Sermon on the Mount
#2: Count Your Blessings!
October 8th, 2006
Lydia Harder
I have never really liked the song, “Count your blessings, name them one by one.” As a child, when I would complain about something, my mother would say, “Count your blessings and you will feel better!” But that never seemed to work for me. What it did do was make me feel very guilty for complaining about anything. And sometimes I felt like I had legitimate reasons to object about some treatment by others, especially my two brothers who teased me mercilessly. Counting my blessings seemed like a superficial response to what I saw as the injustices of life.
Today’s list of beatitudes does feel a bit like a “counting of blessings” with its eight “blessed are they. . .” phrases. Perhaps it is the leading of the Spirit that this text comes on this day. After all Thanksgiving day has been the traditional time in which to do exactly that. We have set aside one day a year to thank God for our blessings and to celebrate the many gifts God has given us. Our vigorous hymn singing testifies to our sincerity in doing this. And that is good!
Yet, when Jesus sat down on the mountain, called his followers to him, and began to speak, he was doing more than asking each of us to recall our individual blessings or suggesting that we have not been grateful enough for the blessings we have received. Matthew, a gospel writer well versed in the tradition, has carefully described the place and occasion of these teachings to remind us of the biblical hero of old, Moses of the Exodus. He also spoke from the mountain, setting forth the conditions of the covenant for the motley group of people, newly freed from the slavery of Egypt. There they were challenged to choose the God who had freed them and to obey the commandments. Blessings would follow that obedience.
As a new Moses, Jesus goes up a mountain and sets out the terms of a new covenant for the people of God- -built on the old, but revealed more directly through his very person. As a new Moses, Jesus offers freedom and healing, proclaiming that the kingdom of God is coming “on earth as it is in heaven.”
But this time these authoritative teachings do not begin with commandments or laws. Instead they begin with congratulations and exclamations of joy! With a clapping of hands! With affirmative statements describing the reality of those who enter the kingdom that Jesus promises. In the original language there is no verb. It is more like an exclamation:” Oh, the bliss of those who enter the kingdom! Congratulations, to the ones who are experiencing the privileges of being an insider to the kingdom! Oh the happiness of those who know the reality of the kingdom in their lives!”
Thus the English translation in some Bibles which says: ” happy are those” only partly expresses the meaning of a beatitude. For it does not adequately include the notion that the community is to lift these people up for special recognition. It is not just a call for each of us to feel happy within our own hearts. Rather, it is a proclamation about others whom we recognize within the community of the kingdom, as people that we should honor, value, respect and congratulate.
Blessed sayings such as these were not unusual in the ancient world. They were used to congratulate parents on their fine children, couples on their finding love, or individuals on gaining great knowledge or piety. They were public statements used within a community of people to congratulate those who should be honored, because they are living examples of the essence of what the community values.
We have several good examples of these kinds of congratulations in Luke.
The first comes from Elizabeth who greets Mary who visits her during the time when both are waiting for the birth of their promised babies.
(Luke 1:42) In a loud voice she(Elizabeth) exclaims: Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you will bear! And she goes on to say: Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished.” And Mary responds with that great poem , the Magnificat, in which she blesses and glorifies the Lord who has been mindful of the humble state of his servant and has done great things for her by lifting the lowly and scattering the proud.
Later in Luke we read of another woman in a very public place congratulating the mother of Jesus on her fine son who both heals and teaches with great authority and skill.
Luke 11:27 “As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, ‘Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you!'” Jesus responds with another blessing: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
In both these cases the women speak out of the traditional values of their community. They know that mothers should be respected and honored for they have lived out the purpose that they have within the community: to bear a son who will be a blessing to many.
Note that these congratulations often have a poetic form, like many of the Psalms or wisdom poems in the Old Testament. There is a repetition that gives us the rhythm of the poetry even in this translated form. As poetry they call out a response, but not primarily the kind of response that commandments or laws call for. Instead it is a call to accept the blessing that is given and to respond with a blessing to someone else. Often this response is a blessing to God from whom all blessings come.
One of the commentators that I read also reminded me that these are statements made in a strong honor and shame culture. In many ancient cultures, the opposite of being honored or respected is being shamed. In these cultures persons who are not respected in the community begin to feel inner shame. This inner shame is often called forth by the actions and words of a community that tries to shame persons into good behavior. I think the gospel writer Luke in his rendering of the beatitudes includes the shaming aspect when he says: “woe to you!” Matthew also has a series of woes that are directed to the Pharisees later in the book. But here Matthew does not begin by shaming people, but rather with a series of “blessed are they. . .” inviting us to replace our inner shame with a public blessing by God.
