“Rejoice and Be Glad” – sermon on February 2, 2014
February 2, 2014
Scripture: 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.
Sermon: Rejoice and Be Glad
by Rev. Doreen Oughton
So do any of you have plans for this evening, say, around 6:30 p.m.? I’m glad the big game is in the evening, and doesn’t conflict with worship. I heard about some ministerial controversy about a month ago, when there was a big game on, and the start time in the mid-west overlapped with a church’s worship time. The minister was a big football fan, so he started the service off saying that even though the big game was on, there was nowhere he’d rather be than church, but, really, why stretch things out. He asked if anyone in the pews felt guilty about anything during the week, to just raise their hand up. Then he said, “You are forgiven.” He asked if anyone was worried or stressed, and said, “Peace be with you, for God is with you.” Then he said, “there is bread and juice at the table if people want Communion, because I am outta here,” and started pulling off his robe and walked halfway down the aisle. Now it was all in fun, and he did turn around and did an entire liturgy, but apparently only the opening piece made the late-night talk show clips. Boy did he get raked over the coals. No such luck for you folks, with your lady pastor. Even if the game was on at 10 a.m., I would not be tempted to rush things along.
But I was thinking about the big game as I prepared for this sermon, because it highlighted for me that the way we understand blessedness is so vastly different from the way Jesus seems to understand it. Who would we say was blessed in the NFL this season? The Seahawks and Bronco’s, right? When we pray for a team, our idea is that our prayers are answered when they win. A team is blessed by a successful season. Right?
I’ve always been conflicted as a spectator at competitive sports. I’d root for my kid’s teams, or for the home team, whatever, but I always felt so bad for whatever team lost. It feels lousy to lose, even if you played your best, maybe even more so if you played your best. I always thought those were the ones who should be taken out for ice cream – not as a reward for losing, but as a gesture of comfort and affirmation in the face of disappointment. I would hope that God would bless them with a win, maybe a bunch of them, in the future, so that they could experience that high of winning.
These are examples of a sort of two different ways of understanding blessing. When things are going well for us, it seems as if we have God’s favor, whether we earned it or not. We must be doing something right in God’s eyes, we may tell ourselves, and we are being rewarded. Or in contrast we suffer hardship after hardship, none of it seems to be our own doing. We try to be good people, to keep the faith, but we can’t seem to catch a break. There are those who suffer such terrible loss, we hang onto the hope that surely there will be a turnaround in heaven. Through their suffering here on earth, we may think they have earned an eternity of heavenly bliss. The Seahawks and Broncos might have God’s favor today, but just wait til those Redskins get to heaven. There will be no stopping them! Though they might have to change their name first.
Both these ideas are connected with what one writer calls “evacuation theology,” which suggests that the world we live in is but a testing ground for another, better world, a different place that we go to. Faith is about separating from this world and its issues as much as we can so that we are then ready to go to the other place. The temptations and issues of this world are things that will only hold us back and get in the way of getting there. People who aren’t doing well in this world are viewed with suspicion. Have they brought about their own suffering by crossing God? The idea might develop that those who believe differently interfere with our purity and their wrong belief must be corrected or they must be eliminated. It would make sense to think that we might as well used up all the natural resources because this world will be destroyed in the end, and all the righteous will go somewhere else.
I do not believe Jesus lived or preached such a theology. Jesus said, “the Kingdom has come near.” Jesus said, “the Kingdom is within and among you.” Jesus taught that we can find the kingdom right here, but we have been looking in the wrong place, have been understanding it the wrong way. We misunderstand God’s priorities. I believe that what God wants most is a close relationship with us, so close that we are like One being. Our responsive reading today from Micah gives a prescription for getting closer to God – to act justly, to love mercy and walk humbly with our God. I don’t believe that God necessarily has a problem with game-winners, with the people who are doing well. I don’t think God wants to punish them for it. Sometimes people who feel blessed by good things in their lives are especially grateful and let their gratitude spill over so that they want to bless others. But I think God knows that it is harder for those who excel in this world to turn away from it and towards kindom living.
When you act justly you want to make sure everyone is doing as well as you are, when you love mercy you give up grudges and justifications for self-centered behavior. When you walk humbly with your God you know you are connected with all the brokenness of the world. You know that you yourself are broken. And the good news is that God enters in through the broken places.
And so I think Jesus was challenging the idea that those who are doing well have God’s favor. And I think he was offering more to those suffering than a promise of a reward in another time and place. I think he was declaring that his work bringing people back into relationship with God would begin in the broken places. He would bless the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, by walking with them in this world, by helping them to live in a new way, the way of the cross. It is a way that stirs a hunger and thirst for righteousness; a way that leads people to risk their reputations, even their safety and their lives to teach the way to others. Rejoice and be glad, he said, for when you live this way you will have found heaven.
I believe Jesus longs to bless each of us by walking with us and showing us the way. We don’t have to earn this blessing by being good, by knowing and believing the right things, by surrendering all dreams of success and safety and well-being. Even our longings for these things can be avenues for connection with God. Whether we are moving closer to God, standing still, or diving head first into worldly living, Christ stands by ready to bless and walk with us. And so I invite you to receive a blessing this day.
