LIving he Beatitudes

 

 

We’re told that Martin Luther originally had a hard time trying to live up to the demands of the Old Testament—even literally beating himself at times. Finally, he discovered that salvation was realized by grace and faith alone.  Through the lens of that discovery, he began to view the New Testament as “gospel” and the demands of the Hebrew Bible as “law.”  For Luther, it was crucial that Jesus had come to set us free from the “law.”  And he “wrote” this perspective into his translation of the Bible by placing books he didn’t care for at the end.  But Luther wasn’t the first or the last to try to “edit” the Bible.  I think the real problem for us is that what Luther did on paper, we do in fact.  Don’t we simply edit those portions of the Bible from actual use?  I think this especially applies to “laws” with their unrealistic demands.  

Jesus opens the “Sermon on the Mount” with the beatitudes, which while not really instructions for living, are a declaration of the grace that God is pouring out on all people through Jesus Christ. (Matthew5:1-12a) They are a declaration at the heart of Jesus’ message that the kingdom of God is at hand.  If you wonder what the kingdom of God is about, look at the beatitudes.  It means blessing, peace and comfort for those who have been trampled on in our world.  Right from the start of this “sermon,” Jesus makes an elaborate statement about the grace that God gives to all people who will open their hearts to it.  

While the Jewish religious leaders had sought to fulfill God’s demands by specifying the precise actions one could or could not do, Jesus called his disciples to obey God’s “commands” from the heart.  That would mean that while killing is an egregious offense, Understanding the root of and avoiding the anger and hatred that leads us to devalue the life of another, is the mark of a spiritual being. This mindful approach requires us to examine and know behavioral triggers that lead to uncontrolled anger and intercept them before they are acted out. This spiritual transformation leads to a proactive way of living the beatitudes.   

In reality, Jesus didn’t make it easier to obey God’s rules, he made it harder.  He went back to the original intention of the commands--to produce a people who would practice God’s justice, compassion, and mercy toward one another.  And they would do so not for fear of punishment or in order to gain some reward.  They would practice this kind of life because God’s grace had changed their hearts, and they could do no less. In other words, for Jesus, obeying God is not just a matter of what we do, it’s something that comes from the heart. And when we have that kind of relationship that comes from the heart, we can do no less than make every effort to practice the way of life defined in Scripture as “walking in God’s ways.” 

Adapted in part fromThe Waking Dreamer, Alan Brehm, “Light for the World,” February 12, 2014

What do You Think?

 

Jesus uses his parables to engage his audience by relating explicit scenarios that are relevant to its world. They are implicit invitations for them to see something “beneath the literal narrative.” Jesus would sometimes insert a clever device such as a visual element or use a provocative form of speech, which would prompt the imagination to know his meaning beyond any literal interpretation. And so it is in this week’s Gospel (Matthew 22:15-21). Jesus uses the Roman coin to illustrate and memorialize in the mind’s eye of the listener (and for us forever), the answer to his question, “what do you think?”

Over the centuries, this famous passage has framed societal attitudes toward the relationship between religion and government. There are those who believe that Jesus is establishing two separate realms, Caesar's and God's. This interpretation may strike many Americans as obviously correct, given our separation of church and state. Looking at this more closely, Jesus was less concerned with taxation or political authority. These existed in his world but were not of his world.

Let’s face it, we’re told that in the first century Jews paid many taxes:  customs taxes, and taxes on land and of course, tithes to the Temple. Yet, in this parable the question posed to Jesus was not about how many taxes they paid but rather whether it was lawful to pay taxes After all, taxes were paid to Caesar, who as the emperor of Rome and the son of Augustus, was deemed to be the “son of God.” As such, the Jews believed that even possessing the coin with the image of Caesar, was idolatry and in violation of the commandments. 

So back to the question put to Jesus in our Gospel. What do you think?  A “yes or no” answer either way would have gotten Jesus in trouble. "Yes" would have discredited him with those who found the imperial domination system unacceptable. "No" would have made him subject to arrest for sedition.  By avoiding the trap Jesus asks us to recognize that while we may owe the rulers of this world earthly things like taxes, we commit our spiritual beings to God completely. For me, this Gospel and specifically the Roman coin, are the most effective of all Matthew’s devices to illustrate the Kingdom of God. The coin serves to remind us that it, as a single entity, reveals our existence in two dimensions, mortal and spiritual. Not unlike our mind, body and soul, they are separate realms of our human existence that co-eexist in one being  . What do you think? 

I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. For they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them...while they are still in the world (John 17.)

We are merely stewards

 

In this parable (Matthew 21:33-46) the Pharisees were indignant at the thought that they might not be considered to be as good as they thought they were. After all, “they were entitled” by birth and dismissed anything that might challenge their place in Jewish society. Don’t do we sometimes think that we are entitled…just because we were born into a certain social strata? Let’s face it, as citizens of this great country it’s easy to take our blessings for granted. We live sometimes as though we have somehow earned these blessings. 

As today’s Gospel reminds us, we are mere temporary resident tenants who have been entrusted as stewards of the Master’s property and are expected to return it better than the way we found it. Like the tenants who leased the land, we are often too busy tending to our own agendas and take our minds off the prize. We forget that the landowner is going to hold us accountable for what we have done with his land. It is not our private club.   

The kingdom of God does not work like a marketplace. That is man’s construct not God’s. What we do in His kingdom does not exist to serve our own agendas but rather it exists to serve something much greater than ourselves. His vineyard has nothing to do with returns on investment or quid pro quo.  We have no idea what that yield is or will be. God’s love like a fertile verdant garden, takes what we have and returns it more beautiful than before.  

In Matthew, Jesus describes the violent way the tenant farmers treated the servants and the landowner’s own son.  He then asks them how they think the landowner will treat the tenant farmer.  Thoroughly entrenched in their world’s ideology of violence and retribution, the Pharisees say that the landowner will bring those retches to a miserable end.  Jesus knows that this is not quite the whole story and tells them, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.”  In other words, God is not about to give up.  No matter what violent acts are perpetuated against Jesus, the Father will see that the rejected stone continues to be the cornerstone. 

The kingdom is not ours.  The kingdom belongs to God.  We who live in the kingdom must reside on God’s terms and not ours.  We are just stewards.  This good news is worth sharing!