God bless us

The beatitudes do not tell us what to do. They tell us who we are, and more importantly, they tell us who Jesus is.” (Barbara Brown Taylor, Home by Another Way, 55.)

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Jesus had a way of turning the world upside down

Nothing about him made sense

In term of standard ‘wisdom’

If he was who people say he is

If he truly was the incarnation of the Sacred

A “first born” who came to show us looks like when we allow the Sacred Presence

be fully expressed in human lives…

then he had a strange way of showing us

Born among the animals

Born into poverty

Born into obscurity

A common man

With common parents

Living in a rural city

A ministry on the backroads of Galilee

But as weird as all that!

His behavior

His words

He gathered around him people of no importance

He spent time with the lowest of the low

He broke a lot of rules

He comforted the afflicted (as they say)

And afflicted the comfortable

But it were his teachings that really turned things upside down

Love your enemies

Turn the other check

Go the second mile

Give more than you are asked for

Give up all that you have

Over and over Jesus said things that make us stop

(if we really listen) and gape.

But nothing is stranger than the beatitudes

Where Jesus truly turns everything upside down

What we normally think of as bad, is good

What we normally think of as good, is bad (Luke’s version)

What do we do with these stranger verses?

We cannot see them as commandments

They do not (BBT) tell us what to

Jesus does not say (at least in the Beatitudes) be poor

Or grieve

Or starve

Or become a person who is meek

He says when we find ourselves in these places

We are blessed

Which when you think about it is good news

Because almost all of us find ourselves in some of these places

Where we are struggling, or in grief, or pain

Where we have been humbled

And knowing God is with us in those moments

Is indeed a comfort

But perhaps not that comfortable

Because the implication is, that if we are following the way of Jesus

The way of radical giving

And love

And acceptance

And service

And humility

When we are people who expend themselves for others

Not thinking of ourselves first

But thinking of God

And thinking of others

We will find, in many cases, our world turned upside down

We like to think following God, and being blessed by God

means our lives will look like those of the mega pastors (perhaps)

That we will have great cars, and amazing clothes

and mansions to live in

and private jets to enjoy

That we will be rich, and powerful

Yahooo!

But perhaps, if we follow the way of Jesus

Really follow the way of Jesus

We will sometimes,

Maybe often

Grieve

It hurts to see others in pain

And to walk with them in that pain

It is painful to see injustice, and inequity

And to feel with those afflicted by that injustice and inequity

Perhaps the beatitudes do describe

the things that can come in to the life

of the one who walks the way of service and love

but still

we are told, there is blessing

The blessing of being close to God

The blessing of making a difference

The blessing of walking next to Jesus

Whose very life is described by the Beatitudes

The man of sorrows acquainted with grief

The one who picked up all the pain and fear, hate and greed of the world

And carried it with him to the cross

That it might die there

It is odd, perhaps,

To think of blessing this way

But seriously

How blessed are the pushy

The ultra wealthy

The powerful

If they felt blessed

Would they keep grasping for wealth and power?

Would they always be hungry for more

Would they need to abuse power to feel strong

Have to make others less so they can be more?

It is I know

A mixed up messy thing

Full of paradoxes and contradictions

It does not always make sense

It is rarely easy

But who Jesus was and is

The blessed one, is illustrated in these blessings

And who we are called to be

Is equally defined

And what this all tells us

In that upside down

Weird way of God

Is that when we are faithful

Even if being faithful puts us in a very difficult place

We are truly blessed

And if we are wrapped up in the wrong stuff

(think Luke’s woes)

Wealth, power and acclaim

We are,

Well,

Not

Even if the world says we are

So…

God bless us

everyone