Sermon from November 2, 2014

Sunday, November 2, 2014, All Saints Day

The reading

 

Matthew 5.              
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.  Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:  "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.  "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.  "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.  "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  "Blessed are you when people 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 in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you

The message

I spent a few days this week away at the Bishops retreat at a center up in Ct. during the time there, I had a chance to meet, talk to, pray with and be encouraged by other Lutheran pastors serving in the metro NY Area.  The event included talks by a retired seminary teacher on the marks or signs of the church.  This comes out of Martin Luther’s answer to the question, If a stranger walked into my church, how would they know it was a church and not a school, concert, or social club.  Luther’s answers include preaching / sharing of God’s word, Baptism, mutual comfort and consolation, Holy Communion and the forgiveness of sins.   In short, the church can be known and identified by the following of God’s commands, the sharing of God’s gifts and how we act towards each other.  These signs of the church are gifts that God gives us to reassure each other of God’s promises and tools that we can use to share the Gospel. 

The things I heard and worked though this week have helped me see today’s famous Gospel reading in new ways.  We can see this reading as Jesus guide to life.  Here, the word blessed means something like satisfied, content or even happy. The 9 or 10 things that Jesus says will lead to a satisfied or happy life all center on living in a counter-cultural, other worldly way. They encourage us to live for God and each other instead of ourselves.  They demand that we live like people who know this life and whatever stuff we have here is not all there is. In many ways, that word, that promise of eternal life, that Christ is arisen and we will arise, is one that we all gather around today on All Saints Day. That is the promise that many of us have entrusted our parents, friends, and other loved ones to. 

Thinking about the marks or signs of the church have helped me to see this reading in a deeper way, Jesus words do offer the comfort of better things to come when the suffering of this world ends but they also invite us to actively live them out here and now, to let them shape how we act like church.

First, I want to share just a little about where this reading fits into Jesus ministry.  This conversation happens right at the start of Jesus work.  Before this, Jesus was Baptized, fasted and faced the devil in the wilderness, reached out to his first followers, and started to heal the sick, ease the suffering and cast out evil. Today’s reading is the first time that Jesus speaks to his disciples personally, preparing them to accompany him in his work.  The disciples are probably intimidated or downright scared by the great crowd of curious, frightened, hopeful, confused, excited and amazed people.  Jesus challenges them to be brave and bold in their work, to be fearless in their proclamation, generous in their sharing and trusting in their community. This strength comes from knowing that in the end, after life, after death, after the powers of this world have faded and the walls of this world have collapsed, God’s will is going to be done.       

That is the challenge to us, to hear these statements as a source of power and strength, as a sign of who we are as God’s people.  To hear Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven and realize that means we can reach out to, walk with and love people who struggle with their faith, who question, wonder or challenge, who are addicted or different, who are burdened with poverty, worn out with anxiety or let down, disappointed, or frustrated, we can speak God’s word of love and welcome to each of them, knowing theirs is the kingdom of God. 

We can hear blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted and realize that we can walk with people through death, loss and mourning, we can help them with compassion, knowing that in the words from revelation, God will wipe away all tears.  We can speak these words of comfort and peace to those who mourn,

We can hear and live out the rest of Jesus statements in similar ways, we can live in community together, knowing that the meek who are ignored, the peacemakers who are called weak and naive, the prophetic who are hated for exposing injustice, the ones who are pure in heart and constantly bothered by the way things are, They all see things in a different way, they all understand, no, not just understand, they all live knowing that God has a vision for the world, a plan, a hope, and a way of life, one that sets us free from all the worries and fears, sets us free from all the things that separate us from each other, from inequality of all kinds,   It is a total reversal of all the things that we are told to value, a totally different narrative, of cooperation, not competition, of truth instead of , of trust, not fear. 

To do these things, shows people that we are different, that God is different,  that is where our hope is from.