The Seventh Blessing - Matthew 5:9

When I was in seminary, I spent a very hot summer in Texas as a faith based community organizer. The organization I worked with was called Communities of Shalom, and their vision was to help communities flourish by getting to know folks and their hopes, dreams, and desires for their communities. 

I loved that the this organization bore the name “Shalom” - a Hebrew word that means peace. Peace is one of those things that can mean so many things to different people. For some it means the absence of conflict or war. For others its the idea of serenity in the mind and heart. But I think Jesus was thinking bigger than just an absence of conflict. I think he was talking about the bigger ideas between “Shalom” peace - wholeness, health and safety. This type of Shalom wasn’t something you had once it a while, it was something that was to be permeant in the Kingdom of God. 

So when Jesus is teaching in the Beatitudes and says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God”, that’s what he is calling the people to be about.

But being a peacemaker can be such a tricky thing. Peace isn’t something that we can simply say that we want with our lips or silently wish for in our hearts. It has to be something that we pursue. It has to be something that we pray for. 

I was recently in a Bible Study, and as we were talking about what to pray for, one of the women said peace. Then she asked a really powerful question, “what would happen if we truly prayed, as Christians, for peace?”

What could happen, friends? What could come to be because we prayed for peace, and not just any peace, but the peace of Jesus to reign amongst us. How could this world change? How could we be changed?

Because I think we also need to be a people who embody what it looks like to work towards making peace with the way we live. And a big way we can do that is to be in relationship with other people. Practicing what we want for the world as a whole in the way that we treat other people. 

Serving in Texas that summer, that was the bulk of what I did. I would get to know people in the community. Hear their stories. Talk about what breaks their hearts and what hopes they have for the future. Because that’s one of the ways we get to know people. Not just get to know about them, but truly get to know them. To talk about things big and small, with care, remind them that they have value. 

When we treat people like they have value, its about that person right there with us in the moment. It’s not about what they can possibly do for us in the future. It’s about being in relationship with them, because they are loved by God. 

We are to be the peacemakers in the world, Church, for it not us, then who? We are the people who should be working towards restoring relationships with each other and between humanity and God. But the truth is sometimes we don’t have even have peace with one another. 

That summer job I was telling you about? It was simulanituoly the hardest summer job I ever had and the most rewarding. I loved going out and meeting people and talking and dreaming together, but one of the people acting as a supervisor and I didn’t get along well. Which created a lot of tension. Not because we didn’t like one another, but because we couldn’t see eye to eye on what we were working towards, what the goal was. And as a result there wasn’t peace. 

There are times that we don’t understand peace. We think it’s an absence of conflict, but that’s not really it, is it? Because we aren’t always agree, even on the big things, like what our goals is. Instead, peace is talking about how do we live with one another, even if we don’t agree. Paul had something to say about that in Romans: Those who are strong ought to put up the failings of the weak. We should strive to put our neighbor above ourselves, so that we can build them up. It looks like living in harmony, even if we don’t always agree, so that our outward voice of witness will glorify God. 

What is Paul saying here? Peace isn’t just about how you get along with each other. It’s about what witness you are truthfully projecting out into the world. Peace is about being in relationships that are healthy and whole and working to restore weakened relationships, all for the sake of the glory of God

And that’s what peace is about. Magnifying God’s glory. Making known God’s kingdom. Many of you have commented from time to time about the stoles I wear on Sunday morning. Stoles are pieces of cloth that folks who are ordained wear to remind them that that they are first and foremost yoked to Christ. Every so often there is a woman I approach to make me a new stole based off of a scripture passage that is really speaking to me during that time. In the past year I had one created based off of the words of Isaiah 2:4, “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more, words that are said as part of one of the communion liturgies about the Kingdom of God. Wearing that stole, a woman kept looking at it and asking me what it meant. When I told her about this scripture she said, “I didn’t even know that was in scripture.”

