Blessings

 

4 Epiphany   Church of the Redeemer, Chestnut Hill           The Rev. Nancy E. Gossling

         Charles James Cook once wrote “Whenever we hear the Beatitudes, we are struck with their poetic beauty and, at the same time, overwhelmed by their perceived impracticality for the world in which we live. To be poor in spirit, peaceful, merciful, and meek will get you nowhere in a culture grounded in competition and fear. Who can survive in attempting to live into the spirit of the Beatitudes?”

I often hear from parishioners a variety of reasons for why they come to Church. Perhaps this is a community in which you grew up or one similar to it, and now you want your own children to learn about our Christian faith. Maybe you like the people here, and can relate to them on a variety of issues. Some of you may find a common passion in feeding the hungry, serving in our worship, or offering Christian formation to young and old people alike. Maybe you’re someone who is just looking for comfort, or hope, or just how to be a better person and a faithful Christian in a “culture grounded in competition and fear.”

When I first began exploring the Bible as a lay person, I liked the gospel of Matthew more than the other three, Mark, Luke, and John, because Matthew gave me so many examples of what Jesus had taught his disciples. His language was specific and prescriptive. This is what you say, this is what you do, and this is how you act if you want to be a faithful member of our Jewish community.

Today’s gospel passage from Matthew, Chapter 5 verses 1-12, is called the Beatitudes, that is the Blessings, and these verses are the beginning of what is called the Sermon on the Mount which comprises chapters 5-7 of the gospel of Matthew. Jesus’ sermon was three chapters long, unlike mine today, for Jesus said, “blessed are the merciful; for they shall receive mercy.”

Now imagine that Jesus had just finished being baptized by John in the River Jordan. According to Matthew he was then driven into the wilderness by the Spirit, where he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, was tempted by the devil, and placed on a very high mountain, where he was offered all the kingdoms of the world. Cultures filled with competition and fear. And what does Jesus say? Nope, no thank you, not today.

Then according to Matthew, Jesus left the Jordan River and withdrew to Galilee after his cousin John was arrested. There, rather than being part of a duck-boat parade as the favorite Son of Nazareth, Jesus was rejected by his hometown crowd who tried to throw him off a cliff because of his teaching. So Jesus decided to make his home in Capernaum where he set up camp near the Sea of Galilee. There he called his first disciples.

Jesus’ fame for teaching, preaching, and healing spread like wildfire and soon enough crowds from Syria, Galilee, Jerusalem, Decapolis, Judea and from beyond the Jordan River began to follow him. And so, Matthew spends chapter after chapter telling us about Jesus’ five teaching discourses that covered as many as 20 chapters in this gospel. His first teaching discourse was the three chapters called the Sermon on the Mount.

If this were the rabbi’s syllabus, the second part of class is called the missionary teachings of Jesus, when he tells his disciples how to go out into the world and behave like him. The third group of lessons includes parables about the kingdom of heaven and after that, the fourth group of chapters tells us how to live together in community. Jesus’ fifth teaching discourse, before his final exam in Jerusalem, was eschatological in nature, that is, Jesus describes what the end times will look like.

Now if you are one of those people who wants instructions on how to be a better person or a more faithful disciple of Jesus, I suggest you skip ahead and read the gospel of Matthew at home. He offers plenty of descriptions on what things look like and prescriptions on how to behave, which can be as simple as the prophet Micah suggests: do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. But, if you’re anything like me, you want more specificity.

In chapters 5 through 25, Jesus does just that. Matthew portrays Jesus as a rabbi, who is teaching the crowds on what to do and how to speak as a person of faith. Do this Jesus said: love your enemies; give alms; pray, fast, and follow the golden rule. Don’t do this, Jesus warned. Don’t murder, commit adultery, retaliate, serve two masters, judge others, or profane the holy. So how about that for impracticality in our world? How do the Ukrainian people feel about being peaceful, merciful, and meek, loving their enemy and not retaliating when their country is being destroyed in front of their very eyes?

As much as we may like these specific instructions about how to live faithfully, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the do’s and don’ts and their perceived impracticality for the world in which we live. It’s hard to behave faithfully as Christians in a culture grounded in competition and fear. We swim in these waters; we breathe this kind of air. We know the reality of human sin and evil.

So Jesus, who was sitting atop his own little mountain, surveying the kingdom before him, was teaching the crowd about a different kind of kingdom. Indeed, he was being counter-cultural. In stark comparison to a “culture that is grounded in competition and fear” the kingdom of God is different, he told them. It’s not like the Roman government, your own religious and political institutions, or maybe even your own hometown. It’s spiritual in nature. And it’s beyond our reach but not beyond our vision.

