“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.