Unexpectedly Blessed
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Intro to the Sermon on the Mount
Intro to the Sermon on the Mount
Welcome to our Fall 2024 Sermon Series: Rabbi Jesus Speaks.
“Rabbi” is the Jewish name for a teacher - and while Jesus is much more than a teacher he is certainly no less. What he taught about
We are going to spend from now until Advent sitting in the core teachings of Jesus found in Matthew 5-7 that have often been referred to as “The Sermon on the Mount”.
These teachings are foundational for followers of Jesus
outline a totally different kind of people.
They are more than philosophy. This is not about what you believe but about what you “do”.
Sometimes we have turned Jesus “Way” of life into a series of things to believe.
We think that if we just think the right things we’re in God’s Kingdom.
Jesus will be clear that it is hearing AND doing that is the Way of Jesus.
E.Stanley Jones & his work in India - parsing out the philosophy of Jesus
What is unique about what Jesus offers is it is embodied and livable. And he embodied and lived it and showed us how by example and later by the Spirit.
When the people of God LIVE this new creation reality it is both countercultural and transformational.
The most confusing thing is people who claim the name of Jesus but do not follow the WAY of Jesus.
And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
As Matthew records the beginning of Jesus’ ministry we see that he is teaching, he is making a proclamation that the kingdom of God has come, and he is healing. His teaching begins in the synagogues where maybe he is rubbing shoulders with some of the more reflective or religiously educated but the words he speaks are given authoritative power by the powerful healings of body and spirit that are taking place.
Crowds begin to gather - and the crowds that come are those who are desperate for a healing: the sick, those afflicted with diseases, pain, those oppressed by demons, people having seizures, paralytics. They are coming from regions where they worship YHWH, they are coming from regions (like Samaria) where their spiritual orthodoxy is in question, and they are coming from regions where other gods are worshipped.
It’s an eclectic bunch - but what they have in common is desperate need.
I want to you to picture that crowd in your mind. Dirty, diseased, exhausted from travelling but hopeful. Bodies managing their pain - loved ones managing their confused and disoriented friends waiting for deliverance. These are the beggars, the nobodys, the left behind.
So, when Jesus says: “Good news! God’s Kingdom is coming”. They may be expecting to turn and see a procession of noble warriors on horses, statesmen, and lawmakers coming to establish a new order in this long oppressed corner of the Roman Empire --- but instead he holds up a mirror --- and tells them they are the Kingdom people.
And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
We’re going to be exegeting from Matthew’s version of the core teachings we often call the Beatitudes but I wanted to read Luke’s too - because Luke makes it so obvious that Jesus is not just using literary metaphors when he talks about poverty of spirit or people who mourn and weep - he’s looking at actual people living what most of us consider the worst case scenerios and he says: “You are so fortunate! The Kingdom of Heaven is for you.”
Makarios
Makarios
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
You may have the title “The Beatitudes” over this portion of the text in your english bible. In English beatitude means: “complete happiness that comes from being blessed by God.”
You’ll notice the repetition of the word: Blessed.
In greek this is Makarios: blessed, happy, fortunate. But it’s not just a description.
One commentator described it as almost a salutation you might use to celebrate the good fortunate of someone.
So, in English it might be something like: “Congratulations!”
One writer suggested: “You lucky bums!” or “Right on!”
But he also noted that the congratulations isn’t about the person - but where they are positioned in relation to God’s esteem. So maybe: “God smiles on you!” or “In-alignment”
Like: In-alignment are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Nothing quite hits the nail on the head but I think you get the picture!
The challenge of the Beatitudes is that it’s a little surprising - even unsettling - the things God says are blessed. We’ll look at some of them today and some of them next week.
As we go - take note of how different Jesus’
Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
There are two words commonly used for poor in New Testament Greek. One refers to people who are, what we would call working class poor. They work hard, long hours for a subsistance living and scrape by with barely enough day by day. This is not the word Matthew uses. Instead he uses the word ptochos (ptokhos) which is a word that means: “one who crouches and cowars - beggarly, poor.” This is a kind of poverty where you cannot help yourself. Destitute, without hope of survival apart from the mercy of others.
This is the word Luke uses also. And probably the crowd in front of Jesus was filled with many (ptokhos)
So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them.
They are here because they are desperate and cannot help themselves. They have undergone the process of a forced humility. They have moved from trusting their strength to care for themselves to asking for help from others.
Maybe some of you have had a similar experience - even if only temporarily. Perhaps after a surgery, an injury, an extended sickness. It stopped you in your tracks - you couldn’t do the basic things of life. You needed help to feed yourself, do up your buttons, drive, walk a few steps to the bathroom.
These kind of experiences mess with your sense of identity. You’re used to helping others - you don’t want to be the one helped. There’s a process to surrender - embarassment, wrestling with pride, stubborn resistance to help, frustration and anger over failing on your own, begrudging resignation, humbly asking for help.
