Epiphany 4 / Presentation of Our Lord, 02/02/2014

Sermon on Matthew 5:1-12, by Andrew Smith

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
²And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
³"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.⁴"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
⁵"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.⁶"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
⁷"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.⁸"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
⁹"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
¹⁰"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.¹¹"Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
¹²Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today is the fourth Sunday in the season of Epiphany and this year because Lent starts so late, we get a full taste of the season. Compare that with three years ago when we got only three Sundays of Epiphany. "What difference does it make?" you might be asking. Well, if you listen carefully, there is a logical order to the Sundays this season. Many of you, I think, know Pastor Alms at Redeemer in Catawba. He wrote a great little article for a Lutheran journal about the season of Epiphany as a blueprint for mission. He says, "The season's structure-its texts, hymn and color-gives a vital template for the Church's mission." Think about that for a minute and think back to what we have already heard this season: the visit of the Magi, gentiles from the east, the testimony of the heavenly Father at Jesus' baptism, "this is my beloved Son." Next John points to Jesus and says, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." And last week Jesus began His ministry in full, teaching the same message as John, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And after He called his first disciples, He began doing the healing that John had prophesied the coming One would do. This week, the saving Son of God goes up on the mountain and sits down to teach his followers. There is a logical progression to the Gospel readings during this season and we would do well to listen to them in order.

And this week Jesus begins to flesh out His first sermon, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The connections are all over the place but you have to look closely because this is where the universalists and humanists try to dethrone Jesus. These are the folks that would put Jesus on the same level as Confucius, Buddha and even Mohammed. The first word out of Jesus mouth should convince them otherwise but they don't see the importance of it. "Blessed." Jesus' first sermon was, "Repent." They say, "That's old-fashioned religion. Repentance is for sinners, people who sin, people who have angered a God of wrath. ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit.' That's more like it. We like the Jesus of the Beatitudes much better." Except that they do not understand that the beginning of this sermon is an explanation, and expounding of the first. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." "Blessed," says Jesus are the ones who have the kingdom of heaven which has come near. You know why their blessed? Because they are poor in spirit, they heard the first sermon and they did what Jesus said to do, they repented. And so the poor in spirit are not the poor; they aren't even what we would call depressed today. They are the ones who know the state of their soul in God's eyes and have been brought low by it, they recognize that in their very soul they lack, they suffer want, they need. Just as much a blind man eyes can't see, their soul is empty, they have no resources in the spiritual realm. These are the ones Jesus calls to be in the kingdom of heaven, the ones who need these spiritual resources provided by Another, Himself, the Savior. Jesus isn't calling the self-righteous or the self-assured "blessed." He is calling those who describe themselves as "poor, miserable sinners." And them, you, He calls "blessed."

"Blessed" is maybe one more word study we need to do. One thing is for sure, "happy" which we see in so many modern translations of the Beatitudes does not cut it. "Happy" does not carry any of the notes of salvation and redemption, those big eternal sounding words with big eternal meanings. "Happy" is what I am when I get a good pastrami on rye. "Blessed" is what I am when I hear that Jesus save me from death and hell and the power of the devil. We need to be sure of the words here because the first two sermons of Jesus go together. Those who have repented, have inherited the kingdom of heaven that has come near; they are blessed.

The rest of the Beatitudes go on to describe these blessed people. Jesus goes on to describe those who have taken Him at His word and repented.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others 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 so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

There are quite a few bad ideas floating around among Christians that are not only false, but worse, they are detrimental to faith. One of these is the false notion that Christians are supposed to be constantly experiencing deep, inner joy. Philip Carey in his book, Good News for Anxious Christians, describes it this way.

"The Christian life is supposed to be an abundant life, a life of victory-so you can't go around telling people that it really hurts inside. People at church may not understand if you start talking as if your life was a failure. You're not really allowed to be sad at heart, because everybody says Christians are supposed to have an inner joy deep in their hearts, which is always there beneath all the troubles of life. So it can't be that at the center of all your feelings is a great ball of hurt and suffering. Not if you're a Christian!" (128)

Now, to those of you who always experience deep, inner joy even in the midst of suffering, I guess I'm not really talking to you this morning. I'm talking to the other folks, those who feel guilty because they have a cross to bear and they're not bearing it with a big smile on their face. There are those folks whose faith seems so deep that they appear immune to suffering, but that is not the Christian message. This is what Carey calls a "terrible reversal of the Gospel of Christ..." because it sets us on a different path from our Lord Jesus, the Son of God who became human to share in human suffering and to die a human death." (128) It's bad enough that we feel empty inside, but it's made worse by some cruel notion that Christians shouldn't feel that way or that perhaps we feel the way we do because of some failure in our Christian life. The worst thing that can happen then is Jesus' words here to rejoice get turned into a command, and because we don't feel like rejoicing, a condemnation. Instead of inviting us into the joy and blessedness of the kingdom of heaven, they demand we be happy, or else. I like the way Carey says this:

For a depressed person to hear this exhortation should be like receiving an invitation to a wedding for which everyone has been waiting for ages. There are obligations that come with the invitation: there is some serious celebrating going on and you shouldn't go spoiling the party by moping around feeling sorry for yourself. But by all means, come to the celebration (that's the way to invite a depressed person to rejoice) and recognize that there is indeed something to be glad about: come in hope that your own heart too will eventually be able to join in the gladness. For the point is not that you're supposed to feel glad all the time, but that something good has happened that's really worth celebrating." (129)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus teaches the Beatitudes with authority. These nine blessings proclaim with authority the saving and transforming truths that the reign of God in Jesus is given to all Jesus disciples, to you. We are disciples of Jesus. Jesus has already come, suffered, died, and was resurrected. We already possess the blessings of the reign of heaven. We have the forgiveness of sins. We possess Baptism into Christ. We possess the power of the Holy Spirit for faith and obedience. We hold in our hands the nourishment of the Body and Blood of our Savior. We possess the fellowship of all the fellow redeemed. All of these blessings which we already possess are the blessings of the reign of God in Jesus.

There is no other message of the kingdom of heaven. There is no secret prayer that brings peace to your heart or wealth to your bank account. There is no perfect Christian life, only broken Christians perfected in Christ. There is nothing other than the Gospel message of the reign of heaven. Repent and be blessed. This Good News is preached with no conditions, no specifications, no limitations, no quid pro quos, no fine print. This message of Jesus is completely consistent with what we have already seen of Jesus' ministry, His teaching and His healing. To those brought low by Jesus first sermon of repentance, here is now the sermon of complete and utter grace and blessing. The reign of heaven belongs to those who have no spiritual resources of their own, it belongs to the lost, to the sinners, to you and me. And Jesus calls you "blessed." That really is Good News. Amen.

The Rev. Andrew Smith
Cookeville, Tennessee, USA
E-Mail: smithad19+prediger@gmail.com

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