Blessed

Matthew 5:1-12

May 1, 2016 • Mount Pleasant UMC

I was twelve years old when life changed forever. It was in 1979 when McDonald’s introduced the first Happy Meal. Two years earlier, a advertising manager in St. Louis by the name of Dick Brams had what Time magazine called a “brilliantly simple idea.” Why not create a meal just for kids? And so, two years later, McDonald’s introduced a circus-themed box that contained either a hamburger or cheeseburger, french fries, cookies, a soft drink and a toy. In those first boxes, you got either a "McDoodler" stencil, a "McWrist" wallet, an ID bracelet, a puzzle lock, a spinning top or a McDonaldland character eraser, all for the low, low price of $1.10. In 1987, Disney got on board with the toys, and since then McDonald’s has had all sorts of promotions based on Disney movies, along with Transformers, Legos, Hello Kitty and, of course, Beanie Babies. Over time, the toys began to take center stage, moreso than the food, and a McDonald’s Collectors Club developed, based in Ohio. David Bracken is one of the most avid collectors, having amassed some 7,000 Happy Meal toys. In its long history, the Happy Meal has been responsible for two fights which broke out over Beanie Babies, it has been blamed for the increase in childhood obesity, it has been banned in some markets because of its fat, sodium and sugar content—the only thing it doesn’t seem to provide is real, lasting happiness. In fact, as one article mentioned, the happiness the meal promises lasts only a few hours, maybe, before a child is again asking for a Happy Meal (cf. Kalas, Immersion Bible Studies: Matthew, pg. 31).

Now, I’m not trying to beat up on McDonald’s; we have consumed our fair share (and then some) of Happy Meals. When Christopher was little, that was about all he would eat sometimes! What I am poking fun at are the things we think will bring us happiness. A “happy” meal, really? And if it’s not food, then we look elsewhere—always to the future. The next paycheck will bring happiness. The next purchase will bring happiness. The next relationship, the next job, the next vacation—I once knew a man who was always, and I mean always, talking about his next vacation. His life’s goal (and he would say this straight out) was to be on permanent vacation. And yet, nothing and no trip ever made him really happy. Sometimes in the middle of one trip, he was already planning for the next. All these things (and more) we look to make us happy, so why aren’t we? Why, as a culture, do we repeatedly say we are generally unhappy? When asked to rate their lives, Americans tend to rate ourselves lower than other countries that have less money, less social support and a lower life expectancy. Why is that? Could it be that we’re looking for happiness in all the wrong places? Or could it be that happiness is not really the goal after all?

This morning, we’re continuing our journey into the Gospel of Matthew. We’re doing this under the title “Death to Selfie,” because Matthew’s Gospel, you remember, is all about identity. It’s not just about who Jesus is, though it’s certainly about that. It’s was also written to help early Christians—and us, by extension—understand who they are in relationship to Christ. In a world that is obsessed with “selfies” and defining our image according to the world’s standards, Matthew dares to come along and say, “The world is not your defining story. Getting ‘likes’ on your latest selfie photo has nothing to do with who you are. Your defining story has everything to do with who Jesus is.” So, last week, we began by looking at Jesus’ family tree and asking if we are people of grace. This week, we move to the first big block of teaching Jesus does in this Gospel, a section commonly called the “sermon on the mount.” If you’ve been doing the reading along with us this week, you’ve walked through Jesus’ birth, the visit of the Magi, Jesus’ baptism and temptation (events that began to define Jesus’ ministry), and the first sermon he preached. Crowds are beginning to form around Jesus, and so, Matthew tells us, he went up a mountainside, sat down, and began to teach them. What comes in the next three chapters has been called the charter of the kingdom. It’s a definition of life for disciples of Jesus.

Just a short note about the structure of Matthew. There are five large blocks of teaching in the Gospel, and you actually “hear” Jesus speak more in Matthew than in any other Gospel. Just reading the words of Jesus in Matthew out loud will take you about an hour and twelve minutes. Mark’s Jesus words takes about twenty-two minutes to read, Luke will take about fifty-three minutes and John takes about forty-four (Card, Matthew: The Gospel of Identity, pgs. 52, 260). So we get a lot more “face time” with Jesus in this Gospel. Now, because of the emphasis on teaching, some scholars (though not all) believe Matthew was consciously presenting Jesus as a new Moses, the one who would lead his people out of slavery just as Moses led the Hebrews out of slavery centuries before. If that’s true, it’s most evident here in this first big section of teaching, as Jesus goes up a mountain to present a teaching from God. Moses also climbed a mountain and brought the Ten Commandments, the first set of guidelines from God to his people. Now, I’ve been to both Mount Sinai in Egypt and to the Mount of the Beatitudes in Galilee, and let me tell you, Jesus by far had the easier climb. We wouldn’t call the traditional site of this sermon a real mountain by any stretch, but nevertheless, the symbolism is there. Jesus has come, perhaps as a new Moses, to give the people direction about how God wants them to live. And he begins with a series of blessings, a guide to the “happy” life.

