Matthew 5:1-12
November 5, 2023 – All Saints Sunday – WRPC
So, first things first. Last week, as I began to reflect on these things that we call “The Beatitudes,” it occurred to me that I didn’t really know what that word–beatitude–meant or where it came from!
So I looked it up.
And I found these definitions:
- From Merriam-Webster.com: “a state of utmost bliss”
- From Dictionary.com: “supreme blessedness”
- From Brittanica.com I learned that the word came from the Latin words, “beati sunt,” as those sayings of Jesus were translated in the first Latin translation of the New Testament, in the late 4th century. “Beati sunt” means “blessed are.”
I guess it does seem preferable to refer to these sayings of Jesus as the Beatitudes, instead of calling them “the Blessed-Are’s”…which could be confused with the Blessed R’s…which, maybe, Rod, and the Reinovskys, and the Ro family, and my son Ryan, might like…
But of course, that’s not what Jesus had in mind…
And actually, I wondered if what he had in mind was what those other definitions claimed, also–a state of utmost bliss, or supreme blessedness…
And so I looked up the Greek word: “makários” and I found these definitions for that word:
“a state of being marked by the fullness of God,” and
“to be envied”…
Hmm…those definitions seem pretty different to me than “supreme blessedness” or “utmost bliss”…
I invite you to hold those ideas in mind—“a state of being marked by the fullness of God,” and “to be envied”–while I remind you of the Beatitudes again:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit…
“Blessed are those who mourn…
“Blessed are the meek…
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…
“Blessed are the merciful…
“Blessed are the pure in heart…
“Blessed are the peacemakers…
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness…
Jesus is saying that these are people who are marked by the fullness of God… These are people who are to be envied… What do we make of that??
[PAUSE]
What would we say are the things that are deemed enviable in our world today? And often, I’d say, thought to be indicative of God’s blessing…?
To have power…to have money…to have influence…to have security in your life…
To be educated…to be in good health…to be beautiful…
What else?…
I’d say, to a large degree, those same things were desirable in Jesus’s time–power, money, influence, security, education…probably also good looks and good health. People are people! And, they were also considered to be signs of God’s blessing…
But Jesus is saying no. That’s all wrong. Those are not signs of God’s blessing. That’s not what it means to be blessed.
He’s saying that God’s kingdom is different. The reality of God is different. God’s ways are completely different from the ways of the world.
And Jesus says to his disciples–and to us–let me tell you what it’s like in the kingdom of God:
The kingdom of God is about humility, and the strength found in that… It’s about vulnerability, and the power that comes with that… It’s about an openness of spirit, and the honesty born of that…
The kingdom of God is about a commitment to reconciliation, that results from an orientation to love…and it’s about the truth and justice and peace that grow from that…
And God’s blessing comes from those things, as you live them, no matter the circumstances… God’s blessing comes from those things, as you live them, no matter the consequences… God’s blessing comes as you live those things, no matter what…
That’s part of what I hear in all of those blessed-are’s–
Blessed are the poor in spirit–humility…
Blessed are those who mourn–vulnerability…
Blessed are the meek–humility…
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness–an orientation to love…
Blessed are the merciful–an openness of spirit…
Blessed are the pure in heart–vulnerability…
Blessed are the peacemakers–an commitment to reconciliation…
Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness…I guess that’s the “no matter what” part…
In all of those ways of being, all of those blessed-are’s, I sense a call to an openness of spirit…a lifting up of humility and vulnerability…a declaration of the reality of God’s profound blessing as a consequence of a relentless commitment to reconciliation and an open-hearted orientation to Love.
In these early days with his disciples, Jesus seemed to be letting them know, in no uncertain terms, that following him would mean learning to see a different world, an upside-down world.
That following him would mean walking toward that upside-down world, and working for an upside-down world, and living within an upside-down world.
A world where humility and vulnerability rather than brute strength and arrogance would be desired. And would lead to deep blessing…
A world where openness of spirit rather than personal security and closed-fistedness would be valued. And would lead to true blessing…
A world where reconciliation and love rather than might and right would be sought after. And would lead to God’s blessing…
Jesus was telling his disciples that following him, learning to live in the world as he did, grounded and centered entirely within the Love of God, would be completely different from the ways of the world around them.
Their world would be turned upside down. Their understanding of it would be totally altered. And their lives would be transformed.
Jesus was telling his disciples that following him, and learning to be and do as he was and did, would lead to living more fully within the Reality of God, and as they lived more and more into that Reality, more and more from within God’s Love, then more and more would their lives be marked by the fullness of God, regardless of the outer circumstances in which they lived. And more and more would they be deeply and truly blessed.
I dare say the same is true for disciples of Jesus today.
Let’s keep working to live more fully within God’s Love. As we do, our world just might be turned upside down. Our understanding of the world just might be totally altered. Our lives just might be transformed. And we just might be deeply, profoundly, and truly blessed…and we might just deeply, profoundly, truly bless, and participate in the transformation of, the world.
Holy God, may it be so.
Rev. Deborah Beloved Church (aka "Pastor Deb") 