Matthew 5:1-4 The Beatitudes #2:

“The Promise of Comfort" Rev. Meagan M. Boozer

Matthew 5:1-4

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

If a person is financially or materially poor, he/she knows it. You know you are poor if you are poor. However, it seems to be the opposite if you are poor in spirit. The one who is poor in spirit doesn’t know they are poor – because the poor in spirit think of themselves as the richest of the rich. The poor in spirit recognize that they have no value by their own merit. They recognize that their own spirit is lifeless and useless apart from the Spirit of Christ who comes and brings to them (Eph. 2:7) the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness. The poor in spirit live Jesus’ words in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them will bear much fruit, because apart from Me you can do nothing.”

The poor in spirit are promised the kingdom of heaven. The poor in spirit live in a reality that is filled with the blessed presence of their King. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Did you see the clips on TV this past week of the gym at the University of Illinois as their mascot, Chief Illiniwek danced his last dance? The NCAA had placed sanctions on the sports program at Illinois because the mascot had become racially controversial. Now, whether you agree with this or not is not the point today. But finally, after 20 years of warnings & sanctions, the Illini retired the Indian chief. Illinois fans wore black T-shirts to the last dance of the chief in a sign of mourning. People of all ages were weeping uncontrollably. “This is the last time I’ll see this guy dressed up like an Indian Chief dance at a basketball game.” Boo-hoo. Geez…

Do Jesus’ words, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted, apply to this? Are these the people he was talking about?

Is he talking to people who cry over spilt milk?

There is a book entitled, Lament for a Son, written by Yale philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff in the aftermath of the mountain-climbing death of his 25 year old son, Eric. Several years after Eric died, he noticed that the wound was no longer raw. But it had not disappeared. And he knew that that was as it should be. If Eric was worth loving, he thought, he is worth grieving over. Grief, he wrote, is testimony to the worth of the one loved. But he also learned something beyond himself. “Through the prism of my tears I have seen a suffering God,” he said.

We come here to worship a God who is familiar with our suffering. We worship a God who suffered in his own body, and who suffered in deep, unrelenting grief over our sin. Those who mourn as Jesus calls us to mourn, if they will look, will see a suffering God mourning beside them.

After his loss, Wolterstorff shared yet another reflection: He believed that he would, for the rest of his life, look at the world through tears. “Perhaps I shall see things that dry-eyed I could not see,” he said.

· Dry-eyed, we may look right past the pain, the loneliness, the ache the next person harbors.

· Dry-eyed we may flit off to Wal-Mart, forgetting that war rages on this planet, that children are dying for simple lack of food or medicine while we do our grocery shopping.

· Dry-eyed, we forget the unfairness of this world in which the evil seem to succeed, while the holy and the humble (those who look like these Beatitudes), suffer.

The mourners are those who have caught a glimpse of what God wants for this world who ache inside for that world to come, and who break out into tears when they see how wide the gap is between where we are and where we need to be.

The world tells us to be calm. Disengage yourself. Don’t worry, be happy. Don’t cry for me Argentina…

Jesus tells us to be open to the wounds of the world. Look at the sin that keeps the rich ever gaining, and the poor without hope. Look at all the stuff at Wal-Mart we are told we need. Jesus tells us to think of those who simply need a piece of bread and a drink of water. Mourn the loss of innocence in our children, he says. Grieve the scarcity of sexual purity, knowing that the majority of teenagers will have an average of 1 to 4 sexual partners before ever leaving high school. Mourn the loss of dignity for a person who must beg in order to live. Grieve the fact that there are countries whose Christians must hide to worship God, because if they are discovered, they know they will be punished, or even killed. Mourn the deaths of millions of babies who will never get a chance to grow because of a new “morning after” pill called, Second Chance. Mourn how far away from God we are, how quickly we become immune to crude language and cruelty. Mourn how far from God we are, Jesus tells us, but do so in Divine hope that a day of peace is coming.

Jesus knew his disciples would mourn his death, and so before he was crucified, he told his disciples that he would send them a Comforter.

“I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” (John 14:18-20)

The gift of the Holy Spirit is nothing other than the Holy Spirit. God does not send us a counterfeit. God does not send us a substitute. Just as God came to earth in the form of a man named Jesus, God comes to you and me in the form of a Spirit who is holy. God sends us His own self. His very own self.

In Psalm 73, when the psalmist had nothing else to hang onto, he writes the following:

“Whom have I in heaven

but you? And there is

nothing on earth that I

desire other than you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever.

For me, it is good to be

near God; I have made the

Lord God my refuge.”

I hope I have not given you a picture of those who mourn who do nothing more than sit in the corner with a box of Kleenexes. Those who mourn with God, God’s way, are not those who cannot function in their grief. There are those who mourn in such a self-directed way that their mourning never takes them anywhere but right where they are. Such mourning is not God-directed, and will not bring the comfort promised here. Those who are blessed in their mourning with comfort, are those who are eventually moved to action. Whether that action is to comfort others in their individual suffering and loss, or whether that action is a movement to help get food to the homeless or the hungry around the world, Jesus says that those who truly mourn shall be comforted.

March is almost upon us. This is a time of year during which we have lots of stuff going on that requires asking for money from God’s people.

The teens and youth leaders just went 30 hours without food for the 30 Hour Famine to raise awareness and money for poor and dying children across the world. We raised, as of Saturday the 24th, around $1400.00 for World Vision. This will take care of 4 children for a whole year! They have been asking you for support.

The Honduras team will be leaving two weeks from today to help those who are not just poor in things, but who need to know the hope and joy of life in Christ. They have been asking you for support. The trip for 16 people costs about $21,000.00. So far they are only about $6,000 short of that pricetag. God will provide through His people, of that we have no doubt.

Our One Great Hour of Sharing challenge begins today. This fund, working through our denomination, helps to provide support for people in disaster situations, and for those struggling to find a way to feed their families. Today we begin asking you for support that reaches far beyond what we could do on our own.

“Man, all they do at church is ask me for more money.”

If we really want to live the blessed life, we would be deeply grateful, not antagonized, that the church is helping us direct our overabundance. Without such biblical direction, it is a small step to begin to believe that to be blessed means to be comfortable, which is quite the opposite of what Jesus intended when he went up that mountain and sat down to teach. And if I allowed that to happen on my watch just because I don’t want to upset people’s apple carts, I don’t think I could stand by this cross for very long this day or any day.

May we come to this Table today with a desire for Jesus to teach us how to become poor in spirit, confessing our utter dependence on Him for all things. And may we come today with a desire to become those who mourn with God-directed purpose, so that we become those who give and receive the comfort of the Spirit. Amen.

Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church

02-25-2007

Matthew 5:1-4 The Beatitudes #2:

“The Promise of Comfort" Rev. Meagan M. Boozer

Matthew 5:1-4