Sermon, February 3, 2002
4 Epiphany, Year A
The Rev. Lowell E. Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Sermon, February 3, 2002
4 Epiphany, Year A
The Rev. Lowell E. Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Gospel – Matthew 5:1-12 The Beatitudes
For the most part, it seems like only real nice people tend to use the word "blessed." "We’re so blessed to have our friend Joe with us today." It’s a pretty religious word. And in common conversation, it’s usually used by pretty religious people. "You’ve got such a nice house!" "Well," she said modestly, "we’ve been blessed."
Let’s see if we can put some color around the word "blessed." It’s a word that’s used nine times in today’s gospel. Some translators prefer the word "happy." "How happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Thomas Keating suggests "Congratulations!" "Congratulations to those who mourn, for they will be comforted."
One way of thinking about these nine Beatitudes, is that they are Jesus’ formula for happiness and successful living. "Congratulations! Blessed and happy are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the poor in heart, the peacemakers, and finally, congratulations to you successful, happy folks who are reviled and persecuted unjustly." What could be better? Aren’t these your hopes and goals for your children? Meek, poor in heart and reviled? Well, not quite. I don’t know about you, but I tend to have a more conventional image of happiness and success.
I’m a product of our consumer society to a large degree. I have absorbed the messages and values of a another theory of happiness and success. We all have. We’ve ingested from the very air around us a different formula for successful living. "Congratulations!" it says. "Blessed and happy are the attractive, the affluent, and those who succeed and achieve." Nearly every message we get from our world of business and entertainment is directed toward what they believe are your deepest needs – your appearance, your affluence and your marketable achievement. And they make their appeal with absolute faith and absolute language. Sometimes even with God-language.
Coke – it’s the real thing.
It lasts; so you will too. (That’s for chewing gum.)
We bring good things to life.
Martha Stewart assures you of each of her 4000+ products – It’s a good thing.
There are those that inspire us to our highest achievement:
Just do it. (in sneakers)
You only go around once – go for the gusto. (Drink more beer.)
I like the ones that play to our insecurities about our appearance:
Maybe she’s born with it or maybe it’s Maybelline.
I’ll decide what I want to be. (That’s for make-up.)
Because I’m worth it (I use hair coloring).
And You’ve come a long way baby. (Now women can smoke, too.)
We’re inundated with messages that assert profound claims. Bigger is better; faster is better; more is better; and you can have it all. Happiness is having your needs met.
The scholar William Leach studied the creation of the consumer society in his book Land of Desire about the turn-of-the-century merchant princes Marshall Field and John Wanamaker. They created a demand for their goods by communicating four claims: (1) happiness comes from having things; (2) it is better to have new things than old things, (3) everyone, not just the rich, can have what they want, and (4) money is the primary measure of value. According to Leach, they created a religion, and many see it as the dominant religion of our culture.
The Beatitudes of Jesus offer a very different picture of happiness. Don’t worry about your appearance. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Let go and accept whatever you see, and you will recognize God’s hand in all things, especially in you.
We can give up our quest for affluence. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. When we let go of something we thought we needed, first we mourn, we feel its loss. But soon after comes a freedom from dependency and the comfort that God meets our deepest needs for affection, esteem and security with perfect love and eternal security.
We can surrender our compulsive need for marketable achievement. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. We can be free from depending on others for our identity. The meek have no such needs. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. We are not determined by the values of our culture and social group. We are free to find truth and compassion that transcend the values of the market.
There is a higher and deeper path. Jesus invites us into a life of compassion, a cooperative, nonjudgmental, accepting attitude that is determined to love no matter what the provocation. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. We can move from a superficial experience to a life stimulated by our intuition. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. We can become so identified in God, that we will bring the tranquility of order. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. And finally, we can grow into the perfect wisdom of being so real that there is no "You" left to be hurt; no possessive attitude toward your own self at all. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You might even mature to the place where you realize that you must suffer in order to offer better service to God by defending something which may lead you into conflict. 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.
I’ll bet by now, you’re having a hard time concentrating. Your attention has sagged during these last few paragraphs, hasn’t it? This stuff from Jesus’ Beatitudes is just not as entertaining and sexy as Diamonds are Forever. It’s just a question of substance. The reality of consumerism is that it is like cotton candy. It’s big, it’s beautiful, and when you bite into it, it explodes with a sweet instant gratification. But then it dissolves into thin air. You really can’t live on it. Appearance, affluence, marketable achievement. You can have it all. But it’s really nothing.
How much more substantial the Beatitude formula from Jesus. Blessed are those who surrender willingly to the loving compassion of God, accepting in meekness the happy divine work of reconciling the whole world into God’s divine peace. Now that’s the real thing. You only go around once in life, so go for the gusto. It brings good things to life. Just do it.