The vast majority of Bibles translate these verses as “Blessed are…” but a few do translate it as “Happy are…” It has both meanings, but in our current setting I always argue for “blessed” because we tend to tie “happy” to circumstances. We’re happy if things go our way. We’re happy if we have our favorite meal. We’re happy if the preacher doesn’t go on too long. But that is not what Jesus is describing in these Beatitudes. Jesus is not necessarily describing a “happy” life; he is describing a “blessed” life. What’s the difference? “Happy” depends on circumstances that can change in a moment; being “blessed” means we are possessed by an inner contentment that life is good and God is faithful. Being “blessed” is what Paul describes in Philippians: “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances” (4:11). The word Matthew uses was, in the first century, used to describe the island of Cyprus, also called “the Happy Island.” Now, that title had nothing to do with what was available at the bar or in the theaters. Cyprus was given that title because, in popular perception, the island had everything a person needed to be content. It’s a place one can snow ski in the mountains and swim in the ocean on the same day. No one needed to go beyond its coastline to find true happiness (Kalas, Beatitudes from the Back Side, pgs. 4-5). Contentment, satisfaction, peace even in the midst of the ups and downs of life. That’s the kind of life Jesus is describing here.

Unfortunately, there are corners of the Church where the word “blessed” has been overused and even wrongly used. As a kid, when I would get up in the morning and come downstairs, the TV would be on, waiting for the news to come on (this was in the days when there were no news shows before the news shows). What was usually on at that hour of the morning was religious programming, and in particular I remember “The PTL Club” airing before the morning news. Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker were usually busy telling viewers how, if you sent them your money, you would be “blessed.” And Tammy Faye, every morning it seemed, would sing a song called “We’re Blessed.” The lyrics were not incredibly inventive, and every verse centered around God doing something for me and not for someone else. The verse that sticks in my memory was about a plane crash that happened and how thankful she was that she wasn’t on the plane. Now, aside from the lack of concern over the people who were in such a tragedy, the song completely missed the meaning of what Jesus says here. Being blessed is not about stuff, things, protection or having more than we need. Because if being “blessed” is about those things, then the beatitudes don’t make a whole lot of sense (cf. Kalas, Beatitudes, 2). There must be something more to being “blessed” than just being “happy.”

So let’s take a quick look at the sorts of people Jesus says are “blessed.” The first set of beatitudes promises a radical reversal to some people who seem to be on the underside of life. The “poor in spirit” (5:3) is a phrase used elsewhere in first century literature to describe the persecuted people of God—people like the ones Matthew is writing to. The mourners (5:4) are those who have lost loved ones, who may feel lost themselves, who have said goodbye to a friend or a spouse or a sibling or a child or parent. The “meek” (5:5) are not “weak,” as is usually assumed. The meek are those who are humbly obedient to God, the ones who don’t necessarily draw attention to themselves, but who go about the business of serving Christ quietly. They may be the strongest among us. And then there are the ones who “hunger and thirst for righteousness” (5:6), which echoes the last sort of person. This is the one who actively obeys God because they long so deeply for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven (cf. 6:10).

Each of these persons are promised that what they long for most will come to pass, but it will happen as a result of the “way things normally work” being turned upside down. As N. T. Wright puts it, Jesus has come to “set the world to rights,” to turn it upside down, or right side up actually. So each of these folks will see their deepest desires fulfilled. The poor in spirit, those who have been persecuted for Jesus’ sake, will be given the kingdom of God. Shut out of the world’s kingdoms, they will be welcomed into the true kingdom. The mourners will be comforted, and the word there is the same word used to describe the presence of the Holy Spirit. God’s presence will be with them in the midst of the “valley of the shadow of death” (cf. Psalm 23:4). The meek will inherit the earth and those who desire righteousness will be filled, satisfied. For both of those, the promise is this: the power structures of this world are not ultimately what matters. As strong as the world seems to be, as intimidating as the culture seems to be, it is passing away. It will not last. Only God’s kingdom will last—and isn’t that a good and hopeful word for those of us, here in Indiana, who are going to the primary polls this week? Vote, yes, and do your best at that, but don’t put your hope in the power structures all around us. Only God’s kingdom will last, and those who are blessed are those who pursue his kingdom first and foremost. Blessedness is tied closely to obeying God’s will (Hill, The Gospel of Matthew, pg. 109), not to “our side” winning an election. As Jesus will say later on in this sermon, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (6:33). Or, in the words of C. S. Lewis, “Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.”

