Homily for Sunday, January 29, 2017 Graves Chapel
Lessons:
Micah 6: 1-8
Psalm 15
1 Corinthians 1: 18-31
Matthew 5: 1-12
Who are the people
of the Beatitudes? Today’s gospel lesson from Matthew includes statements made
by the Lord about those who are blessed in God’s eyes. As we read the verses,
the people described do not sound at all like the individuals in our society
who appear to be blessed by good fortune, good health, comfortable lives. I am
sure, however, that we have encountered some who fit Jesus’s description, even
though sometimes they may choose to be invisible. Here are a few…
When she enters
the side door of the building at 6:00 AM, everything is quiet. She assembles
the tools she needs from a closet: a push broom, a cart with cleaning rags,
chemicals, a wet mop and a pail.
As she sweeps the long hallways and cleans the bathrooms, others begin
to arrive. Soon, over a thousand people will inhabit the school, teenagers,
their teachers, administrators. Sometimes, a teacher or a student will speak to
her, but most pass her by and go about their business as if they can’t see her.
She will leave at 2:00, go home for a bite to eat, then head out for her
evening job, cleaning a large office building after hours. Her daughter and
young grandchildren live with her, and on weekends, when her daughter is at
work, she will care for the children. She decided a long time ago not to allow
herself to think about how tired she gets. Thinking about it does no good.
“Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…Blessed are the meek, for
they will inherit the earth.”
He is 91 years
old, surprisingly tough, surprisingly healthy. He still drives his pick-up,
though his son worries he may cause an accident. When his beloved wife died in
recent months, he thought he might die, too. Some days, he wishes he had. It
may very well be bitterness that keeps him alive, a grief he has never
overcome. More than forty years ago, his youngest child, a beautiful daughter,
was killed in a car wreck. She was just a teenager. Her face rises in his mind
at unexpected times, and he cannot let her go.
“Blessed are those
who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
The young man sits
in his cell, reading a book. Smarter, somewhat better educated than his nearest
neighbors, he helps them with their paperwork, encourages them to study. When
he has access to a computer in the prison library, he takes classes and pursues
a bachelor’s degree. He studies spiritual texts, endeavors to understand the
teachings of Jesus. The young man
entered the prison system shortly after his 18th birthday. When he
isn’t filled with despair and anger at himself, he searches his heart and tries
to understand how he can be a better person.
“Blessed are those
who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
When Jesus began
his ministry, he walked among the people he hoped to serve, seeking sustenance and
a place to lay his head where he was welcomed. He had no idea he was launching
a religion that would one day spread across the world and be called Christianity.
When he preached, he never asked to be worshiped. His life embodied humility,
and he simply asked the people to follow his way, to do the things that he did,
to walk in love. We are told in Mark 7, “And wherever he went, into the
villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged
him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it
were healed.”
Jesus never asked
if these strangers were worthy of healing. He never refused to help them. Their
need alone spoke to him, and so profligate was his love that he allowed anyone
who merely touched the hem of his garment to be healed. He never counted a
sinner among those who sought him; their behavior may not have been perfect in
the eyes of their neighbors, but their hearts were in the right place. That was
all that mattered to the Lord, supremely merciful and loving Lord that he is.
What if we fully
believed what Jesus taught us and truly followed in his way? Surely that would
mean we would reach out with kindness, love and mercy to every person whose
path crosses ours. If Jesus
allowed total strangers, no matter who they were, to touch his cloak and be
healed, how can we justify ignoring the needs of those around us? What if we
saw such encounters as being intended by God? Surely, we can think back to
times when an unexpected event brought someone into our lives and changed us
forever. I wonder how often we
miss such God-given opportunities?
Are we the ones who are intended to fulfill the blessings of the
beatitudes for those who surround us?
Jesus began life
as a carpenter’s son, and during his ministry, he was poor, homeless, and
pursued by enemies, but he persisted (unto death) in speaking the truth with
love. He gave us the ultimate example of both humility and courage. He told us
he was “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” and he asked us to follow his Way. St.
Bernard of Clarivaux interpreted these words from John’s gospel as “Humility is
the way that leads to truth, and truth is the light of life.” Catholic
theologian Gabriel Marcel took St. Bernard’s words a step further: “Humility is
availability. Availability is that which makes ready and makes room for
others.”
Living in
Christ-like humility requires of us that we make ourselves available to the
ones around us who need our help. When we encounter them, we forego any need to
judge whether they deserve our kindness.
We simply reach out a hand in love. As former Episcopal presiding bishop
Edmond Browning said, “We show Christ most truly when we care for the ones with
whom he chose to surround himself.”
Maybe those words
are easier to understand when we think in terms of the ones who surrounded
Jesus, often so closely he must have felt mobbed. Even so, he did not turn away
from them. He did not fail to give them what they needed. He did not overpower
them or chide them. He loved them indiscriminately. True humility and love made
him available to them.
No, the man Jesus
did not intend to launch a new religion. He certainly had no idea that this new
religion named for him would become so well-defined and well-structured that it
would eventually splinter into many competing sub-groups. He certainly would
not have imagined that some of these groups, in his very name, would establish
barriers for membership. All he ever asked of his followers was that they
follow his Way.
The prophet Micah
predicted the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem some 700 years before the
Incarnation. In his words from today’s lesson, Micah states simply what the
Lord asks of us: “And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and
to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Who are the people
of the Beatitudes? Sometimes they are the ones whose needs call out to us.
Sometimes they are as near to us as our own hearts. May we live in love as Christ loved us, seeking justice as
we try to do the right thing, loving kindness as we show mercy, and walking as
humbly as we can with our Lord.
AMEN.