Friends, how often is that true in our lives as well? We don’t know what the scriptures say about peace or we don’t know how to actively try to live as people of peace? But for those who do take on the challenge of being peace makers - what does Jesus say about them? Those folks will be called children of God. Friends, our whole identity shifts when we realize that we are children of God. 

One of the interesting experiences I have living in this particular community is that people recognize my last name. They ask where I grew up and who my parents are. My identity is tied to the heritage of those who came before me. So it is with us as children of God. Who we are is completely transformed when we can say “I am a child of God.” 

But a funny thing happens when we identify as a child of God - we start to see other people with the eyes of God. We start to see them as someone who God deeply cares about as well, and as a result we want to seek peace with them and for them. We want them to be healthy and whole and we raise our lives and voices to remove any obstacles in the way of such peace. We begin to embody Shalom.

Jesus embodied Shalom, too. Jesus didn't have an agenda other then to bring about love and justice. As followers of Christ we am called to do the same thing. To embody Shalom. To be available for people. To treat them with dignity and respect. We are also called to be Shalom. To be and not to do. To be Shalom is to be authentic and available and the incarnation of love and justice. It's quite a tall order in our society, but thats part of what it looks like to be a peacemaker. Let us be the peacemakers, dear friends. Amen. 

“The Sixth Blessing” Matthew 5:8

We are now well on our way into the Beatitudes, or these sayings of blessing of Jesus, that are simultaneously a comfort and a challenge. How many of us have seen Beatitudes hanging on someones wall - or maybe hanging on our own wall? They that been painted, cross-stitched, and framed into these beautiful works of art, but at the same time they can be so hard to live into, because they challenge how we treat and connect with those around us. The Beatitudes call us to a completely different way of being in the world, that is so different than what the world around us proclaims.

But the Beatitudes do more than that. They talk about Kingdom values and Jesus’s identity and purpose. Take today’s Beatitude for example, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” 

What a challenging idea - to be pure in heart! Would any of us describe ourselves as being pure in heart? Probably not, because we know that we are sinful. That we still have struggles and we don’t always get it right. But who do we think of when we consider the word, purity - Jesus. Jesus was pure and therefore, we can reflect Jesus in the world in this way. 

But that doesn’t mean that it is easy by any means. Because when we think of purity as being perfect, we give ourselves an excuse not to try before we even start. But when Jesus is talking about the pure in heart in this passage he is talking about both, yes, a state of being pure, but also this ongoing process of wedding out the impurities in our lives. 

Which sounds a lot like a word we use as United Methodists, does it not? Sanctification. Journeying on to perfection. We know that we may not reach true and complete perfection in this life, but that doesn’t mean that we give up or simply say, well I can’t be perfect, so I might as well engage in any sinful thoughts or behavior I may choose. By no means, to use a phrase from Saint Paul. No, we are continually falling deeper in love with God and neighbor. We keep proclaiming the way of the cross. Our faith is not once and done, my friends, it is truly a journey. 

So it is with being pure in heart. We aren’t pure because we have achieved that state of being and never have to worry about sin again. Instead, we always need to be examining our hearts and asking God to cleanse us from impurity within. 

Because here is the thing about purity - you can’t really fake it. Or if you can, you can only do so for so long. Eventually it is revealed to us who people are deep down, including our very selves. Purity is not just about how we appear on the outside, its about how the heart is on the inside. 

Think back to Jesus speaking to the people about the scribes and pharisees. In chapter 23 of the Gospel of Matthew we find Jesus teach the people the opposite of beatitude or blessing, woe. Woe to to the scribes and Pharisees who appear outwardly like they are clean but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 

This would be like if you only wash the outside of a cup or glass, but never clean the inside. Eventually that is going to shine through right to the outside. We need to strive be clean or pure on both the inside and the outside. The Message puts it this way: “You burnish the surface of your cups and bowls so they sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony. Stupid Pharisee! Scour the insides, and then the gleaming surface will mean something.”