So that’s the first set of blessings, and Jesus moves quickly on to describe another set of people. If the first group are those who have been beaten down by the world, these are the ones who are becoming more like God. There are the merciful (5:7), a word which has behind it the Hebrew word hesed. “Hesed” is an almost untranslatable word, and in the Old Testament you’ll often find it written as “lovingkindness.” It is the defining characteristic of God in the Old Testament, a word God uses to define himself. Perhaps the best working definition of this idea is this: “when the one who owes you nothing gives you everything.” See why it’s hard to translate into one word? The merciful are the ones who give what is unexpected, what is the least deserved (Card 52). Another word for this is “grace.” The next ones Jesus lists are the “pure in heart” (5:8), or the “clean,” the “unsoiled.” These are the ones who can wear white to a spaghetti dinner and come out without a spot on them! Or at least that’s the image I want you to hold onto—because these are the ones who resist evil and are not soiled by it. They are very much like the “peacemakers” (5:9), which is who Jesus lists next. This again is a rare word in the ancient world, and it was usually applied to emperors. It doesn’t just mean that we don't get into arguments with anyone else; anyone who has lived in a house filled with quiet disagreement can tell you that just refraining from arguing does not equate peace. These are the people, instead, who actively pursue peace, who overcome evil with good (cf. Romans 12:21; cf. Hill 113).

Now, take note of what each of these folks are promised if they continue to live like God calls them to live. What does blessing look like for them? The merciful will receive mercy, because mercy is always reciprocal. A little mercy given results in mercy received; it seems to be a natural law. When we give mercy, when we show mercy, we create a more merciful world. And perhaps that’s what leads us to be more pure in heart, to be the ones who will see God, and to become more a peacemaker, who will be called a child of God. In all of these instances, the “reward” for living God’s kingdom life is the real, actual presence of God in your life. Think about that with me for a moment. The times when I have most felt the presence of God in my life are those times when I am actively pursuing him, when I am trying to live the way Jesus taught me to live. And, in connection with those first few beatitudes, it’s often when I’ve been most broken, when I’m at the end of my resources and find I have to be completely dependent on him and his strength. The most significant times in my life of experiencing God’s presence were at times of loss, like each time I lost a grandparent, or a time when I was slowed down long enough to really listen to God, like at my Walk to Emmaus, or a time of significant change, such as when we’ve changed appointments. There was a time several years ago where I was hit by a series of anxiety attacks, and they seemed to come most often just as I was preparing to lead worship. I found myself unable to move on my own strength; I couldn’t summon up the strength to do what I knew I needed to do. And yet, as I stood there, rooted in place, and prayed for God to flow through me, I was by the grace of God able to lead his people in worship, to preach, and I doubt many knew what I was struggling with. But it wasn’t my doing; it was him. As long as we can depend on and trust our own strength, we don’t need his. We can rely on the “likes” of the world, or we can rely on the strength of Christ. Only when we do the latter are we promised the presence of God, and only then are we able to see that his presence is enough. It’s what we most crave in the end.

There are two more beatitudes, but only one of them is in the poetic form of the rest; verses 11 and 12 seem, in many ways, an explanation of the beatitude in verse 10. This last blessing is for the persecuted—the very people who were sitting in the synagogues that Matthew was writing to. The ones the Roman Empire hated. The ones who were most in danger of losing their identity and conforming to the world. The ones who faced possible violence every day just for being a believer. They will receive the same promise that was given to the poor in spirit, an everlasting kingdom. It’s almost as if Jesus is saying that this is the summary of the rest of the beatitudes, that this experience of persecution will come to all those who seek and try to be faithful. In our world today, in our own culture, there are serious issues of religious liberty that face us. There are places in our culture where it seems Christians are being sidelined or ridiculed or labeled as “haters.” And we should stand up for our Constitutionally-protected right to speak and to have a voice in the culture. But I don’t and won’t use the world “persecution” to describe that experience because there are many brothers and sisters in the world who, right now, are facing real life and death situations and decisions because they are followers of Jesus. For some, gathering for worship is a dangerous thing to do. And what amazes me is that, whether it’s the church in China or in Russia or anywhere else, those believers largely don’t ask for the persecution to end. Their prayers are for God to give them the strength to endure it, that they may be faithful unto death if that’s what comes (cf. Green, Matthew for Today, pg. 72). Their prayers humble me, but those prayers remind me again that the persecuted are given the kingdom of God, and that’s what matters to them, not what others think or if they get any “likes.”

