Prepare

This week, the Revised Common Lectionary gives us four meaty texts. They relate to one another, but it is also important to think about them individually.

Micah 6:8 might be the best-known verse of the whole book, but it is important to read it within its literary context. Chapter 6 reads like a court transcript. God has dragged the people of Israel (ancient, not the modern-day state) to court. Creation acts as judge and jury. God starts to list all the ways that God has saved and delivered. The people then ask “How shall we say thank you? With sacrifices? Huge sacrifices? Over the top sacrifices?” And a voice responds, God has told you: “to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8, NRSVue).

Psalm 15 echoes the high standards of living that God yearns to see from God’s people in Micah 6. Notice the focus on how people interact with others—their friends, their neighbors, the innocent.

The assigned passage from First Corinthians this week starts with the same verse that last week’s passage ended with. The cross is foolish; it does not make sense when selfish power-hungry human logic is applied. Through Christ, God provides to God’s people wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

Like the other texts assigned for today, Matthew 5:1-12 shows us God’s character—one who saves, delivers, and defies human logic. The Beatitudes (as they are usually called) are not meant to encourage Christ’s followers to seek out/cause suffering for ourselves in order to get closer to God, but to see where and with whom God promises to be and invite us to come alongside them as well.

Opening Exercise

• Option 1: When you think of someone being “blessed”, who comes to mind? What do they look like? Who do you not think of as being blessed?
• Option 2: Look through the Salt & Gold Collection’s Foot Washing Series inspired by recent events in Minnesota:
  • What are your reactions?
  • Which image surprised you the most?
  • Which image will stick with you this week?
  • What images are missing?
  • You can find earlier iterations of the Foot Washing Series here.

Text Read Aloud

Micah 6:1-8
Matthew 5:1-12

Blessed by Presence, Not Circumstance

If you search #blessed on social media, you will most likely see a seemingly never-ending stream of personal achievements (especially of the athletic variety), the acquisition of material possessions, and the enjoyment of exotic vacation spots.

artwork by Salt & Gold Collection

It seems like today’s popular definition of “blessed” is almost the exact opposite of what Jesus had in mind at the Mount of the Beatitudes. A state of blessedness is not something that is earned or even something to be aspired to. It is a statement of promise—God promises to be with all God’s people no matter how bad things get.

Our God is about turning the world upside down—which is why Jesus speaks what seems like foolishness when he calls those in so many terrible situations “blessed.” The poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted are not blessed BY their situations. Rather, they are called blessed because God remains with them amid their less-than-ideal situations, promising that things will ultimately be different. This presence and solidarity with those whom society would otherwise cast off is the heart of the good news—no one is out of God’s purview. All are invited into the abundant life of God’s kin-dom.

Too often, though, we lose sight of God’s plan for creation and make up our own. We lose sight of the communal for the individual, turning inward and gazing at our navels. It is this manifestation of sin that leads to the list of Solemn Reproaches that we confess as a community on Good Friday in the style of Micah 6.

Yet, as we confess our complacency with injustice and the ways we work against God’s plan and God’s people, let us also hear the good news that God continues God’s saving action despite us. We do not have to do anything or be good enough to receive “righteousness and redemption and sanctification” from our Lord. Instead, when we are given God’s free gift of grace, we are transformed to “do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” When our egos and selfishness are kept in check, we get to experience God’s kin-dom and true plan for creation—where there is more than enough to go around and abundant life for all.

Reflection Questions

• According to Micah 6:1-8 and Matthew 5:1-12, what do the actions of God tell us about the character of God?
• According to Micah 6:1-8 and Psalm 15, how does God want God’s people to live?
• Why do you think that Jesus mentioned the groups/kinds of people that he did in the Beatitudes?
• If Jesus were preaching the Sermon on the Mount today, what groups/kinds of people would he name in the Beatitudes today?
• How have you or could you actively work to bless the groups/kinds of people that Jesus included in the biblical Beatitudes or that are on the modern-day list y’all came up with?

Closing Activity

• Work individually or in small groups to design a visual representation of Micah 6:8 or the Beatitudes—think t-shirt, temporary tattoo, mural, or banner for your worship space. Give each person/group a chance to share about their design as they desire.

Final Blessing—by Sr. Ruth Marlene Fox, OSB

May God bless you with a restless discomfort
about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships,
so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.

May God bless you with holy anger
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom,
and peace among all people.

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer
from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish,
so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that
you really CAN make a difference in this world,
so that you are able, with God’s grace,
to do what others claim cannot be done.

And the blessing of God the Supreme Majesty and our Creator,
Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word who is our brother and Saviour,
and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide, be with you
and remain with you, this day and forevermore. Amen.*

Bio of Author

Leslie Weber is a pastor, spouse, mother, daughter, sister, friend, and ally. She serves at Grace Lutheran Church (Chesapeake, VA) and Holy Communion Lutheran Church (Portsmouth, VA). She was born in California, but has lived most of her life on the East Coast, where she has lived in three of the four U.S. Commonwealths (MA, PA, and VA).

