Sermon - 2020-02-02
Today our Gospel lesson is one that we often known as the Beatitudes. Jesus tells us what it is God is truly looking for in the world. However, it is not what we expect to hear. We do not hear of the blessing of great power, great wealth, good standing or anything in which we hear of the person obtaining these things under their own power, or striving for them in this world. Rather, these blessings are given by God to a people who are not experiencing them in this world.
Jesus teaches this to the crowd of people because Jesus knows of the broken and sinful ways of this world. The world will strive for something that is NOT god. The world will say one thing and will declare a person, role, or status as what it is we should all strive for and yet, the world is truly leading us away from God. Now please do not misunderstand what I am saying, the Creation itself will truly bear witness to the Work of God in the world. What I am talking about is the message of people in this world.
Time after time, kingdom after kingdom, nation after nation, people after people, shall share a “message of god” but the only way that we know it is true is through God’s Word being fulfilled. The Kingdom of Heaven arriving among the people. However, we struggle with what this Kingdom of Heaven will look like for us. What are the characteristics? Especially when the world has a voice so loud and clear, a message that makes sense to our logic, an image of what it looks like on the television screen or movie screen.
This is the radical message of Jesus. In the time of power, wealth and inequality, Jesus goes to the unworthy. They are the ones whom Jesus cares about. Jesus goes to the beggars, the homeless. He lets them know that God has not forgotten them, but rather God is preparing a place for them. Jesus goes to the prostitutes and tax collectors. The people in the society with whom no one wants to associate. Jesus goes to the expendables, the undesirable. Now, imagine a scenario in which there is never any place for you, no role in which you are recognized, ever. No place for you at the table. No job for you to hold. You are permanently out of place. In fact the people around you declare that you would be better off not there. They glare at you. They call you names. They look through you. Then you are an expendable.
For many of us, we do not think this could be a reality. Not after Jesus, not in our modern times. We have learned far better and are Christians. However, during World War II, the Nazis rose to power and declared the Jewish people, undesirable. The Jews were ridiculed, they were removed from their homes, their businesses destroyed, and their lives uprooted. Are you aware of who did it? Christians. People who declared to be following the way of Christ, but were not following God’s Word. Selecting what they wanted to be the “message of God”, but destroyed the people among them. The Jews were gathered together to be removed.
This past week was Holocaust Remembrance Day. As I was reading through the Beatitudes, I heard the echoes of World War II and the calling of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Yet how easily we ourselves could fall for these words and message even today. We want to say that we are far more educated, and yet many of us have forgotten the words, the teachings, and the culture that gave rise to the Nazis.
Going back to our Gospel lesson today, the people in the crowd that are present at the hillside are there in all walks of life. They were coming to hear a great teacher, prophet, and Man of God who was able to heal the sick and suffering, restoring people, societies, and fulfilling God’s Word among them. They had heard or seen what Jesus was able to do.
What perhaps they were not expecting was the accusations of how it is they are falling short in this world. That indeed, they were in need of God’s Love, God’s Mercy, and God’s Calling. Jesus calls them to be aware of what God is calling them to do. Then asking themselves, are you doing it?
However, this is the reality in which we find ourselves. The world teaches something that we want to hear, that calms our fears, places us in the right, and allows us to gather in the safety and security of the familiar. The Word of God presented to us calls us out of our comfort to be among the world that is in need, to serve the people who feel that they have no place, and to realize that nothing in this world matters without God.
Jesus teaches this to the crowd of people because Jesus knows of the broken and sinful ways of this world. The world will strive for something that is NOT god. The world will say one thing and will declare a person, role, or status as what it is we should all strive for and yet, the world is truly leading us away from God. Now please do not misunderstand what I am saying, the Creation itself will truly bear witness to the Work of God in the world. What I am talking about is the message of people in this world.
Time after time, kingdom after kingdom, nation after nation, people after people, shall share a “message of god” but the only way that we know it is true is through God’s Word being fulfilled. The Kingdom of Heaven arriving among the people. However, we struggle with what this Kingdom of Heaven will look like for us. What are the characteristics? Especially when the world has a voice so loud and clear, a message that makes sense to our logic, an image of what it looks like on the television screen or movie screen.
This is the radical message of Jesus. In the time of power, wealth and inequality, Jesus goes to the unworthy. They are the ones whom Jesus cares about. Jesus goes to the beggars, the homeless. He lets them know that God has not forgotten them, but rather God is preparing a place for them. Jesus goes to the prostitutes and tax collectors. The people in the society with whom no one wants to associate. Jesus goes to the expendables, the undesirable. Now, imagine a scenario in which there is never any place for you, no role in which you are recognized, ever. No place for you at the table. No job for you to hold. You are permanently out of place. In fact the people around you declare that you would be better off not there. They glare at you. They call you names. They look through you. Then you are an expendable.
For many of us, we do not think this could be a reality. Not after Jesus, not in our modern times. We have learned far better and are Christians. However, during World War II, the Nazis rose to power and declared the Jewish people, undesirable. The Jews were ridiculed, they were removed from their homes, their businesses destroyed, and their lives uprooted. Are you aware of who did it? Christians. People who declared to be following the way of Christ, but were not following God’s Word. Selecting what they wanted to be the “message of God”, but destroyed the people among them. The Jews were gathered together to be removed.
This past week was Holocaust Remembrance Day. As I was reading through the Beatitudes, I heard the echoes of World War II and the calling of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Yet how easily we ourselves could fall for these words and message even today. We want to say that we are far more educated, and yet many of us have forgotten the words, the teachings, and the culture that gave rise to the Nazis.
Going back to our Gospel lesson today, the people in the crowd that are present at the hillside are there in all walks of life. They were coming to hear a great teacher, prophet, and Man of God who was able to heal the sick and suffering, restoring people, societies, and fulfilling God’s Word among them. They had heard or seen what Jesus was able to do.
What perhaps they were not expecting was the accusations of how it is they are falling short in this world. That indeed, they were in need of God’s Love, God’s Mercy, and God’s Calling. Jesus calls them to be aware of what God is calling them to do. Then asking themselves, are you doing it?
However, this is the reality in which we find ourselves. The world teaches something that we want to hear, that calms our fears, places us in the right, and allows us to gather in the safety and security of the familiar. The Word of God presented to us calls us out of our comfort to be among the world that is in need, to serve the people who feel that they have no place, and to realize that nothing in this world matters without God.
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