The Radical Call to Peacemaking

Dedication Day                     

Matthew 5:38-48                                                              
23 February 2014                          

Elizabeth M. Deibert                                                         

O Spirit of Truth, come to us, open our hearts and minds, so we may hear your Word of life and be renewed by your power, through Christ our Teacher, Savior, and Lord.

Most people in the world today agree that we need to reduce violence in our society, and if serious about this, we will deal with the roots of violence that exist within each of us.   We need to embrace 'inner disarmament,' reducing our own emotions of suspicion, doubt, hatred and hostility toward our brothers and sisters.  ― Dalai Lama XIV

The trouble is we think violence not my problem.  It is belongs to society or to some other group in society.   We do not even see how we condone it with certain attitudes of retaliation and self-defense.   “I don’t get mad.   I get even.”   “Do unto others first, before they do unto you.”  “Stand your ground, instead of standing down.”   Well, these words today from the Sermon on the Mount are a radical call to the opposite of all that retaliation mindset.   This is the call to radical peacemaking, to perfection, as Jesus calls it.  This is the kind of perfection that comes from being like Christ our God.

Matthew 5:38-48

³⁸ “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’

³⁹ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer.

But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;

⁴⁰ and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well;

⁴¹ and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.

⁴² Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

 ⁴⁴ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

⁴⁵ so that you may be children of your Father in heaven;

for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good,

and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?

Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others?

Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

(New Revised Standard Version)

When you decided to follow Jesus, you gave up rights and took on responsibilities.  You are called to die to self.  ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.”  Jesus quotes the law of retaliation found in three Old Testament passages (Exod 21:24; Lev 24:20; Deut 19:21). Some say that the Old Testament Law was savage, but actually, it was the beginning of mercy and an equalizer of justice. If I poke out his eye, he gets mine.  This law limited disproportionate revenge. In other words, people could only get back what they lost.  When wronged, we tend to line up forces of family and friends to retaliate. If a person cuts off my ear, I want to cut off his head. And if I cut off his head, his brother will kill me, and if he kills me, my brother will kill his brother, and pretty soon we have a clan war. Of course, Jesus’ teaching generally goes above and beyond the Law.   He declares, “But I say to you, do not resist an evil person…” The word translated “resist” in this context means “do not render evil for evil.” Jesus is talking about revenge, not self-preservation. He isn’t telling us to be weak and passive; He’s telling us not to be vindictive. Obviously, this is a high standard to live up to!  Christian discipleship is not for spiritual wimps!

Jesus provides four illustrations of what it means to not retaliate against an evil person.  In His first illustration he says, “but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.” Jesus is not referring to a situation where another person is attempting to punch your lights out. He is speaking of a slap across the right cheek with the back of the right hand.   You see, in Jesus’ day a slap to one’s face was considered a gross insult.   It was among the most demeaning acts one could inflict on another person, but not a serious safety threat.  If you got hit with the back of a hand instead of being punched in the mouth, you could collect twice the damages because an insult was worse than an injury in Jesus’ honor-shame society. Even today, the Irish often say, “The back of my hand to you,” which means, “You are scum.”   So let’s be clear:  we are not encouraging our children to be beat up by bullies nor our women to be battered by husbands.  Nor should we stand by and watch while an innocent person is attacked. When necessary, you should seek to protect yourself, your family members, and victims of injustice and cruelty. But what Jesus is saying is this: When someone insults you, do not seek revenge. You should not trade insults, even if it means you receive more insults.

Jesus instructs His disciples that if someone tries to sue for their shirt, they should let him have their “coat” as well. This cloak was the outer robe, which was an indispensable piece of clothing that the poor used for a sleeping cover.  It was possible in Jesus’ day to sue others for the very shirt on their backs. However, no one could take another’s cloak. So even if you lost your shirt in court, and your opponent asked for your cloak and won it, he had to return it every evening for you to sleep in. That was the law.   Evidently, Jesus was giving advice to the poor among His followers—those who had been reduced to the garments on their backs because of persecution for their faith.   His teaching is simply this: “As they sue you (no doubt falsely) for your shirt and win it, give them your cloak too, even though they cannot legally take it.” Jesus makes a startling demand of His disciples. They must reverse the dynamic and disrupt the unjust power structure.

