Listen
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”
(Matthew 5:1-12, NRSV).
Discern
Dr.
Girdwood opened his sermon by focusing on the paragraph directly preceding
Matthew 5. In Matthew 4:23-25, the
crowds gravitate around Jesus because they saw that he could heal them from
their afflictions, illnesses and diseases.
Some were paralyzed, some were blind, and some were
demon-possessed. And in each case, Jesus
demonstrated the amazing power that God had given him. Every person was healed! As a result, the crowds following Jesus grew
and grew. However, as Dr. Girdwood
reminded us, healing people of their bumps and bruises was not why Jesus
stepped down out of heaven. Jesus came
to demonstrate how we live in God’s kingdom!
Therefore, he takes a seat and begins to talk about those who are
blessed, those who are citizens. Ron
Allen challenges the traditional notion that “blessed” means “happy” when he
writes that those who are blessed “live in the confidence that God is at work
to bring about a realm of peace and love and joy and abundance.”[1] That is certainly “good news” for people who
have experienced a great deal of suffering.
Articulate
What
does it mean to mourn? Dr. Girdwood
really challenged the common notion regarding prayer. Too often our prayers are weak. We focus solely on ourselves and our problems
instead of looking to the larger concerns of the world. When I teach on this passage, I focus on both
the micro-meaning and the macro-meaning of this passage. On one hand, we do need to mourn the problems
that we personally face, such as chronic sin or being rejected from a job
because of the color of our skin. On the
other hand, however, we cannot be full citizens of the kingdom unless we are
mourning the state of the world. As Randy
Harris challenges, we must mourn for children who die from disease and for
those succumb to their own mental anguish by taking their own lives.[2] And, as Dr. Girdwood challenged, we must
mourn for political injustice and social oppression. We mourn for these ills when we turn to God
in prayer and ask for God to intervene. In
doing so, we will be comforted. In doing
so, we will be blessed.
Approach
1. Find the article entitled "Experiences in Need of Ritual" by Herbert Anderson and Edward Foley (in the 5 November 1997 issue of Christian Century). How can you personally mourn for (minister
to) those who have lost family members in a way that points them to God? How can we remind them that God loves them
even in the midst of tragedy?
2. Visit the Church of
England’s website and click on “Topical Prayers” (www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/topical-prayers.aspx). Dedicate seven days to praying for the
concerns listed there. Record your
prayers in a journal so that you can see how God honors your prayers in the
future.
[1]Ronald J. Allen,
“The Surprising Blessing of the Beatitudes,” in Preaching the Sermon on the Mount: The World It Imagines, ed. David
Fleer and Dave Bland (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2007), 88.
[2]Randy Harris, Living Jesus: Doing What Jesus Says in the
Sermon on the Mount (Abilene, TX: Leafwood Publishers, 2012), 30.
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