*“May God bless you with a restless discomfort…” A four-fold Benedictine blessing by Sr. Ruth Marlene Fox, OSB, 1985, as reprinted on WorldPrayers.org

Contributed by David Delaney, Salem, VA

Warm-up Question

Has anyone in your group ever spent time in a very poor area, either as part of your own living experience, or on a mission or immersion trip to a developing country, or heard stories from those who have been to such places?

• What are some of the words that come to mind when you imagine or recall the lives of those who live day-to-day, hand-to-mouth, or under threat of disease, war, or oppression?  “Miserable,” “unfortunate,” “desperate,” “bitter,” “victim,” and “hopeless” are all words that might come to the minds of many.  Some people might include words that reflect stereotypes of the poor as mostly responsible for their own condition or dismiss poverty with a resigned shrug – “that’s the way the world is.”
• What would you do if you lost everything?  What would happen if your family disappeared, you had no income and no place to live, and you were left to blame for it all?  That might sound like an extreme scenario, but try to imagine it.  What words would you use to describe yourself then?

Whatever you might say, it is hard to imagine using the word “blessed” to describe someone else or yourself in a situation of poverty or any other kind of severe stress; that must be kept in mind as we reflect on Matthew 5.

Blessed to Bless

Many people use the term “blessed” to refer to some extra experience they have had for which they want to express some gratitude, even if they are not Christian or religious at all.  In mid-January, Sandra Bullock described herself as feeling “overwhelmingly blessed” after receiving an Oscar nomination for her movie Gravity.  Also in mid-January, the manager of the Liverpool soccer team praised one of his players, Daniel Sturridge, as being “genetically blessed” because of his remarkable ability to recover from injuries much faster than normal.

Discussion Questions

• Are these  good uses of the word “blessed”?  When you read Matthew 5, does it sound like Jesus is describing exceptional situations for exceptional people or the ongoing lives of everyday people?
• Are there ways for us to start seeing the constant experiences of our daily lives as blessings?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, February 2, 2014 (Fourth Sunday after Epiphany)

 Micah 6:1-8

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Matthew 5:1-12

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year C at Lectionary Readings.)

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

The setting for the many things that Jesus taught throughout the gospels varies greatly, but the physical size of the land where he conducted his ministry was very small – less than the size of the state of Vermont.  Most places could be reached by walking in less than a day, and even a trip from Capernaum to Jerusalem could be done in a little more than three days of brisk walking.  Because there was a lot of travel done for business, government, and military purposes, people could easily see the great difference between the wealthier areas of the country and the poorer ones.  They were often very close together.  Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth was one of the poorest agricultural areas of the county, yet a brief walk to the top of the hill just south of his town would allow someone to see into the Jezreel Valley, one of the agriculturally richest areas of the country.

The traditional site of The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7), from which this passage comes, is less than a day’s walk from Nazareth and is once again a very rich area.  So when Jesus talks about being blessed, people from all different walks of life and economic circumstances might have been listening to him.  Regardless of all of those differences, we read these verses knowing that everything – even life itself – is a gift from God.  How do you hear that from the standpoint of your own particular setting in life?

Discussion Questions

• In verse one, Jesus goes up on a mountain to teach and invite his followers to a new kind of “law” for life.   Who does this remind us of from the Old Testament (answer = Moses)?  Do you think Matthew wants us to think of Jesus as replacing Moses or building on what the Israelite law said?  (Look at Matthew chapters 22-23 to see examples of Jesus responding to questions about Israel’s law).
• If you list all of the various situations listed by Jesus in this set of verses, which ones sound like they are the result of something that has happened to someone (answers: poor in spirit, mourning, meek, experiencing persecution, being lied about), and which sound like qualities that someone might want to adopt or nurture (answers: righteousness, mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking)?  Do they all have something in common?  (Possibly, all are situations in which the presence of God is needed and one might not recognize the need for God’s presence without them, which is why they are a source of blessing).  What do we learn about following Jesus from this?  Is the blessed life an active and willful life, or passive and receptive, or both?
• These verses in Matthew are traditionally referred to as the “Beatitudes” (pronounced be-AT-i-tudes), from the Latin word “beo” which means to bless or make happy.  There is a story about a child in Sunday School who had never seen or heard the word before and pronounced it “BEAT-i-tudes” and immediately added how much sense that made because these are RULES that BEAT you.  It is easy to see how these sentences that are intended to be comforting could be turned around to become a checklist of things you have to do in order to earn blessings.  How can we avoid thinking about them like that?
• How do we imagine that these blessings become real in the lives of people who experience the hardships Jesus describes?  Is it simply a direct line from God to the individual?  Or does the community have a role?  Do we who have experienced these things before or who are already equipped with the good news of the gospel and the means to relieve suffering serve on God’s behalf in bringing blessing to others?

