Oh, Happy Day
(Matthew 5: 1-12)
One of the things that left a lasting impression on me when I was in private practice in Texas was the resilience of some of my clients, more specifically, the grandparents of some of my clients. If you were poor and black in Smith County, Texas, you were guaranteed more than your fair share of misery on earth but had the hope of a better day ahead through Jesus Christ.
Many of my young clients were African Americans born into a caste system that seemed intent on maintaining the status quo of privilege, white privilege to be exact. To make matters worse most of my young, incarcerated clients were being raised by their grandparents as their fathers were often in prison and their mothers were lost to drugs and living on the streets. After visiting my clients in the county jail, I would meet with their grandparents in my office to explain the case the state had, the prospects, and the likely outcome. For many of the grandparents this wasn’t the first time they had met with a child’s attorney. I learned that being open, honest, and transparent was the best approach in delivering the troubling news. I found that if you expressed a genuine interest in their feelings and empathized with them that it made facing the prospect of losing another child to the system a little less painful, if that’s even possible.
In any event, I would ask them how they were doing, how they were holding up and much to my initial surprise many would tell me that they were blessed. Blessed was not the response I expected. I expected them to be angry at the system for chewing up and spitting out another young life, I expected them to be resentful towards a system that was intent upon keeping them in their place. I expected them to be disillusioned regarding the prospect of any hope for what lay ahead for their grandchild. Instead, they would tell me that they had faith in God, that it was in His hands and that it would all work out, and for that they were blessed. And then they would tell me that they had faith that I would do all I could and whatever happened it would all be for the best. No pressure there.
And it’s feeling blessed, finding happiness in the prosect that your future is secure in heaven regardless of your struggle here on earth that Jesus is talking about in our scripture reading for this morning. He knows that life is tough for the disenfranchised, for those without privilege, but that he wants them to understand that he is offering them a way to a better life, a guaranteed better life, and for that they should feel blessed, they should be happy. And that’s what Matthew is recording for us in his gospel, Jesus’ message of a better life ahead.
Leading up to what is soon to be known as The Sermon on the Mount Matthew tells us that Jesus had been preaching throughout Galilee, teaching in synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him wherever he went. Matthew records that when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. Jesus had gotten the attention of the people and through his healing of bodily diseases he is indicating to one and all that he is the vehicle of the Kingdom of God that he is proclaiming. Everything up to this point has set the stage for the mission of God through the agency of Jesus’ teaching and actions.
Jesus begins by pulling his disciples aside and gives them what we now know as The Beatitudes, which establishes Jesus’ desires for his followers. These beatitudes have often been heard as requirements for entrance into the kingdom; however, they are better understood as effective announcements of God’s grace that comes with the kingdom. It’s God’s grace that brings this happiness, these blessings, not the superficial happiness that comes from worldly pleasures, but the deep happiness arising from being restored to God’s purposes. Jesus is telling his disciples that those who choose to receive and accept the Good News he is bringing will feel blessed and happy in the knowledge that their future is secure no matter how bad things are now in their earthly lives. He says those who are hopeless are happy because they have been assured that one day the kingdom of heaven will be theirs. Those who grieve will one day be glad because they will be reunited with their loved ones in heaven. And even though it doesn’t seem like it now, those who are humble in their meager existence will one day inherit the earth over those who seem to have it all and don’t want to share. And those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, those who are oppressed and downtrodden will, one day, get theirs, they will be lifted up. He says that happy are those who show mercy, even when it is difficult and inconvenient, will receive mercy for their compassion. And those who have pure hearts, who live lives pleasing to God will be happy because they will get to see God. And those who go out of their way to make peace, to be the voice or reason, who champion what is right, will be called God’s children. Those whose lives are harassed because of their righteousness, doing the right thing even when no one is watching, will be happy because the kingdom of heaven will be theirs. He then tells the disciples that they too will be happy when people insult and harass them, saying all kinds of bad and false things about them because they follow him and as a result they will have a great reward in heaven. For Jesus, they are like the prophets who were harassed long before they became disciples.
This happiness is an expression of the grace of God for those who do not expect or deserve it, the hopeless, those who grieve, the humble, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who are harassed because they are righteous, and those who are insulted and spoken against because of their connection to Jesus. Their happiness is the work of God in giving them the kingdom, in making them glad, in giving the earth as an inheritance, in satisfying their hunger, in granting mercy, in calling them his children, allowing them to see him.
The Sermon on the Mount challenged the proud and legalistic religious leaders of the day just as it should challenge us today. It called them back to the messages of the Old Testament prophets who, like Jesus, taught that heartfelt obedience is more important than legalistic observance. That’s why the red words of the New Testament, the words of Jesus Christ, are so hard for some people to follow. They would rather have the Ten Commandments posted in public school classrooms rather that the Beatitudes. Adhering to the Ten Commandments is a personal choice that people focus on regarding their own behavior whereas the Beatitudes calls us to think of others and what can we do for them. Not that the Ten Commandments are not important, because they are, but Jesus’ teachings in the opening statement of his Sermon on the Mount focuses on the struggles of those who in their hearts are trying to please God by how they live each day.
God’s way of living usually contradicts the world’s way. If you want to live for God, you must be ready to say and do what seems strange to the world. You must be willing to give when others take, to love when others hate, to help when others abuse. And by giving up your own rights in order to serve others, you will one day receive everything God has in store for you. To Jesus, “blessed” means the experience of hope and joy, independent of outward circumstances just like the grandparents I would counsel with in my office. It means that we, as Followers of the Way of Jesus Christ, must live our lives with an emphasis on bringing hope and joy to those who feel hopeless and joyless.
And how do we do that as a church, a church that has served this community for over 130 years? We do it like it has always been done with our time, our talents, and our tithes. Remember what Jesus said in Luke 12: 48: From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. I know it may not seem like it now because we are smaller, older and slower than we used to be but this church has been given much and is currently entrusted with much in our vital hands-on mission efforts. And God has blessed us for taking on this ministry to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and welcome the stranger by making sure that our ministry is well-funded through the generosity of others, many who do not attend this church or, as far as we know, do not go to church or believe in God. But God believes in us which is why we need your continued prayers and support in all we do. We need your time as there is so much to do and so few hands to do it. We need your talents, both the ones you have and the ones that can be developed, to help us meet some of these modern-day challenges not experienced by churches in the past. And we need your tithes, your offerings out of your abundance to help keep us financially sound. Your church leadership has been good and responsible stewards of all you have generously given but it is getting more and more challenging to meet the day-to-day expenses of operating a church with the price of everything going up with no relief in sight. We pray that you will take the time in thoughtful prayer to what you can do to help your church continue to be a blessing to those in our community and as far as we can reach to those who need to be blessed by the love of Christ, so that they too can be happy in the knowledge that there is a truly happy day ahead.
Let us pray.
Gracious God, how we praise and thank you for all the blessings we have received through your unmerited love. We know we are blessed and happy in the knowledge of happier days ahead but too often we forget those around us who are not blessed, who are not happy and are struggling in their daily lives. Many do not know you the way we know you and are wondering if there is a purpose or meaning to their lives when each day brings new problems and suffering. Continue to move us in our efforts to meet the needs of those people with love and charity in hopes that we can lead them to you. And then there are those who do know you, yet they suffer. Again, we pray that you will use us to ease their suffering with love so that they will come to know the blessings of being one of your children. Move us as a church to do all we can to prepare your kingdom here on earth so that when Jesus comes as he promised it will be the happiest of days. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.