Sermon on Matthew 5:1-12 – Who are the Disciples?

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

These verses, the Beatitudes, are so familiar they’ve almost lost all meaning. These words became familiar, because they are powerful, but they’ve been embroidered on so many pillows that something has been lost in translation.

Let’s start with the word “blessed.” It’s not a word we use much these days, except maybe as a hashtag. We might see photos of someone’s vacationwith the caption “#Blessed” or read an announcement about someone’s promotion at work followed by “#Blessed”. It’s certainly important to give thanks for the good things in one’s life. But the meaning of the word “blessed” has gotten a bit watered down.

And it seems like kind of the opposite of what Jesus is talking about here. You wouldn’t see someone announce the death of a loved one with “#Blessed,” as in “blessed are those who mourn.” You also wouldn’t see someone describe themselves as “poor in spirit—#Blessed!”

Jesus’ teaching here is weird, because the word translated as “blessed” could also mean “happy.”

When you find out that someone is grieving or describe someone as “meek,” you wouldn’tgo on to say how happy they must be.

But the word translated as “blessed” or “happy” could also be translated as “greatly honored.” This also seems counter-intuitive: someone who is persecuted is honored?

But that’s exactly what Jesus is getting at: the Reign of God, the Beloved Community that God is establishing on earth is the complete opposite of the way the world works right now. It’s not the rich, powerful, and fawned over that are blessed, happy, and honored. No, it’s those who are beaten down, who seek peace instead of domination, who ache for the world to align with the upside-down Beloved Community who are greatly honored.

This passage teaches us who Jesus is and who his disciples are.

In the Gospel of Matthew, this is the first really public thing Jesus does that is described in detail. Right before this, it talks about Jesus going around, teaching and healing people, but it doesn’t give us any particular stories or teachings.

It’s only here, where Jesus has gathered a great crowd and starts to teach his disciples, that the Gospel gives us Jesus’ words.

This Gospel is giving us a view of Jesus as the Great Teacher. This is Jesus setting the stage for his ministry and teaching his disciples what it means to follow him.

Jesus is describing the Beloved Community of the Reign of God—where the last become first and the first become last.

Jesus describes those who are greatly honored in the Reign of God—people whose lives run opposed to the status quo and the glory of the Roman Empire.

Jillian Engelhardt from Texas Christian University points out the ways each of the people on Jesus’ list oppose the values of the Roman Empire.

The “poor in spirit”are those crushed by poverty—not just the physical effects of poverty, but the mental, emotional, and spiritual ways poverty grinds on one’s dignity and self-worth. They are forgotten and shunned by society.

Those who mourn were plentiful. The high mortality rate, the vast disparities between the rich and the impoverished, not to mention the justifiable mourning of the loss of one’s occupied land, meant that there were plenty who mourned.

The “meek” is a reference to Psalm 37:11 “But the meek shall inherit the land / and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.” The “meek” are those who are taken advantage of by the wicked whose abundance only seems to grow.

“Righteousness” was living into God’s way of life as a people—living into the equity of the Year of Jubilee and the mercy shown in the Law that God gave. So, “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” long to be able to live as God’s people in the generosity and abundance that they can’t find in the subjugation of the Roman Empire.

And the Roman Empire wasn’t known for being merciful or for valuing those who are “merciful. ”In contrast, the Reign of God is known for generosity and caring for one’s neighbors.

Jesus names the “pure in heart”—those who uphold values like mercy in their hearts as well as their actions.

The Roman Empire was known for establishing the “pax Romana,” or “Roman peace,” but it was peace that was maintained by the point of a sword. Jesus blesses genuine, not coercive, peacemakers.

And Jesus knows his disciples will be persecuted for upholding these values that go against the dominant culture of the Roman Empire. If they weren’t already poor in spirit or mourning or meekly taken advantage of, they would be if they follow Jesus.

Being Jesus’ student is not for the faint of heart or for those who want a respectable, honorable life. What is honored in the Reign of God is contrary to what is honored in the world around them.

Jesus is preparing them for the hardships to come: the persecutions, the ridicule, the ostracism, the threats to their life and wellbeing. Jesus, the Great Teacher, is teaching them a different way of living, one that is not to be undertaken lightly.

And also, Jesus is declaring the value of these beloved children of God who are disregarded by their society and inviting them into the upside-down Beloved Community where they are greatly honored.

Jesus is teaching them a new way of living in the world, where the marginalized and forgotten are celebrated and blessed.

So, what does Jesus have to teach us in this opening to the most famous sermon in history?

We live in one of the richest and most powerful countries in our world.

We live in a culture that worships wealth, power, status, influence, and a very narrow definition of beauty.

Those who are poor in spirit, who grieve, who are taken advantage of, who call for equity instead of disparity, who wage peace instead of aggression, who care for the least, the last, and the lost—none of these people are “greatly honored” in the dominant US culture.

Jesus invites us into the same vision of the Beloved Community of God—so different from the status quo, that upholds values contrary to everything our society holds dear.

Our society loves the concept of happiness: from 10% Happier to The Happiness Lab to The Happiness Project, happiness is popular in the public discourse. But Jesus describes those who are “happy” in counterintuitive ways.

You wouldn’t hear on a motivational podcast: “happy are those who are unsatisfied with the inequality in the world” or “happy are those who are taken advantage of” or “happy are those who are beaten down by crushing poverty.”

And yet, this is what Jesus says, because he’s teaching his disciples, including us, to value the wellbeing of our neighbors, to be integrated in heart and action toward making the world more as it is in heaven, to see through the empty promises our culture makes to us about what makes someone happy, honored, or even “#Blessed.”

So, look at the world around you and notice what society wants you to value and compare it to Jesus’ teachings in today’s reading. You are Jesus’ disciples, followers of The Way, family members of the Beloved Community, and Jesus warns you that it won’t be easy—in fact, it will cost you everything—but because you are loved by God, you are freed from earning your blessedness from society and culture, and you can live in the upside-down Reign of God.

Greatly honored children of God, you are blessed. Now, be a blessing to others.