The Beatitudes 2.0

 The Beatitudes 2.0

In our home the rule was; “no cursing”! It was honored more in the breach than in the observance. Ours was a multigenerational home. My Grandmother, uncle, mom, brother and me, all lived under one roof. When the language got a little salty, which it often did, my grandmother would become severe. Brandishing her wooden spoon, she’d declare; “I’ll thank you to hold a civil tongue in your head!” Still the air often turned blue with a string of epithets from my uncle and not infrequently from my mother. And that, my friends, would make my grandmother cringe. 

There’s a part of me that cringes at the thought of God cursing. Today we read what the Lord says: "Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals.” The language makes me wince. But Jeremiah is seeking to make a point. 

Namely, that if we trust in mortals and not in God we are indeed invoking some kind of judgment upon ourselves. Do I make flesh and blood a god? Do I trust in my own strength? Or do I recognize that life itself is a gift?

Surely all of us trust in God above all else. But then I wonder do we hedge our bets from time to time. St. Paul wonders how serious we are about living the Risen Life of Christ. As an Easter People the idea of the Resurrection is at the core of everything we do, whether we actually believe it or not. Like every article of faith in the Nicene Creed, the idea of the Resurrection is something we live into. 

Who can understand such a mystery as the Resurrection? The Virgin Birth? The Triune God? There is no way on earth we can fully understand every article of faith.

Thankfully, faith is not at root an intellectual exercise. Faith is what we do and how we live. As for me I dare to believe everything that Jesus did and taught by living into the way he lived and taught.

Which brings us to the Beatitudes 2.0. We all know the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew. Many of us were required to commit these words to memory as youngsters. And if we didn’t memoize them, we know them at an even deeper level of the spirit. But what of these words from Luke’s Gospel. 

Class, what is the title of this sermon?

Yes! Excellent, that’s correct, “The Sermon on the Plain” as the scholars call it! It takes place, alongside the Mediterranean Sea, near Tyre, 38 miles and Sidon, 48 miles from the Mount of the Beatitudes. It appears that Jesus had his “stump speech”, something that he would repeat time and again as he made his way from town to town during his ministry. His ideas developed over time, and perhaps varied from audience to audience as the setting and the need changed.

This version of the Beatitudes is much more direct than the more familiar one. Here Jesus talks about the poor. They weren’t “poor in spirit”. They were just plain poor. He blessed them. Likewise those who were hungry, hated, excluded, reviled and defamed. Jesus’ love and compassion reached out to all these; and because it did, they crowded around and he blessed them.

But Jesus has sharp words for some in today’s Gospel. He goes on to say; “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. “Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.”

When Jesus saw oppression he had strong words. In Seminary we are taught to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. In the tradition of Jesus, the fifth century Celtic theologian, Pelagius, wrote “A person who is rich and refuses to give food to the hungry may cause far more deaths than even the cruelest murderer.” 

Those words are prophetic for the Irish and for many others caught up in famine, poverty, slavery, and oppression to this very day. There are those who have and others who have not. This is not justice.

In one congregation after another, I have taken up the cudgels on behalf of the needy, and folks mostly stood foursquare behind me. It is not unusual for a priest to come into conflict. God knows I’ve had my moments.

Every priest plays to mixed reviews. There’s the old story of the time when the rector fell ill and was hospitalized. Within a few days the recovery was going well when the Senior Warden stopped by with prayerful reassurances. In fact the Vestry had taken a vote that very day for the priest’s speedy recovery. The vote was 7-5!

Today, Psalm 1 takes precedence over the other 149. 

It is well worth heeding its words.

“Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, * nor lingered in the way of sinners,
Their delight is in the law of the Lord, *
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, *
       but the way of the wicked is doomed."

Uh-oh…there’s yet another edgy word “doomed”.

If I have a quizzical look about me sometimes when I read the Scripture, it is only because I’m trying to make sense of it. As challenging as that may be, when trying to make sense of the world we live it that will produce far more than quizzical looks on my face. That’s only because I’m still seeking God’s Justice.

If I wish to be happy in God’s world one thing I do know; it will begin with a Blessing. I will bless anyone and anything I can, beginning with those in need. This is what Jesus did both in the Sermon on the Mount and in the Sermon on the Plain. Everything else, I leave to God

In the Name of God, the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen

Fr Paul

Below are the scriptures assigned to be read this Sunday with highlights marked that speak to my spirit. 

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

The Collect:

O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Old Testament: Jeremiah 17:5-10

Thus says the Lord: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord. They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.  Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.  They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse— who can understand it? I the Lord test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.

Psalm: Psalm 1

Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, *
       nor lingered in the way of sinners,
       nor sat in the seats of the scornful!
Their delight is in the law of the Lord, *
       and they meditate on his law day and night.
They are like trees planted by streams of water,
   bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; *
       everything they do shall prosper.
It is not so with the wicked; *
       they are like chaff which the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes, *
       nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, *
       but the way of the wicked is doomed.

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 15:12-20

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.

Gospel: Luke 6:17-26

He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. “Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.