In these Beatitudes, Jesus isn’t being prescriptive. He’s not giving us advice about how to behave like today’s psalmist.“There is nothing about them that remotely suggests Jesus was telling anyone what he thought they should do,” Barbara Brown Taylor wrote. “When Jesus is giving advice, it is hard to miss. (It is) one imperative after the other, with no distinction between rich or poor, hungry or well-fed. It is the same list for all of them, whether they happen to be weeping or bent over with laughter.”

Jesus’ words today are descriptive of our humanity, of you and me, of all of us. And they are intended to provide comfort, encouragement, and hope. I know that some of you may be feeling like this, Jesus told them; and yet you are blessed by God. If you are poor in spirit, the kingdom of heaven is yours. If you are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, you will be filled. If you are grieving, you will be comforted, and when you are pure in heart, you will see God. These are God’s promises and blessings given to us by Jesus.

The Beatitudes speak to us not only as individuals, however, but also as people living in various cultures that are grounded in competition and fear. We may be hungering for changes in the ways in which our communities currently operate. Perhaps you are mourning the loss of ethical behavior in our country and throughout our world. Maybe you have concerns about our climate, violence, mental illnesses, and the value of human life.

Barbara Brown Taylor describes our roller coaster of life like being on God’s Ferris Wheel. “The Ferris Wheel will go around, so that those who are swaying at the top, with the wind in their hair and all the world’s lights at their feet, will have their turn at the bottom, while those who are down there right now, where all they can see are candy wrappers in the sawdust, will have their chance to touch the stars.”

As Jesus stood behind his own little pulpit, and was preaching his Sermon on the Mount, he began by telling us about God and God’s kingdom, a culture that is not grounded in competition and fear. It is a culture in which all God’s beloved children are blessed. It is a culture grounded in justice, kindness, and humility. In God’s kingdom the lamb and the lion lay down together. No one is oppressed or persecuted; and violence is no more.

“Just because things are bad right now, doesn’t mean it will always be that way,” Taylor reminds us. For in the end, Jesus taught us that the ferris wheel and the roller coaster of life all belong to God. And in the end God reigns, Love wins, and there is a great reward in heaven. Eternal life is forever.

Today, Jesus gave us these blessings, because we are God’s blessed people. We don’t live into the spirit of the Beatitudes. We are the beatitudes. And so, go, be a blessing and then bless the Lord.

Class dismissed.

 Micah 6:1-8    Matthew 5:1-12    Psalm 15

Two Baptisms

1 Epiphany    Church of the Redeemer    The Rev. Nancy E. Gossling    Matthew 3:13-17

The great preacher named Barbara Brown Taylor once wrote, “The Christian Church has never been comfortable with the baptism of Jesus. Compare the accounts in each of the four gospels and you cannot miss the unease of the authors,” she said. So I did some comparisons.

Barbara Brown Taylor has a way of helping us to visualize the scene. She writes, “Matthew elaborates on Mark’s story by adding that John tried to talk Jesus out of being baptized, and Luke will not even say it was John who did it. The fourth gospel is the most ticklish of all. In it John bears witness that he saw the Spirit descend like a dove upon Jesus, but he does not mention anything about a baptism at all. Scholars say that this embarrassment by the story writers is our surest proof that Jesus really was baptized by John.”

There are smaller differences in the gospel stories as well. Things that are seen and heard come from various perspectives. For example, both Mark and Luke say that the voice from heaven said, “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.” Matthew, on the other hand, writes that the voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” In the first case, the voice is speaking directly to Jesus. In the second case, the voice is speaking to the crowd.

Taylor then turns the spotlight on Jesus, arguing that quote “if Jesus had listened to his public relations people, his handlers would never, ever have allowed him to be baptized. He could have stood on shore and offered words of encouragement to those going into the water. He could have held out his hand to those who struggled out of the river in their heavy wet clothes; but he could not under any circumstances have gone into the water himself, unless it was to tap John on the shoulder and say, ‘Hey, you go rest. I’ll take over for a while.’” I’ve got this. 

In a comparison of the synoptic gospels, that is Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Matthew is the only one who addresses the question of why Jesus needed to be baptized. After all, if John is baptizing people as a cleansing ritual, as a way to forgive a person’s sins, and if Jesus, presumably is the Son of God who was without sin, then why did he need to be baptized?