We, too, need to sour the inside, my friends. But how exactly do we go about that. First, we need to spend time in prayer discovering why we are and who we are. When we take time in pray to truly listen to God, it’s amazing what can be revealed to us in that space. What is our deepest desire? What is our response to God? Because it is really easy to say with our lips that our deepest desire is to grow with God, but until we are in the quiet place of prayer, we don’t really have a place to examine if that truly is how we are living our lives. 

Second, as we spend time in prayer, we discover that the pure of heart, they want to spend time with God. They actually want to grow closer to God each day, not just doing something quickly in order to cross it off of a list, but instead we deeply desire being in the presence of God. And is that not the blessing of this beatitude - blessed are the pure in heart, for they will what - see the face of God. 

Spending time with God is about so much more than producing for God. Sometimes as Christians we get so caught up in that to-do list or the things we do that others praise us for. This is not the same as being pure in heart. Good works are only good insofar as they flow from our relationship with God. It isn’t about what we produce that others notice, its about how we live our lives in relationship to the life-changing, saving grace of Jesus Christ. 

I’ve shared before some of the things that people will tell me about what made their family members special upon their passing. It’s often not what they did, what they produced, instead its about who they are. It’s people’s hearts that make them special, so is it surprising that this heart, this hidden piece of ourselves is what we need to seek purity for, for everything else flows from it. 

In the fourth chapter of the book of James we find this powerful teaching, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded”. Is this not what the entire notion of purity rests on - drawing close to God and letting God change you. Not just once, but over and over again. 

How many of you in here have a garden? Or a flower bed? What would happen if you only weeded the area where you are growing things once a year? Would that be a very bountiful harvest or the most beautiful of flower beds? No! You need to continually be vigilant about weeding, or what you are growing can get choked out. So it is with our hearts. 

The truth is we can only see God when we draw close to God. We can only begin to notice what God is up to, in and around us and through us, when we give our hearts over to him. But this is a continual process as well. In so many ways we act as if we want to make ourselves blind to seeing God. Sometimes we even avoid the places where God is the most visible. When we have a heart that is crowded with weeds that we have left unchecked or turned a blind eye to, then we cut down on the visibility of God in our lives. 

Psalm 51 is a popular Psalm. It’s even been turned into a praise song over the years, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right[b] spirit within me.” It is traditionally read on Ash Wednesday or during the season of Lent. But, Church, we do not seek to have pure hearts just during that particular season. We are to pray that God reveals to us who we are and where we need cleaning all year long, so that we can have a pure heart, and see God the face of God in the world. Amen. 

The Fifth Blessing - Matthew 5:7

I think the first time I remember the word “mercy” is from the game some kids would play on the playground where you would bend someones fingers in the opposite direction until they would cry “mercy”. Not exactly the best way to start thinking about such a profoundly important word. 

Mercy is when you show compassion or forgiveness to someone when it’s within your power to punish them. Mercy is not earned or deserved, its simply a gift that is given. Sometimes we don’t like to think about mercy, especially in human terms, because it means that one person is  more powerful than another. But mercy makes us equally uncomfortable, even when we acknowledge that God is more powerful than us. The idea that we are given the gift of forgiveness when we deserve punishment does not always sit well with us. 

Jesus says in this particular scripture that those who show mercy will receive mercy. Think back to someone in your life that you have shown mercy to - shown unmerited forgiveness to. What was that experience like for you? Now flip the situation around and think of a time you were shown unmerited forgiveness. What was that experience like for you?

There is not just truth but deep wisdom in what Jesus is saying in this portion of the Beatitudes. As we show mercy to others, we realize more about the mercy of God and understand our deep need for that mercy, the healing mercy of Jesus Christ in our lives. It is almost as if mercy is like looking into a mirror, but seeing past outward appearances into the very state of our souls. 

The problem is that we will often twist mercy around and try to put limits on it. We say we forgive someone, but what we really means is that we wish that they would be more like us. But that isn’t truly showing mercy is it?

