Matthew 5:1-12
The Beatitudes are about an attribute that is called forbearance.
- Jesus says: “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you, on my account.”
- Spiritual forbearance…then…is restraint with a certain kind of mindfulness.
- Spiritual forbearance is undertaken in the name of Jesus.
- Forbearance is illustrated by the following story:
A woman I know grew up in a small southern town…and was raised with her two sisters by her widowed mother.
- One night…while at home on summer break from college…she drove through a red light…and was pulled over by a local police officer.
- While giving her a ticket…he saw her name on her driver’s license.
- And when he saw who she was…he stopped and gave her a long…thoughtful look.
- Then he put his ticket book away and said: “Guess we’d better have a cup of coffee and talk about this.”
So…they drove to a café…where the officer bought her coffee and a slice of pie…
- And began to reminisce about the young woman’s mother…whom he had known all his life.
- They had gone to high school together…graduating in the same class.
- He had also known the young woman’s father…who had died very young.
- He knew the sacrifices the widow had made to raise and educate her daughters.
- And he knew that a 90-dollar traffic ticket would be a major blow to her budget.
- So…he decided against writing the ticket.
But he wanted her to understand why.
- He wanted her to understand what kind of a woman her mother was…
- And how highly the people in that town thought of her.
This story relates to the kind of forbearance Jesus is talking about in the beatitudes:
- Forbearance in his name.
- The police officer was forbearing toward the young woman who ran a red light.
- Not so much for the young woman’s sake.
- But for the sake of her mother whom he knew and valued.
- And whose struggle he understood and identified with.
This is like the identification with Christ that results in Christian forbearance.
- We too…are aware of someone…for whose sake we either do or do not do certain things.
- And on whose behalf…we forgive.
- We are aware of Jesus’ struggle to bring forth a new creation.
- And we have identified ourselves with it.
- When we forgive in Christ’s name…we are participating with Christ in his universal labor to bring forth the kingdom.
- Forbearance or restraint is what tells us why we are living and struggling…in the first place.
The beatitudes are showing us that creation is restored and advanced through suffering.
- And that it is the sufferer…the loser…not the leader or the winner…who serves God.
Even the characteristics of purity and mercy are aspects of suffering.
- Because they require us to forebear and forego.
- To give up…to relinquish…to erase/efface ourselves.
We do not attach ourselves to our place in line the way people normally do.
- With the same kind of hard-edged…self-righteous possessiveness.
- If someone takes our place…we may choose not to fight them for it.
- We may choose to see them as a child of our savior.
- And…like that small town police officer…be a little caring.
- Because the children of this world are very ornery and hard to raise.
- And we know all that their Lord is going through to bring them around.
OK then…this is the heart of the matter.
- To give over…to practice restraint…to forebear…and to suffer in silence…
- Requires that we do a lot of surrendering…internally…within ourselves.
We must do something with our aggrieved feelings…with our suppressed hostility and anger.
- We discover we must talk to God a lot more often.
- Because we are aware of a lot more things that are bugging us.
- And then we quickly learn that this is what God wanted all along.
- For us to start talking with him.
- And gradually…the pent-up forces of selfishness…injury…and anger…begin to diminish.
Now…and this is important…it is not that we are becoming better people.
- But simply…in a very natural way…that we are becoming more aware.
- Aware in the same way that the police officer was aware.
- Aware of conditions and factors which diminish an angry…defensive…or judgmental reaction to the world.
The police officer was motivated by love…by grace.
- A Christian is also motivated by love…by grace.