Jesus’ third illustration is “go the extra mile.”  In the first century, Roman soldiers had the authority to force civilians to carry their loads for one mile.  Obviously, the Jews held to the letter of the law on this. They counted every single step. When they got to one thousand they stopped, put down the pack, and left the Roman to carry his own load or find another victim. The Jews despised the Romans making them carry their loads. I can just see some slave saying, “Fine. I may have to carry this soldier’s stuff, but I’ll be sure to drop it in the mud when I get to end of that mile.  Jesus says, “Give your opponent more than he has the right to demand.  Ask him, ‘Is there anything else I can do to help you?’” You should demonstrate a humble servant’s heart and cheerfully go beyond what is expected or demanded.

In Jesus’ fourth illustration he says,  “Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn away from someone who wants to borrow from you.” This illustration has to do with the law of lending.   In Deuteronomy 15, we learn that debts were canceled every seven years. The borrowers loved this. The lenders were not quite so enthusiastic. If I was a lender and someone came to me for a loan in the sixth year, I would think twice before giving it to him. If he didn’t pay it off quickly, my loan would turn into a gift. The closer the seventh year got, the more tightfisted they became. But Jesus said they were not to allow the seventh year to govern them. Whenever a person had a need, God’s people were to give generously. After all, the people in Jesus’ day were not asking for home-improvement loans. They needed money for food. In our day and age, it does not mean that a Christian banker should never refuse a loan application, no matter how bad a person’s credit report looks.   Nor should you be compelled to loan money to irresponsible people again and again, even if you know they won’t make an effort to pay it back?  No.

It is tax season.   Do you like paying taxes? Many Americans resent it.  The government supports all kinds of social programs that feed, house, and educate the poor.  I wonder if Jesus would suggest that in addition to paying your taxes with gladness that you also pay the second dollar by giving your time and your money through church to projects that feed, house, and educate the poor. 

The primary way you demonstrate that you are Christ’s disciple is by your love for others, particularly your enemies.  Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Here, love is not simply praised, it is commanded.  This requires supernatural strength. It has been said, “To return evil for good is devilish; to return good for good is human; to return good for evil is divine.” Now if you have been raped or molested, you don’t have to be friends with your enemy – that could be unhealthy and dangerous.  Biblical agape love requires that you are concerned about the welfare of even your enemies. This means that you will do things that will benefit and not harm them.

How do you know if you really love your enemy? You can be confident that you love your enemy when you pray for him or her.   Start praying today for that person whom you despise.  Why should you love your enemies?  “so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven; who causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” And you are probably thinking, “Wait a second, I thought I already was a son or daughter of God.” The focus of this verse is not on attaining a relationship with God, but rather on being a person who shares the characteristics of God. That is the meaning of the Semitic idiom “son of.” We would say, “Like father, like son.” We say of a son, “He’s a chip off the old block.” Of a daughter we say, “She’s the spittin’ image of her mother.” When you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, you are like God who is so gracious that He gives good things even to those who rebel against Him.

Jesus poses two pairs of rhetorical questions that get to the heart of the matter. He says, “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet [bless] only your sisters and brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” Jesus declares that friendship with one’s friends is nothing exceptional. Everyone does that…even the tax collectors who in Jesus’ day were despised because they worked for the Roman government.  They were viewed as traitors. 

But is there something about your love that cannot be explained in natural terms? Is there something special and unique about your love that will make people wonder about you?

Jesus concludes this passage with the summary: “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Jesus makes it clear that the goal of Christianity is perfection. You are called to be like Jesus, the only one who lived a perfect life.

