Matthew 5:1-12
Ms. Angela Harris
Kay Spiritual Life Center
January 30, 2005
I imagine that if, Mary the mother of Jesus, lived in our day and age, she would have created scrapbooks. She would have created a photo journal of all her children’s lives complete with newspaper clippings, cutouts, and stickers. I believe she would look at them often and enjoy sharing them with her friends and neighbors. She could have shared a lot about the passage we just heard from Matthew 5.
She would show you a picture of her son Jesus surrounded by his disciples, teaching them on the mountain. With tears of pride in her eyes, she would tell you that this was the moment when he “unofficially” took on the mantel of rabbi. This was the day he made the transition from teacher, to spiritual leader of his people.
The masses of people he encountered wanted redemption from the pain and suffering in their life, they wanted political and religious retribution and power, they wanted a military hero. The people wanted systemic change, they wanted Jesus to overthrow the current government.
But, Jesus was concerned about the health and condition of individual people as well as the well being of the family of God. He was a leader that promoted values that were not popular with society. He advocated for those that were poor in spirit, meaning those who relied on God alone, not their own strength, intelligence or finances. He uplifted the blessedness of those who mourn, those who are meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers.
Jesus began his “career” with wisdom not from this world, but from above. He taught foolishness that confounded the wise of his time, and ours. Jesus gave privileged status to those that were persecuted, reviled, and put down for their faith. He gave rank and status to the overlooked of the world by reassuring them, and us, that although we are people living in the middle of the continuum of time, an end will come and when that end comes there will be a time of reckoning and justification. But until that day, we are to live as kingdom people, even if the kingdom is not quite a reality. Time began to end when Christ arrived on earth. The course of history was transformed by Jesus’ presence on earth, and as children of the living God, we are called to live as we will live in the kingdom of heaven, and by living that way, the kingdom will come closer and nearer to us and to others.
But what are faithful Christians to do and think when it appears that living the kingdom life isn’t making a difference? How can we look at events in history, and even our present, that do not come into line with the wisdom of the Beatitudes?
In a recent news story on yahoo news [1], Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregation of the Commonwealth, made a plea for the world to remember the Holocaust and its lessons without hate. He said, “Hate destroys the hated, but it destroys the hater even more. The lessons of the Holocaust are simple to understand however hard they are to live. Never blame others for your troubles. A society is only as large as the space it makes for the stranger. Cherish life. Fight for the rights of others.”
Rabbi Sacks teaching continues on in the tradition of the Beatitudes. Despite the evils and the suffering of this world, we are called to be bearers of light and love to the world. We are called to live a life of truth, justice, courage and love. We are destined to stand in the gap between the history of mankind and the promise of the kingdom. We are commissioned to live a life that is genuine and true to our very core of identity. We are called to live a life in accordance with the virtues lifted up in the Beatitudes and to protect those whom the Beatitudes cherish and defend.
What will someone’s scrapbook say about you in ten or twenty years? What are the newspapers going to write about in your life when you get your fifteen minutes of fame? What are the defining moments in your life that when you and the world look back on, people will say – that was when her or his faith really began to shine in them. That was the point when, what they said they believe, they began to live. That’s the point when it got to them, when it clicked.
John-Micheal Tabelek, a graduate student in the field of drama, entered an Episcopal church on an Easter Sunday in Pittsburgh [2].He wasn’t particularly religious, but he was in search of something more, he was looking for something to give him hope. He found a congregation who seemed bored, and ministers who seemed to be in a hurry to get through the ritual. He felt than rather than rolling the rock away from the tomb, the ministers were piling more rocks on and suppressing the joy of an eternally incarnate and risen Christ. To make matters worse, upon leaving church, the long-haired Tabelek was frisked by the police for drugs. He had come to church to find the hope to go on, to be reminded that there was more to life than the stress and pressure he knew in his life. He left church that day disappointed, dejected and confused.
Oddly enough the day’s events inspired the young writer to sit down and write a play about the power of the true gospel. He wrote about how Jesus used the parables to open up great truths about love and life, and salvation. He wrote about the joy and amazing grace of Jesus, he wrote the play Godspell.
Where is your faith journey taking you? When was the last time you felt like you had real, tangible spiritual growth? Chances are it was a time when you dared to be yourself, when you were vulnerable, open, and honest. The world has enough fake Christians who give lipservice to what it means to be a believer. Be bold enough to stand with and stand for – those that are poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who thirst and hunger for righteousness, the merciful, and the pure in heart, and in doing so your name will become blessed one.
[1] Yahoo News, “Remember the Holocaust without hate: chief rabbi”, Thursday January 27, 2005, AFP.
[2] Lectionary Homiletics, Volume XVI, Num. 1, Dec. 04/Jan. 05
