Epiphany 4

Epiphany 4 Blessed are you (Matthew 5: 1-12)

The blessing is always in the relationship.

Many of us, perhaps most of us, miss the blessing as we look for the reward. We look for the blessing in pleasure, power, possessions, prestige and pride. If we are religious, we consider these things rewards from God for our right behavior or right belief. If we are religious, we understand the absence of these things as divine punishment for some transgression we committed.

Popular religious belief in Jesus’ day taught that the poor are poor because they sinned against God. Poverty is God’s punishment for sin. The rich are rich because they performed right actions and held right belief. Wealth is God’s reward for the righteous.

The world is not so simple and direct. Many agnostics and atheists reject a belief in God because they identify religion with reward and punishment. Clearly the world does not work this way. Consequently, God cannot exist.

Jesus never taught that God is a God of rewards and punishments- at least in the very crude expression of law based religion. Jesus knew the story of Job. Jesus knew that some time - perhaps many times- bad things happen to good people.

Jesus rejects the religious assumptions of his day. He teaches that the
righteous are not those who perform right acts- for no human being can achieve the standard of perfection demanded by the law. Jesus also rejects the idea that the righteous hold right belief. No one, with the possible exception of His blessed Mother, held a right belief about Jesus. Yet, Jesus reached out to everyone regardless of their wrong belief or even at times their unbelief.

And so, when Jesus gives his sermon on the mount he chooses the subject of blessing.
A religious person of the time would have said something like; Blessed are the rich for God has rewarded their righteousness.

Blessed are the happy for God has protected them from sadness.
Blessed are the proud for God has recognized their accomplishments.
Blessed are those who perform right actions and hold right beliefs for God is impressed by their perfection
Blessed are those who condemn the sinful and punish them.
Blessed are the strong for God has delivered their enemies into their hands.
Blessed are the victorious for God has destroyed their opponents.
Blessed are those who persecute the unrighteous and drive them out of the land so that they alone will inherit the Kingdom.

The religious then and the religious now tend to believe the blessing of God is God giving me what I want when I want it. If I get what I want I am blessed and I reward God with my worship. If I do not get what I want then I am either cursed or I reject the very concept of God and declare the universe is meaningless.

Jesus came to proclaim: the blessing is in the relationship. The relationship is God reaching out to all people in Jesus Christ.

That is why Jesus could proclaim that the blessed are the poor, the meek, the mournful, the merciful, the pure, the peace makers and the persecuted.

The blessing is not the reward. Wealth is not the blessing. Poverty of itself is neithera reward or a punishment. Poverty can be an open invitation for God to fill the hungry with the goodness of Jesus Christ.

The rich often miss the blessing as they focus on their possessions. The poor with fewer distractions can often recognize that the blessing is the personal presence of God in Jesus Christ.

Where is the relationship?

The relationship is preeminently in worship. It is in worship that God meets us, greets us, fills us and immerses us in the infinite and eternal love that is God.
The relationship is in service to others. The rich often ask the question about other people: what’s in it for me. The rich often answer the question with the words: there is never enough for two. The rich turn abundance into scarcity and fear there will never be enough.

The poor frequently have the amazing ability to ask: how may I help? The poor often are willing to share their meager resources with family members and friends and even strangers. The poor see even the most modest of resources as abundance to be shared with others.

There are exceptions of course. Jesus neither condemns wealth nor endorses poverty. Both wealth and poverty can corrupt and shatter the soul. What Jesus teaches is that the blessing of God in is in God’s relationship with us.

The poor in spirit may have wealth but they recognize the fleeting nature of material possessions to bring meaning and purpose. The poor in spirit are rich in their relationship with God and so are not possessed by their possessions, their pleasures, prestige or pride.

The relationship sets the rich free to share their abundance with the poor. The relationship sets the rich free to become the blessing to the poor. The relationship comforts the poor with the assurance that God is with them. God comforts them. God has declared that it is they who will inherit the kingdom. The relationship sets the poor free from their material poverty to become the blessing to the rich.

Most of us are neither rich or poor. We are somewhere in between. The challenge for us in this Sermon on the Mount is to hear the message and embrace the principle. The blessing is not in the things we have or even in our skills and accomplishments. The blessing is in the relationship God offers us in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
That relationship sets us free from the fear of scarcity, the lack of purpose, and the void of meaninglessness. That relationship sets us free to use all of the gifts God has given us to His glory and for the benefit of others. The relationship sets us free to live the abundant life of meaning and purpose in the knowledge and love of God.

Jesus declares we are already blessed. We are already blessed because God has sought us out and found us in His co-eternal Son. Jesus clarifies for us that the blessing is in the relationship. That relationship is holy. That relationship is eternal. That relationship is the unconditional love of God made flesh in Jesus Christ. It is the blessing we already have as we hear Jesus proclaim: Blessed are you.