Mahatma Gandhi studied Christianity in England and was impressed with Jesus, but never became a Christian because he wasn’t impressed by faith of the Christians he met.  Gandhi tried to incorporate Jesus’ wisdom into his own life.   Civil war broke out between the Muslims of Pakistan and the Hindus of India. Gandhi is lying on a cot after weeks of fasting in protest to this war, when he is approached by a distraught Hindu man.  His only son, still a little boy, has been shot and killed in the conflict. His heart is full of sadness, bitterness, and revenge. Gandhi can barely speak, but tells the man how to heal his own heart. “Find a little Muslim boy whose father has been killed. Take that boy as your son, and raise him as a Muslim.” The Hindu man walks away completely disappointed.  Apparently he thought the weeks of fasting had weakened Gandhi’s ability to reason. It made no sense.  This was the radical kind of peacemaking that Gandhi learned from Jesus.    And this is kind of radical peacemaking to which we are called.

 (indebted to Keith Krell at www.bible.org for the Biblical exegesis and the Gandhi illustration)               

Integrity in Relationships

6th Sunday after Epiphany

Matthew 5:21-30

16 February 2014

Elizabeth M. Deibert                                                                   

Well, 150 million Valentine’s cards have been exchanged, and the average American has spent $130 dollars to celebrate romantic love.  But are we building integrity in our relationships or is this a rather empty display, an attempt to make up for short-comings or a short-lived fantasy?   We are not entirely sure who the original St Valentine was.   Some say he was a 3rd century Roman bishop who got in trouble for conducting weddings of young couples when the Emperor wanted to keep young soldiers single and focused.  So Valentine was thrown in prison, where he healed the jailor’s daughter, and left her a love note when he died, signed “your Valentine.”   It was in the 18th century England that Valentines card production exploded.  Valentines have every kind of image imaginable now, but Cupid, the ancient mythological god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection is one of the earliest image for Valentine’s cards.   Some would say “cupid is stupid” but I say that Cupid (this attraction/affection) gives us the courage to enter a relationship.   What’s stupid is thinking that attraction/affection can sustain a relationship. 

You know what Richard and I watch on Valentine’s Day?   The French film Amour.   Sounds so romantic, but guess what it is about? It is the painfully slow story of how an old man takes care of his dying wife.   It wasn’t very exciting but it was an interesting look at love.   Jesus calls us to a higher love than romantic affection.  He calls us to agape, the love that gives and forgives.   In the section of the Sermon on the Mount we are reading, Jesus challenges us to apologize and forgive, and to keep our relationships whole by keeping our eyes, minds, and hearts in the right place.   Jesus is speaking to his disciples about right relatedness.   He is not really talking about couples.   He’s talking about Christian community.  In the verses just prior to this teaching, Jesus said to his disciples, “I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.”  He says, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” 

I believe he is talking about a kingdom here and now, a realm that we can live in, if we live like Christ.   He goes on to explain what he means about fulfilling the law.   He wants the disciples to understand the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law.  

Matthew 5:21-30

"You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not murder'; and 'whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' 22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. 27 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.

(New Revised Standard Version)

We want easier answers.   We want to be able to justify ourselves by saying, “I didn’t do anything wrong.”   “I never killed anyone.   I never had an affair. ”   But Jesus says that it is not so much what we did wrong but what we did right.   Did we say we were sorry?   Did we make amends?   Did we forgive?   Did we cultivate love or did we allow our minds to wander away from real love to some image on a computer screen or television?

If we really want to love, we have to learn how to forgive.  (Mother Teresa)  The first to apologize is the bravest.   The first to forgive is the strongest.  The first to forget is the happiest.   Of course forgetting means laying it aside, not having amnesia.  Forgiveness is not forgetting an injustice done.   It is an understanding that allows us to set aside the emotional impact of that injustice.  When we no longer hold these emotions, and when we have understanding for the person, then we have forgiven them.

Anyone can hold a grudge, but it takes a person with character to forgive.   When you forgive, you release yourself from a painful burden.   Forgiveness does not mean that what happened was okay or that the person is welcome in your life, but that you have made peace with the pain and are ready to let it go.

