed are they who cannot fall apart because they must keep it together for everyone else.
- Blessed are the motherless…the alone…the ones from whom so much has been taken.
- Blessed are those who still are not over it yet.
- Blessed are they who laugh again when for so long they thought they never would.
Blessed are the meek…for they will inherit the earth.
- Blessed are those who no one else notices.
- The kids who sit alone at middle-school lunch tables.
- The laundry guys at the hospital.
- The gig workers and those who pick up our garbage.
- Blessed are the losers and those who are made fun of.
- Blessed are those who do not want to make eye contact with a world that only loves a winner.
- Blessed are the forgotten.
- Blessed are the unemployed…the unimpressive…the under-represented.
- Blessed are the teens who must figure out ways to hide the cuts on their arms.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…for they will be filled.
- Blessed are the wrongly accused.
- The ones who never catch a break.
- The ones for whom life is hard.
- For they are those with whom Jesus chose to surround himself.
- Blessed are those without documentation.
- Blessed are the ones without lobbyists.
- Blessed are foster kids and trophy kids and special ed kids.
- And every other kid who just wants to feel safe and loved and never does.
“Blessed are the merciful…for they will receive mercy.
- Blessed are those who make terrible business decisions for the sake of others.
- Blessed are the burnt-out social workers.
- And the overworked teachers and the pro-bono case workers.
- Blessed are the kids who step between the bullies and the weak.
- Blessed are they who delete hateful…homophobic comments off their friend’s Facebook page.
- Blessed are the ones who have received such real grace that they intuitively know who the deserving poor are.
- Blessed is everyone who has ever forgiven me when I did not deserve it.
Jesus says…you may admire strength and might…but I am blessing all human weakness.
- You may seek power…but I am blessing all human vulnerability.
This Jesus whom we follow cried at the tomb of his friend.
- And turned the other cheek and forgave those who hung him on a cross.
- Jesus was God’s Beatitude.
- God’s blessing to the weak in a world that only admires the strong.
- It is not your strength and virtue that qualify you to be called a saint.
- But your need for a God who makes beautiful things out of dust and ashes.
And as we ponder the blessings Jesus pronounced on the mount so long ago…
- Know that it is here that we become what we receive.
- Those who are loved.
- Those who are forgiven.