Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God
our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text:
(Matthew 5:1-12)
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in
heaven,
for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Prayer:
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in
your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
We
often think that the church is made up simply of the people who are here, or of
Christian people all throughout the world. But this is only a small part of it:
all those who have died in the faith before us are also gathered, with many
thousands of angels. We confess this every Sunday before we receive the Lord’s
Supper, when we say: With angels and archangels and with all the company of
heaven, we adore and magnify your glorious name.
The
word “saint” means a “holy person.” Most often in the Old Testament, a “holy
one” means an angel. In Zechariah 14 it says: The Lord my God will come, and
all his holy ones with him. But now that Jesus has come, the saints include
everyone who is baptised. St Paul says: As many of you as were baptised into
Christ have put on Christ. Everyone who has put on Christ, who is
baptised, are given the status of the angels, making one choir and one church,
just like the shepherds at Christmas time. At the beginning of almost all
Paul’s letters, he addresses his listeners as “saints”. Often Paul has to teach
them something they don’t know yet, or rebuke them for their sin. They are
saints—even though they are ignorant and still wrestling sin. They aren’t
saints because of their good works, but because of Christ’s good
works. They have put on Christ through baptism. The saints in
heaven have finished the struggle with sin—but the saints of earth are still
fighting. But together we join together to make one holy, Christian church,
the communion of saints.
Christians
don’t gather themselves together like a volunteer organisation. Instead, the
Holy Spirit has gathered us. So often, people end up in church on a particular
Sunday where the sermon spoke right to their heart and needs—they didn’t plan
it, and neither did the pastor. It was the Holy Spirit’s work. We confess: I
believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ or
come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel…In the same way,
he calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian church on
earth.
What
does the Holy Spirit gather us to, and allow us to come to? We come to share
and rest under God’s blessing. Our Lord Jesus comes to his extend his
arms upon us every week to speak his rich blessing to us.
In
our Gospel reading today, Jesus speaks nine blessings upon his disciples. Often
we call them the “Beatitudes”. Each of them begins with the words: Blessed…blessed…blessed.
Jesus showers each of his blessings on his church, and points us forward to
the time when we will see the heavenly Jerusalem with our own eyes. We read: 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:
I.
Jesus
says: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Each
of us has a human spirit: God breathed into [Adam’s] nostrils
the breath of life. But this created spirit should be united to
God’s eternal, uncreated Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 6 we read: He who is
joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
Jesus
joins our spirits to his wonderful, life-giving Holy Spirit in baptism, and he
makes us poor in spirit. He’s not talking about money: although rich
people like us have a great temptation to idolise our money, Jesus doesn’t play
favourites with the financially poor. Rather, Jesus wants our minds and hearts
to think like his. Just as Jesus Christ emptied himself, and humbled
himself to the point of death, so also Jesus gives us this same mind. Have
this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus. And
so Jesus empties our spirits, and makes them poor, so that he can fill us up
with himself and his blessing. Don’t think that you are spiritually rich
or have lots of good things to fill Jesus up with! Rather, Jesus says: Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs in the kingdom of heaven.
II.
Jesus
says: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
It
is false to say Christians will always be happy in his life. We are united to
the man of sorrows. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said: My soul
is very sorrowful, even to death. We share one Spirit with this man,
and we are members of his body.
Because
of our sin, our hearts are full of idols. We always fear, love and trust
something more than God. Whenever something rivals our love for God, Jesus
pulls out his hammer and smashes this fake god in us. And this makes us mourn. Also,
often even good things are given to us only for a time, and then they are taken
away. However St Paul says: Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to
salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. Worldly
grief wants to have back what we can’t have. Godly grief is happy to endure the
pain that draws us closer to Jesus. And so Jesus says: Blessed are those who
mourn, for they shall be comforted.
III.
Blessed
are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Often
people think that we need to change the world by getting angry and starting a
revolution. But this is not the attitude of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus
says: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Psalm
24 says: The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. At the
beginning of the world, the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the
waters. Now if we are united to this Jesus, and are filled with this
Holy Spirit, why despair? Why seethe and burn with anger? St John even
writes: I saw a new heaven and a new earth. There is great
courage to be found in the gentleness and meekness of Jesus. It is the
gentleness that comes from that eternal peace in which God created and formed
the world. It is the peace which transcends all understanding. And so
Jesus says: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
IV.
