Pronouncements of Favor (Week 21, Jan 15)
Reading
Matthew 5:1–16
Silent Reflection
Remarks
“Blessed are you… Rejoice and be glad…”
Matthew 5:11–12 (NIV)
What is a beatitude? And, for that matter, where in the world has anyone ever even heard that word outside of a church?
“Supreme blessedness” is what one dictionary says. “Blessed.” Another churchworn word. What does Jesus mean when he says “blessed are the…”? What is blessedness? The word could also be “happy,” as it sometimes appears when the same word shows up in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. Blessed—happy—are those who… what?
A beatitude, and more specifically Jesus’s beatitudes, as Dallas Willard observed, is essentially a way of wrestling with the question: What is the good life, the happy life, the charmed life—and who is in on it? According to the way things are in this life, this culture, this kingdom, what do you have to do or who do you have to be to be blessed?
It’s an important question to address at the beginning of a manifesto on the Kingdom of God (which is what I think the Sermon on the Mount is). And so here is Jesus, giving us nine beatitudes to do just that—nine statements to let us know who’s riding high in this Kingdom. I’ve been told that rabbis in Jesus’s day didn’t really like to talk in the abstract, but instead preferred to talk about things they could point to if they could help it. We’re told here in Matthew that crowds have gathered around Jesus, but that it’s specifically the disciples he’s speaking to when he begins the Sermon on the Mount. It all makes me wonder if, when Jesus pronounced the beatitudes to the disciples, he was actually moving among the crowd, placing his hands on the mourners and peacemakers and poor in spirit as he spoke.
So, surrounded by the sick and oppressed people he’s already been ministering to, before giving any instruction or explanation about the Kingdom, he simply wants to declare: The Kingdom of God is here, and this is who’s in on the good life as determined by the nature of this Kingdom. And who is it? Not who we’d expect.
Not the rich and the laughing, but the poor and the mourning. Not the assertive and the powerful, but the meek and the hungry. Not the thick-skinned and the cunning, but the merciful and the pure in heart. Not the conquerors, but the peacemakers. There’s no rational explanation for declaring these sorts of folks blessed—at least not when judged by any of the scales of value of the world we live in. We’d say that these people are sufferers, ones who at some level, or many levels, go without the benefits of prosperity, security, or even fairness. And yet, happy are these, Jesus says. Blessed are these in this Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, a place where things are apparently a bit upside down.
I think what Jesus wants to point out is what’s not so obvious to those who see with the eyes of the Kingdom of Caesar or Alexander or America: that the ones fortune favors are not necessarily the ones God favors.
Who do we regard as blessed? Jesus wants to know. Who do we see as winning, lucky, or successful? The charismatic ones, the talented ones, the intelligent ones, and the attractive ones? Probably. But can we see another way? Jesus is showing us.
And for the many of us in here who sit in the seat of Jesus’s disciples—as he takes the time here at the outset to clarify for us just who is favored in this strange new Kingdom—the question I want us to consider is this: How do we tend to treat the people we typically regard as blessed? We admire them, give them special treatment, and honor them. We want to be around people we see as favored, successful, and blessed. We want them to like us. We want to be in their good graces.
So what if we began to regard the ones the world walks over or ignores or tosses aside as blessed? Could it affect the way we treat them? Do you see how regard has everything to do with this? If we truly regard those as blessed whom the world looks at as a bad investment, maybe we’d welcome them the way we dream we’d welcome LeBron James or Taylor Swift.
This is why I think he immediately follows the beatitudes with: “You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”
Do you know what a city on a hill is?
As vulnerable and destitute people navigated their lives outside established communities, they would see cities and they could take a deep breath knowing that, at least for a little while, they should get some relief—some blessing, perhaps. A city on a hill was supposed to be a place where the lowly jump for joy when they see it. Here! Finally! Some comfort for my grief! Some satisfaction for my hunger! A place for me who can’t make a place for myself! Is that how people feel when they see Jesus’s disciples—when they see us? Or do they say, “Never mind, I’ll take my chances out here in the wild.”
The question for those Jesus declares blessed is how they will receive the blessing if those who call themselves Jesus’s disciples aren’t actually being a city on a hill. Where will their comfort come from? Where will they find the mercy they need? Where will they find the justice of being treated like a human being? Are we sitting around inside the walls saying, “Eh, God will give it to ’em.”? Yes, you can say God wants to give it to them, but how? Through the ether? In a vacuum? Out of thin air? Jesus actually needs his disciples to be his partners, not just devoted students pondering his words and thinking about how great he is or how nice it was that time he called all those poor people blessed. Partners who join with him to be the blessing he is pronouncing!
Silent Reflection
Response
Use your imagination: What groups of people would you add to the ones in the list of Jesus’s beatitudes? Who does God favor even though our world doesn’t consider them blessed?
Who does our culture tend to favor? Why do you think that is?
What are some examples of people you know who have been a city on a hill?
God is looking for partners. Do you know anyone who should partner with Him in blessing?