Fourth Sunday of Epiphany - Surprised? "Blessed Be"

This is the Fourth Sunday of Epiphany

The season of Epiphany gives us the opportunity to still be surprised by Jesus. And when we study the teachings of Jesus, we discover a surprising, radical message of grace under pressure. 

Today, we will read the first few lines of the Sermon on the Mount and learn what it takes to be a citizen of God’s kingdom.  

And the message is not at all what we expect.  

HAPPINESS IS FOUND IN THE TOPSY-TURVY MESSAGE OF GRACE 

Matthew 5:1-12

• The Sermon on the Mount - setting, symbolism, audience.  

Jesus speaks to the crowds from a "mountain," one of the hills above the sea of Galilee. The symbolism is of Moses delivering the law to the Israelites--a law that he received from encounters with God on Mt. Sinai.  The audience is made up of fishermen, villagers, all those who are being exploited by their religious leaders, and their government, which is in cahoots with the Roman Empire.  

• The sermon follows baptism, wilderness & an inciting event.  

The Sermon on the Mount comes after Jesus' baptism by John, his 40 days and nights in the wilderness, and the news that John had been arrested.  

1 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he began to speak and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

• The first four Beatitudes speak to divine favor and reversal of the exploited.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

• The next five speak to actions that express God’s kingdom and a just world. 
• These are not warm-and-fuzzy things; they speak to a radical shift.  

Jesus taught that using the same old lenses to “exegete” the world around us simply won’t achieve the kind of transformation we seek.  

What would the Beatitudes look like in our current context?  

Behold a new Christ

Behold the same old horde

Gather at the altering

New beginning, new word

And the word was death

And the word was without light

The new beatitude

Good luck

What of the pious, the pure of heart, the peaceful?

What of the meek, the mourning, and the merciful?

What of the righteous?

What of the charitable?

What of the truthful, the dutiful, the decent?

All doomed. 

Doomed are the poor

Doomed are the peaceful

Doomed are the meek

Doomed are the merciful

For the word is now death

And the word is now without light

The new beatitude

[Good luck], you're on your own

Self-serving, individualistic, devoid of compassion, full of false piety. 

Some Important Questions

• What is keeping us from living more fully into Jesus’ teachings? 

I think that we are afraid of what it might mean for us if we fully embraced being a Christ-follower.  I won't say Christian because that word has become co-opted by those in league with the Empire.  The word Christian essentially means "little Christs," which is far from what we see happening.  There's a cost to following Jesus. 

• How do we make the shifts necessary to be true citizens of God’s kingdom?

We have to empty ourselves of ego.  We have to embrace what it means to seek justice, give mercy, and walk humbly before God.  We have to do whatever we can to stand for what is beautiful, true, and good.  We have to learn what it means to live with grace in a graceless culture.  

• What would it look like if the Church truly embraced this?

If we believe what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, then there will be joy.  It will be the kind of joy that permeates our entire being and spreads to a world that desperately needs hope.  We would become a source of joy that overcomes fear, dread, and resignation.  We would be a light in a weary world where darkness seems to be winning at the moment.  

HAPPINESS IS FOUND IN THE TOPSY-TURVY MESSAGE OF GRACE