Blessings, Curses, and Angry Chickens

Take out a blue card, or a scratch piece of paper and think about and answer the following question...

What is something that has happened in your life recently (week, month, year) or that you are currently going through that makes you feel NOT blessed?

I can re-state that a little differently. The opposite of blessing is a curse. So, I can restate the question as, “What is something that you are going through that makes you feel cursed?”

Loss of job

Girlfriend broke up with you

A family member died

Can’t pay the mortgage or rent

Or you can’t find a place to live...

Difficult schoolwork

Parents divorcing

We are beginning our Lenten Study a little early this year.

Lent is the 6 Sundays and a partial week leading to Easter. We are taking the next 8 weeks (including today) to go through the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5, 6 & 7. We are going to take a quick survey through these words of Jesus - in 8 weeks we won’t be able to discuss everything. It would take months to unpack it all. But, as we prepare for Easter and the celebration of Resurrection we will go through, briefly, what Jesus has to teach us.

In the backdrop of our reading and understanding of the Sermon on the Mount is an encounter Jesus has in Luke 4. Jesus is in Nazareth and on the sabbath he went to the synagogue. He was invited to read and provide a Rabbi’s interpretation of a passage of the Jewish Holy Texts (for us the Old Testament). Jesus found the Isaiah scroll and turned to these words...

Luke 4:18–19 NLT

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, 19 and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

Again, these words are a quote from Isaiah and we read them earlier. They were words about someone who would come and bring God’s Kingdom, Grace, Justice, Righteousness with Him.

Isaiah 61:1–3 NLT

1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. 2 He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies. 3 To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory.

In the story in Luke, after Jesus has finished reading these words from Isaiah everyone looked at Jesus wanting to know what His interpretation of the text would be. To them, Jesus said,

Luke 4:21 NLT

21 Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

Jesus said that He came to fulfill that promise in Isaiah 61. He came to be God representative of God’s Kingdom. He came to bring God’s grace, Justice, Righteousness with him and to bestow that Grace on those in the world.

The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, 7) is an expansion of what Jesus said initially in Luke 4. And, it is a message of who we are, as Christ’s Disciples, as God’s grace works in us and through us.

So, let’s look at what Jesus said about the things in our life that we think are a curse...

Matthew 5:1–2 NLT

1 One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, 2 and he began to teach them.

The first thing to note … this is for Jesus’ Disciples. Yes, the crowds can hear what Jesus has to say. And, some in the crowd might enjoy what Jesus has to say, and they might decide to follow Jesus. However, what Jesus has to say here is NOT for the crowds, it is NOT for the world. Jesus is speaking to His disciples - to those who have answered His call to follow Him. He is using this time to teach them about what it means to be a disciple of the One who declares that God’s Kingdom has broken through in Him.

Matthew 5:3–12 NLT

3 “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. 6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. 7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. 9 God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. 10 God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 11 “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.

This section is called the beatitudes

The term comes from the Latin meaning “happy”, “fortunate”, “blissful”.

Some say that this is the beatitudes because it shows what our attitude ought to be. However, that is not exactly the case...

Jesus doesn’t say you OUGHT to be hungry, etc… He says blessed are those who ARE hungry. It’s not about striving to be, it’s about who we already are as God works through us.

Here Jesus gives a list of things that most people would consider a curse

Poor, mourn, gentle, hungry, thirsty, merciful, pure, peacemakers/peaceful, insulted, persecuted...

No one strives to be any of these! Not in our world. Not in Jesus’ world either!

“Oh but Pastor,” you say, “Jesus wasn’t actually talking about real hunger or real poverty or real thirst etc… He’s talking about a spiritual condition.”

WRONG! Yes, Jesus mentions a spiritual condition. But, he is actually talking about real hunger. Here’s why.

The people who gathered to listen to Jesus most likely felt hungry, thirsty, poor. They would have heard Jesus use that word and their ears would have perked up. They were actually hungry and thirsty etc… And because of that they could see a spiritual condition at work.

They were hungry and thirsty because no one acted justly and righteously to help them. So, not only were they hungry and thirsty physically, they were hungry and thirsty for someone to act righteously. It’s the same with poverty. Their spirits were broken and poor because no one had a kind and compassionate spirit to assist them in their physical poverty. So, Jesus is not just talking about a spiritual condition. He is talking about a physical condition that has spiritual overtones.

But, no one strives for these conditions.

“Oh, but what about those who go on that reality show “Survivor.” They go hungry and thirsty and they become poor.”

What are they striving for? They are striving to win MONEY!

And even when I was a youth pastor, the youth would do what is called the 30 Hour Famine and we go hungry, the end goal is not hunger, the end goal is that our hunger leads to righteousness. The end goal is to raise money to END HUNGER!

No one volunteers to be poor.

