Beatitudes, Part 3

Matthew 5:6,7

February 27, 2005

1. We’re to the halfway point on our journey through the season of Lent, and half-way immersed in the "pool" of the Beatitudes. We’ve waded in with the poor in spirit, the "spiritually destitute," those who know they are utterly helpless without God; and we’ve dipped ourselves among those whose hearts are broken by the griefs they know, and the griefs they’ve cause; we’ve washed up against those who are meek – controlled by God to the point that they know when to get angry, and when to stay calm.

2. Today we’ll submerge ourselves in the pool of righteousness and mercy. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." If we measure the depth of this pool by the length of the words in this sentence, "righteousness" is the deepest. So we’ll start there. What is "righteousness" anyway? That’s a word we hear often in church, but what does it mean to be righteous? The dictionary simply says "right or good conduct." But, since righteous is such an important biblical word, perhaps we’d better start with the Bible. And, since the Bible forms the foundation to our faith, it can also form the foundation [or lining] of the "pool of the Beatitudes."

3. It is through the stories and poetry of the Bible that we learn to define a particular word. I was fascinated, as I often am, to discover what the word "righteousness" meant in the days of Abraham and Moses. It meant "doing what is right, or just, or normal. Normal? Nowadays we often think "normal" is quite the opposite! We excuse our bad behavior by claiming to be "a normal human being." Apparently from God’s point of view, a "normal" person does what is right, not what is wrong. Take a deep breath! A normal person does what is right, not what is wrong. Psalm 15 says it all:

Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill?

Those who walk without blame, and do what is righteous [read "just" or "normal"]

those who speak the truth from their heart;

who do not slander with their tongue, and do no evil to their friends,

nor take up a reproach against their neighbors;

in whose eyes the wicked are despised, but who honor those who fear the Lord;

who stand by their oath even to their hurt;

who do not lend money at interest, and do not take a bribe against the innocent.

Those who do these things shall never be removed.

4. How then, can we become more "normal?" The answer is right there! It is right on the tip of our tongues! We can hunger and thirst after righteousness. Think about the last time you were hungry What did you do? You found something to eat, didn’t you? The last time I was really hungry was yesterday. For much of the day, the Todd and Spencer and Alex Schnoor, Chuck and Karen Kriner, Richard and I finished up what Lee Pauli started last Sunday–cleaning the labyrinth area. We were so engrossed in our work that none of us thought about eating–until about 2:00 when I got hungry. So I made a run to Carl’s at 41^st and whatever that street is just east of Promenade Mall. I must have been really hungry, because I stated my order into a box to someone I’ve never met and could barely understand, then inched my way forward (since I was fifth in line) and picked up my sack full of what I hope had been fully cooked in a reasonably clean environment. I put our health at a bit of a risk because we were hungry. We need to seek to be "normal" with the same kind of determination we have when we seek to be fed when we’re hungry.

5. And what did you do the last time you were thirsty–really thirsty? So thirsty you were in danger of becoming dehydrated? It happened to little Adien Turley last Saturday. He caught that stomach bug, and started showing signs of being really sick. So they rushed him to the ER, and he was dehydrated! Being that thirsty calls for immediate action! We must take in enough liquids (the right kind of liquid–caffeinated and alcoholic beverages unfortunately don’t count!). If we don’t, we can find ourselves in real trouble! We need to hunger and thirst for righteousness just like we hunger after food and thirst for drink. We must want to be "normal" so bad we can taste it.

6. But what if we can’t seem to get "normal?" What if we find ourselves saying something that isn’t true, or doing something to damage a person’s reputation, or disapproving of our neighbors, or playing a mean trick on one of our friends. What if we try to be normal, but keep falling short? Will we find ourselves outside of God’s tent, voted off God’s Holy Hill? Read these Beatitudes closely! It very clearly says you have to want to be normal and just and right. H. G. Wells said "A person may be a lousy musician, and yet be passionately in love with music." In that case, people can reap the benefits of excellent musicians without having to be excellent musicians themselves. And so it is with this beatitude! Because Jesus was "a normal human being," our best efforts are good enough!

7. Which doesn’t seem to be so true in next one, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy." This is another one of those ideas that runs all through the Bible: To receive mercy, we must first give mercy; to be forgiven, we must be able to forgive. Jesus tells a story about a slave who owed the king a little bit of money, and begged him to forgive the debt, which he did. But he turned right around and demanded payment from a fellow slave who owed him only a little bit. When the king heard about it, he was furious and sent the slave to be tortured until he decided to pay all he owed. Jesus finishes this tale by warning his listeners "So also my heavenly Father will do to everyone of you, if you do not forgive from the bottom of your heart." Every Sunday we pray "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And there are more phrases just like them. The idea that only the merciful shall receive mercy finds expression in almost every book of the Bible. Now when the merciful receive mercy is open to interpretation. Some believe the promises of these Beatitudes will be fulfilled when Christ comes again, and end-of-time event; others interpret them in the here-and-now. A bit like the golden rule – "Do unto others as you would have them do to you." When we show mercy, we will receive mercy. I think there’s truth in both interpretations: our chances of receiving mercy from God and our neighbor are greater if we model it ourselves!

8. "Mercy," the word Jesus used means the ability to get right inside the other person’s skin until we can see things with their eyes, think things with their minds, and feel things with their feelings. This may be difficult, but it’s not impossible. I learned something that helps the summer I was a hospital chaplain trainee. Our supervisor taught us to pretend we were the patient lying in the bed of the room we had just entered. We were to imagine we had just received the news that patient had received, or that we were undergoing the same treatment as that patient. That little exercise allowed us to spend some time imagining what it would be like to be that person, so we could then do or say something that was more comforting than we otherwise would have done or said. What a difference it made! Ever since then, being able to imagine myself, even for a moment, as another person allows me to understand them better, and treat them with mercy I might not otherwise have had.

9. Isn’t that what God did in Christ Jesus? In the most literal sense, God got inside Jesus. And because God was in him, Jesus could understand what it was like to be some other person, and respond appropriately. Jesus knew the sick only wanted to be included rather than excluded, so in healed them. He knew that the sinners only wanted to be forgiven (most of them, anyway!), so he forgave them. And even the pharisees. Jesus knew that some of them really wanted to do the right thing, so he taught them.