The Feast of All Saints *Happiness*
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen! Jesus uses the Greek word for “happy” in today’s Gospel. Every time you see the word “blessed” in today’s Gospel, you should make a note that the word means “happy.” Why translate the word as “blessed” when it means “happy”? Perhaps the translators chose “blessed” instead of “happy” because “happy” makes this a jarring and disturbing Gospel: *HAPPY the ones poor in spirit* *HAPPY the ones who mourn* *HAPPY the meek ones* *HAPPY the persecuted ones* Perhaps we should wonder whether we actually want to be happy. Dear Christian friends, Let’s begin with that question: If I were to ask, “Who wants to be happy?” probably everyone here would put at least one hand into the air. Even if you feel happy right now, you could probably find room for a little more happy. If you feel unhappy, it is a no-brainer: many unhappy people would trade all of their possessions simply to feel happy again. The problem is that happiness is not the same for everyone. I know a lady who would be happy if she could make it to worship again and I know several other people who would be happy if they were not longer required to come here. One guy feels happy staring at pixels on a computer screen; another guy feels happy during an early-morning jog; yet another feels happy watching grown men chase a ball around a field. They are all crazy because happiness should be measured by the amount of pig manure on your boots. But that is today. Tomorrow I might not feel the same way. How often has your happiness shifted beneath your feet? In today’s Gospel, Jesus has in mind to challenge and overturn each of our personal mental pictures of what it means to be happy. · Jesus begins by pointing us toward places that we could never imagine would produce happy results. We are wired to think of happiness in terms of gain and security and pleasurable feelings and a clear sense of At-Least-I’m-Not-That-Other-Guy. Who among us could have ever guessed that happiness actually consists of emptiness and unfulfilled desire? But this is what the Lord says: *HAPPY the ones poor in spirit* *HAPPY the ones who mourn* *HAPPY the meek ones* *HAPPY the persecuted ones* · Jesus also wants us to know in today’s Gospel that happiness does NOT consist of what we each individually like or desire. Our Lord’s brand of happiness is found in the group joined together. Happiness is the entire collection of those who are spiritually impoverished and who hunger and thirst together for righteousness. Jesus spoke today’s Gospel in the plural: *Happy THE ONES hungering and thirsting for righteousness* *Happy THE ONES showing mercy* *Happy THE ONES working peace* · Jesus further overturns and topples our definitions of happiness by separating happiness from sensation. Jesus does this by rooting our happiness, not in what we might achieve or gain or collect, but in things that can be happily taken away. *Happy the meek*—for they no longer suffer the idolatry and tyranny of pride. *Happy the ones who mourn*—for they have no one left to clench in their arms but the Lord their God. *Happy the ones hungering and thirsting for righteousness*—because they suffer no illusions about what shall fill their need. Jesus in today’s Gospel refuses to allow our happiness to come easily or cheaply. Jesus places happiness, not into closed and clenched fists, but into limp and drained and empty hands. Jesus defines happiness, NOT in terms of excitement or coziness or other forms of pleasure, but in terms of sorrow and loss and exposure. We might wonder why our God would so earnestly wish to step on our cloud. Contrary to what some people might say, Jesus does NOT topple our definitions of happiness in today’s Gospel because He takes pleasure in pain, or because we must grovel to gain His attention. In all of heaven and earth—even beyond the farthest reaches of the universe—there is NO ONE more merciful, more compassionate and more careful in His attention toward us than Jesus our God. Jesus topples our definitions of happiness in today’s Gospel precisely because of His mercy and grace. In this Gospel, Jesus wants you to know: · There is no need for you to chase after happiness. The sorts of happiness you and I feel inclined to pursue? These are mere illusions, mere sensations. They are more elusive than the passing breeze. BETTER happiness does not need to be fabricated or chased because BETTER happiness has already come to you in the person of God’s Son. *HAPPY the ones poor in spirit—*because the kingdom of heaven has been earned and given to them by the One who voluntarily embraced their poverty of spirit. *HAPPY the ones who mourn—*because Jesus became acquainted with suffering and familiar with grief, so that those who mourn may be comforted by the hope of the resurrection. *HAPPY the meek ones*—because Jesus Himself is lowly and meek; yet all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. *HAPPY the ones hungering and thirsting for righteousness*—because the grace and forgiveness of Jesus shall fill and satisfy them with a righteousness not their own *HAPPY the merciful ones*—because the God of all mercy has shown them His mercy. *HAPPY the pure in heart*—because Jesus has made them pure in His blood and righteousness, in order that they may see God. *HAPPY the peacemakers*—because there is now peace in heaven and upon earth for the single reason Christ Jesus our Lord was born of the Virgin. *HAPPY the persecuted ones*—because they hang with their Lord, the Son of God, in anticipation of a greater reward. · There is NO Christian who is unhappy now. Indeed, we each must carry our sorrows and cast about in our uncertainties and endure under our burdens. But these are not unhappinesses to us; these are mere light and momentary afflictions. Our happiness is eternal; our happiness is unassailable; our happiness has been borne of God. The happiness that Jesus has created and delivered to us now lives on the strength of a promise. His promise is multi-faceted—“*they shall be comforted*”; “*they shall be satisfied*”; “*they shall receive mercy*”; “*they shall see God*”—and His promise shall endure. The promise of Jesus shall NOT fail to provide strength to your weakness and light in your darkness and joy in midst of your gloom. Today is All Saints Day. Today is a good day to remember and thank God for those fellow Christians who have gone before us, stretching themselves forward into the unveiled presence of God. These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Today is also a good day for us to wonder and dream and feel jealous about our own place in that same consummation. Blessed—HAPPY—are those whose strength is in you, [O Lord], in whose heart are the highways to Zion. Today is an even better day for us to remember that whatever forms of happiness we feel and experience in this life—whether by our own definition or by our Lord’s—such happiness can only be the faint taste and scant scent and distant voice of much greater happiness to come.
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