Blessings

Blessings: Presented to Trinity UMC, January 29, 2017


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Matthew 5:1-12

5:1 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.
5:2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
5:4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5:5 "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
5:6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
5:7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
5:9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
5:10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
5:11 "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
5:12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Today's passage is the beginning of the what we know as the Sermon on the Mount. The whole of the Sermon on the Mount goes on through Chapter 7. We call this part the Beatitudes because Beatitudes means supreme blessing or exalted happiness. As we go through these verses again, think of Jesus as offering happiness to the people.

5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Happy are those who are hopeless. Jesus is offering the blessing of hope.
5:4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Happy are those who grieve, they will be made glad. Jesus offers the blessing of comfort.
5:5 "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Happy are the humble. Are you someone whose humility or lack of self-esteem makes it hard for you to accept gifts – blessings- from others. Jesus' love opens up the whole world for you.
5:6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

If you try to live rightly, doing the best you can, striving for God's favor, Jesus blesses you by assuring you that your quest will be rewarded, your hunger satisfied.
5:7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

Those who need mercy as well as those who show mercy are blessed by Jesus.
5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Those who seek to put God first in their hearts are blessed.
5:9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Those who seek peace are blessed.
5:10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Those who are persecuted are blessed.
5:11 "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
5:12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Jesus had a way of turning the world upside down.

This was a radically new teaching for the people in Jesus’ day. In the ancient world, just like today, many people believed strongly in cause and effect. They believed that if they were good people who followed God’s commandments, worked hard, and tried to do their best in all circumstances, God would reward them with good health, food to eat, stable jobs, happy families, and prosperity. Likewise, they believed that God punished the sinful with illness, poverty, imprisonment, blindness, divorce, and other personal tragedy. Many believed that God even punished entire sinful populations through war, famine, droughts, and other disasters.

If a man was sick, or mourning, or poor in spirit, or starving, or persecuted, it was his own fault for sinning. A woman who suffered did so as the consequence of her own bad behavior because suffering was understood as punishment for sin.

But Jesus is saying it doesn’t work like that in the kingdom of God. It isn’t that we are wrong to feel #blessed when something goes our way. But when things do not go our way, that doesn’t mean God is punishing us either. God’s kingdom is a whole different playing field.

Jesus blesses everyone who has gathered, no matter who they are and no matter what they have done. God’s blessing in Christ is not just for the righteous ones. God’s blessing is not just for certain religious groups, or certain genders, or certain sexual orientations, or certain cultural or racial groups. God’s blessing is not just for those who are pure, who go to church and give to charities and treat people with kindness. And God’s blessing is not evidenced by a big bank account or a fancy title or a luxury home.

In this new kingdom that Jesus is showing us, God blesses the saints and sinners alike. Jesus offers a blessing on the poor in wallet and the poor in spirit. He blesses the blind, the lame, the imprisoned, the outcast. He blesses the leper and the prostitute. He blesses the murderer and the thief and the adulterer. He blesses the Jews and the Christians, the Muslims and the Hindus, the Buddhists and other. He blesses the Democrats and the Republicans and the Independents alike. In Christ, God’s blessing does not discriminate. God’s blessing is for all. God’s blessing is for you. God’s blessing is for me.

That’s good news, don’t you think? It means that no matter who you are or what you have done, you are blessed and you are welcomed into God’s family, and there is nothing you can do, ever, to lose God’s love, affirmation, and blessing.

#blessed is our identity
#blessed is our condition
#blessed is who we are because of God’s saving love shown in Jesus Christ

So in this first teaching for his followers, his disciples, in his first teaching for you and for me, Jesus is telling us as clearly as he can that these people—”look around you,” he says to his disciples—these people in the crowd that gathered that day near the shores of the Galilean lake—these people who live down the street and let their kids run wild, these people who don’t work and are collecting welfare, these people who are in jail for dealing drugs, these people who got pregnant out of wedlock and now want an abortion, these people who are members of a gang, these people who are members of a white supremacist group, these people who are chanting #blacklivesmatter, these people who sit in judgment, these people who pray to Allah, these people who carry guns into Walmart, these people who are crazy feminists, these people who are pro-life, these people who are pro-choice. . .well, you get the idea. Jesus his telling his disciples that ALL THESE PEOPLE are #blessed.

And we who call ourselves disciples, followers of Jesus Christ, need to not just understand this, but we need to live it out by our words and our actions. Jesus underlined that his Kingdom is to be lived out in this world. It is not to be discussed to death in learned assemblies nor pursued in holy isolation, but the Kingdom life is to be walked and practiced in the field and the marketplace. John Wesley preached extensively on the Sermon on the Mount. He used it to support Christian involvement in building the Kingdom of God on earth as well as in heaven. We are #blessed in order that we may be a blessing to others.

So do you hear him? Can you hear him speaking to you? Can you hear him saying, “YOU ARE BLESSED”?

Blessed are YOU. Blessed are YOU. Blessed are YOU.