Apologizing does not mean you’re wrong and the other person is right.   It means you value the relationship more than your ego.   I have seen and have participated myself in so many debates in family and church where ego gets in the way.   Usually both sides have some piece of what is right, which is why we must move away from determining who is at fault, to empathy, to identify our own and others’ needs.   We must understand that everyone has a need for belonging, purpose, meaning, integrity, and love.   When these are threatened, we often respond with anger or distance.   But the best way to move through conflict -- whether between parent and child, or a couple, or two members of a church) is to identify and try to meet needs.   There can still be irresolvable differences, but the process of handling those is much less hurtful when needs are respected.

Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you are.   Forgiveness takes a lot of energy and self-awareness, but bitterness will truly take the life out of you, and leave you in a hell of sorts.   The word Jesus used was for a real place of dead bodies.   As you are coming forward today to receive communion, lay down your bitterness.   Let it go.   It’s not that you are saying they are more right than you.   It is that you value life and right-relationships more than you value your own ego.  

You can identify their needs and have empathy for them, and so you stop rewinding the event to churn yourself up again.   You stop re-playing that video – the one in which you were right but got hurt.   You start looking forward instead of backward.   To call someone a fool is to demean their humanity and land yourself in hell here and now, Jesus says.   It is better to lose part of yourself than for your whole self to land in the place of the dead.  We need integrity – holding the whole thing together.   Being the same person inside and outside.   Being the same person no matter where you are or who is watching you or checking your internet history. 

The thing about unresolved anger and lustful, wandering, unfaithfulness in relationships is that much of this is unseen.  If you kill someone, everyone knows.   If you commit adultery, it usually comes out.   But bitterness and unfaithful desires can be hidden from everyone.   Internet porn is doing unspecified damage to relationships everywhere.   No one but you and God know, but it slowly poisons.   We had a friend, who ended his own life because of despair over ruined relationships due to an addiction to porn.   The scary thing about undiscovered ills is that they have greater power to diminish us than exposed ones.  

I’m not recommending that you announce all your lustful thoughts or grudges. But I am saying that when your anger or lust stirs up, take a serious inventory of your feelings and needs, and how you might get your needs met without hurting or objectifying other people.   Think about their needs too.   Even as someone is expressing anger toward you, you can be helpful by trying to hear their needs rather than their criticism.   Real love, you know, is not a feeling, it cares about feelings, it identifies feelings, and responds to feelings with responsible behavior.   To love God and love neighbor cannot be reduced to a set of rational rules.  It’s a life of relational integrity – of doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God.   It is a life of peacemaking – of one another-ing, of doing the messy work of caring for real people (not fantasy people) real people with real problems just like you.   Real love works to appreciate another’s perspective.   It asks for forgiveness and offers forgiveness.   Integrity – real love lived out in all the relationships of life.

"The Service of Worship"

Epiphany 5

Isaiah 58:1-9
9 February 2014
Elizabeth M. Deibert                                                                   

You have come to a service of worship.   That’s what Protestants and Jews call their gathering to worship God.   A worship service.   Catholics call it mass, and Orthodox Christians call it the Divine Liturgy.   But we call it a worship service.   We serve up worship and you, the consumer, go down the buffet line and take what you want of it, whatever might taste good or be nourishing or whatever.   Right?   No, wrong.   It is a service of worship because worship and service are inter-related.   Isaiah would have us hear that worship cannot be disconnected from service.   To seek to worship God without caring for others is futile.   In the first letter of John we read “if you do not love a brother or sister whom you can see, you cannot love God, who you cannot see.”   So loving God and loving others go hand-in-hand.   I think Jesus called those two the great commandment.   

Last week we read the Beatitudes and thought about what it means to have our value system turned upside down.   We heard the challenge of Micah to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.   This week’s reading from Isaiah builds on that.   Isaiah spells that out what doing justice and loving kindness look like and says that any humility that isn’t connected to justice and kindness is false humility – false worship.

Hear these words of the Prophet Isaiah:  Isaiah 58:1-9

Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. ² Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. ³ "Why do we fast, but you do not see?  Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?" Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. ⁴ Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. ⁵ Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
⁶ Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? ⁷ Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? ⁸ Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. ⁹ Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. 