As I reflected on this context of honoring and shaming I was forcefully reminded of the first time, that I really noticed the sermon on the mount, though I had probably heard many sermons preached about it before that. I heard it that time, because it was read in the context of an incident of shaming within my own community. I was 18 years old, enjoying all the pleasures of teen years and full of the many worries that a youth can have. I was very fortunate to have a very good group of friends in the youth group at my church. There were about 16 of us –fellows and girls who regularly hung out together after every choir practice, or youth meeting or just about every Sunday afternoon. Often you would find us at the Avondale’s ice cream place or the band concerts at Montebello Park in St.Catharines. We were a close knit group, all baptized within two years and fully committed to our youth group at church. Within this group there had emerged two couples who were dating seriously and the rest of us gossiped and laughed together as we watched these romances grow. It was a good time to be young!
But that particular weekend something happened which changed all of this for us. It was my Dad who told me about it. He was off to the church for a meeting in which one of the couples would appear before the deacons to confess that they were pregnant. A quick wedding was arranged to which none of us were invited. Though the fellow was able to confide in his friends, the girl felt too much shame to speak to any of us personally about what had happened. After all, in our community it was the girl who was supposed to be in charge of maintaining the boundaries of appropriate sexual behavior. And she had failed and felt the shame of that failure. We felt totally bewildered, not sure how to approach our friend, unsure of how to react to the church’s form of discipline. And so we did nothing! In fact the closeness of our group seemed damaged beyond repair.
That Sunday morning, our youth pastor, Peter, was scheduled to preach. Peter was a compassionate person, one whom we all respected and looked up to. We all wondered what he would say hoping for some guideline, some help for the turmoil that had entered our lives. Peter got up and without any preamble or application, read the whole sermon on the mount. And then sat down.
Though I was not able to fully respond to the sermon at that time, I did recognize it as an invitation to healing and transformation both for myself and for the community. The power of that reading has never left me. Since that day, I have returned again and again to this passage of scripture to re-establish my equilibrium, when I no longer know how to respond to our own systems of honor and shame.
So let us turn to the beatitudes, that listing of blessings from the mouth of Jesus, to see if we can find healing and salvation in the midst of the shame and despair that we too often feel. For as Psalm 103 read earlier so eloquently asserts, our blessing and thanking of God arises out of our own sense of being loved, forgiven and blessed.
(You may wish to turn to the words in your hymnbooks that we read earlier, so that you can follow more easily as I make a few observations.)
You will note first of all that the blessings begin and end with similar words.
Verse 3 “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven”
Verse 10 “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew, as a faithful Jew, does not use the term kingdom of God as the other gospel writers do. For Jews would not utter the holy name in vain and would use alternative words to indicate what they meant. “Heaven” is where God is and therefore could be used instead of the holy name.
So the 8 blessings are enclosed in a framework of that kingdom that Jesus has come to proclaim , the kingdom that is near! To be blessed is to be received as a citizen in a new kingdom or commonwealth where God is reigning and not we humans. It is the kingdom that we pray for when we say: Thy kingdom come, the will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It is however, not only a promise for the future but a reality for the ones congratulated in these verses. They are blessed because they already live within this new reality: the kingdom in which God reigns. So let us look more closely at those that are being raised up and honored in the community of the kingdom of God.
· Blessed are those who are poor in spirit.
Luke says simply, blessed are the poor. The Old Testament refers to the poor often, moving beyond a simple definition of economic poverty. For the Bible recognizes the lowly situation that accompanies poverty, the low status that the poor have in the community, often as a result of oppression and domination by the rich. It is these poor who feel shame, often undeserved. Many biblical stories attest to the fact that God champions the cause of the poor and delivers them, giving them a place in the kingdom of heaven. Thus this first beatitude says that the poor, the vulnerable, the needy, those stripped of all self-sufficiency, self-security and self-righteousness before God will receive status, will be honored and respected. This
first beatitude congratulates the poor in spirit because in the community of the kingdom, the last do not remain last but are invited to the head table at the banquet of our Lord.
· Blessed are those who mourn
This brings to mind the verses in Isaiah 61 where the exiles in Babylon, who were mourning their terrible situation, are promised “ a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning and the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.” We do not have to go too far to think of those who are mourning in our day: the families of the Amish girls murdered this week; the families of the Iraqi, Israeli, Afganisti, Canadian and many others who are mourning their war dead; the refugees in many parts of Africa; the families of Aids victims; the families within our own city –all mourning the condition of the world as it now exists. This mourning can include our own distress about the pain that we bring on ourselves with our individual and communal sin. Suffering, loss, pain and inconsolable grief are recognized and respected in the community of the kingdom of God and comfort is promised and received.
· Blessed are the meek.
