Providential Typos?

Just thought I'd post my sermon from this morning for those reading this who didn't hear it. I'd love comments on it!

SCRIPTURE READING: Matthew 5:1-12
Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them, saying:
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of the Lord endures forever.

INTRODUCTION
I don’t know if you know this, but I’m kind of a spelling and grammar fanatic. I’m the kind of person who cringes at the sight of a misplaced apostrophe or a misspelled word on a sign. No matter what book I’m reading, if I see a typo, I am quick to circle it and correct it in the margin.

And if I ever get tired of being a pastor, I’ve found a company I can work for. The Peachtree Editorial and Proofreading Service spends their days proof reading the Bible in all its versions and translations.[i] Believe it or not, but the Bible has been printed with a few typos here and there.

For example, one Bible was actually printed saying, “Thou shalt commit adultery.” Think of what would have happened if no one caught that one! In another typo, Jesus says, “Go and sin on more.” That’s a Bible that maybe more people would want to read. There’s even one Bible that accidentally said, “Let the children first be killed” instead of “Let the children first be FILLED.” Most typos you can write off as being harmless, but some typos need to be corrected immediately! God bless Peachtree Proofreading for catching the important typos.

Now, as I was reading our Scripture passage from Matthew this morning, you may have been thinking that it seems full of typos because, at first, it doesn’t seem to make much sense. Blessed are the poor in spirit? Blessed are those who mourn? Blessed are those who are persecuted? What kind of nonsense is that?


MOVE #1
Now, in the children’s sermon I talked about how the Bible tells us how to be “happy.” When you teach kids, you start out simple, right? You start with what they understand. But now that we’re all grown up, we need to dig down deeper. Remember how last week Lori talked about being like a tree with roots that sink deep into the ground? Well, trying to understand a passage like these “Beatitudes” is one way to get your roots to grow deeper.

What does it mean to be blessed? Anybody have any suggestions? What does it feel like to be blessed? According to one book I read, to be blessed is “to be made privileged or fortunate,” not because of something we do, but because of something God has done.[ii] We don’t EARN blessings—we receive them!

There are a lot of synonyms you can use for the word “blessed.” If you wanted to re-write the Beatitudes, you could say, “How fortunate are the poor in spirit. . .” Another author I read said it could even be translated, “Congratulations to the pure in heart because they will see God.”[iii] Whichever word you like best, to be blessed is to be GIVEN the gift of divine favor—something I think we ALL are hungry for.

So the blessing in the Beatitudes is not about how we feel. Blessing is all about what God has done for his people. And not just what God has done for his people but God WILL do for his people.


MOVE #2
If you look at verses 3 and 10, you will see that they end with the same phrase, kind of like bookends holding a hold stacks of books together. Both verses end with the phrase “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” So if this phrase is at the beginning of the section and the end of the section, it seems like maybe this phrase is also tied in with all the other verses too.

So, it would seem that the next logical question is “What is the kingdom of heaven?” So I looked in my dictionary of fancy theological words, and I found that the “kingdom of heaven” is “God’s ultimate Lordship”—a time when there will be no more poverty or injustice or sin. With the birth of Jesus Christ, the “kingdom of heaven” broke through into life on earth. So the kingdom of God—his ultimate Lordship—is here with us now.

And yet, it’s not totally here. You know what I mean? I mean there’s still sin and brokenness all around us, but every once in a while we see the kingdom of heaven break through—some little miracle moment just for us from God. But the kingdom of heaven isn’t here yet. And it won’t be until Jesus comes again. We live in this odd tension of the kingdom being here but not completely.

So the blessings in these Beatitudes do 2 things. First, they are an assurance to those who find themselves “poor in spirit” and persecuted and meek that they belong to the kingdom of heaven despite what their current circumstances are. And second, the Beatitudes tell us that the kingdom of heaven turns life upside down. It’s not “blessed are those with good jobs, a four car garage, and a big 401k.” It means blessed are those who live under the kingdom of heaven and allow it to shape how they live out their gratitude to God.

