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TRUE BLESSEDNESS
The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached, Part 1
Matthew 5:1-12
[A sermon preached by the Rev. Stan Gockel at the
Bellbrook Presbyterian Church on January 30, 2011]
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What makes you happy?
A warm and loving family life?
A job that brings your personal fulfillment and satisfaction?
An income adequate for you to live comfortably,
even to enjoy some of the finer things of life?
What makes you happy?
Good health for you and your family?
A sense of purpose in your life?
Enough leisure time so that you can do the things you most enjoy?
II
A number of years ago the church I served put on the musical, “You’re a Good
Man, Charlie Brown.” Guess who played Charlie Brown?
It’s a wonderful little musical about a typical day in the life of poor old Charlie
Brown and all the trials and tribulations he has to go through—
kids who don’t understand him;
a kite that won’t fly;
a baseball team that never wins a game;
a book report assignment that is too difficult;
and a little red-headed girl who doesn’t even know he’s alive.
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At the end of the musical all the cast members—
Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Snoopy, Sally, Schroeder, and Peppermint
Patty—gather on stage and this is what they sing:
Happiness is finding a pencil, pizza with sausage, telling the time;
Happiness is learning to whistle, tying your shoe for the very first time.
Happiness is playing the drum in your own school band,
And happiness is walking hand in hand.
Happiness is two kinds of ice cream, knowing a secret, climbing a tree;
Happiness is five different crayons, catching a firefly, setting it free.
Happiness is being alone every now and then,
And happiness is coming home again.
Happiness is anyone and anything at all that’s loved by you.
It’s a sweet song from a show with a positive message of love and understanding.
But all of us know that true happiness is much more elusive than that.
All of us have known people who possessed more money than they could possibly
spend, but were empty inside.
All of us have known people who, on the surface, appeared to have it made,
but who underneath were miserable.
Toward the end of his life, Sir Cecil Rhodes, the empire builder of South Africa,
was congratulated by a reporter on his success.
"You ought to be a happy man," said the reporter.
Sir Cecil replied, "Happy? Good Lord, no!"
He went on to say that he spent all his life amassing a fortune, only to find that he
now had to spend it all, half on doctors to keep him out of his grave, and the other
half on lawyers to keep him out of jail.
No doubt the answer was delivered with a touch of humor and hyperbole.
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But it points the proverbial truth that worldly achievement and wealth do not insure
happiness.
On the other hand, all of us have known people who,
in spite of seemingly endless trials, tribulations, and suffering,
radiated a peace and contentment beyond comprehension.
Of course, we all want to be happy—so much so that philosophers over the
centuries have held that happiness is the summum bonum, that is, the highest good
in life.
In the Declaration of Independence our founding fathers asserted that we have
certain inalienable rights, among them " . . . life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness."
We crave happiness;
we demand it as our right;
we pursue it with all our energy.
Most of us may not admit that this is so, but is there any goal in life which we
desire to reach unless it does bring happiness, contentment and inner peace?
Today’s scripture lesson prompts me to ask:
Is it possible that we have the wrong idea about happiness?
Is there something deeper than external happiness—
something that results when we, as persons created in God’s image,
live in God’s world and fulfill God’s purposes for our lives?
In other words, how can we find a state of true blessedness that goes beyond the
surface happiness that all of us know can so easily be an illusion
III
The passage of scripture known as the Sermon on the Mount was written to people
who needed to discover what it means to live as followers of Christ in God’s
kingdom.
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Covering Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7, the Sermon on the Mount comprises the
largest block of teaching in Matthew’s Gospel.
It is Matthew’s attempt to communicate what it means to live as part of the
Kingdom of God—to live by the values of that kingdom.
The Sermon on the Mount has been called “the Greatest Sermon Ever Preached.”
It begins with a series of sayings that have come to be known as the Beatitudes.
Why are they called this?
The Greek word that is translated “blessed” is makarios.
Makarios has been translated a variety of ways:
“blessed,” “fortunate,” “happy,” “to be congratulated,” and “hail to.”
The Latin word for makarios is beatus.
At some point in the history of the Church the noun beatitudo was used to describe
these eight sayings of Jesus.
Through a transliteration of the Latin they became known as the Beatitudes.
The Beatitudes are among the words of Jesus that turned upside down the values of
the social order.
Many see in these verses a summary of Jesus’ ethical teachings.
Yet the Beatitudes are more than a collection of ethical guidelines or
commandments.
These Beatitudes are not rules…they are not moral laws.
Jesus spoke these words to a people for whom religion had, for the most part, been
reduced to a series of rules.
But the Beatitudes are more than rules.
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They are conditions of living,
a state of being,
an expression of what it means to experience true blessedness
as Jesus invites us into a deeper relationship with God,
So listen to them again, but this time from Eugene Peterson’s The Message:
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"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there
is more of God and his rule.
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"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only
then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
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"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no
less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that
can't be bought.
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"You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food
and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.
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"You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find
yourselves cared for.
