"Blessed for Blessing" – Matthew 5:1-12

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

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There’s a Hindu parable that goes something like this…

Understanding the problems that might occur should humanity achieve or be given the power or wisdom or capabilities of the divine, Brahma was encouraged by his underlings to hide the power of the divine so that humanity might never be able to reach it.  “Hide the divine power atop the highest mountain,” they suggested.  “No,” replied Brahma, “for some day, humanity will likely reach the top of even the highest of mountains.”  “Hide the divine power then at the bottom of the deepest sea,” they suggested next.  “No,” Brahma replied again, “for some day, humanity will likely reach to the bottom of even the deepest of seas.”

Then Brahma had the answer, he had solved the problem. “I know just where to hide the power of the divine,” he told his underlings, “in a place where humanity will never find it.  I’ll hide it deep inside the very heart of humanity itself.  They’ll never find it, for they will never think to look for the divine power within themselves.”

And I think there’s something to this notion – not only that the power of God can be found somewhere deep within the very hearts of humanity – but that we don’t think or believe or work to find the power of God within ourselves often enough.

And even though we may not always think to see God’s power within ourselves – when we look in the mirror, say – we’re not quite so bad at seeing the power of God in others. So, I came up with a few examples of people who have shared something divine and holy and “like God” with the world these days.

There’s a new restaurant, which is really more like a movement, it seems to me, in Columbus, Ohio, that I just learned about. I heard about the food at a place called Hot Chicken Takeover, before I heard about something even cooler: the mission of the place to hire and care for employees who might otherwise not be able to find jobs, maybe because they’re homeless or just out of prison or for some other reason that most businesses wouldn’t think twice about looking at their resume.

And not only do they hire them, but they care for them with things like a “Matched Milestone Program” that matches money for things like housing, transportation, and education; this restaurant retains counselors for recovery support and short-term counseling; they offer 0% interest loans for emergencies to keep their people from going to predatory lenders; and they’re deliberate about professional development, flexible scheduling, and paying above minimum wage. All of this is part of their mission and business model and it’s about so much more than great fried chicken, which matters, too, of course. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…”

Pastor Aaron and I heard Rachel Held Evans Thursday talk about a whole congregation – a church in a denomination she wouldn’t name – that opted to disband and lose its affiliation with its larger church, rather than kick out a gay couple who had joined their ranks. It was a relatively new Christian church who welcomed a lesbian couple into their midst. And when their denomination caught wind of it, and asked them to remove the women and their children from their roster, this faithful gathering of Jesus freaks chose to lose their denominational funding and support, which forced them to have to pack it up and close their doors, rather than kick to the curb two of their beloved, faithful members and fellow children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake…

I suspect you’ve heard something about the White Helmets in Syria. (There’s a Netflix documentary about them, if you haven’t.) They are the Syrian Civil Defense crew – known mostly, and simply, as the White Helmets. They are this group of brave, unarmed volunteers, who wait for barrel bombs and other weapons of mass destruction to wreak havoc and destroy public places in their country so they can rush into the devastation and look for survivors to rescue, without regard for race, religion, or politics, knowing of course they’re own lives are at stake at every moment. One White Helmet, named Abed said, “When I want to save someone’s life, I don’t care if he is an enemy or a friend. What concerns me is the soul that might die.” Blessed are the peacemakers…

It’s a short list, I know, just some contemporary examples that came to mind and there are millions more who would fit the bill. But I think Jesus would have counted these folks – and maybe some of the saints on your heart this morning – among the “blessed.” And, again, I think the message of his sermon was not unlike the message of that Hindu proverb: that the very power of God really can be found within the hearts of humanity.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit… those who mourn… the merciful.” “Blessed are the peacemakers… the persecuted… the meek.” We just aren’t always looking in the right places or for all the right kinds of things. Because what blesses us most in this life is that which we’re able to use to become a blessing for others. And that happens best when we live out our lives – as much as we are able – in the likeness of our creator, and in the way of Jesus Christ: with the power of the divine, the heart of God beating within us.