Activity Suggestion

• On a sheet of paper that you will fold up and carry with you this week as a reminder, list the names of actual people you know to whom you can relate in a new way according to this list of promises from Jesus.   Is there someone in your life for whom you only have contempt or conflict?  How can you be “poor in spirit” in your conversations with them?  Do you know someone who is consumed by a lifestyle of destructive behavior or shallow thrill?  Can your “hunger and thirst for righteousness” provide a suggestion of another way to live?  Is there someone in your life who needs mercy and forgiveness from you or others?  Can you show mercy and forgiveness to that person, knowing that it may not be received or returned?   Are you afraid of the consequences of representing the love of God in Christ Jesus to others in word and/or deed?  Recall that the promise of verses 11 and 12 are not just that you have a heavenly consolation for your courage and trouble, but that there may be others nearby who have desperately needed to hear and see the witness of someone who believes that God’s grace can really make a difference.   Who in your life could benefit from that witness? Let this list of people be your personal prayer list for the week and also your reminder that God’s promises for following Christ as described here in Matthew 5 are true!

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, giver of every blessing, we rejoice that the wisdom and promises you first shared with your disciples have come down to us and still remain true today.  Help us to come to you as your followers did in those days and to welcome your word with gladness, even as it calls us to repentance and service.   We lift before you for your blessings all those whose spirits call out for relief and righteousness, all who mourn the loss of loved ones, who feel disenfranchised and isolated, and whose fondest desire is that they could feel strong enough to show mercy and forgiveness in the face of persecution and hatred.  Give us along with all your people joy and gladness for the reward that is ours in your kingdom.

Contributed by David Delaney, Salem, VA

Warm-up Question

If we move away from the word “blessed” for a minute and think of the word “happy” instead, what kinds of things come to mind when you imagine yourself as happy?  Think about experiences right now rather than a definition of the word.  Are you more likely to think of something you already occasionally do or experience or are you more likely to think of your future, a vision or goal for the good life?  If you and your group write all of these things down, do you see things in common or are you all over the map?  Do they tend to be things that give you immediate pleasure, recreation, and thrill, or things that turn you outward, relate to deeper meanings, or reorient your attitudes in a way that have longer value?  Do any of your experiences sound like anything in Matthew 5:1-12?

As we start to build an understanding of the meaning of the word “blessing” or “blessed,” what other words besides “happiness” and “happy” can you associate with those ideas?

More Than Happy

In mid-January an elderly couple won more than 300 million dollars in the Mega-Millions lottery, which they took in a lump sum rather than annual payments.   In an interview, they said they are determined not to go the way of so many other large lottery winners who have ended up on welfare after a few years because of reckless spending.  In spite of the plans they’ve announced to give a lot of their winnings away to charities and other major gifts, they have still already been inundated with hundreds requests for money and the simple task of responding to those requests has required a huge amount of time.

Not too many days after that lottery win, a woman in Tucson named Patricia Maisch probably saved more than a dozen lives by grabbing the extra gun clip from deranged killer Jared Lee Loughner in the middle of his January 8^th shooting spree.   She has since been interviewed by more than two dozen news  organizations from around the world, including live television interviews.  She insists that she is not a hero, but this event has allowed her to speak out about gun violence, extreme political rhetoric, and the courage of those around her during the shooting.

Discussion Questions

• Do you think that any of these people would describe themselves as “blessed”?
• One couple had a dream come true – a huge amount of money dropped in their lap.  The other woman was unhurt in an incident in which 19 were shot and helped prevent the shooting of many others.  How does that help our emerging understanding of the being “blessed”?
• What other examples can we think of where something that looks at first like a “blessing” might have another side to it, or on the other hand, something that sounds difficult and disruptive ends up providing a blessing we didn’t expect?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, January 30, 2011 (Fourth Sunday after Epiphany)

Micah 6:1-8

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Matthew 5:1-12

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year C at Lectionary Readings.)

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

Even though verse one of Matthew 5 suggests that Jesus is to be seen as the new Moses, the content of this set of teachings does not really parallel Exodus 19 and 20 very closely.  The commandment words in this chapter consist of things like “Rejoice and be glad!” and “Let your light so shine!”  As these chapters progress through what is called “the Sermon on the Mount,” they are more *descriptive* of what life following Jesus is like rather than *prescriptive* in the sense of dictating a set of do’s and don’t’s.   The call in 5:20 that the Christian’s righteousness must exceed that of the hyper-law-keeping Scribes and Pharisees is a strong clue that this righteousness of which Jesus speaks can only come as a gift from God and not from one’s own hard work and good behavior.

