Sermon - January 30, 2011

4th Sunday of Epiphany - Year A

The Blessed of Our God

While there are several events between now and then, the big buzz among the campus ministry crowd is our alternative Spring Break Trip to Washington, D.C. We made a group reservation with Amtrak, and in order to honor the contract we have to have the names of participants turned in tomorrow morning.

This will be my first spring break trip to Washington. It seems strange, that in all the years we have been doing trips, even service trips, that I have never taken a group to D.C. There is such great need in the city which houses our Federal Government. The most recent statistics reveal that one in five residents of the city live below the poverty line. Last year alone, and additional 11,000 persons were added to those who live on less per month than many of us spend on car payments. Poverty line for a family of three is $17,098 – or $109 per person per week. 5,320 of D.C.’s residents are homeless. With all the energy poured into Habitat, CROP, and monthly trips to the Southernside Community Center in Greenville, why haven’t we gone to D.C. in these past eighteen years?

Well, to put it bluntly, because I know what a week in Washington D.C. is likely to do. I understand what it is probably going to do. It is going to divide us, and set us at each others soft underbelly unlike anything else we have ever done.

The way we understand Jesus’ words sets the stage for our division. If I were to stop now, and ask how they responded to today’s Gospel lesson I could predict which side of the divide they will occupy.

“When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up to the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them saying….”

What did he teach them? What did he say to them? Did he tell them that as a result of their having come out to the mountain they were about to receive a special blessing? That they would inherit the pearl of great value? That they would soon be the champions in a high stakes version of “King of the hill”?

Or, did he tell them, that the blessings of which he speaks are discovered in the lives of those whom others would shun or ignore or perhaps even exploit.

These verses have the potential to divide us, and set us at each others weak underbelly unlike anything else we will hear all week. In these verses, Jesus lifts up a world view which runs against the conventional wisdom of the world around us. A flow, I might add, which far too many branches of the Church have joyfully embraced. As a result, many have grown comfort¬able with, and prefer, a world in which things are as they appear; a world in which you do get what you deserve; a world in which the goal is to kick, scratch and pull until you make your own way into the Promised Land.

The world view to which Jesus calls his disciples is vastly different from the conventional wisdom of religious systems. Jesus speaks of a world in which the poor are blessed, the mournful are comfort¬ed and the meek inherit the earth. Jesus lifts a reality which runs counter to the lessons we will be taught when we exit those doors.


Time will not allow us to examine each of the beatitudes, but the first three are enough for us to begin to understand how different this vision which Jesus offers is.

Jesus says blessed are the poor, those who mourn, and the meek. It is important to note that his words are not addressed to those who once were the poor, the mournful or the meek. Jesus speaks to those who understand these adjectives as a current reality. Conventional wisdom, the general flow of our society, would say you can't possess these qualities and be blessed at the same time. Religious talk often leads us to believe that poverty, mourning and meekness are the preconditions to receiving the blessings of God. Preconditions but not present reality. Religious talk would have us believe that once we are blessed; our status in life will change. We will become rich, we will be filled with happy thoughts and we will become soldiers in Christ’s spiritual warfare. But that isn't what Jesus says.

Jesus says Blessed are the poor. The poor are blessed because unlike those who are self-sufficient the poor understand the tenuous nature of their existence. The poor, because they can never relax and assume things will be alright, must live every moment searching for that which will bring salvation.

"Have you been saved?" is an often asked question. Those who ask are usually looking for a resounding "YES!" The expectation is for those questioned to express a sure confidence in the fate of their eternal souls. Such confidence is often lacking in the way the poor speak of God. Not that they lack a confidence in God’s grace, rather they are not so brazen as to speak for God or to say what it is that God will do.


Those who spend each day trying to find food for their family are more inclined to respond, "Yesterday, God was gracious enough to save me. This day I lift to God my prayers, asking that salvation may again come." Such is the response of the poor. It is a humble dependence upon God which brings them blessings.

Those who mourn are those who understand the value of relation¬ship. Mournful are those who are aware of their need for another and find themselves separated from the object of their love. Mourners are folks who cry out with their desire for more; more time together, more love, more appreciation of the others gifts.

Joseph Sitter, a professor I had the chance to encounter during my years at the seminary in Chicago, once commented that hunger is the strongest possible testimony to the reality of food. It is our mourning which heightens the awareness of our desire to be united with God.

Those who mourn are blessed – blessed with assurance which comes from searching for that which is lacking but has been glimpsed. Blessed, because they know how empty their lives will remain unless and until they find God.


Blessed are the meek. I can never read this beatitude without remembering an old cartoon. There is this wimpy looking man making his way out of the church. As he shakes ¬hands with the pastor he asks, "Exactly when will the meek inherit the earth?"

The meek are those who have no pretense of power. They are the powerless. As weaklings, they have to find their hope of salvation somewhere else. They place their trust in one who does have the power to care for them. "Blessed are the meek," because they have no option other than to turn to God.

That old cartoon exposes the misunderstanding which too quickly surrounds this beatitude. The false assumption is made that I may have been meek at one time, but now I am meek no longer. The meek inherit the earth and become the dominant. Meekness is considered to be a pre-condition, not a current status. Once the meek inherit the earth meekness is replaced with something else. No longer meek - I am confident of what I am able to do. When this happens, self-confidence replaces confidence in God. Personal power replaces the power of the cross. Suddenly, the only difference between Jesus' disciples and the world around them is the place they gather on Sunday morning - will it be the worship center or the golf course.

Jesus does not address persons who once were poor, mournful or meek. He speaks to those who are hungering, thirst¬ing, and merciful.


The blessed are not those who have it made. The blessed are those who spend their days searching, striving, and hoping for the blessings of our God. Jesus reveals to us the blessings which come to those who learn to depend not upon themselves, but upon God.

The trip to Washington, D.C. will have us sharing housing with the homeless. We will eat our meals with those who live from one handout to the next. We will likely take a bunch of pictures, with our high-tech digital cameras, race to be the first to load them into our laptop and post them to Facebook. Don’t worry, Mom and Dad, our cell phones will remain fully charged and the insurance policy has a rider which allows us to come home - free of charge- should a snow storm clog the city streets and ruin our tour of the Capital Building. Senator Lindsay Graham knows we are coming. His staff is setting out coffee and cake for us on Thursday. We may encounter the poor, the mournful, and the meek, but we will be well protected from their malady’s.

Yeah, this is a bad idea. It is much safer to stay in our own little bubble and do our own little thing rather than go up there and have some member of the K Street Choir (that is choir comprised of homeless women) read with us - again and anew - the words of Jesus.


Amen.