Blessed are those who trust enough in God to love the difficult to love

I want to tell you a little secret. Are you ready for it? Those who boast of their own power; those who rely on their might - whether of wealth, of words, or of weapons - to accomplish things in this world, especially the will of God, will not, through these means, inherit the kingdom of God. 

Listen to Jesus’s warning to all whom he encounters - especially the religious and political ruling class - as he goes out on his three year mission: “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits … every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit … every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

So what is this good fruit? Today’s gospel reading lays this out fairly explicitly: “blessed are the poor in spirit and the meek; that is, blessed are the humble, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Blessed are those who mourn for people who are struggling and in need of mercy, for they show hearts that are transformed by trusting and following Jesus. God’s compassion overflows through them to help gird their neighbours and even their enemies in the midst of struggles, uncertainty, and even danger.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; that is, blessed are those who bear through really difficult relationships and circumstances where it seems everything - the world, their country, their city, their relationships, are coming apart - for with patience, kindness, gentleness and most of all, with self control, they are holding open the door to the kingdom of heaven - to glimpse God’s forgiveness and mercy - so that others might see the light and hope of peace and comfort and maybe take hold of it, maybe at some point, be changed by it, rather than encountering the fragile violent tools of this age: our fearful words and fists of rage and vengeance. Though it is not the world’s peace they find, those who do this are filled with the power of God’s eternal acceptance, and so the courage to stand firm in the face of inevitable persecution, struggle, hatred, violence and even death. This is the light they bear until the end of their days. 

Blessed are the merciful; for those who recognize they are saved and sustained by grace and share this undeserved gift with others, will see and bear God’s mercy at work in this world, rather than seeing only enemies to fight and the need to obtain the tools and power to do it; a fruitless endeavour that always ends with someone more powerful usurping such folks. 

Blessed are those who bear the onslaught of criticism, hatred, persecution and threat, and sustain the courage to respond again and again and again, out of the hope we have in Christ who has saved us from our sin: with mercy, forgiveness and love. 

Our reading from the prophet Micah summarizes perfectly what Jesus is saying in this gospel reading known as the beatitudes: the Lord doesn’t need your judgment of others; the Lord doesn’t need you to accomplish his will, and in fact, assuming that you have the insight, foresight and power to do so far too often leads to harming other people, especially people more vulnerable than you are. Imagining that you, or your country, your government, your church, or your little clique can accomplish the fullness of God’s will is not simply arrogant, it has historically so often ended in the death and destruction of other human beings whom God made. Not simply inhuman thugs who are in your way. But human beings whom God made. Human beings that belong to God, whether you like or agree with them, or not. 

And so Jesus strongly warns us early on in his ministry, just after he’s called his first four disciples - as if warning all of us who follow that we need to count the cost of following him, not just say a few words of cognitive confirmation and assume we’re all set. Here is where the secret hidden in the OT scriptures is opened up, set to full blast volume: Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, i.e. not everyone who assumes they are doing the will of the Lord, will see the Kingdom of heaven. 

I will say to those who do not care for the poor, the sick, the hungry, the foreigner, the stranger, the prisoner, those considered disgusting or disturbed or unwell by society, “I never knew you.” For how you treat those people are how you treat me. The point here is not that anything goes and that we should accept all things; it is this: how do we hold open the door, or create the space in a relationship with someone, so that they might encounter the mercy and healing of God which goes right to the heart and soul of their own fears, their rage at injustice, their longing for security, place, purpose and love.  

In these passages, Jesus fulfills Micah’s prophecy and God’s own law and then entails what life will be like for those who follow him. He summarizes these passages like this: “love God and love your neighbour (and who is your neighbour?) even your enemies, those you see as unclean, distorted, disgraceful, manipulated. On these two commandments hang all the law and prophets. This is the will of God, Micah says, “He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?” AMEN