“Living into God’s What If”

Matthew 5:1-12

Today’s text contains the Beatitudes, the opening words of the Sermon on the Mount. William Barclay described that sermon as the first disciples’ ordination sermon. Addressing the Beatitudes, Charles James Cook wrote: “Living daily into the spirit of the Beatitudes involves looking at them as a collection of the whole, rather than looking at each one individually. Each is related to the others, and they build on one another. Those who are meek, meaning humble, are more likely to hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they remain open to continued knowledge of God. If we approach the beatitudes this way, we see they invite us into a way of being in the world that leads to particular practices. There are three principles for living into the spirit of the Beatitudes: simplicity, hopefulness, and compassion. These three principles allow us to be in the world, while not being shaped totally by it. We offer an alternative to what the world seems to be pursuing.”

Simplicity is not a lack of sophistication. It is a willingness to hear the words of Jesus for what they are, and a further willingness to step away from our prejudices.

Hopefulness is the opposite of cynicism. This hopefulness is part and parcel of our faithful desire to look beyond the world’s what is and seek the answer to God’s what if.

Compassion, in the words of Dr. Cook, is a willingness to walk in someone else’s shoes.

Ours is a world, however, that doesn’t have much use for simplicity, hopefulness, or compassion. Nor does it have much use for the Beatitudes. To further quote Dr. Cook: “To be poor in spirit, peaceful, merciful, and meek will get you nowhere in a culture grounded in competition.” This competition is what lies beneath our society’s rampant consumerism, the idolatry that is celebrity worship, the growing lack of civility, the increasingly bitter partisanship of our political system, and the steadily increasing gap between the rich and poor.

That’s the world in which we live and do ministry. That’s the antithesis of the kind of community Christ has called us to be. To better understand just what it is we have been called to model as an alternative to the world, let’s look at some Scripture.

I Peter 2:9: “… you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” We are called to shine the light of God’s saving love out into the world not get dragged back into the world’s darkness.

Micah 6:8, today’s Affirmation of Faith: “He has told you, O [man], 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?” We are to practice and proclaim God’s own justice, a justice that requires honesty and fairness in all of our human interactions, a justice that upholds the rights of the widow, the orphan, and all who are vulnerable to the predatory abuses that abound in our world – and our culture – and our nation – and even in the church itself. We can neither practice nor proclaim such justice without a compassionate kindness and a willingness to take God much more seriously than we do ourselves.

Finally I Corinthians 1:18 and 25: “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 God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” The power of Christ was revealed in his powerlessness, his willingness to pick up his cross and die on it. The wisdom of Christ is reflected in his statements about the last being first, dying in order to live, forgiving seventy times seven, turning the other cheek, and walking the extra mile – all of which were considered foolish by Israel’s religious elite and the might- makes-right ideology of the Roman Empire.

Jesus didn’t just teach the Beatitudes; he lived them. He expects his disciples to live them too not as some legalistic way to earn his favor, but as a response to the grace, mercy, and forgiveness of God. And as we live them, always less than perfectly, we begin to form that alternative community that we are called to be: God’s own people, a holy nation striving to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God. Seeking to proclaim by word and deed the good news of God’s grace, mercy, and peace. Working in the world to advance biblical justice. Living out the servanthood practiced by Jesus. Taking seriously what Jesus taught about forgiveness. Obeying our Lord’s final commandment to love one another so that people will know that we belong to him. Offering an alternative to what the world seems to be pursuing.

Deriving our blessedness from God as we seek to live out his righteousness in the world. Blessed are we when: We are willing to humbly stand destitute, empty-handed, and powerless before God. Grieve for our own sinfulness, the sinfulness of the world, and all who are lost in the world’s darkness. Allow gentle kindness to be our strength. Hunger and thirst for those things that keep us in right relationship with God and others. Actively practice compassion and show mercy. Seek God’s will in all that we are and do. Work to restore broken relationships between people and nations. Remain loyal to God’s way of life even when doing so means risking persecution and causes us to be reviled and slandered.

All of that will get us nowhere in a culture grounded in competition and in a world where might-makes-right and in a society where the golden rule is that those who have the gold rule, a culture that truly believes that those who die with the most toys win. All of that will cause us to be judged weak, foolish, and naive in the eyes of the world. But all of that is necessary if we are to take seriously God’s call to be his holy people, his call to offer an alternative to what the world seems to be pursuing, his call to look beyond the world’s what is as we seek the answer to his what if.

All that led Jesus to death on a cross, where he suffered extreme humiliation and was treated like a common criminal. All that has led Christians through the ages to be slandered, persecuted, and even martyred. In all that, however, there is a blessedness that can only come from God and a peace that passes all understanding. Amen.