 Matthew suggests that John knows the true identity of Jesus, which is why he questions Jesus’ request for his baptism. “I need to be baptized by you, Jesus, not the other way around,” John protests. And so, Jesus explains to John, and presumably to us, why it should happen. It’s a matter of “letting it be for now” without your full understanding. It’s a matter of doing the right thing, and a matter of righteousness. It’s part of fulfilling God’s plan.

In Anglican moral theology, a sin is a sin is a sin. And we are all sinners, full stop. Some of us are more egregious sinners than others. Some of us even get caught. But all of us, I would argue, have public relations efforts that help us to put our best feet forward. We have handlers to handle our messes. We keep sinning; but deep down, none of us have any illusions of our pure innocence. And if we do, that’s a problem and a sin, in and of itself.

As Barbara Brown Taylor describes it, the River Jordan was “teeming with sinners - faulty, sorry, guilty human beings - who hoped against hope that John could clean them up and turn their lives around. Some were notorious sinners, and some were there for crimes of the heart known only to themselves.” And so, like those who gathered at the River Jordan on that day, we seek John’s type of baptism even now. We confess to God and to others that we have made a mess in some parts of our lives; and that we want to feel clean and forgiven once again.

There is a difference between John’s baptism and our baptism into the life of Christ, however. John’s baptism was a repeatable event; whereas in the tradition of the Episcopal Church, indeed even in our New Testament stories, baptism into the life of Christ is a one-time sacrament. It’s a one and done kind of affair. It can happen anytime throughout our lives, at any age, but only once in our lifetime.

In a story told by the Rev. Hill Riddle, “a young couple came up to him and said, ‘You baptized our child last year.’ ‘Yes, I remember,’ he replied. ‘Well,’ they said, ‘we would like you to do it again. We don’t think it took. His behavior is awful.’” The Rev. Riddle went on to say that “people have been misunderstanding baptism for a long time. In fact, Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 312 A.D. but he waited to be baptized on his deathbed in case he should sin again. He thought the forgiveness of God was good for one time only."

I was in my 30’s when I decided that I wanted to explore my Christian faith head on, having been baptized as an infant, and having chosen not to be confirmed as a teenager. To say that I had a great deal of challenging issues going on in my life and in my family at that time is an understatement. I felt guilty and confused and at times even hopeless. I knew about sin but I didn’t know about grace.

I had started attending Bible study and a Eucharist during the week which I found helpful. It was more personal and intimate than the hustle and bustle of Sunday mornings, when getting to church on time with two toddlers was a never-ending challenge that only grew with their ages. The voices within me and all around me only stoked my fear of living and dying, and they could not be hushed.

I will never forget our study of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, and his words, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in the newness of life.”

And there it was for me. A three-fold promise of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I began to see death only as a blip on my eternal screen, that I could share in the Resurrection through Christ, and that I could also walk in the newness of life every day. Yes, as Rev. Riddle reminds us, “God always forgives. But getting in touch with this truth makes us want to improve our lives.” Through the Spirit and surrounded by a faithful community, I know I can do better.

“People who are baptized are to live a different life. They tell the truth in a world that lies, give in a world that takes, love in a world that lusts, make peace in a world that fights, serve in a world that wants to be served, and pray in a world that waits to be entertained.” wrote Brett Younger        (www.d365.org, January 9, 2016)

I also began to see baptism as a holy mystery, a sacrament like the Eucharist, in which it is an outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual grace given to us by Christ. I began to see eternal life as both/and events: us being forgiven right now and also not yet. I began to see baptism and death not only as cleansing rituals but also as birthing events, matters of the heart and not of the mind.

Why be baptized? Because, as Jesus explained to John, it’s a matter of “letting it be for now” without our full understanding. It’s a matter of being part of a Church community, and a matter of righteousness. It’s part of fulfilling God’s plan; for Jesus is the only One without sin, and the truly innocent Son of God, who took upon himself not only the sins of me and you but also the sins of the whole world. No wonder God was pleased with His Son!

Knowing that baptism into Christ is a sign of our belovedness as children of God has brought me comfort in my despair, strength in my weakness, light in my darkness, hope that springs eternal. It has brought me into communities of faithful people like you who have gathered at the river, or at the baptismal font for multiple generations. It has helped me to hear the voice of God speaking to the crowd. To you. And to me. This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased. Believe in me; believe also in Him. And receive the gift of my Holy Spirit.

Today I know grace as well as sin; for the grace of God descended not only upon Him but also upon us. We are the crowd; and we can receive God’s forgiveness and grace each and every day of our lives and even beyond that: full stop. Thanks be to Jesus.