Sermon manuscript:
When we think about being blessed or being happy we usually
think about wealth, abundance, security, contentment, and so on. Happiness goes
together with strength, ability, and freedom. If we have the wherewithal and if
we have the opportunity, then we can do what we want. If we should be
constrained with our resources or freedom, then we might not be able to do what
we want. We most easily and naturally believe that blessedness or happiness
comes from being able to do whatever we want. We usually associate not being
able to do whatever we want with sadness.
Did you notice how Jesus’s teaching was strange along these
lines? What we usually associate with sadness, Jesus declares as blessedness or
happiness. Let’s look at a few of the things Jesus said.
He said, “Blessed are the poor in
spirit.” Is being poor ever good? It’s always better to be rich. Even if
Jesus is not talking about money, doesn’t it sound better to be rich in spirit?
Someone being rich in spirit sounds a lot more interesting than someone being
poor in spirit.
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who
mourn.” If someone is mourning, then things haven’t gone their way.
Someone has died whom they would prefer were still alive. Something has gone
wrong that they wish wouldn’t have happened.
“Blessed are the meek.” The
meek are humbled. They can’t be impressed with their own importance. We enjoy
the feeling of being impressed with ourselves.
“Blessed are those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness.” If I had to choose between being hungry and
thirsty for righteousness and being full of righteousness, I would much rather
be full of righteousness. Then I could feel good about myself.
From these examples, you can see how Jesus teaches strange
things. If we would turn Jesus’s statements into their opposites, then they
would make much more sense: Blessed are the rich. Blessed are those who are
having a great time. Blessed are powerful. If the world would have its own set
of beatitudes, or blessings, they would sound like this: “Blessed are the rich,
because they can buy whatever they want.” “Blessed are those who are having a
great time, because they are making the most of this life.” “Blessed are the
powerful, because nobody is pushing them around.”
Don’t these worldly beatitudes make more sense? We more
easily and naturally live our lives when we don’t have to rely on God. If we
can see to things ourselves, then God doesn’t matter as much. What does matter
is having the necessary resources and freedom. You better make sure you’ve got
enough of that. And what must be feared above all else is lack and loss. Lack
and loss are surefire recipes for misery and sadness.
That’s one way of thinking, and it’s pretty persuasive. It’s
what comes most easily and naturally. But one of the ways that Jesus is spoken
of in the Gospels is that he has come to “proclaim good
news to the poor.” The poor don’t have anything. The good news is that
they are going to get stuff. Where there was lack and loss there will be
abundance and life. Jesus will bring this about. Or, at least, that’s the
claim.
Is there a way that I can prove it? No, I’m sorry, I can’t. The
promises of abundance and life in Jesus can be only either believed or
disbelieved. Either Jesus is God and Lord and he will bring about what he has
promised, or he is wrong. The poor aren’t blessed. Those who mourn aren’t
blessed. The powerless aren’t blessed. Either the rules of life that are laid
down by Jesus are how things are, or how things are is governed by the rules
that we much more easily and naturally believe. Either a person will put his or
her trust in Jesus or a person will put his or her trust in those worldly
recipes for happiness.
Today as we observe All Saints’ Day we must consider this faith
in Jesus. Faith in Jesus is how a person is a saint, which means a “holy one.” Only
those who become holy are in heaven. Saints receive their holiness through
faith in Jesus. They believe that he will keep the promises that he has made—promises
like you find in the beatitudes. All of the beatitudes, or blessings, that
Jesus spoke of contain promises. They are really glorious promises, if you will
challenge yourself to think about what they mean and believe that they can
actually come to pass.
He says, “Yours is the kingdom of
heaven.” God’s kingdom in heaven can’t be described. The Scriptures say
that it is beyond us, no matter how hard we try.
Jesus says, “God will comfort you.”
How good do you think God is at comforting someone? You perhaps remember the
comfort that comes from being in the arms of your dad or your mom or your
husband or your wife. God will comfort those who mourn.
Jesus says, “You will inherit the
earth.” World history is full of vain and ambitious men and women who have
strained every fiber of their being to attain mastery over the earth. Jesus says
you will inherit it.
“You will be filled with righteousness.” Instead of
temptations being victorious over you, you will be victorious over temptations.
Jesus says, “You will receive mercy.”
We hear about God’s mercy all the time, but now we only know his mercy by
faith. What will it be like to have our empty sack filled up with the undeserved
good things of God?
Jesus says, “You will see God.”
The Scriptures emphatically state that no one has seen God. “No one can see God and live,” it says over and over
again. What will it be like to see God?
Jesus says, “You will be called sons
of God.” This is not a slight or an insult to you female saints. Jesus
is the only Son of God. By being called “sons of God” Jesus is saying that you
will be like him.
These are good promises. But then Jesus makes a different
kind of promise. He promises us that we will be persecuted. He says that we
will be reviled. That means that people will say that you are a fanatic. You
are impractical. You are a fool about money. You are a fool to love your enemy.
They will pronounce curses upon you that you will be poor and miserable and
abused because you don’t follow the rules of this old world. That is what you
will get for following Jesus.
It can be scary to be reviled and persecuted and to have all
kinds of evil spoken against you. And this will not be done just by strangers.
Elsewhere Jesus says that this will come from our nearest and dearest. Households
will be divided. Families will be divided. This last promise is so bad, that we
might think that we should just leave off with all this. It’s not nice. It’s
disturbing. It’s divisive. Religion is supposed to be peaceful and serene.
Except it’s not. Jesus said, “I have
not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Jesus is on the warpath as king
against the devil and against all his falseness. Whenever Jesus drove out
demons, they convulsed their victims and cried out and put up a mighty fuss. They
didn’t want to lose control of their victims, and so it is with all the false rules
and false gods that possess people today. They don’t want to lose their grip.
They want to hold us captive. They don’t want us to believe in this who has
come who proclaims good news to the poor.
But these false rules and false gods are bad. They don’t
keep their promises. They couldn’t, even if they wanted to, because their power
is limited. They only pretend to be almighty.
No matter how rich you are, no matter how powerful you are,
no matter how many memories you make, no matter how good of a life you believe
that you can make for yourself, none of these things can forgive your sins.
None of these things can defeat death. None of these things can fill you with God’s
love. None of these things can prepare you for seeing God. Only Jesus can do
these things.
Believe in him! Are you poor? Will you become poor? Are you
poor in spirit—kind of dumpy and something of a nobody? Believe in Jesus! He
has good news for you even though you lack so much: “Yours
is the kingdom of heaven.” Are you mourning? Are things not going your
way? Did you imagine that your life would be altogether different? “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Thus and so you can do with all these statements of Jesus. There are promises
in there for those who will believe.
Faith, therefore, makes all the difference. John says in his
epistle: “This is the victory that has overcome the
world—our faith.” The saints who have gone before us all have this one
thing in common: They believed in Jesus. You believe in him too. Believe, and
then just wait and see how all the promises he has made will come true. Jesus
keeps his promises.