Think about our valley and the number of businesses looking for employers. There is a labor shortage. Now, I am told a lot of it has to do with the number of people who have retired, and no one is wanting to replace them - or there are not enough people in the labor pool to replace them. But, I also know that many people are willing to walk off of jobs where they work 40 or more hours a week and are still poor. People have realized, given various different things/reasons, that they can exit the labor pool and although they are still “poor” they have enough to get by and they aren’t slaving for someone for 40 hours to get paid a poor salary. No one wants a job that provides a 2% cost of living increase a year, when inflation is almost 6% (no one wants to receive a 2% COLA when Social Security is paying out 5.9% as a COLA… People are walking off of jobs because they don’t want to be poor...

The world we live in, and the world Jesus lived in, views all these things as things that didn’t bring blessing.

So, they viewed them and the things on our cards as things that are curses.

Why? Because they are uncomfortable.

Because if someone was going through these situations it meant that something was missing.

Someone who is poor is missing money.

Someone who is hungry is missing food.

Someone who is thirsty is missing something to drink.

Someone who is gentle, merciful, peaceful was viewed as being that way NOT by his/her choosing (these weren’t qualities Romans viewed as acceptable) but they were that way because they were WEAK and WIMPS!

Everyone in the world is out for himself, so why would you be gentle and meek and peaceful by your own choosing? It must be because you are the wimp.

So, no one strives for this! These things are all considered a curse. These things are all uncomfortable.

But, Jesus flips human thought upside down.

He tells us that we are blessed when we are hungry, thirsty poor, peaceful, insulted etc…

YEAH RIGHT!!

But remember, people of faith have a different perspective. And Jesus makes that perspective clear. The things that we consider a curse DO NOT HAVE TO BE a curse. We CAN consider them a blessing.

How? Because we have a different perspective! We have the perspective that even in the midst of a crummy curse feeling situation God is at work.

Blessing is not always a feeling - it is often a faith perspective.

This is why in the midst of something that feels like a curse we can say we are blessed. Because we have the faith perspective that God is working.

One of our favorite passages to quote is Jeremiah 29:11

Jeremiah 29:11 NLT

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

This is a great verse on perspective! God has essentially pronounced a blessing, but the people felt in the middle of a curse. They have been carried off into exile and taken to a land and home that is not theirs.

Imagine if Canada conquered us and marched us off to Calgary, Alberta...

In the midst of this cursed feeling God provides words that have become one our most beloved passages for hope and blessing and God’s plan.

Or what about what Paul says to the church in Rome. In the midst of a discussion on suffering and the future glory that will be revealed and how all creation groans and suffers along with us Paul writes...

Romans 8:28–29 NLT

28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

This verse is another one of our favorites.

But, we have to realize that the blessing is not just that good comes from bad situations if we let God work.

The passage continues to say that the goal of this good that God is working is so that we can be better images of His Son on earth.

This does not mean that God sends us crummy days our way.

This is a reminder that God can still use those crummy days/situations and turn them into a blessing, not a curse, as we become better images of Christ in our world.

So, blessing is about a perspective of faith and not a feeling.

But most Christians are chickens.

We run from what is uncomfortable to what is comfortable.

We don’t want to be hungry. We don’t want to be poor. We don’t want to be insulted.

So, we live comfortable lives that ignore what we think is a curse - but we also ignore what Christ says is a blessing!

And we are especially chickens when it comes to being persecuted.

We don’t mind going to church and staying faithful in the hen house. But, when it comes to living our faith publically we’re chicken.

We aren’t just chicken in that we run away from the uncomfortable, we are chicken in how we react when our world and it’s standards collide with the New Way of Jesus Christ...

Amelia and the Chicken from Hell...

Sometimes we are chicken and fight back… We say, well, the chicken started it. But, we forget that according to our world, we started the brawl too...

The world does something one way, and we do something the opposite way. No, we don’t have to use words all the time. We just live our lives differently. And in doing that we rebel against what is normal and comfortable for the world.

Our world often feels threatened and struck by Jesus followers because we are different (and, it is true that we often feel struck by our world). This is because our standards and ways are so different...

(Move left hand clockwise and right hand counter-clockwise. Have them collide to illustrate the way the world and Jesus followers often collide with each other).

So, when the world is struck it fights back.

We call that persecution.

When my chicken felt threatened she went crazy possessed ape on me. Sometimes amidst persecution and “curses” Christians respond like the chicken and me. We brace up and fight the uncomfortable. But, Jesus highlights a different way...

Christians from God have a faith perspective that somewhere, somehow, in this mess, even when they don’t feel it, they are blessed.

So, look back at your card. Now answer this question.

How can God change my perspective on this situation from feeling cursed to knowing that God can somehow bless me and others because of this?

God might not give you an answer just this moment.

God might never give you an answer.

But, God has invited you into a conversation with Him where you can ask that question; how is this curse a blessing?

And as our perspective on stuff and situations changes we can continue to sing that God is good even when we don’t feel it.