29 January 2023 Epiphany 4

Jan 29   Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

Micah 6:1-8: Psalm 15: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31: Matthew 5:1-12

For the next three weeks, we shall be exploring the ‘Sermon on the Mount’.

And while I have always considered this to have occurred well into Jesus’ ministry, Matthew tells us that after Jesus called his disciples (last weeks gospel), he goes up onto the mountain and delivers this extensive discourse.  For Matthew, teaching his disciples was important for Jesus, and being a disciple requires you to be the consummate learner.

And so, we may wonder what this sermon was intended to do for the disciple.  What did the disciples hear when Jesus spoke these words to them.  How did it affect them; what was Jesus’ ‘take home’ message.  Was Jesus not only reminding them that they are blessed but wanting them to feel that they are blessed.

The Beatitudes tell us what discipleship means, what it ‘is’; the characteristics of people who are faithful; the attributes of believers.  They don’t pull any punches, they name our blessings, but they also name what is at stake in these blessings.  The blessed ones are dependent, they live ‘one moment at a time’.  But they also know the Grace of Interdependence; they know that receiving and giving, that accepting and sacrificing, are at the heart of reality.  Healthy spirituality, healthy self-affirmation, is a gift from God whose love is at the root of all our efforts and achievements.  And so, we ponder the interdependent, humble, compassionate, sacrificial gospel.  This form of transformation of the world may be countercultural, but it is the best way healing is possible for individuals, communities, nations, and the planet.

In this short first teaching of his disciples, Jesus is teaching them how to recognise those who are blessed.  This is not about ‘how to do it’; he is not teaching them ‘how’ to be blessed themselves, but how to recognise those who already are.  And the answer is not who or what we might naturally think are blessed.  We may not always use the word ‘blessed’, instead preferring simpler words like ‘successful’, but we would not look at the poor, the meek, the mourning, as ‘successful’.  Blessing, or success, according to the norms of society, is most often judged on material lines.  But the teaching of Jesus is different.  Jesus is teaching the disciples that God calls blessed those who are down on their luck, upset by the circumstances they find themselves in, passionate about advocating for righteousness and working for peace, or abused for doing the right thing.

And, the thing is, we don’t often think about blessing each other; we are good at affirming people or even accusing them, but we don’t do ‘blessing’ well.  But maybe it is time we changed that.  So, rather than judging people’s failings, just forgive them and remind them they are blessed by God.  What would it be like if we recognised that God comes in places and situations we least expect - in the middle of our brokenness – and blesses that which the world refuses to bless; to love what is considered by others as unlovable; to redeem what the world sees as worthless and useless.  How can we change our eyes so that we can see the needs of our neighbour as signs of blessedness that we are privileged to assist with, rather than things to be pitied or treated as nuisance.

Jesus is asking us to recognise that God’s kingdom is not a faraway place, but it is found whenever we honour each other as God’s children; bear each other’s burdens; bind each other’s wounds; meet each other’s needs.  Being fragile and vulnerable is part and parcel of being human, and God does not reject these characteristics but God gathers them into a divine embrace.