Meekness, purity, peace; humility, mercy, righteousness; gratitude, grace and generosity, don’t all come as naturally or as easily for us as we’d like. They are too often the nature of God that gets buried more deeply within us than we’d like to admit or are able to find or even always willing to admit.

But blessed are those of you who've prayed over and sacrificed for the sake of your commitment to this ministry – financial and otherwise – and who gather here to offer it with thanksgiving and generosity; and blessed are all those who benefit from it and those who've yet to enter into our midst…

Blessed are you who've stocked our food pantry or helped to deliver food and friendship through the Agape ministry; and blessed are those who've receive all of that grace and good news and nourishment…

Blessed are you who teach our children, and each other, about God's Word for our lives; and blessed are those who've learned from you…

Blessed are those who will travel to Haiti to build and paint some houses next week; and blessed are those who will call those houses “home” …

Blessed are those who add music to our worship; who work in the office; who clean the building; who pray for each other; who serve on ministry teams; who share communion out there in the world; you get the idea…

In Jesus, God invites us to more than we could ever muster on our own - meekness, mercy, purity; humility, gratitude, generosity and so on down the list - because when we live that way we see ourselves - and one another - more clearly as children of God. We see God more often in the world around us. And we experience more fully the kingdom of heaven that is alive and well within and among us.

When we live that way we see our blessedness in a new light – as fuel and fodder for blessing the world. And we see ourselves as harboring in our hearts – not hiding there – the very power of the divine… the power of God’s love and grace and hope for the sake of the world.

Amen

Reformation Series: Forgiving and Reconciling - Matthew 9:2-8

Matthew 9:2-8

And just then some people were carrying a paralyzed man lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

Then some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk?’ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” – he said to the paralytic – “Stand up, take your bed and go to your home.” And he stood up and went to his home. 

When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings.

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The book that inspires our current Reformation sermon series (One Hope: Re-Membering the Body of Christ) tells this story:

“After apartheid ended in South Africa, a white police officer named Mr. Van der Broek was put on trial. The court found that he had come to a woman’s home, shot her son at point-blank range, and then burned the young man’s body on a fire while he and his officers partied nearby. The woman’s husband was killed by the same men, and his body also was burned.

The woman was present in the courtroom and heard the confessions offered by Mr. Van der Broek. At one point, a member of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission turned to her and asked, “So, what do you want? How should justice be done for this man?”

“I want three things,” the woman said confidently. “I want first to be taken to the place where my husband’s body was burned so that I can gather up the dust and give his remains a decent burial.”                                                                                                

She continued, “My husband and son were my only family. I want, secondly, for Mr. Van der Broek to become my son. I would like for him to come twice a month to the ghetto and spend a day with me so that I can pour out on him whatever love I still have.

“And, finally, I would like Mr. Van der Broek to know that I offer him my forgiveness because Jesus Christ died to forgive. This was also the wish of my husband. And so, I would kindly ask someone to come to my side and lead me across the courtroom so that I can take Mr. Van der Broek in my arms, embrace him, and let him know that he is truly forgiven.”

“The Gospel of the Lord.” Sort of, right?!?!

I thought that story from the Gospel – about Jesus healing that paralyzed man – was a miracle. And who doesn’t love a good miracle, right? I think it’s great when Jesus shows off his super powers. It’s good news when someone gets healed. And I especially like it, here, when Jesus does it all with a little bit of attitude.

When the scribes are grumbling about whether Jesus, that carpenter’s kid from Nazareth, could possibly have the power to forgive sins…? When Jesus says something like, “Really? That’s what you’re worried about here…?” And when he asks them, “What’s easier, do you suppose, to forgive sins or to make a paralyzed man stand up and walk?” It was a rhetorical question, of course. Almost sarcastic, it seems to me.

