All Saints
This is the message I shared with God's people at St. Timothy Lutheran Church and St. Mark Lutheran Church on Sunday, 11/5/17. The scripture text is Matthew 5:1-12.
Today we celebrate the Feast of All Saints. We remember those who have
gone before us in the faith as well as the living church of Christ, God’s
saints today. Then we get to today’s gospel reading, the Beatitudes, the
beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. It all sounds so beautiful and
churchy, but what does it mean? What does it take to be a saint and to be among
the blessed of the Beatitudes?
In my pre-Lutheran days, we used to talk about the Beatitudes being
be-atttidues. It was how we were supposed to be!
Others put the values of the Beatitudes off into eternity because of
their difficulty, while others strive and strive to obey them because they are
Jesus’ commands. Luther’s view concerning the Sermon on the Mount is that it
represents an impossible demand, much like the law. One may well then ask, “So
why bother, since It is simply an exercise in futility?”
The Beatitudes are appointed for All Saints because they describe an
unlikely group of people who find wholeness in God’s blessings instead of the
values of the world. They are underdogs and true to form, Jesus always turns
things upside down, showing that they, not the rich and famous are the blessed.
There is more to the beatitudes than meets the eye.
First of all, what does it mean to be blessed? Is it that God loves
some people more than others? After disasters we hear people who survived or
were unaffected saying that they’re blessed. Does it mean those who died or
suffered were not?
In the Hebrew Scriptures, blessing referred to the results of right
living. Blessing was demonstrated by material things, good health etc. One who
was blessed had more and better things than someone who was not blessed. So,
the one who was blessed was above others.
However, Jesus pronounces God’s blessings on the lowly, the poor, the
hungry and thirsty, the meek and the mourning. “The elite in God’s kingdom, the
blessed ones in God’s kingdom, are those who are at the bottom of the heap of
humanity” (Brian Stoffregen).
Blessed isn’t language we use today. Another way to translate the
Greek for blessed is “greatly honored,” emphasizing God’s great reversal
compared to the world’s standards. The world does not revere the meek and
merciful, but they are honored by God and by those who follow God’s ways.
The Beatitudes are not to be read and understood as if, then propositions,
but unconditionally as those who are x will be y. A Beatitude effects what it
says. It brings into being what it states. Because of this, it is not a list of
laws, but grace-filled gospel.
Jesus said the poor in spirit are blessed. Although there is an
element of it, this is not simply about financial poverty. That’s why Jesus
said poor in spirit. They lack arrogance and the sense of their own
need. Blessed are those whose only identity and security is in God. The promise
that “theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (v. 3) may be translated “heaven’s rule
is over them” or “heaven rules them.” The kingdom may be understood as the
authority or power to rule as opposed to the place where one rules.
The mourning Jesus speaks of is far greater than sadness. It is that
of having lost someone to the point of lamenting them. You have likely seen
pictures of MIddle Eastern women who are inconsolable over the death of a loved
one. Those who mourn find no cause for joy. They will be comforted, which is
why they are blessed. The Greek grammar implies that it is God that will act,
so there is no need to continue mourning.
We think of meekness as weakness. The Greek for meek can have a
positive sense of humble or gentle, but can also mean the
doormats and the powerless. They “inherit the earth.” Their blessing
is not a reward one earns, but a gift one must wait for. The meek may have
lacked earth or land. “They have been denied access to the world’s resources
and have not had opportunity to enjoy the creation that God intended for all
people” (Powell).
The Greek for hunger and thirst means continually hungering and
thirsting. Righteousness means justice. Those who continually hunger and thirst
for a justice they’ve been denied, include those who have no reason for hope or
joy and no access to the resources of this world. Their needs will be satisfied
by the future reversals God’s rule brings.
Mercy involves concrete actions as opposed to just an attitude.
Basically, the merciful are healers, people who seek to put right what has gone
wrong. They favor the removal of all that prevents life from being as God
intends, such as poverty, ostracism, hunger, disease, demons and debt (Powell).
The merciful will receive mercy. They will receive this on the last
day, but it may mean that they will see mercy prevail. The coming of God’s
kingdom is a blessing to those who value mercy because that’s what God values.
When God rules, what God values will become reality. (Powell).
The pure in heart are those who are truly pure, not just outwardly so.
It is not a matter of avoiding impure thoughts, but rather single-minded
devotion to God. The real accent is on integrity. Seeing God for the pure in
heart is so appropriate because as those who truly please God, they have
demonstrated what it is to be godly. “Those who will see God are those in whom
something of God has been seen” (Powell).
Who are the peacemakers? They are agents of God actively establishing
God’s shalom. In other words, they are “those who work for the wholeness
and well-being that God wills for a broken world” (Jack Kingsbury). In the New
Testament, peace generally refers to the relationship between people (Carter).
Peacemakers make right relationships between people. They will be called “children of God.” People are
identified as God’s children when their conduct is like God’s. The
acknowledgement that they’ve behaved as God’s children and done as God wills,
is reward enough.
Being persecuted for righteousness’ sake refers to our human activity
in participating in what God is doing. It is not persecution that is virtuous,
but commitment. The promise for them is the “kingdom of heaven,” just like it
was for the “poor in spirit.”
Then Jesus suddenly shifts the focus from the anonymous blessed ones
to “you.” Up until now, the disciples have been following Jesus and more or
less observing from the sidelines. Jesus has been speaking about others, but
now he specifically addresses them. Why would they or you be reviled and
persecuted and lied about? Because of your commitment to righteousness, to
Jesus.
We may look at the Beatitudes as
“examples” or “case studies” of “life in God’s empire, visions of the
identity and way of life that result from encountering God’s present and future
reign” (Warren Carter).
Do the Beatitudes still seem unattainable? So it seemed to Martin
Luther. In the Small Catechism wrote,
“I believe that by my own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Jesus
Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me
through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy, and kept me in
the true faith.” If we cannot even come to faith in Christ by our own efforts,
how can we live the Beatitudes on our own? We cannot! It is God at work in and
through our lives who accomplishes any good thing.
Will we believe these promises for ourselves or not? Will we believe
God will make all things right for us, whether we experience reversals or
rewards? If so, we can obey the command to “Rejoice and be glad” because of the
great rewards God has stored up for us.
The blessing pronounced on the disciples in the Beatitudes is for the
purpose of their becoming the agents of blessing to others. As today’s saints,
God calls us to be the means of blessing others. Today’s sending song “For All
the Saints,” concerns those of all the earth, including present and future
saints of Honduras. I hope you will join us tonight for a wonderful meal and
auction as we become change agents for God’s saints in Honduras.
Amen.
Resources
M Eugene Boring, The New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume VIII, Matthew
Warren Carter, Matthew and the Margins
Mark Allan Powell, God With Us: A Pastoral Theology of Matthew’s
Gospel
Brian Stoffregen, http://www.crossmaerks.com/brian/matt5x1.htm
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