(New Revised Standard Version)

The primary role of prophets was to call God’s people to repentance, to demand their return to obedience and to remind the people what it means to live lives in keeping with the covenant. The opening command from God to Isaiah in 58:1 is, therefore, the most basic job description of a prophet: Shout out, do not hold back, raise your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins.

But what a shock to hear what the sin is!   God through the prophet challenges a fundamental act of worship – fasting and prayer.    Why do you come to me, fasting and praying to draw near to me, when your action toward others is not just and kind?   The people were so caught up their rituals that they forgot the spiritual meaning of worship.   ”The Hebrew people were caught worshiping worship. Not only are these worshipers convinced that acts of praise and worship evidence extreme faithfulness; they are more than a bit peeved that despite all these ritualized, public displays of devotion, God has not seen fit to answer their prayers.”  (Elizabeth Sweet, esermons.com)  

They have become competitive and very showy with their fasting – perhaps the way churches compete with their Outreach events and worship attendance numbers.   You know the real bottom line with God is whether lives are being changed – not whether bodies showed up to feel good about themselves.

This dilemma of false worship is seen sometimes when the pastor of a church gets too busy with all the tasks of church life that she forgets the primary role of a pastor is to love God and the people of God.   That’s been a bit of a challenge lately around here, as we have been so caught up in settling into our building and all that we need to accomplish to make this a good church home, that we forget that the most important ingredient in a home is love.    Are we preparing this home for the purposes of sharing Christ’s love or are we preparing this home so we can be more proud of how it looks?

Isaiah does not stop with challenging their false worship – fasting for the wrong reasons --  to get from God what they wanted.   He goes on to tell them what faithful devotion to God entails and it is a radical message.

You want to worship me?   You want to bow down and humbly with me?   You want to serve me?   Well, you have to care a lot more than you do about poor people.   Caring for people who are oppressed, hungry, homeless, poor means more than a little charity.   It means real compassion.   To really care is to seek change.   Like the homeless person who sits on the street saying keep your coins, I want change.

Well, this is when we all get very defensive because we know how complicated it is to really care.   It is complicated and messy.   Like last week when someone stopped for help here, and no matter how many episodes of “Lie to Me” I have watched and tried to learn all of Dr. Lightman’s tricks of the trade, I still cannot know for sure when a person seeking help is giving me a true story or a fabricated one to illicit my sympathy.  

So I err on the side of generosity, because I always have Matthew 25 going off in my head, “I was hungry, and you fed me.   I was in prison and you visited me….whenever you did it for the least of these my brethren you did it for me.”   So I pray and I ask questions and I get names and a story, and I try to witness to the love of God in my response.   But what they really need is not a hand-out but real change, and that’s where it gets difficult.

Isaiah also challenges his people for hiding from their kin.   That one struck home for me yesterday as I came home from the work day on the property and the Outreach Team meeting afterwards, and all I wanted to do was sit by myself and work on my sermon.   I was wanting to hide emotionally and physically from my kin, and I ended up being rude, and God was not pleased, and cannot be pleased with any sermon work that forces me to be rude to my family.   One can be clear about personal needs without collapsing into unkindness.

Isaiah promises that God will richly bless and answer the prayers of those who abide by the spirit of the law of love.   He says the light will break forth like the dawn and that healing will spring up quickly when our worship leads to service.   This is why we must not allow ourselves in this season of building fixation to forget that we are here to worship and to serve.   We are here not just to be charitable, to toss a little money at those in need, but to be willing to seek justice for the poor, the hungry, and the oppressed.   Maybe it means marching with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers or writing letters on their behalf.   Maybe it means adding showers so that we can be more hospitable toward the homeless and be part of a new effort at Family Promise.  

Maybe it means we will increase our giving to mission to more than 10% in the next five years, even while we are so consumed with our need for a sanctuary.

Peace is already a generous church.   We give away 10% every year.   Let us never grow weary of giving.  But we must remember that charity is no substitute for justice. Charity gives but justice changes.   It changes the lives of the poor for the good in a more lasting way.   