Now, you’re going to have the chance, if you read along with us in the Gospel, to read the rest of the Sermon on the Mount this week, and I hope you’ll notice how, in so many ways, these beatitudes “set up” the rest of the sermon. Out of these blessings, out of this definition of “blessed,” flows all of the rest of the guidelines and commands Jesus gives to his followers on that mountain. So what, then, should we see if we take a step back and look at the overall picture of the beatitudes?. Two things, I think, are important for us to take away as we seek to be “blessed.”

First, by now I hope it is obvious that being “blessed” is not what most people think it is. Into a world that defines blessings as “things,” Jesus gives a vision of a kingdom where not a single “thing” or “material item” is promised to those who are blessed. Look again at what Jesus promises: the kingdom of heaven, comfort, an end to the world’s power structures, mercy, and the presence of God. There’s not a single material blessing listed. No iPods, no big screen TVs, no fancy cars, no increases in salary. That’s not to say, however, that these beatitudes are only for there and then. They’re not just about some nebulous “reward” in heaven, in the sweet by and by. The beatitudes are for here and now, because here and now is where we are shaped for eternity. To be blessed is to have Jesus shaping our character, becoming like him so that we begin to make a difference in the world around us. Jesus says, “Stop expecting and trying to get material things!” If there’s ever been a time when our world needed to learn that, it’s now. What might happen in our nation if character rather than image were the real issue when we go to elect our leaders? What difference would it make if our churches sought to live the way the beatitudes describe? This is one of the reasons I’ve said it over and over again: this building, beautiful as it is, is only a tool for reaching people for Christ. It’s not a resting place; it’s a launching pad, and you’ll hear me say that until we really get that embedded deep down. To be a blessing to others requires we do more than just gather here. And that leads us to the second lesson from the beatitudes.

Jesus says we will be blessed as we learn to depend on him. Into a world that worships independence, the beatitudes call for us to make a declaration of dependence (Kalas Beatitudes 2). When we choose to allow the Holy Spirit to shape us into the people Jesus calls us to be—when we choose peacemaking, righteousness, purity of heart and all the rest—it’s vital to acknowledge that we cannot do that on our own. Ellsworth Kalas says, “This isn’t the sort of product they advertise on prime-time television; indeed, I’m not sure that it appears overly often in our prime-time worship services. That is because this is not a spiritual quick fix. It doesn’t come in a five-easy-lesson capsule. Instead, it is largely contrary to the way we live and to the way we think” (2). We cannot live this way alone; we will have to rely on strength that is greater than ours. And so centuries before Jesus preached this sermon, Isaiah the prophet called the people to “seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon” (55:6-7). Now, we hear that word “wicked,” and we immediately begin to think, “Well, I’m not that bad. I may have done some wrong things, but nothing really “wicked,” but Isaiah’s point is this: any time we depend on our own strength rather than on God’s strength, we are headed down the wrong path, the path of wickedness. We cannot live this life, and we cannot live into the Beatitudes if we don’t first acknowledge our utter dependence on Jesus Christ. Without him, we have no hope of knowing real blessing.

So here’s our “selfie” question this week, as we continue to seek our worth in Jesus: In what ways can we become dependent on Jesus? In your bulletin this morning, you’ll find a “Declaration of Dependence.” Pull that out now, and you’ll see that what’s on there are simply the words of the Beatitudes, to remind us of what true blessedness looks like. And then, at the bottom, let’s read that statement together, shall we? In utter dependence on Jesus Christ, I will seek to live into these beatitudes, pursuing the true blessing of God in everything I do and in every way I live. I want to invite you to take this declaration and sign it, then put it in your Bible, maybe even use it as your bookmark as you read Matthew, or put it somewhere you’re going to see it often. Allow it to remind you of your utter dependence on Jesus; without him, we can do nothing that lasts (cf. John 15:5).

As we make our declarations, then, we are going to come to the communion table, because it, too, is a declaration of dependence. When we come to this table to receive the bread and the cup, we are reminded of what Jesus did to save us from our sins. When we come forward, we are declaring that we receive what he did, that we want to be forgiven, that from the moment we rise from the table until our very last breath, we will live for Him. We come, we receive, we kneel and as we rise and go to live for Jesus, we echo the prayer of an ancient saint who declared her utter trust in God with these words: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well” (qtd. in Kalas 8). That, my friends, is what is means to be truly and fully blessed. Let’s prepare our hearts as we come to Christ’s table.