The ptokos poor have already travelled that road. And Jesus says: “Congratulations! Right on! to those who are poor in spirit. Who have come to the end of themselves and know that apart from the sustenance of God they are helpless. Those who have traded self confidence and self reliance for God confidence and God reliance.
Congratulations! The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to them.
These are the people that Jesus’ Kingdom will be established through - because they have already surrendered the ideas of the false Kingdoms - that power, success, recognition are where true life is. - and they have embrace that true life is only from God.
Later as Jesus is teaching his disciples this idea of power and greatness comes up. Even those who followed Jesus around daily couldn’t always grasp how different the kind of Kingdom he was brining was.
In Matthew 18:1-4
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
When you have nothing to offer… (and you finally know it )you are in the perfect position to inherit the Kingdom of God.
“In God’s economy, spiritual emptiness comes before filling, and spiritual poverty before riches. Happiness, Jesus said, comes from admitting that we are lacking, and then asking Him to come into our lives. God stands ready and able to show His boundless mercy.” - Billy Graham
Blessed are those who Mourn
Blessed are those who Mourn
No one chooses mourning. No one wants mourning. A death of a loved one. The terror of a diagnosis and all that will change in our life. A loss of a hope - a dream - a relationship. Mourning is sudden, sharp, and painful wracking our body with sobs. It is also slooooow, ever present sitting like a fog over our daily activity.
Mourning is isolating. Maybe particularly so in our culture where we tend to expect people to tuck it away after a certain period of time and just get on with life as normal.
In the Jewish culture Jesus was speaking into there was a stronger culture of corporate mourning. People gathered, wept together, (there were even professional mourners to hire to accompany you in this time…I’m not sure I would feel comforted by that…). In the case of a death the women prepared the body - hands on in the process of acknowledging the loss as the feet are anointed and wrapped, the hands you held, and finally the face you loved - looking at it for the last time before wrapping it for burial.
Engaging in mourning is an invitation. An invitation to present the rawness of our grief to God and others and allow them to comfort us.
But it is vulnerable.
Sometimes we prefer not to allow ourselves to mourn. To express our loss with more powerful emotions like anger, blame, resentment which sour to bitterness over time.
Or perhaps we prefer not to feel it at all - and numb the mourning with food, drink, tv, busyness - whatever distracts us and keeps the wheels turning on life.
But Jesus describes those who mourn as Kingdom of God people. They know with every fibre of their being that death and suffering is out of place in God’s Kingdom resist it not through denial but through expression
The process of mourning is blessed. And by blessed I mean — filled with the special presence of God in a unique way.
How?
Jesus says: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
The word for comfort is: paraklethesontai. Sound familiar? It’s the same root as the word paraclete that is used for the Holy Spirit when he comes to dwell in us as comforter, counsellor, helper.
The blessing for those who mourn is that God promises to be present with them. To lend his strength to their weakness - to intercede in their struggle.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
Though no one would volunteer for a season of mourning I have heard many people describe how particularly aware they were of God’s comfort during that period and because of that the mourning is a precious experience.
Blessed are the meek
Blessed are the meek
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
I’m not sure what you associate with the word meek. But sometimes it can be seen as someone who is weak, cowering, uncertain, almost invisible - a pushover.
I don’t know where those associations came from but it is not from the bible. There are only two people described as meek as a character trait in the Bible and it’s Moses and Jesus. Neither of these were spineless, fearful, or weak individuals.
In fact they each bore significant power from God - in different ways - but they bore it humbly. Not to dominate but to serve.
Gentleness and meekness are synonymous. In Galatians 5:22-23 Paul identifies gentleness/meekness as a quality of God’s Spirit at work in us to make us like Jesus.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
But how do the meek inherit the earth? Look around? Who controls the earth? Those with power, those with money, those with resources, those with influence, intelligence, connections.
In Psalm 37 David wrestles with this idea too - how is it that evil people end up with influence and power and not those who follow God?
Verse 37 tells us that their time is short. He will intervene.
In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
But the meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in abundant peace.
Now, God’s idea of a “little while” and ours is not the same. In many instances He is playing the long game…constantly presenting opportunities for people to repent, to realign with His Kingdom - but as God works the meek play a role in partnering in this work.
I’ll thank pastor/author Darrell Johnson for this summary of how the meek will ultimately “win”.
“[David] looks at it from many angles, describing it in terms of what the meek do and do not do. The meek trust in the Lord (vs.3), do good in the face of evil (vs. 3), cultivate faithfulness (or trust), delight themselves in the Lord (vs. 4), rest in the Lord (vs.7), and wait patiently for Him (vs.7). Clearly meekness is not a passive quality.” (Darrell Johnson)
“Furthermore, the meek do not fret because of evildoers (vs.1), do not envy (vs.1), cease from anger and forsake wrath (vs. 8) and depart from evil (vs 27). Clearly, meekness is also not a spineless quality, for it takes great strength to cease from anger!” ( Darrell Johnson)
Like the poor in Spirit and those who mourn the meek are entirely dependant on God’s action in order to inherit the earth. They lean into God’s power instead of grasp for the corrupted power of self serving control that is the staple of the Kingdom of this world. And ultimately - because God’s Kingdom is coming in power - he will entrust the stewardship of His new creation to the humble who serve him over self.
