St. Matthew 5:1-12
Dearly beloved,
What manner of talk do we see in Jesus' words today? What manner of
movement do we see in Jesus' actions today? He goes up onto a mountain
top to sit. The crowd is down below. The world, with their hustle
and bustle, people going to and fro, mindlessly live out their
existence. Jesus was retreating for a bit to teach His disciples.
They followed. New followers of Christ, they have grown enough in
virtue and faith that they want to learn more from Him.
But, then again, those of us who have tasted the sweetness of the
words of Christ, hunger to taste it again. We have learned enough
that we know that we need to retreat to a quiet mountaintop with Jesus
to rest in peace. We are told that Jesus opened His mouth. This is a
hint to the hearer that Jesus is about to speak prophetically. This
is what is to come. What Jesus is about to teach will become a
reality in the future.
But what is it that Jesus speaks? Does He, in His utterance, repeat
the teachings of the world? By no means. Jesus speaks blessings—and
they are filled with irony. Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed
are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness, blessed are the merciful, blessed
are the pure in heart, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are those
who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.
Jesus does not say blessed are you *if* you are poor in spirit, or,
blessed are you *if* you are meek, blessed are you *if* you are
merciful. Herein lies a careful distinction. If Jesus were to say
"blessed are you *if* you are meek," then the blessing would depend
upon your own activity of making yourself meek. Rather, blessings
come to those who *are* poor and meek, because to be poor, meek, and
merciful means that this condition has been put upon you.
These conditions are the result of something prior to them. To be
poor in spirit, to mourn, to be meek and merciful means that something
has made you this way. What makes us this way is predicated on what
these conditions mean. What does it mean for you to be poor in
spirit? Does it mean that you are somehow lacking the Holy Spirit or
some spiritual vigor?
By no means! To be poor in spirit is to be humble and contrite. To
mourn is to be saddened by your sins and sinful flesh. To be meek is
to be repentant and ever-mindful of your own sins. To hunger and
thirst for righteousness is to desire to have yourself be rid of sin
because you understand the kind of hurt that sin causes to yourself,
to others, and most importantly to Jesus.
These words in the gospel lection for today are what the church calls
the Beatitudes. They are Jesus' own prophetic words about His
incarnation, life and death. In addition, they are words that become
true for anyone that lives baptismally. I want you to think today
about this exchange. What makes unbelievers of the world different
from the pious Christian? It can be tricky.
Because both unbeliever and believer have sin. You can see the ugly
side of each one as well as the good side. Worldly people have a good
side, too. In fact, there are many unbelievers in the world who may
appear to be "better people" than certain Christians. We all have
unbelievers that we know and love. So, what does it mean to live
baptismally?
The epistle lection says wisely, "Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him"(1
John 3:1). The great distinction between the world and the church is
this: those in the church have a sacramental existence. This is the
great difference between world and church, unbeliever and believer.
It is not the case that Christians are any better than unbelievers.
It is not that we do things so flawlessly. What makes you different
is that the heavenly Father has bestowed upon you a love that has a
name. Sacramentally, though you are a helpless sinner, the heavenly
Father has placed you inside of Jesus. He did this in holy baptism.
As the epistle continues in 1 John, "beloved, now we are children of
God."
Once we are placed inside of Jesus and "are children of God," we are
then enlightened and quickened in the faith by the Holy Spirit. This
is sacramental. This is the difference between a worldly child and
God's child. We have been given something that illuminates the soul.
We are alive, we are holy, we have the indwelling of the Spirit, and
we begin to see things as they really are. We, like the disciples,
begin to follow Jesus wherever He goes, whether it be down in the
valley, or up into the mountains. We want to hear the words of
eternal life. We want to taste, yet again, that sweet gospel which we
have once tasted.
This is because we have been forgiven of our sins through the blood
shed on the cross. To live sacramentally, to live baptismally, means
that we experience the joys of Christ's love and forgiveness. This
means something else, as well, and the Beatitudes brings this out.
Holiness means that your eyes of faith are also awakened to recognize
evil. You begin to see your evil. You see your sins, and this leads
the unbeliever to be poor in spirit, to mourn, to be meek, to be
merciful.
Jesus on the mountaintop opens His mouth to utter prophetic sayings,
which are words of comfort for those who are plagued by their sins,
for the church of all time. Living baptismally is to live out your
faith and life in repentance. Living this way is the very substance
of what the Beatitudes say. The answer to the Beatitudes, quite
naturally, follows by the reception of the Eucharist. The Eucharist
is Christ's response to what we see of ourselves by living
baptismally.
Eating Christ's body and blood in the sacrament is being comforted,
the kingdom of heaven is guaranteed in the faithful reception of
Christ's body and blood. We are co-inheritors with Christ of heaven
and earth, we obtain mercy, we see God, we are comforted and filled.
*The second clauses in the Beatitude statements are all answered in
the receiving of Christ's body and blood.*
You have entered Jesus and have all the blessings from Jesus' death
on the cross and they are all given to you sacramentally. You are
holy children, saints of life, and inheritors of the gifts divine.
Amen.
--
Rev. Chad Kendall
www.frchadius.blogspot.com
Trinity Lutheran Church
Lowell, Indiana
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