Blessed are you………
The
other day I was recalling some of the things I‘ve heard non-churchgoers say
about going to Church……..
Every
time someone came up to a fiery
said – I
would never go to Church – they’re all a bunch of hypocrites
he would say – you
should join us – there’s always room for one more !
But
one of the things I’ve heard more times than any other – is
I don’t go to Church,
because:
I’m not good enough,
I wouldn’t feel
comfortable, because I’m not a good person….
or words to that effect……..
Now,
maybe that’s not as common a sentiment now as it once was
but all the same
in a recent Church survey one woman said
for years I sat through the service and came out feeling
guilty
another said: in
church I was always being asked to do something… to be better than I am…
But
behind it all, there is one thing in common: the idea that Church is all about
being good,
and Church is for good people………….
Some have thought that that’s just what we
have here in Matthew 5 – in the Beatitudes. When Jesus says blessed are the meek for they shall inherit
the earth, blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy, blessed are
the pure in heart, for they will see God…….. some
have thought that these are rules, the standards for being good………..
One famous New Testament commentator, over a
hundred years ago,
was sure that Jesus, when
He said blessed are the merciful, blessed
are the meek, blessed are the pure in heart, that Jesus was painting a
picture for us of
what kind of people
Christians ought to be…..
what kind of Character
Christians ought to aim at……..
And that’s not so far from the idea that
Church is all about being good………
Others have thought that when Jesus said blessed are the meek, blessed are the
merciful, blessed are the pure in heart
He was offering a glimpse, offering a dream of
how life might be – an inspiring dream, but a dream all the same
!
But at the back of all this, there is a very
real question about just what Christian faith is, what being a Christian is,
about what Christian life is – is it about being good ?
Where do we begin to find an answer ?
I think we must begin with the Word of God,
the message of the Gospel in
Mark 2…………the passage we read last week about the
disciples,
the followers that Jesus
chose and called for Himself………….
You see, if we ask - How do the disciples of
Jesus match up to these words ?
Blessed
are the meek for they shall inherit the earth, blessed are the merciful, for
they shall be shown mercy, blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God
the disconcerting answer
is – they don’t
Blessed
are the meek
- remember the disciples argued with each other just outside
Blessed
are the merciful
– remember how once James and John wanted Jesus to call down fire on those poor
villagers who had annoyed them……..
Blessed
are the pure in heart ?
Remember Peter – who after
Jesus had guided him to a huge catch of fish in the sea of Galilee,
said – go away from me ! I am a sinful man…….. ?
Or take another verse from the gospel - Blessed are you when you are persecuted for
righteousness sake ?
Why – when Jesus spoke about the cross, Peter
took Him aside and said – this will never happen – Peter’s plan for the future
didn’t involve persecution…..
So how are we to understand these words of Jesus ?
Blessed
are the meek for they shall inherit the earth,
Blessed are
the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy,
Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they will see God
These are certainly, tender, luminous words of
Jesus, of a life, a blessedness,
words which speak of the
happiness and joy
the blessedness of a deep
and loving relationship with the Father in heaven,
following the Father’s will in
all things….
But where
do we see this among the disciples ?
Or – more to the point – where do we see the
disciples following the beatitudes ?
Well, that is just it – we don’t see this very
clearly at all…
In fact, where do we see
anyone who is meek and lowly ?
anyone who is merciful,
any who are pure in heart
Once again
there is only One – that is
Jesus Himself…..
Think of His meekness……..
At the beginning of his ministry He rejects the way
of power, and
chooses instead lowliness and meekness. He will not accept Satan’s offer of all
the kingdoms of the world - the way of power. And he will not use miracle-power
to convince the citizens of
Think of His purity in heart……..
Look at Jesus, and you will see Him weeping over
the city of
or read of His clearing of the
Think of His love and mercy
Think how in the last days of his life, when all he
had to do was nearly completed, He was arrested, condemned, by the power of the
authorities. At the cross he prays, Father
forgive them for they know not what they do.
The blessings and beatitudes fulfilled, completed, reality
in Jesus Christ.
So what Jesus Christ speaks of - He already is in Himself !
And so here is the answer to our question of
what the words of Jesus mean –
blessed are the
meek for they shall inherit the earth,
blessed are the
merciful, for they shall be shown mercy,
blessed are the
pure in heart, for they will see God
their meaning is to be seen
first of all in Jesus……
If we look at His followers, the disciples, we
can hardly see the evidence of any of these wonderful blessings,
but if we look at Jesus,
we see them in completeness………..
And the marvel, the wonder is this, that this
same Jesus Christ
has chosen to be with
these disciples……..
Jesus has chosen to be with them,
In His wonderful patience, and inexhaustible
grace
and in sin bearing love.
and actually declares
that He has not come to call the
righteous, but sinners.
When we look at the Cross we see how Jesus, in
perfect love offers up Himself, in wonderful meekness, and sin bearing,
forgiving mercy. The One who is pure in
heart, offers,
gives Himself, for sinners, to open up a new and living way to God,
As Paul proclaims while, while we were yet
sinners – Christ, and this is the depth of His mercy and love for us –
Christ died for us !
What do these words mean ?
blessed are the
meek for they shall inherit the earth,
blessed are the
merciful, for they shall be shown mercy,
blessed are the
pure in heart, for they will see God
well, we see their truth
first and foremost in Jesus………..
And then, in the New Testament, we see what
this same Jesus Christ,
pure in heart……….
made of these disciples,
made of these men He called,
These men saw Jesus risen
from the dead,
and along with the rest
of the believers, men and women
they received the Holy
Spirit Jesus promised,
and in this way, the
living Jesus Christ shaped, and created them anew
through His Spirit,
so that
we see the Spirit of
Christ at work in them,
we find Peter, showing
the love of Jesus by healing a lame man sitting on the steps of the
we find the eyes of a
man like Paul, opened to see the things of God,
we see unfolding in the
lives of the disciples the blessedness Jesus spoke of….
and they knew the truth
for themselves….. that
blessed are the
meek for they shall inherit the earth,
blessed are the
merciful, for they shall be shown mercy,
blessed are the
pure in heart, for they will see God
So –
Church is not all about being good.
The Church is, in the first place not about
being good people,
and being a Christian,
Christian life is – is not about being good,
Life in Jesus is about
what the living Lord Jesus
Christ makes of us………through His Spirit.
For, as that great passage in Romans 8
declares, God has poured out His love
into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us. So that we are
led, guided, controlled, not by our old nature, not
by our old life, the old way of doing things – but by the Spirit.
May Jesus Christ work in our lives, through
His Spirit,
that we become lowly,
loving,
and, in His good time,
pure in heart……
AMEN.