I found a typo today that I want to correct.
Paragraph 12 mistakenly said: "You see your sins, and this leads
the unbeliever to be poor in spirit, to mourn, to be meek, to be
merciful."
It should have said "believers" *not* "unbelievers."
+chadius
On Sat, Nov 1, 2008 at 6:28 PM, Chad Kendall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 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
--
Rev. Chad Kendall
www.frchadius.blogspot.com
Trinity Lutheran Church
Lowell, Indiana
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