CONCLUSION
I started out talking about typos in the Bible. One of the other typos someone found in the Bible actually comes from these Beatitudes. Instead of “Blessed are the peacemakers,” it said, “Blessed are the place makers,” which is not to be confused with the line from Monty Python about “Blessed are the cheese-makers.”

And there might be something to that little typo. Blessed are those who make a place for the kingdom of God in their lives. What would that look like? What would it look like to live understanding and acknowledging God’s ultimate Lordship? Just how deep could our roots grow if we said yes to the radical way God wants us to live our lives?

We would make a place to be poor in spirit—finding our true identity and security in God. We would make a place to be meek—humble and yet firm. And we would make a place to mourn—to be grieved by the sin and suffering and brokenness in the world around us.

If we make a place for these things in our lives, we will be ready to receive the place that God is making for us in the kingdom of heaven.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.


[i] Homiletics online, “Blessed are the Placemakers,” http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/btl_display.asp?installment_id=93000045
[ii] Ibid.
[iii]Hare, Interpretation, Matthew, p. 35.

Blessed are Those Who. . .

I frequently wake up with songs in my head. And the one this morning was, "Good morning, America, how are ya?" So, good morning to your little corner of America. How are you today? So far so good?


Today's question:
Wed, Jan. 7: What 5 animals does Abram use in the covenant with God? (Gen 15)

And the answer to yesterday's question:
Tues, Jan. 6: Fill in the blanks: “You are the _____ of the earth. . . . You are the _____ of the world.” (Matt 5)
Matthew 5:13-15 13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. 14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.”

And today's reflection:
Blessed
I'm planning on using this text (Matt 5) for my sermon this Sunday. So I've been doing some thinking about yesterday and today. I seem to remember first learning the "Beatitudes" as saying, "Happy are those who. . ." and I could never make sense of that. Even once I learned it as "Blessed are those who. . ." it still didn't make sense. Really? Happy are those who mourn? Who are persecuted? When I look around at those who are grieving or are persecuted, they look anything but happy or blessed. One author explains it like this:

To be blessed, in this case, is to be made privileged or fortunate by the action of Almighty God. It carries with it a sense of salvation and peace and well-being. You might say that the opposite of blessed is not “unhappy.” Rather, the opposite of blessed is “cursed.” To be blessed is to be given the gift of divine favor, a gift that we all have a deep human hunger to receive.

Stated this way, it’s clear that the blessing of the Beatitudes is not about us, and it’s not about how we feel. Instead, it’s all about what God has done for us.

We might discover, for example, that we are “poor in spirit” (v. 3) — a term that describes people who find their true identity and security in the One Lord God. There is nothing weak or pathetic or shameful about being poor in spirit, but instead it means that we are not deluded enough to think that we are masters of the universe and in complete control of our lives. This spiritual poverty is really an excellent quality to have in this post-9/11 world of terrorist threats, international tension and economic uncertainty — it means that we are dependent on God, first and foremost, and that the Lord will reward us with the gift of his kingdom.

We might also find that we are among “those who mourn” (v. 4) — people who feel grief as we look around and see pain and crying, suffering and dying. We mourn because there is evil in us and around us, erupting in bedrooms and boardrooms, back alleys and battlefields. There are temptations all around us, and weaknesses deep within us, that make it an everyday struggle to follow the Lord in faith. But the promise of today’s passage is that this grim and often grotesque reality is not the final chapter of human history — there is going to be an unexpected twist in the tale with a turn toward love and peace and justice. God is writing a surprise ending to this story, and he invites each of us to play a part by doing what we can to live by the values of Christ’s kingdom. (www.homileticsonline.com)

So, go forth this day with a little more hope than you had yesterday becuase this is not the final chapter of human history. The Light of Christ is dawning and each day we get closer to His kingdom for indeed THAT is the final chapter of human history.

Blessed are those who read this blog, for they will learn the Word of God! (Hopefully!)
Allison