This attitude of receptivity and dependence on God’s grace that serves as the key to the entire Sermon on the Mount points back to our passage, where one wonders how it could ever be possible that the “poor in spirit” would be the very ones destined for heaven, or the meek would inherit the earth.  We are naturally suspicious of claims that showing mercy will elicit mercy from others, because our world does not appear to work that way.

This is what makes being a follower of Christ both the joy and the challenge that is described here.  To trust God for the fulfillment all of these promises is both our greatest unburdening (because it doesn’t depend on us!) and our greatest test (because such trust is an enormous risk!).

Discussion Questions

• In verse one, Jesus goes up on a mountain to teach and invite his followers to a new kind of “law” for life.   Who does this remind us of from the Old Testament (answer = Moses) and what do we think the gospel writer wants us to understand about Jesus from this connection?
• What does it mean to be “poor in spirit”?  Does our understanding of this phrase change if we paraphrase it as “those who know they need the spirit of God”?
• What are some synonyms for “meek” ?  Some possibilities are “humble,” “gentle.”
• It is possible to make two lists from the characteristics of the blessed in this passage:  one list contains the things that are more like life-experiences that happen *to* us – mournful, persecuted, slandered;  the other list contains things that have more to do with our attitudes and actions – meekness, mercy, purity in heart, peacemaking.  Some, like “poor in spirit” and “hungry for righteousness” could be both, because they can come from a natural humility or the experience of being deflated from our pride or self-righteousness.  What do we learn about following Jesus from this?  Is the blessed life an active and willful life, or passive and receptive, or both?
• Return to the question of what “blessed” means.  Many translations of Matthew 5 actually use the word “happy,” which is one perfectly correct rendering of the Greek word makarios which appears here.  It may be, however, that “blessed” is still a better choice because it suggests that this condition of well-being is something that happens to a person  or comes as a gift rather than something that someone does to attain happiness or blessedness.  Which of these is the better way of describing the result of following Christ, trusting the gospel, and obeying Christ’s commands?
• Some have noted that Matthew’s version of these “Beatitudes” differs from the list in Luke 6:20-31 particularly in that the Lukan list seems more deeply based in the actual experience of physical poverty, hunger, and persecution.   As if to emphasize the point, Luke also contains a list of warnings to those who have all of their needs currently met.  How literally should we take these descriptions of human conditions in Matthew 5 and Luke 6?  Can blessedness come from spiritual hunger just as much as physical hunger?
• How do we imagine that these blessings become real in the lives of people who experience the hardships Jesus describes?  Is it simply a direct line from God to the individual?  Or do we who have experienced these things before or who are already equipped with the good news of the gospel and the means to relieve suffering play a role on God’s behalf in bringing blessing to others?
• Some have been critical of these promises in Matthew because they can be seen as self-centered or unrelated to a community of relationships.   Yet if we take the example of verse 12, the blessing experienced by the prophets of Israel  even while they were being persecuted or killed was not simply a personal heavenly reward, but that the nation and the people heard the word of God, which – as the scriptures promise – is effective whether we see it or not!  Is it possible that the blessedness that is promised to *you* as someone who experiences these things really becomes a fuller blessing in the experience of those around you who share in it also?

Suggested Activity

On a sheet of paper that you will fold up and carry with you this week as a reminder, list the names of actual people you know to whom you can relate in a new way according to this list of promises from Jesus.   Is there someone in your life for whom you only have contempt or conflict?  How can you be “poor in spirit” in your conversations with them?  Do you know someone who is consumed by a lifestyle of destructive behavior or shallow thrill?  Can your “hunger and thirst for righteousness” provide a suggestion of another way to live?  Is there someone in your life who needs mercy and forgiveness from you or others?  Can you show mercy and forgiveness to that person, knowing that it may not be received or returned?   Are you afraid of the consequences of representing the love of God in Christ Jesus to others in word and/or deed?  Recall that the promise of verses 11 and 12 are not just that you have a heavenly consolation for your courage and trouble, but that there may be others nearby who have desperately needed to hear and see the witness of someone who believes that God’s grace can really make a difference.   Who in your life could benefit from that witness?

Let this list of people be your personal prayer list for the week and also your reminder that God’s promises for following Christ as described here in Matthew 5 are true!

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, giver of every blessing, we rejoice that the wisdom and promises you first shared with your disciples has come down to us and still remains true today.  Help us to come to you as your followers did in those days and to welcome your word with gladness, even as it calls us to repentance and service.   We lift before you for your blessings all those whose spirits call out for relief and righteousness, all who mourn the loss of loved ones, who feel disenfranchised and isolated, and whose fondest desire is that they could feel strong enough to show mercy and forgiveness in the face of persecution and hatred.  Give us, along with all your people, joy and gladness for the reward that is ours in your kingdom.