February 11, 2007, 6th Sunday After Epiphany, All Sols' Episcopal Church

The Beatitudes
       Luke 6: 17-26

 I would like to “set a scene” and see if you are familiar with the setting. We have just finished a wonderful dinner; we are full! We are settled in our favorite chair or stretched out in our recliner as we turn on the new High Definition television set. Our minds shift into neutral or, perhaps, on a glide path toward oblivion. We are content. But what happens?  We become vulnerable and an easy target for the TV commercial! We need to buy a new mattress. We need to sell our house and buy a new one. Or most certainly, we need to buy a game table, bar or SPA at 50% off, and Doesn’t everyone need their own tanning bed? …..You and I are also told that we “deserve the best because we are worth it!” and that we also need to connect and pay attention to the old guy with his new exercise machine who now has big biceps.! …………There is a common thread here to convince us that we need things we probably do not need. They all have the mind-set that we only go around once in life; so, let’s just do it! If we fill this one life we do have with the material things that money can buy, we will have joy and happiness!   

But should segments of the television industry fail to program our need for instant gratification, there is no dearth of  books ready to take up the slack.  Often, the titles alone are enough to reveal the thrust of these books.  There is Michael Korda’s “Power! How to Get it, How to Use It.”  Or, perhaps, Robert Ringer’s books “Winning Through Intimidation” or his most explicit title, “Looking Out for Number One.”

 So…in the face of this massive invitation to look out for oneself, get the most out of live and to stomp on those in the way, we might be pardoned a natural reluctance to bring up the subject of the Sermon on the Mount or the Beatitudes ( you are Blessed when people hate you; if you laugh now; you’ll weep later, woe to you if you are filled, etc. etc.). But there’s no escaping what we have just heard read in today’s Gospel, and, also  

there is no avoiding the importance of the message from the Mount.

My guess is that Jesus might have intended this sermon to be a counterbalance …….. evolvement to the Law of Moses.  Just as Moses proclaimed the ancient Law down from Mount Sinai in the presence of the Israelites, so Jesus announces the New Law coming down from a hill in Galilee to His disciples and would be disciples, and that means to you and me……………..Let’s analyze a little………

 The Beatitudes…… the Beatitudes are a curious and unique collection of thoughts that follow a time-worn Biblical literary tradition, this message from Jesus is couched in a series of descriptive contrasts.  Indeed, the mechanism of contrast is a favorite Biblical tool. For example,  we read in Deuteronomy, “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse.  A blessing if you obey the Commandments…and a curse if you will not obey….And, in the book of Jeremiah another, “Thus saith the Lord.  Cursed be the man that trusteth in man….But blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord”, etc….etc….

 And, we know in other Scripture that Jesus Himself loved to speak in contrasts. Remember when He said,  “It is in dying that you shall live.”  It is in losing your life that you will find it.”  “It is giving that you will receive.”

 I think these sayings, and particularly in the Beatitudes, Jesus’ descriptive contrasts draw a marked line between the spirit of the world  contrasted with His Spirit. Jesus seems to be stating that those focused only on the world are driven to seek riches, comfort, pleasure and honor. His disciples are those who also have spiritual yearnings, and who empathize, reach out, seek to help and touch, the lives of those who might be hurting or who are in the midst of poverty, privation, tears and persecution. In so doing, His disciples receive true Blessings, true fulfillment and true happiness and true peace. Those centered only on the world will never achieve true fulfillment; they will always need “more”.

 Therefore, these descriptive contrasts are intended to set the lifestyle of the Christian. ……But……….What did Jesus have on His mind, and why did Jesus say what He said …the way He said it?

 If stories are to be remembered, it helps if the language is also colorful, does it not?  Colorful language can make a more lasting impression, but, in actuality, the speaker seldom intends to be taken literally. We explain how terribly expensive some item is by saying that it “costs an arm and a leg”. Obviously, it doesn’t! The fried eggs were not good, but were not “as hard as a rock”!  

None of  this is to argue that Jesus did not mean what He said. He certainly did.  But we must be prepared to catch the very oriental use of color or exaggeration which adds spice and flavor to the discourse in order to make a point.  The context plus our own common sense will tip us to the presence of hyperbole….another literary tool in this poignant passage.

 So we are down to the “bottom line.”  We’ve analyzed some, but what do the Beatitudes mean in the lives of us ordinary people who are trying to live a Christian life?  Trying to live a spiritual life in a sometimes contrary, secularized world? 

 First of all, let us be sure that we do not demonize the world! You see, the Beatitudes do not teach us to “trash” the world; the beatitudes teach us…..they ask us….. to look at the world with God’s Eyes. They teach us to look at the world….to life…. To see that nothing is without Spiritual significance. Because, you see, that to deal with “things” as simply “worldly”, somehow does not work; it denies their true identity…..it is very counter-productive. Christianity does not believe in the Spirit separate from the world. Christianity is really very materialistic. The Archbishop of  Canterbury said that Christianity is the most materialistic of all religions because there is nothing in life that we can not offer to God as we each paint the picture of our lives for the world to see.

 We know that the Christian will find little support listening only to the creed of society with its message to “Look out for Number One” and “you deserve the best”. This message hammering at us bit by bit can take its toll on our spiritual growth. This message can leave us limp…..breathless…..as we try to cope by ourselves! What is the answer? The answer is, quite simply, “the Church”. 

The church itself was and is the means to provide support in our worldly community. Originally, 2000 years ago, from the catacombs to here this morning at 63rd and Penn.  We are the faithful who are “in the world, but not of it.” Now, fellow church members may not be able to tell us what we need to do, or give us answers to our deepest questions, but at least they share some mutual values and concerns with us. As the Book of Hebrews says, we “encourage one another”. Most of us here seek Spiritual growth; not just the growth of a savings account. We inhabit our world, we share some of the same problems, and we commiserate with each other. We learn to see God in His Creation around us. Most of us have learned that we are not punished so much for our sins but by our sins! So, we do seek to grow spiritually. We try!

 Important point:  In the company of the faithful, solutions arise from the mystic presence of Christ, Himself. Many of us will testify that spiritual answers to worldly problems have manifested themselves  here at All Souls!  “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, you will find me with you”. 

Until we find this mystical community in Christ, we are in a sense, on our own in the world. Sadly to say, many people live and die this way….might I add……it is the hard way.

So, with all the outside messages that hammer at us every day, we do not need to be “Clubbed with reality” to know that the world is generally concerned with the husk of things, not the kernel. Yes, only Christ can provide ultimate relief, ultimate satisfaction, ultimate peace….the kernel of life! Man is so often incapable of seeing the temporality in which he lives and he is also incapable of seeing the infinity in which he is engulfed………… He forgets also that the devil’s boots don’t creak and we all can get “blind-sided” from time to time in the decisions we make. When we do make bad decisions, the world, very often, leaves us dangling. We must allow Christ to “reel us in”….to pull us back from “the brink”! We must allow Him to enable and empower us. He is the infinite and final answer! 

So, in conclusion we can surmise that the Beatitudes are a summons to continue to self-examine, to adapt, as best we can, a new mindset as we live in God’s World. We are summoned to live our lives in the spirit of the beatitudes. ( repeat…in the spirit of the Beatitudes) To do, as Paul said to the Colossians, “set our minds on things above not on the earth”. Then, with that mind-set, we seek to fulfill the purpose for which God created us, and we will receive God’s promise to be Blessed. What more can we want…….What more can we want… …as a Christian?

AMEN