Reflections on “Life and Death” Matthew 5: 1-12

The final sermon of the five sermon series on the Beatitudes.  I was trying to capitalize on Jesus' shift to "you" language at the end of the Beatitudes and figure out a way to connect the context in which Jesus spoke when he followers might be persecuted and reviled to our context in which most of us are not threatened with persecution and revulsion.  

I never quite got the ending where I wanted, although that is not the fault of the Charge I borrowed from my friend Karl Travis.

As I told the congregation each week, if nothing else, they heard the Beatitudes five different times, which should have some benefit, regardless of the sermons!

“Life and Death”  SAPC, February 16, 2020, Beatitude series Week 4;   Matthew 5: 1-12

When Jesus[a] saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely[b] on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Introduction:  There I was, standing at the top of the mountain, looking out over the mountainside where they think Jesus delivered these words we know as the Beatitudes.

The mountainside ran down the southern slopes of the Korazim Plateau to the Sea of Galilee.  In truth, it does not look quite like a mountain, if you are thinking of the Colorado Rockies.  IN the Gospel of Luke, the section that has the beatitudes is called the sermon on the plain. that seems more in keeping with what I see as I gaze out over this wide plain sloping downward.

I am standing just past the shoulder of the road reading the Beatitudes to the group from St. Andrew.  Scholars tell us that the acoustics in Jesus’ time meant that if the wind were blowing down the mountainside, he voice would have really carried so all could have heard him.  I am fighting against the road noise.

Jesus spoke his own words; I am reading his words from an iPad.

The time, circumstances, and people have changed; and yet, these words still speak to us.

Final week of the Beatitudes.  three thoughts

Move 1:  First of all, in this final section of the Beatitudes, we hear Jesus invite us, call us, challenge us to own our call to discipleship

a.  You notice the shift, of course, in how Jesus addresses the disciples and those gathered.

1.  Jesus had been speaking in the third person.

2.  “Blessed are those….” 

3. A reference to those other people.

4.  The disciples can identify with them or not.

b. But now Jesus shifts to the second person.

1. “Blessed are you…”

2.  Jesus personalizes it for the disciples.

3. the Beatitudes are no longer words about those other people with whom we can choose to identify or not.

4. Now it is about you, Jesus calling on the disciples to claim for themselves the Beatitudes and the discipleship they are called to live out in response to hearing the Beatitudes.

c.  Eric Barreto notes that the mountain, for both Moses [who went up Mt. Sinai to encounter God] and Jesus [who is sharing these Beatitudes on a mountainside], the mountain represents “a crossroads of human life and divine instruction, a sacred place where the heavens and the earth meet. This meeting of the divine and the mundane is not ethereal, however, but tangible”http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4367, Eric Barreto; Princeton Theological Seminary

1.  In the moment Jesus utters the Beatitudes, the call of God reaches down from the heavens to claim disciples who are willing to follow and live in keeping with the Beatitudes.

2.  The disciples hear Jesus move from instruction to challenge - do you want to follow me and live your lives accordingly he asks them.

3.  Mark Powell suggests that this shift in how Jesu addresses the disciples is also felt by those who read and hear this text in the years and centuries that follows, people like us (Powell, God with Us, 139-140).

1.  The disciples are challenged by Jesus to claim discipleship as their own.

2.  As the hearers of these words generations later, we discover the same challenge.

3. do we accept this mantle of disciples?

4.  do you accept this mantle of discipleship

Move 2: Which, of course, leads to a second thought - do we want to own this call to discipleship?

a.  Jesus does not make discipleship sounds so great.

1.  “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely[b] on my account. “

2. Sign me up.  Or, maybe not?

3. Jesus compares being a disciples to the prophets.

2. How great is that?  We remember the prophets and remember how they were treated.

3.   the people rejected them.  The ruling authorities threatened them, even chased them out of town on occasion.

3. do you want to be like the prophets?

b.  Of course, being reviled and persecuted does not seem that likely in our context.

1. there are places in the world today where people are persecuted for being followers of Jesus, but that threat seems rather low here in Denton, TX.

2.  Have you ever been persecuted for your beliefs?  

3. I think the worst it gets for me is being  condescended by those who are not sure being Presbyterian is really being a disciple of Christ.

4. But even then, there is a lot less persecution and a lot more “I’m praying for you to see the light!”

c. so how do we understand Jesus call to claim our disciplehsip?

1.  notice that Jesus says you will be reviled and persecuted “on my account.”

2.  to live our lives on his account, to pattern our discipleship on him, might be an invitation to risky discipleship.

3. To live in ways in which we say and do things as we believe Jesus might call us, instead of doing what the world might expect us to say or do.

4. Bishop Paul V. Marshall, Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem once asked the question:  “ Is it possible - and I'm just asking - that if being a Christian has not really affected your standard of living, you may well be a believer, but perhaps you are not yet a disciple of Jesus?” (this quote is left in my illustrations file from a time when I was less diligent about referencing quotes).

5. Jesus moves from teaching about how God is at work, how God interprets the world around them, how they understand God’s promises to the question, “Are you willing to make it personal?”

5.  jesus finishes the Beatitudes with a personal invitation, maybe demand, for his disciples, for those gathered, for us, to step forward and live for him, choosing the way of the Beatitudes over the way of the world.

Move 3: Finally, Jesus calls his disciples, calls those in the crowds who want to join with him, and calls us to rejoice and be glad.

a.  the only imperative, the only command voice in the Beatitudes is found in this final section.

1. Rejoice and be glad.

2. Jesus sees the call to discipleship and the challenge of discipleship to be cause for rejoicing.

b. Why?  Because Jesus knows all about the cycle of discipleship.

1. To follow Jesus gives us life.

2.  Life as a disciple may lead to death (indeed, all of life leads to death), but in death we find salvation and eternal life.

3. Jesus can dare to call us to risky discipleship because he knows that salvation awaits us.

4. In that hope and promise, we find our lives of discipleship.

Conclusion:  A few months ago, I had the opportunity to hear a colleague and friend (Karl Travis at an Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary luncheon) share the Charge and Benediction at the end of a gathering.  

you know, the Charge is what  Lisa or I typically say at the top of the steps as worship comes to a close.

 I often say, “go in peace.” 

 I was struck at the words he spoke, which went something like this:  “May God haunt you with a seemingly impossible task. May God bother you until you take it up. May God give you the trust and confidence to use your abilities faithfully, until you meet success or otherwise. Then — and only then — may God grant you peace.”

I have reflected over those words in the last few months.  It seems to me it patterns itself after Jesus’ invitation - first the risky discipleship, then rejoice and be glad at the peace God gives you.

Amen.