A few weeks ago we talked about the words of Peter found in the 18th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, where he asks Jesus how much he should really have to forgive a brother or sister. Peter put the upper limit of forgiveness on seven times, but Jesus blew that out of the water by saying, no, think more like seventy-seven times, a number that seemed unbelievable, and in so many ways, untrackable. Jesus in what he was saying to Peter demonstrated what it looked like to extend mercy. 

Of course, there are differences between mercy and forgiveness, though so much of their meaning overlaps. Mercy showing compassion, which can happen in so many situations. Forgiveness is something that we can offer when we have been wronged or hurt. 

When we think of mercy as compassion, it extends beyond this teaching about forgiving others found in the 18th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew and we can see how it takes root in other passages of scripture. In Matthew, chapter 15, we find this uncomfortable story of a woman whose daughter was in need of healing. She cried out to Jesus, “have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David”, only she wasn’t an Israelite. She was from Cannan. And Jesus answered, telling her that he was sent first and foremost to the children of Israel. But she knelt before him and continued to plead for help and mercy. Jesus did heal her daughter and spoke of the woman’s great faith. Mercy in this particular story, came in the form of healing. 

Or think of the story of the Good Samaritan, who stopped to help an Israelite man who was injured along side the road. He stopped even when others had passed. He stopped even though he, himself, was a Samaritan. He took the man and paid for his care, telling the inn keeper watching him that he would pay the whole cost, no matter what it ended up being. Mercy in this story was noted, even by the lawyer trying to trip Jesus up, as being a good neighbor. 

But, Church, there are so many ways that we can show mercy in this world. And let’s be honest, this world is in need of a little more mercy, grace, and hope. We can show mercy when we truly listen to each other. When we sit down in each other’s homes and list to our stories, because they reveal so much of both who we are and what we value. 

I have sat around many deathbeds, friends. And you know what is often shared there - stories. Stories of who this person is. What they loved. How they showed care to others. But such stories aren’t just relegated to places of death and resurrection, but are woven into the fabric of our every day lives. When we listen to each others stories, specifically as an act of mercy, we are setting side our preconceived judgments in order to truly learn who that person is.

Sometimes we show mercy simply by showing up. Sometimes when people are going through a hard time they don’t really need us to physically do anything for them, so much as just sit there and be with them. I was listening to an interview lately with an author who wrote about her struggle with mental illness. She was saying, when things were really hard, her husband made a schedule of people to just come over and sit with her. Most of the time they didn’t talk. Or do anything. They just sat in each other’s presence. That is an act of mercy.

And is that not the heart of this beatitude, friends? We often think of beatitudes as something that we do, but more often than not they are more about being. More about how we show up and live in the world. And this particular beatitude is calling us to be people of mercy. 

But here’s the thing about being people of mercy - it still requires so much of us. Requires things that we may not even think about. Mercy demands that we slow down in order to set aside the particular lens we use when we see the world. We need to shift away from our lens of intolerance or indifference in order to see the world as God sees it. There’s a praise song by Brandon Heath that says, “Give me your eyes for just one second, Give me your eyes so I can see, Everything that I keep missing, Give your love for humanity.” When we slow down and shift our lens, we can see as God sees, see people in such a way that we don’t readily brush them aside, but instead show mercy. 

Mercy also demand that we get to know one another. Do you think its easier to show compassion to a stranger or to someone you know? We may each answer that question a little differently, but for me, its a lot easier to show grace and mercy to people I know. Because when I know their background, know how they think, know their story - when I have a relationship with them, I want to show them mercy and compassion and forgiveness. 

Church, as we show mercy, we have have the opportunity to look at our own selves and see where we, too, are in need of such compassion. One of the most memorized verses of scripture is John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. But, friends, the scripture goes on in verse 17 to say this: Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 

God sent Jesus into this world to show us forgiveness and lead us to the way of salvation. Is this not mercy? And a mercy that we all stand in need of! What if this week, each of us, as followers of Jesus Christ, would try to intentionally grow in mercy? What if we prayed for opportunities to hear people’s stories and get to know them better? What if we prayed to have the eyes of God and the heart of Christ that led us being people of mercy? How could the world change? Amen.