Jesus
says: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they
shall be satisfied.
Through
baptism, we are united to Jesus, and he makes us holy. Jesus gives us his
holiness as a gift and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
But we will also
see another law at work in us, sin dwelling in us. And so Christians pray to
God: As the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.
We long to be free of our sin—and so Jesus forgives us even now, and in the
next life, he will completely take it away. So Jesus says: Blessed are those who hunger for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
V.
Jesus
says: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Our
union with Christ in baptism is completely by mercy. God has got nothing to
lose in saving us and everything to give, even though it cost him the life of
his Son.
It’s God’s nature
to be merciful and to pour out his blessings on his creation. What have we got
to lose if we are merciful to others? God has forgiven us our sins. What
have we got to lose is we forgive those who sin against us? Blessed
are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. When we were merciless, God
showed us infinite mercy. What else will God will do if we are merciful, than
to show even more mercy?
VI.
Jesus
says: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
We
often think that we have to achieve purity of heart by our own works and
efforts. But there is nothing we can do that will eradicate the impurity of our
hearts.
This
purity of heart is already given to us through the Holy Spirit in baptism. Acts
19 says that God cleanses hearts by faith. Now that this Holy Spirit is
united to our poor spirits, we will be tempted towards all kinds of impurity.
Jesus encourages us not to give up and promises that the pure in heart…shall
see God. What wonderful encouragement Jesus gives us!
VII.
Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Colossians
1 says: In [Christ] the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through
him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making
peace by the blood of his cross.
The
Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. And the fullness of God dwells in him. It
is God’s nature to reconcile people to himself, which he did making peace through
Christ’s blood.
Just
as the Son of God, Jesus Christ, made peace between God and us, so also Jesus
says: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. The
church is called to speak this peace as his children, and when our hostility
towards God is broken down, it can only follow that our hostility towards
others will also break down.
VIII.
Blessed
are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.
In
this Beatitude, Jesus finishes in the same way as he started. First he said: Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now he says: Blessed
are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.
We
should always be slow to quote this beatitude about ourselves. We might be
persecuted, but maybe not for righteousness’ sake—it might be because we were a
right pain in the neck! Let’s make sure we know the difference.
The
righteousness of Christ comes from his word and from the gospel of free
forgiveness. It is not a righteousness that comes from us.
The
true persecution of Christians is always an innocent persecution. The Gospel is
spread so often not through people who love Jesus, but through the people who
hate him. We think these people give Jesus a bad reputation, but they can’t
control how far their rumours will spread—some may hear those same rumours and
be stirred by the Holy Spirit to find out the truth. The world can’t help but
tell twice as many people about Jesus as Christians! Their persecution is a
living witness to Christ’s innocence.
And
so Jesus goes on further, and says: 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.
We see now
why this reading has traditionally been read on All Saints Day. It says: For
so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Every prophecy uttered
in God’s name is persecuted by the world, and every saint who ever took the
name of God upon their lips has been persecuted by the world, the devil and
their flesh.
Now,
there have been many prophets who were before us, such as Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Elijah and Elisha. And sometimes they spoke words they
didn’t know how would be fulfilled in the future.
And, here
we are in the church today: and we take upon our lips the living word of God.
We sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God, and when we do these
things, St Paul says that we are filled with the Holy Spirit. We are
like prophets. Every time we greet our fellow Christians and bless them, it is
just like when the Virgin Mary greeted Elizabeth, who was filled with the Holy
Spirit and the baby in her womb leaped for joy. Every time we confess the
creed, we are taking prophetic words upon our lips—because we know that our
faith will be fulfilled in the future at that time when we will see all the
saints gathered around the throne of God. Revelation 19 says: The testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Do you
realise how significant everything is that you say on Sunday mornings? The
creed? The hymns? The songs? The parts of the liturgy? You can’t even begin to
imagine how these prophesies will be fulfilled!
And so you
stand in a long line of prophets who were before you. And when the world
chooses to go out and spread lies about the poor in spirit, the mourning, the
meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in
heart, the peacemakers—when the world in its sinful human spirit persecutes the
Holy Spirit, then rejoice and be glad, for your reward
is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Blessed…blessed…blessed.
Amen.
Lord
Jesus Christ, we thank you for sending us your Holy Spirit in baptism and
gathering us into your church. Pour out your blessings upon us, as you did to
all those people who have come before us. Amen.
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