Year A 4th Epiphany 2020 We Are All Blessed

Year A 4th Sunday of the Epiphany, 2 February 2020
St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA
“We Are All Blessed”

Collect: Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Micah 6:8
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice,
and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
I Corinthians 1:18-31
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
    and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Matthew 5:1-12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 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 date, numerically at least, is a palindrome. It is the same, backwards and forwards. 02/02/2020. Reverse it. 02/02/2020. The same. And today when I look at our Gospel, that is what it is. The Great Reversal. Jesus, in his teachings and actions, came to make and show the Great Reversal. “The Last shall be First. The First shall be Last.” “If any among you want to great, let him or her be servant of all.” “Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you.”

And here we have the beginning of his greatest encapsulation of his teachings on how to reside in the Kingdom of God, recorded together in the Gospel of Matthew in Chapters 5, 6, and 7. I encourage you to read them together, in one sitting. The subtleties and nuances flow into each other, and his argument for following God in a way of grace and being at peace with all is seen very clearly. I encourage you to read Dallas Willard’s book, The Divine Conspiracy, or Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship, if you would like to explore it more.

Our reading from the New Testament reminds us that even WE are a great reversal!

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

And looking at rhetoric, one of the key things to grabbing a reader’s or listener’s attention is to start with something that grabs them. A story. A joke. An unexpected direction. In writing it is often called the Lead. And looking at Jesus, who is a Master of appraising the human condition, I truly believe, that we are invited in from an unexpected direction. The people who had wandered out to hear this new preacher were hopeful but doubting, and he needed to start things off with a bang.

But the surprise is taken away for us. Our ears our numb to the scandalous after 2,000 years. 

We all have seen videos of babies seeing a jack-in-the-box for the first time. Some with secure feelings laugh with delight, and those hesitant by nature are terrified and recoil. I saw another great video this last week, when a baby tries ice cream for the first time. The parent had waited so that it was not rock hard, and let the baby try a taste. Having never had ice cream, instead of sticking out a tongue to gain a lick, this baby fish-mouthed it. They finally got some, and their eyes widened, and before the parent could pull it away, the baby had dug both fists into the sides of the scoop and that cone was not going anywhere. The baby pulled the scoop in and starting going to town. Surprise. Delight. Yes, I believe Jesus begins this sermon with just that kind of start.

The problem, though, is us. We do not hear it that way. We do not hear it as they heard it.

The Beatitudes, this litany of the blesseds, is not some checklist of things that we can do or be so that we can be blessed. Jesus is declaring openly to all that his way of doing things, God’s way of doing things, goes directly against the powers that be and the assumptions that had been handed on for centuries.

The blessed are rich and good and respected. We still hang on to this bad theology. When things are going great, we too often say, “We are blessed.” Or, “I must be living right.” Grateful would be a much better word than blessed, and a better theology. And going against this idea is where Jesus starts. He pulls out a double-barrel of radical theology, and takes aim. Look at the list. Most of us would not sign up for any of these.

Poor-in-spirit. Mourning. Meek. Hungry. Thirsty. Merciful. Pure-in-heart. Peacemakers. Persecuted. Reviled. Slandered. 

This is not a wanna-be kind of list. Too often I have heard it taught or preached that way. This is not a checklist on how to get blessed.

So, Rock, what are you getting at? Jesus came to proclaim the Kingdom of God is at hand, so we should Repent. We have spoken on this the last two Sundays. I will not beat a dead horse, but if you need more on that, both sermons are online. (rev.rocks) And what we see is that that the old way of seeing things, the old way of doing religion was about to be shaken up.

His radical way of loving God and everybody was such a threat to the powers that be he was killed. That type of authority he brought was terrifying. The oldest rule in politics, if you cannot stop the message, attack the messenger. What was so dangerous about his message?

You can be “blessed,” even if… You see, God’s love, God’s Kingdom is open to any and all. We do not hear it as radical because we have been raised in it, steeped in it. Our ears have become numb. But this was news, Good News, Great News, when Jesus starts his sermon this way.

The word blessed is actually quite close to meaning “happy.” So Jesus is saying this…

You’re happified, even when you are Poor-in-spirit, or Mourning, or Meek. Picture Jesus walking through the crowd, and seeing someone slunking on the edge of the crowd. Or someone in sackcloth and ashes, weeping openly. Or the “loser” who would never have been picked being singled out. (Just like Zaccheus over in Luke’s Gospel.) Our condition in the moment does not override our identity in God. We are loved by God where we are, and in who we are. Our momentary does not define our belovedness.

This is the definition of Grace. There is nothing that can make God love you any more, and nothing that can make God love you any less. (Brennan Manning) And Jesus starts his sermon in this radical way, declaring that the people were never let in to the party were actually on the VIP list. And the religious authorities who were acting as God’s bouncers were stopping people at the door.

Jesus starts his sermon saying that no matter where we are, no matter what we have done, this message is for us. In God’s Kingdom we all belong. Jesus came to say it, show it, and enable it. And when this radical message was attempted to be silenced, the Powers that Be guaranteed that it would be the cruxpoint of history. From that moment the world changed.

From the age of Micah the prophet, he summed up what the Lord requires of us.  

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)

That is the doing. But the doing does not change our identity. Sometimes we have to see that we belong before we can believe. And Jesus says just that. We belong. We are at home. And as we see ourselves in that reality, then we can begin the work of furthering the Kingdom by doing Justice, loving Kindness, and walking Humbly with our God. It is not getting right before we begin. My favorite hymn has this line, “If you tarry till you’re better, you will never come at all.” If we wait till we get things perfect in us, that is salvation through our work and effort, and Scripture repeatedly shows us that the Grace of God in Christ is the only thing that can accomplish that. 

We must belong first. We must see our selves as beloved. We must see ourselves as Blessed. That is why Jesus can preach this radical, life-changing message. Open up your bulletins and let’s read them together. And let’s read them like they are really good news.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Amen.