Year A 4th Epiphany 2023 Just The Way You Are

 Year A Fourth Sunday after Epiphany,  January 29, 2023

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Just The Way You Are”

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.

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

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."

The Beatitudes are one of the most familiar, most comforting, and one of the most misunderstood sections in all the Bible. They are one of the few sections where people know a name for the passage which is not included in the text, just like Mary’s prayer, the Magnificat.

I remember from my childhood, my grandmother had a plaque of them on the wall. Instead of the Beatitudes, the title was the “Be-Attitudes.” As in, Be this Attitude. I start there today because that is how these verses are often seen. And that is how they are so easily misconstrued.

If these verses were the “Be-Attitudes” then we would have had Jesus explain why being poor in spirit, meek, or mourning was a good thing. But if you continue in his sermon on the mount, which follows these verses in the rest of chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew, you see that “being” these things is not Jesus’ point. But he comes to declare a new way of approaching and being with God. It is open to any and all to be in relationship with God, not just for a chosen few. Jesus starts this way as a wake-up call to his listeners who had gathered in excitement for this teacher with authority.

If this was a checklist for righteousness, then Jesus would have been another Moses on another mountaintop delivering another list of commandments. But here, Jesus is turning the religious establishment on its head. He is another Moses, in that he is delivering a way to be with God. But not with a new list of rules, but rather a new way of being.

Too many people in Jesus day, and sadly too many in ours, consider righteousness with blessedness, but they define blessedness with stuff. Money, Power, Possessions. So Jesus starts his renewing of the faith with a declaration that the old assumptions were all wrong.

If being rich meant you were in favor with God then we all have another “think” coming. Jesus wanted people to know that you did not have to get your act together to come to God. God wants you in a relationship more than your being self-justified through your righteous acts.

And that is why he starts the way he does. 

In Matthew 5:1 we are given the context, and the context helps make it clear that things were going to be different.

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…

Like I mentioned, this is a new Moses on a different mountain, and his lessons were a huge departure as well.

Picture it in your mind, thousands gathered, soaking in everything that Jesus was teaching. They had traveled miles to hear him, to just be with him. Some may have witnessed a miracle, some may have heard some repeated words from a teaching he had done. Some people were thinking, I need to hear this for myself.

Whenever I have a chance, I go to hear Bishop Curry preach. Whenever, wherever. I have heard him preach probably about 10 times in person, and every time it was worth the time, effort, and cost to be there. He speaks with authority and power, and he is a mere reflection of Jesus. A moon to a bright and shining sun reflecting the true light.

Jesus spoke with authority. And he chose to begin with these words. I have read this translation before, but I do so again because it is always so refreshing…

3 “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

4 “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

5 “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

6 “You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

7 “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.

8 “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

9 “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

10 “You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.

11-12 “Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

(These are the Beatitudes from Eugene Peterson’s The Message Translation, Mt 5:3-12)

Jesus throws out the Works Righteousness that the Pharisees and Scribes were teaching. “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, and get your act together so that you might find favor with God!” None of that theology. Jesus begins with the folks who would never have been picked first for a team. He picks the folks who have nowhere else to go; they have hit bottom and the only way to look is up. That is why he could come proclaiming the Message, “You can change your ways because the Kingdom of God is within your grasp if you but take hold!” Or, what you might be more familiar with, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!”

Picture it, Jesus walking in the midst of so many, so many so desperate for any Good News. This was a breath of fresh air. It was actually Good News! And the people ate it up.

He sees someone looking at him with desperate, longing, puppy-dog eyes.

“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope.”

He sees someone wearing all black, and trying to hold back the tears.

“You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you.”

He sees someone who would never stand up for themselves, cowering at the edge of the crowd.

“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less.”

He sees someone nodding, and grinning, and maybe even throwing in some AMENs at what he has just said.

“You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God.”

You get the picture. Jesus is meeting the crowd where they were. I can see him seeing examples there in the throng. He may have even taken them by the hand, and stood them up so that everyone could see who he was speaking about.

But the way things had always been done and understood, he turned it on its head. Grace makes no sense. Grace is not fair. Grace meets you where you are and says that it is okay, that YOU are okay. Jesus came preaching that the way people understood God and how to be in right relationship with God is not about you, it is about God! And if it is about God, it has GOT TO BE ABOUT LOVE! That is the Good News of Jesus Christ.

This is why we include this passage in the season of Epiphany. This is enlightenment to those who get it, and foolishness to those who don’t. That is why the lectionary includes the passage from I Corinthians. This message from Jesus is all-encompassing or drivel. As St. Paul said:

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.”

If I could transport myself back in time to Anthony Street in Burlington, to my grandmother’s house, and take a sharpie to her King James Bible plaque, I would scratch through the idea that this is a list of what we should be and how we should be. This is no checklist for righteousness, but rather a snapshot of a moment in time when Jesus took away all of our excuses and the deficits which we thought kept us from God. And he still does that today.

If there is any attitude we should be it is this. Please just close your eyes and listen to these words…

Be.

Be Here. 

Be Here Now.

Be You Here & Now.

Be YOU Here & Now with God.

Be YOU Here & Now with God because.

Be YOU Here & Now with God because God.

Be YOU Here & Now with God because God loves.

Be YOU Here & Now with God because God loves you.

Be YOU Here & Now with God because God loves you just the way you are.

Keeping your eyes closed, picture yourself in a crowd on a sunlit grassy hillside beside an idyllic sea. And then,  picture Jesus walking up to you in a crowd. He looks you in the eye, and says this to you.

Blessed are you, the you right here and now, for God loves you just the way you are. Amen.