This beatitude troubles us a bit because it seems to denote a kind of weak spinelessness that can easily be trampled upon by others. However, the meekness called for here is the opposite of pride, the meekness that realizes its own power but is willing to use it for the sake of the other. Gentleness and humble are other words to describe a style of relating to others that does not overpower or dominate others. It is these people in the community of God’s kingdom that will be recognized and whose lives will be enriched with the best of earthly as well as heavenly relationships and joys.
· Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
In the Bible hungering and thirsting are often understood as the longing and yearning that we have for a right relationship with God. Right relationships with God or with others are never something we can achieve on our own but are always gifts of God. Note, it is not those who have already achieved righteousness, but those who long desperately for it that are blessed. These are the people congratulated in the community of the kingdom because they will receive the transformation that the presence of the kingdom will give them.
Thus ends the first stanza of the poem. (The hymnbook has not printed the beatitudes in a way in which the two stanzas area easily recognized, but we do note a bit of a shift in the next section. If we have listened carefully we know that these 4 “Blesseds are they. . . ” alone have already turned our usual reality of pride and shame upside down. In our usual worldview, those who are honored are the high achievers, those focussed on their own talents, who trample on others in order to get somewhere themselves, those high on the ladder of success. In the kingdom of God, it is not these but those others who feel shame, who are open and longing to receive from God, the gentle, the humble, who are lifted up for special note.
In the second stanza the focus shifts to describing how this reception of God’s blessings transforms these persons into being the salt and light of the world. When persons enter the kingdom and receive the blessings of comfort, a safe and secure home on this earth, and right relationships with God and others, something happens. They are transformed and begin to pass on the blessings to others.
· Blessed are the merciful.
There is an underlying rhythm in the kingdom of God that cannot be interrupted. Mercy that is received from God creates mercy toward others, which invites more mercy from God and from others. Pardon and compassion received are passed on as pardon and compassion given. In the community of the kingdom this rhythm is understood and therefore honored.
· Blessed are the pure in heart.
Right relationship with God creates people who have integrity, whose commitments are genuine, who are not deceitful or false. To honor the pure in heart is to honor those whose motives and actions arise out of their clear vision of God and God’s kingdom.
· Blessed are the peacemakers.
Taking their cue from God, these persons actively enter places of conflict and hostility to work toward reconciliation and peace. Restoring wholeness in community is their passion. They show themselves as true children of God and will be honored as such in the community of the kingdom.
· Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.
This beatitude recognizes that the kingdom of God is not the same as the society and community in which we live. Nor is it even the same as the church that proclaims the kingdom. Accepting and living in this new reality of the kingdom will create a conflict of values and enmity and resentment within every community because it illuminates those places where the way of righteousness is not followed. Thus persecution is a reality for those who live within the kingdom. But the blessing of God is not dependent on the acceptance by everyone. Instead joy comes by recognizing that when one receives the kingdom one receives a new vision of what is real and true. This one live within a new reality that will never be taken away.
And now comes the surprising twist in the whole section of beatitudes. Until now,
the congratulations are for someone else. “Blessed are they. . .” But now Jesus turns from that general congratulations to address his followers. “Blessed are you. . .” Jesus looks over the crowd and then addresses us personally and as a group of followers.
Publicly, in front of the crowd, Jesus calls out with a “Blessed are you…to all who feel like shame and guilt, like nobodies in our various communities of work, play and worship.”
“Blessed are you, for you are poor in spirit, often feeling inner shame or guilt or helplessness. You are often in pain, you are mourning your own sin and the sin of the world. Yet you hunger and thirst for a right and just relationship with God and with others. And God has been transforming you so that you are becoming merciful, you relate to other from an undivided heart, seeking to be a reconciler in the community. But now you are being slandered and reviled and persecuted and accused falsely. You feel shame and rejection and despair. Rejoice and be glad—for you are in line with the faithful prophets of the past. The future will affirm and recognize that you are the salt and light to the world. And that light will not be hid forever. It will shine forth so that others will know that God’s kingdom is here.”
With these words Jesus has entered into our very midst on this Thanksgiving Day addressing us directly. Jesus invites us to look around us at those who have embodied the kingdom and its values to us and asks us to thank them for their modelling of what the kingdom is all about. He asks us to recognize the kingdom as it is coming among us and invites us to bring our own inner shame to him for healing. Jesus invites us to open ourselves in lowliness of heart, in meekness, in our yearning and seeking to receive the honour and dignity and blessing that God is ready to bestow on us.
And how can we respond to God’s words of congratulations to us? How do we respond to the: “Blessed are you. . . You are the salt and light!” This welcome into the kingdom can only be answered by an honouring and blessing of the God who calls us and rescues us from our own self- centredness and shamefulness. So let us on this Thanksgiving Day “Count our Blessings” and shout with the Psalmist:
Bless the Lord oh my soul, And all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits. Who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. Yes and yes.
Let us Bless the Lord! Amen and Amen.