Matthew 5:1-12 | Göttinger Predigten im Internet

Message 11 November 2021 | All Saints’ | Matthew 5:1-12 | by Andrew Smith |

5 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

2 And 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 sons1 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. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

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Grace and peace to you…

All Saints’ Day is the Christian Church’s annual reminder of what’ coming. And so we remember not just St. Paul or St. Peter or St. David in particular, but all those who died believing in Jesus. We remember God’s promise to them, that they have received the blessedness in full for eternity, and if we follow after Jesus trusting in Him, we too will receive the same gift, eternal life.

To me it’s interesting that we don’t have a passage describing heaven for a Gospel reading. We have one in the first reading from Revelation but in the Gospel we have Jesus talking about the kingdom of heaven in a different way. Jesus isn’t talking about heaven as if we can wait until sometime later to be a part of it in the sweet by and by. It is as if Jesus is talking about the reality of heaven for all those believe even in the here and now. And that’s something I think we should pay attention to.

This is the beginning of Jesus Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew’s retelling of Jesus’ life and ministry, this is the first time Jesus teaches or preaches at any length. It lasts for 3 chapters. The crowd has been following Jesus. Jesus sits down to teach. And the crowd can hear what Jesus is saying but who is Jesus speaking to, who is He teaching, the crowd in general or the disciples in particular? Throughout the centuries there have been people who’ve read the Sermon on the Mount and reckoned that Jesus is here describing a new ethic, a new capital “L” Law for God’s people. Like Moses went up and received the Ten Commandments from God Himself, so now God Himself is back on the mountain teaching in the form of Jesus the character for living as a true follower of God. After all, Israel blew it, right? So God is now sending clarifying instructions compatible with the Law of Moses.

Or, there is something much bigger and better going on.

And Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” There’s actually quite a lot to unpack in this little phrase. In year’s past, I’ve talked about modern translations and their use of the word “happy” here. Jesus is talking about more than happy. Quite a few people are using the word “blessed” these days. The helpers at Chic-fil-a even say have a blessed day when they hand you a chicken sandwich. It’s a good sandwich, but as I eat it has the kingdom of heaven been brought near? Probably not. Imagine seeing what John saw in this vision of the 144,000. John was blessed. I just got a sandwich. It’s similar to the use of the word awesome. John was truly awed by what he saw. A touchdown is not awesome. The spectacle of the saints of God dressed in white robes is. And yet Jesus uses this word here. Blessed are the poor in spirit. What does Jesus mean? He follows up with blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. How are these folks blessed? And how might they relate back to the poor in spirit?

I’ve been at enough deathbeds to know that those who are mourning are not making Instagram posts with hashtag blessed. The meek rarely have much, in fact they’re often cheated by people who take advantage of them. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness in my experience are those who have been most wronged by others, even by the people in this world that are supposed to stand up for what’s right and fair and honest. We might say that Jesus is talking about a kingdom that is very different from the kingdoms of this world, even if they are led by those decided by the will of the people. How are these people cursed by the world called blessed by Jesus? Because He comes for them. Think about those you know who have experienced some great injustice. Was there any greater injustice than what was done to Jesus in being falsely accused and executed on a Roman cross? Think about Him who had all the glory of heaven but gave it up to be conceived in an unwed mother and born meekly in a barn. Think of the heavy heart He had when he learned his dear friend Lazarus was dead and how He wept at his tomb. And now you’ve got a sense of the difference Jesus makes. He takes the world’s idea of what great wealth, power, fame, vitality, and turns it on its head. No, says Jesus, those who can jet off to a private island for a party amid the pandemic are not blessed. Those who mourn are blessed because I’m with them.

And that leads us back to the first beatitude, blessed are the poor in spirit, maybe one of the most misunderstood things Jesus ever said. Jesus is not saying poor people are blessed. He saying something else entirely. And I guess it’s one of those kinds of things that even if I tell you in words it doesn’t mean much unless you’ve experienced it yourself. And maybe the easiest way to see it from the outside and look at it through the lens of a group like Alcoholics Anonymous, although any of the twelve step programs have a similar thought here at the first step.

The thought among those who are helping people with addictions is that the first step someone needs to take toward healing and recovery is recognizing that things could be better. You hear some folks talking about how they had to hit rock bottom, that there was no way to go but up. But that’s not always true. Though the first step is one of radical humility. It’s being able to say I have a problem and I don’t know enough, I don’t have what I need in myself to be able to fix it. What’s extraordinary about this idea is that it has something very much in common with what Jesus is saying here. Blessed are the poor in spirit. They’re blessed because they have acknowledged that in and of themselves they have no ability to draw closer to God on their own. They have been able to acknowledge that they need what God is doing for people. When addicts do this, amazingly, just that first step can be the key to beginning to open oneself up to finding healing and change. But this is a sermon not a speech to a group of addicts. Except that what’s really interesting is that there is some thinking that the twelve steps that addicts go through to work life-long change in their lives could be used or applied by non-addicts or otherwise healthy people to help them effect the root-level changes they would like to make in their lives.

Sometimes when people go looking for a home to buy, they’re looking for what they call good bones. The structure is solid. The foundation is secure. Everything else though, might have to go, even those things we think central to house as a system like wiring or plumbing. It’s the same idea here.

When I encouraged you last week to read the Bible more regularly and give yourself time to reflect on it. I didn’t do that because I think we all need to redecorate a room or two in our spiritual houses. But that regular encounter with the word of God is the transforming process by He truly changes us. And one of the first things He does is bring us to an acknowledgement of how much we need Him, His mercy, His grace, His forgiveness, His love, already in this life now, not just in a future heaven.

When I think of all those people I know personally who have gone on to their eternal reward with Jesus, I don’t think of how perfect they were or how holy they seemed in my eyes. I think of how much Jesus did for them too and if He was willing to suffer and die for them, then thanks be to God, I can trust that He is willing to do the same for us all. They’re among the blessed because He blessed them not because they attained that status on their own. And so shall we all as we trust in Him and see ourselves as poor in spirit, for if we are, we are truly blessed. Amen.

The Rev. Andrew Smith

Heavenly Host Lutheran Church

Cookeville, Tennessee, USA

E-Mail: smithad19+prediger@gmail.com