Justice sends a girl to school who can’t afford it, knowing that education will be empowerment.  Justice lends, expecting nothing in return, to entrepreneur in a developing country.   Justice demands that free markets begin to make room for the poor to sell their products at competitive rates  Justice insists that a fair wage is a fair wage, even if people will work for less.  Charity just a band-aid when structures in our corporate and political world prevent real change. 

“The highest form of charity involves a just relationship. In fact it stops being charity and becomes partnership with those who are in need.”   (by Brett Blair with Leonard Sweet, esermons.com)

“A just society must be the achievement of politics, not of the Church. Yet the promotion of justice through efforts to bring about openness of mind and will to the demands of the common good is something which concerns the Church deeply.”  (Pope Benedict)

As the head of a rescue mission once said, “Our biggest problem with Christians is that they all want to help the poor and speak out about generosity toward the poor.  They want to give gifts to the poor — especially at Thanksgiving and Christmas. But you can shake a stick at the number of Christians who come here wanting a relationship with the poor.”   More than one billion people worldwide live on less than $1 a day.  We need to reshape the way we help people; strengthening the poor so they can take control, solve their own problems, and rely on themselves in ways that dignified their existence.  

So let’s keep worshiping God, and let’s keep taking up special offerings for the poor, and let’s keep putting away at least 10% to help people beyond ourselves.  But let’s also make sure that we are interested in being authentic relationship with the poor and those who are marginalized in our society, who are children of God just like we are.  And let us make sure our worship leads us to authentic service out of a deep respect for the humanity and dignity of the other person.

 

 

Attitudes of Being

Epiphany 4 – Souper Bowl

Matthew 5:1-12                                                                 

2 February 2014

Elizabeth M. Deibert                                                         

Your word, O Lord, is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

Attitude as defined by Merriam-Webster, is the way you think and feel about someone or something, often affecting behavior.   But in recent years, the word  has taken on a negative connotation.   If I say, “That guy – he’s got an attitude!” you would assume that I meant a negative attitude.  

The first twelve verses of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount are called “The Beatitudes”  The word is Latin, meaning “Blessedness” and is sometimes translated “Happiness”  but that sells the word short.   I like to think of them as Godly Attitudes of Being.

Whenever we hear the Beatitudes, we are struck with their poetic beauty and, at

the same time, we have this inner voice telling us, “Impractical – won’t work in this world.”  We live in a time when the blessings given are to those who succeed,
often at the expense of others.   To be poor in spirit, peaceful, merciful, and meek will get you nowhere in a culture grounded in competition and fear.

In offering this teaching about the blessed way of being, Jesus was literally turning the values of the world upside down.   

Matthew 5:1-12

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down,

his disciples came to him. ² Then he began to speak, 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 will be comforted.

⁵ "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

⁶ "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.

⁷ "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

⁸ "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

⁹ "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

¹⁰ "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ "Blessed are you when people 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 in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 

(New Revised Standard Version)

Although the later sections of the Sermon are full of ethical imperatives, the Beatitudes are in the indicative.   So Jesus is not asking his disciples to become victims of difficult circumstances.  They already are.   No pain, no gain.  Or to be more precise, “With pain can come gain, gain of eternal, spiritual nature, not always obvious to the practically-minded bystander.” 

Jesus always offers consolation to those who find themselves poor, struggling, sad, and mistreated.  And he nearly always challenges people who have too much power, authority, or prestige.  He comforts those who need comfort, and challenges those who need a challenge.  

Would he offer you comfort or challenge today?    Would he say we are living according to the values of modern culture or according to the principles of the kingdom of heaven?  

We value happiness, personal fulfillment, confidence and strength, success and productivity, security and popularity.  But Jesus says we are blessed when we are struggling, grieving, humble, longing, weak, honest, and mistreated for our faith.  The reality of things of life as seen from God's perspective is that the powerless are the inheritors the future. It is the meek, the poor, those who suffer loss, those on the bottom of the social ladder, who will rule in the rightside‑up kingdom of God.  It is they who are blessed even now.  Jesus seems to be undermining our assumptions regarding security and hope, showing us that the kingdom of God is for those who hope in God and not in the power structures offered by the world.