One big piece of this puzzle has to do with how 1st Century people understood the connection between sin and sickness. The short version of the story is that, often-times, when someone was paralyzed, or blind, or deaf, or mentally ill, or had a case of the chicken-pox, for that matter, those afflictions were often attributed to some sort of sinfulness on their part; like they must have done something to deserve some punishment; like they were paying dues for their misdeeds. Which means – in the case of the paralyzed man – to be able to stand up and walk, wasn’t just evidence of his physical healing. It was also proof of his divine forgiveness that couldn’t be refuted or argued or denied, no matter how hard it was to believe.

And, Jesus knows no one believed he had the power to cure paralysis any more than they thought his forgiveness was worth a lick. So when Jesus does one – sends that paralyzed guy skipping home, with his mat under his arm – everyone has to believe that he’s done the other, too; that his forgiveness is just as real, that it counts just as much as that miracle they all saw stand up and walk right out of the room.

And it is a miracle, right? Not just to cure a disease, but to forgive like that? And not just like Jesus does, but to forgive like that poor South African woman who lost so much and who had every reason to hold a grudge; to punish severely; to hurt, harm, and retaliate against the officer who murdered and defamed and disgraced her family in such an ugly, hateful way – and who stole so much from her in the process. Can you imagine?

We are supposed to imagine it. And we’re supposed to marvel at it…just like those first century witnesses who saw what Jesus did and “were filled with awe and glorified God,” like the Gospel tells us, “becuase God had given such authority to human beings.”

“BECAUSE GOD HAD GIVEN SUCH AUTHORITY TO HUMAN BEINGS.”

Which means we’re supposed to do more than just imagine it and marvel at it. We’re supposed to practice and model it, too.

My hunch is that that day in that South African courtroom wasn’t the first time that grieving woman had forgiven someone in her life. My hunch is, she didn’t show up to court ready for the Olympic-level, World Championship-sized game of forgiveness with which she was faced and crush it the way she did, without some serious practice over the course of her lifetime.

I imagine she had practiced the art of her forgiveness on the very souls she was grieving so deeply – her husband and her son, more than once. I imagine she practiced the art of forgiveness at the market with strangers… at school with her son’s teachers… in the neighborhood with other parents and children… at church with her fellow parishioners and pastors, even.

And I have another hunch about that South African wife and mother who was able to forgive the murderer of her husband and her only child. My hunch is, having practiced forgiving others in the past, she knew something about the benefits of forgiveness … for herself; that she had no choice, almost, but to offer it.

See, forgiveness isn’t just benevolence and blessing for those who are forgiven. When real forgiveness is achieved, when full pardon is able to be granted to another, the forgiver is set free, too – free from the weight of a grudge to bear; free from the anxiety of holding onto anger; free from the struggle of harboring the poison of unforgiveness in your body, mind and spirit. (Maybe you’ve heard that refusing forgiveness, holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.)

Which is why God calls us to forgive and why Jesus shows us how to do it. Forgiveness is God’s gift of power to us. Forgiveness is God’s gift of authority to us. The people who watched Jesus heal and forgive were filled with awe and glorified God because God had given such authority such power to human beings – to them – to you and me – and to mothers in South Africa, too.

Because can’t you just imagine the power shift in the courtroom that day as that grieving mother met face to face with that guilty officer, only to hug him and to love him in spite of the sins he committed against her? His power to hurt her – the power of sin and death – would have been overcome by her unwillingness to accept it – and to forgive him and to love him, somehow, in spite of it. That is the power of God.

May we never have to muster the measure of forgiveness and grace offered by that woman. But may her story give us some perspective about the power and pleasure of practicing forgiveness more often, more readily, more graciously in our daily lives, because we are blessed and better for it. And because God’s hope and intention is that forgiving and reconciling will change our hearts and lives, our relationships, our families, our schools, our churches, and the world in God’s kingdom, when we do.

Amen