"Blessed Are You!" All Saints Sunday: Matthew 5:1-12 November 3, 2002 The Rev. Elizabeth H. Wheatley, Chaplain Church of the Resurrection, Starkville, Mississippi Blessed be the Name of God. In his book Sabbath, Wayne Muller tells a story that goes something like this: There was once a priest who, overcome with a sense of humility before God's magnificent creation, threw himself before the altar and cried, "I am nobody! I am nobody!" The cantor, observing the priest from the rear of the church, was moved by the priest's humility and devotion. She, too, joined the priest at the altar, crying, "I am nobody! I am nobody!" Then the janitor, sweeping the floors in the hall, heard the cries of the two religious people and, similarly moved by their devotion, also joined them at the altar crying out, "I am nobody! I am nobody!" At which point the cantor turned to the priest and, indicating the janitor, remarked, "Look who thinks he's nobody." (Adapted, from Sabbath Muller, p.177) Isn't interesting how something like humility can become a point by which people compare themselves and judge others. Who would have thought that one could "one up" another person by being humble… more humble, more "nobody"? "Look who thinks he's nobody." Or how about being poor in spirit, mourning, being hungry for right relationship, being persecuted, can we "one up" another with these qualities as points of comparison and judgment? In the beatitudes is Jesus telling us that in order to receive God's blessing we have to strive to be impoverished in spirit, to suffer loss and mourn, to get ourselves into such difficult and chaotic situations that we can claim to be hungry for righteousness, merciful and peace-loving? Just because someone is described as "blessed" or seen to be religious or holy, does that mean that we are called to be like them in order to be amongst the "blessed", the ones favored by God? My take on Matthew's introduction to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, the list of blessings or beatitudes we just heard, is "No" we are not called to become like the people to whom Jesus is pointing. Jesus is not pointing to the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful and the persecuted so that we will become like them. Jesus is pointing to them so that we will see them… so that we well see their transparency to God… so that we will see in them and in the thin places in which they live the reminder and the revelation of God's blessing. Rather than getting bogged down in commenting on, or creating, reasons for their poverty of spirit, their sorrow, their persecution as we so often do when focusing on Original Sin: What's wrong with creation? Is human nature utterly depraved? What's broken and fragmented about the lives of these people? Jesus reminds us of God's original blessing. As expressed in Genesis - "It is Good." - Jesus looks at these people and says, "Blessed are you" in all of your humanity. What's more, Jesus points to the blessedness of people with whom he has had personal contact, people with whom he has been present. Jesus speaks out of hands-on, real life, down and dirty experience with, in and amongst all sorts and conditions of people. Jesus directs the disciples' attention - Jesus directs our attention - to these people who live in places of need, places of suffering, places of unavoidable humanity so that we may SEE them, not solely as broken, suffering, sinful people, but as people of God, people who are blessed, people who are worthy of God's blessing - not because of some achievement, not because of something they did or did not do, not because of an inherited worthiness -- simply because they are children of God, they are inherently good, along with all of creation, and God's blessing is upon them and within them. They are blessed now. They are favored now. They are loved now, even in the midst of whatever confusion, loss, pain or sorrow life may hold for them. It is Good…. Blessed are these people, in all of their humanity." Some people may point to the fact that Jesus spoke these words, the beatitudes, from the side of a Mountain, away from the hustle and bustle, above and beyond the muck and mourning of life. The setting of the sermon is something like what we experience when we go on retreat or even when we take time out of our daily lives to attend church -- when take a step back to rest, to listen, to reflect and perhaps just to get away. Therefore, we may find that it's easy to say these things when you are not in the midst of the mess. But it is important for us to remember that Jesus went to the Mountain after having been in the midst of the people - listening, healing, touching, praying, and being with people who suffered and were in need. He went up the mountain and when he completed his Sermon on the Mount, he and the disciples descended from the Mountain. They went back down into the midst of life, into the midst of the people, into the midst of chaos, reality and the world. And it is there - in the midst of it all -- where they lived and did their ministry. It is there where they had the opportunity to live amongst, to be present with and to point through the pain and suffering toward God's blessing, the original blessedness of creation, the original blessedness of all God's people. It is good. So often the beatitudes are perceived as a set of tenets, a list of Kingdom values, or an instructive diatribe that tells us how, what and who to be "like" in order to receive God's blessing. Perhaps another way of receiving these words is to hear in them not as an command to emulate the people to whom Jesus is pointing, not to compare ourselves to others or to stand in judgment of ourselves - not to fall on the floor like the other "religious" people and say "I am nobody" nor to be tempted to say "Look who thinks he's nobody." Perhaps in the pointing and in the telling, Jesus invites us to emulate him and to follow in the way he leads --- the way that leads us down the mountain into the midst of life, into the midst of the people, into the midst of those who are impoverished in spirit, those who are mourning, those who are persecuted, those who serve as janitors and street-sweepers, those who live on the other side of the tracks, those who suffer from broken families and broken hearts, those who struggle and strive to find some meaning in a life in a world that can seem like it is cursed. May we hear the invitation to walk down the mountain and when we get there - in the midst of it all - may we may with the one who abides there, the one who points, not for the sake of pointing, but for the sake of SEEing, for the sake of becoming aware. And may we participate in the pointing and in the revelation of God's blessing by looking into the eyes of the poor in spirit, by touching the hand of those who mourn, by being present with the persecuted and by saying to the people the words spoken by Jesus, "Blessed are you." …Blessed are you, child of God. …Blessed are you, holy one. …Blessed are you, sinner. …Blessed are you, saint. …Blessed be all of you, saints of God. …Blessed are you! Blessed be the Name of God.