As I read the Beatitudes this week, and as I worked on the rest of the service I kept seeing how they built upon each other and how they are related – not just to each other but also to the reading from the prophet Micah today.   Micah’s words about seeking justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with our God provide a helpful outline of sorts to hold together all the beatitudes in summary. 

Take the first three beatitudes for example:  Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, and the meek.   You could say, blessed are the depressed, sad, and humble.   You wouldn’t naturally say that, though would you?   But each of those difficult, humbling experiences calls us to a closer walk with God.   Walk humbly with your God when you have no answers about why someone you loved suffered and died.  Walk humbly with God when you when you are discouraged and lacking in personal confidence.  

Those who are marginalized in society and those who support them in seeking justice are easily discouraged (or poor in spirit) because the cycles of injustice are so hard to break.   A kid is born into a life of poverty.   He or she is behind when PreK starts.  Identity is shaped at an early age.   Even if the child does well in elementary school, it will be more difficult for that one to advance in college.  The cards are stacked against long-term success, but theirs is the kingdom of heaven.   

Blessed are those who mourn.    You can only lose to the degree that you love.  The more you love, the more you grieve a loss.   People who love kindness suffer grief deeply, and those who love kindness (like Stephen Ministers and Congregational Care members) comfort the grieving.   But you cannot help someone out of pain, without feeling some pain yourself.   The deeper your loving-kindness, the more you hurt for others – you feel their pain.   God’s loving-kindness was so great, God in Christ did not just hurt with us but for us.

Blessed are the meek.   To be meek is to be humble, to be unassuming, to walk humbly with God.   It is the only way one can walk with God.   Without meekness, we are trying to take God where we want to go, but God knows we need to go with God and to do that, we must be humble enough to admit we need God’s direction.

The next three beatitudes line up well with Micah’s three again.  Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.   In the Bible, justice and righteousness always are a pair.   You cannot be righteous without being just.   You cannot be just without being righteous.   Those who lust for things that are not right, will never find true fulfillment in them.   They will stay hungry and thirsty, always with a nagging feeling of emptiness.   They will not rest until they rest in God.  

⁷ "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.   Makes you think of the Lord’s prayer, “Forgive us our sins, debts, trespasses, as we forgive…Micah’s words “Love kindness” are often translated “love mercy”  True kindness is involves mercy, which is an undeserved extra kindness and compassion when one could choose to withhold it.   One who took that chance was the blessed Mother Teresa.   She said, “I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love....

⁸ "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.   The pure in heart are those who walk humbly with God.   To be pure in heart is to have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, emptied himself and humbled himself, and took death on himself, for our sakes, that our hearts might be purified and given eyes to see God.

Lastly we hear “Blessed are the peacemakers, those persecuted for doing right.   Again Micah’s words are echoed.  Seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.   True peacemakers never seek justice with practicing kindness and humility.   Courageous peacemakers end up persecuted because they have the courage to seek justice at great cost to themselves, as those who stood up against the racism of Jim Crow laws in the 1960’s.   Their commitment to kindness and humility compelled them toward a non-violent approach.    People who step outside the magic circle of popular culture far enough to seek justice for the marginalized, to make peace where there is no peace, will find themselves despised, just as Jesus was despised and rejected.   Peacemaking is risky.  It means reaching across the divide to shake the hand of another, not sure if that reach or that handshake will make you lose your footing and fall.  Children of God take chances for peace.

We ourselves know very little about persecution, but we have Christian brothers and sisters in Syria and Pakistan and other countries, whose churches are being demolished and whose lives are threatened constantly.   And we should pray for them and seek justice for them.

On this Super Bowl Sunday when we focus excessive attention on ballplayers (most of them far from humble) who are paid excessive amounts of money.  And as we watch excessively expensive advertisements which encourage us to consume in excessive, we should hear a few more words from one who practiced kindness on the poverty-ridden streets of Calcutta:  It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish....So, friends, decide today that a child should not die but live as we give to the Souper Bowl Offering to help the hungry.  Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.   Remember what it means to be blessed.