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"You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put
right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
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"You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of
compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your
place in God's family.
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"You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The
persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.
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"Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you
down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it
means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable.
You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they
don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good
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company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of
trouble.
IV
Here is what I think we need to know about the Beatitudes in order to experience
the true blessedness of Jesus.
First, as I said, the Beatitudes are not ethical guidelines,
commandments,
or exhortations on how to be happy.
Nor are they statements of what we wish could be.
They are, rather, radical statements of what is already true in God’s realm—
what God is already bringing about in the advent of his kingdom.
The Beatitudes are blessings, spoken in the indicative mood, like Walter Cronkite's
closing line: "That's the way it is."
Look at those verbs: "Blessed are... they shall be."
These words from Jesus are radical precisely because they are not commands, not
exhortations, not encouragements to "become blessed."
They are, instead, a statement of the world turned upside down…
A world where those who mourn are comforted
rather than abandoned or merely pitied…
A world where those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are satisfied,
not ignored or shouted down…
A world where the meek inherit the earth rather than
being ground into the dust.
In The Power of One, James Merrell suggests that the Beatitudes may be more
instructive when inverted or read "backwards.”
Doing so gives the Beatitudes an entirely new meaning:
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"The way to Heaven is through poverty . . .
the way to consolation is through genuine sorrow . . .
the way to earthly possessions is through a gentle spirit that is
neither stingy nor possessive . . .
the way to satisfaction is through a hungering and
thirsting for justice . . .
the way to mercy is through mercy . . .
the way to God is through the open, unobstructed, pure heart . . .
the way to a full relationship with God is through the active practice of
peace . . .
the way to God's realm or Kingdom is through the struggle for right
that leads through conflict, pain, and even death itself."
If we take the Beatitudes from this perspective,
they become something more than a guide for happiness
or a recipe for reward.
They are instead, more like a road map for life.
They tell us not so much how we might arrive at our destination…
but rather present us with a commanding view of the landscape
whereupon our lives are lived.
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Friends, the real question raised by the Beatitudes is not,
how do we find happiness?
They are not what the Rev. Robert Schuller called in one of his books “The BeHappy Attitudes.”
That’s not at all what they are.
Jesus is not a pop-psychologist telling people how to be happy.
Ponder Jesus' words and it becomes clear that in his estimation true happiness
depends more on the inner person than on the outward circumstance.
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We tend to think of happiness as depending upon the possession of material
goods—
a new car,
a better house,
a larger income and the means to satisfy all our desires.
No doubt these things could bring us joy—at least for a while.
God wants us to enjoy the fruits of God’s creation,
but these things do not guarantee happiness
nor do they bring us into the state of blessedness that Jesus speaks of.
Perhaps the biggest surprise in the Sermon on the Mount is that God's favor seems
to be granted to those whom society regards as the ones left out or left behind—
namely the poor,
the meek,
the mourners,
the merciful,
those who hunger for justice,
the peacemakers,
and those mistreated in the cause of justice.
Bible scholar K.C. Hanson suggests that the Greek word makarios be rendered as
"honored."
In other words, God honors the very people whom the world…
pushes to the side,
kicks to the curb,
tosses under the bus.
What would it mean if we honored those whom God honors?
What would happen if we stopped playing all of our culture's games for status and
power and privilege?
What would it cost us if we lived more deeply into justice, mercy, and humility?
And more importantly, what blessings await us on that journey?
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It would be quite an adventure, wouldn’t it.
VI
So…right here on the mountaintop, Jesus gathers in all of these people who are
completely bereft and without honor in the world’s eyes.
He gathers them and he gives them (and us) two gifts which more than
compensate for their very real losses.
First, Jesus blesses them with honor.
In front of all the crowds, Jesus ascribes honor to them, declaring that these are the
people whom the God of Israel honors and truly blesses.
Their human fathers may have disowned them,
but they are children of the God who created the universe,
to whom all honor belongs.
And that brings us to the second gift that Jesus gives them and us—
he makes all of us family.
We are children of one Father, and that makes us brothers and sisters.
And that means that neither you, nor I, nor any of the poor, grieving, persecuted
souls who follow Jesus, will ever be bereft in a community that cares for one
another and takes that family relationship with utmost seriousness.
As children of that same heavenly Father,
we discover not just the secret of happiness,
but of true blessedness.
To be used of God rather than to use God;
to comfort rather than to seek comfort;
to give love rather than to merely ask for love.
Christ came to save us, not to satisfy us.
His Gospel teaches that by forgetting self we find who we are.
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When we move from the Kingdom of self to the Kingdom of God…
we discover what that little company of disciples assembled on the
mountainside to hear the greatest sermon ever preached discovered—
the meaning of that Kingdom.
In that discovery you will find the only true blessedness there is!
Amen.
Sources:
William K. Quick, “The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached,” retrieved from http://day1.org/749-the_greatest_sermon_ever_preached
Sarah Dylan Breuer, blog post from http://www.sarahlaughed.net/lectionary/2005/01/fourth_sunday_a.html