How does it look to live out meekness? I think this description from Stuart Briscoe is a great illustration:
“The meek roll their lives, their cares, their reputations onto the Lord and let the Lord worry about it all. The meek are those who, when offended, committ their wounded egos and the one offending their ego, to the Perfect Judge. the meek can say to herself, ‘What she did to me was wrong. But she is answerable to God, so I’ll let God deal with her. But I am answerable to God, too. So I’m going to concentrate on doing right by her.” - Stuart Briscoe
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
You can probably see how each of these traits is interacting with one another…
At the centre of all of them is a deep dependance on the work of God and a deep longing for God to bring a new kind of order to the brokenness experienced in our world.
Here, with those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.. Jesus emphasizes not only the duty to do righteousness - but the motivation. There were many religious people practicing law righteousness but it was for the wrong kingdom - for the approval of others or to manipulate God into action.
For Kingdom people the motivation is love for God and for his Creation. That’s why it manifests as a hunger....a longing…a sense that God’s design is being disrupted and needs to be set right. They share these feelings with God - that is why Jesus came to begin that healing and start the clock on New Creation.
Here is where meekness is a key Kingdom characteristic.
A hunger and thirst for righteousness without meekness and the practice of a patient waiting on God can overflow into making a righteousness by our own strength. Protesting the evil, villanizing the perceived oppressor, fighting fire with fire - as the OT would say eye for an eye.
Jesus will address that in startling ways as we go on in this series but for now we will acknowledge that the hunger and thirst for righteousness is a Kingdom quality.
We cannot understate the importance of righteousness:
Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
and his righteousness endures forever.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
love and faithfulness go before you.
And the heavens proclaim his righteousness,
for he is a God of justice.
Righteousness is not checking boxes and getting gold stars for good behaviour. It is the ecosystem within which Creation and all relationships within it function for mutual health and thriving.
“There is absolutely no concept in the Old Testament with so central a significance for all the relationships of human life as that of [righteousness]. It is the standard not only for man’s relationship to God, but also for his relationships to his fellows, reaching right down to the most petty wranglings - indeed, it is even the standard for man’s relationship tot he animals and to his natural environment.”
- Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology vol 1
Righteousness means being aligned with God’s design for the world, for human relationships, for our relationship with God. It means all is right. Shalom. Ordered and at Peace.
To have an inner discomfort with the status quo is to be awake to God’s desires for the world.
And the promise Jesus gives to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness is that they will be filled.
He is already beginning this work as he moves through the crowds bringing healing, delivering people from the power of oppressive spirits, teaching a new way of living. We will see that after his resurrection and the coming of the Spirit this is amplified by the work of the Church where it is faithful.
Upside down Kingdom
Upside down Kingdom
Last week we showed a clip of The Chosen’s representation of this teaching of Jesus. Jesus describes the Beatitudes as “a map”. A way to look for Jesus and his work. So far this week our map has lead us to:
The Poor in Spirit
The Mourning
The Meek
Those who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness
He is present in those places. His Kingdom takes root in the surrender of ourselves to let Him be King in place of self sufficientcy, power, strength.
While each of these require a personal response - the Kingdom power comes when the many are humble together, the collective shares in mourning, the meek wait together and build one another up in faith and worship and trust. When all those with hungers for righteousness begin to obediently walk together in the world bringing good and light....
Jesus is proclaiming a new people. He is inviting the unlikely.
He is inviting us.
This is the Church - fully surrendered.
This is the Kingdom come.
Prayer:
Our Father in heaven
hallowed by your name.
Your Kingdom come,
your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Holy Discomfort
Holy Discomfort
Well…that’s where we’ll wrap up for today.
If you feel uncomfortable because you really don’t like these character traits
Tension between the two kingdoms
Sit in it. Notice it. Ask God about it.
COMFORTABLE WITH THE KINGDOM WE’RE IN
DANGER OF NOT DOING
So, I just want to flag a danger here as we begin. The danger is that we are so over familiar with the words of The Sermon on the Mount that we let its meaning roll off of us without penetrating our practice.
In both the Matthew and Luke compilations of Jesus’ core teachings the section concludes with the image of the two builders - wise and foolish:
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
He emphasizes that the wisdom in the words is not in the knowledge but in the practice. But as you will see as we go - the practice of Jesus’ way often puts us in the awkward position of being at odds with what
house built on sand that falls in the storn and the house built on rock
The problem with these teachings, you see, is that they are quite a radical way to live.
Last week some of you were here for our last summer brunch of the season. You’ll remember we took the time to read through the two chapters of Matthew that we’ll be looking at and also looked at some videos from the Bible Project that outlined the pattern and structure of the teachings. The whole last
If you have been following Jesus for many years you’ve certainly encountered these teachings beforoe but the challenge is to y
