Mary Lewis tells this story: “Alexander M. Sanders, Jr., is the Chief Judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals. When his daughter Zoe graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1992, he told this story that happened when she was just three years old. Sanders came home from work one day to find his home — and especially his young daughter — in a state of turmoil. Zoe’s pet turtle had died, and she was crying as if her heart would break. Zoe’s mother had been dealing with the situation all day and declared that it was now Dad’s turn to try and make things better. Although he was successful both as a lawyer and a politician, who confidently faced all kinds of complex issues and problems every day, this seemed out of his league. The mysteries of life and death are difficult, if not impossible for the mature mind to fathom. The task of explaining them to a three-year-old was completely beyond either his confidence or experience. But he tried. First, he told Zoe that they could go to the pet store and buy another one just like the one who had died. Even at three years old, Zoe was smart enough to know that a turtle is not a toy. There’s really no such thing as getting another one just like the one who died. And so Zoe’s tears continued. Desperate to quiet his little girl’s tears, he said, ‘I tell you what, we’ll have a funeral for the turtle.’ Being three years old, she didn’t know what a funeral was. Scrambling to come up with an explanation — as well as something that would get her mind off the turtle’s demise, he said, ‘A funeral is like a birthday party. We’ll have ice cream and cake and lemonade and balloons, and all the children in the neighborhood will come over to our house to play. All because the turtle died.’ Well, the prospect of a turtle funeral did the trick. Instantly, Zoe was her happy, smiling self. The turtle’s death was no longer cause for tears, but reason to rejoice So, with visions of cake and ice cream in their heads the two beamed down on the deceased turtle lying at their feet. As they did, the turtle began to move. And a few seconds later, he was crawling away as lively as — well, as lively as a turtle, but an undeniably LIVE turtle. Then an even stranger thing happened. Sanders — a politician and a lawyer — was speechless. Zoe had no such problem. After considering her options, she looked up at her father with her big beautiful eyes and — with all the innocence of her tender years — she said quietly, ‘Daddy, Let’s kill it.’”
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted
Zoe’s solution may have been a little off center, but her conclusion was right on. She understood from her father that he was going to make everything all right; that her mourning would be turned to joy; that a celebration of laughter would make her forget her tears. Our Father is telling us the same thing: He is going to make everything all right and restore our fortunes; our mourning will be turned to joy, and a celebration of laughter, greater than anything we could ever imagine, will make us forget all the sorrows we have experienced.
The message of the beatitudes is the message that the kingdom of God has overcome the kingdom of this world. A day of ultimate justice is coming when our Father will heal the wounds of our hearts and fill us with inexpressible joy. Isaiah prophesied of the day when the people of God “will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away” (Isaiah 35:10). Isaiah said that God’s purpose for his people was, “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Isaiah 61:2-3). The message of Jesus in the beatitudes is that heaven will more than make up for any wrongs we have had to endure here. Are you poor? You will inherit the kingdom of God Are you hungry now? You will be satisfied Are you weeping now? You will laugh Are you being persecuted? Leap for joy, because you have a reward coming
I have to confess that for years I misunderstood and misinterpreted the beatitudes. I saw them as imperatives, that is, commandments — attitudes of the heart that Christians should acquire. I preached that we should be poor in spirit, hungry for righteousness, mournful over our sin, etc. But Stanley Hauerwas and Will Willimon in their book Resident Aliens remind us that the beatitudes are not imperatives, they are indicatives. These are not new rules of morality that Jesus is commanding us to follow. These are simple statements of how life sometimes is. Living in this world we are sometimes poor, if not materially, we are poor in spirit — humiliated, shamed, rejected, downcast. We are often hungry, if not for food, for reality, for the reign of justice and righteousness. We often weep, over our own condition and the condition of our families, as well as the rest of the human race. But all of that is going to change. We are looking forward to a new day. Peter wrote: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Peter 3:10-13).
If we could put in terms of things we face today, we might say: “Blessed are those of you who are unemployed or facing a financial crisis. Blessed are you with marital difficulties. Blessed are those of you facing betrayal or living with divorce. Blessed are those of you who are having difficulty with your children. Blessed are those of you who live with someone who constantly puts you down and gives you grief. Blessed are those of you who think that you just can’t take it anymore. There is a new day coming A day of release. A day of reward. A day of dancing and joy. A day when you are loved more than you have ever been loved before. A day when inferiority and insecurity will vanish like a bad dream that cannot be remembered. A day when you are fully provided for. A day when ultimate meaning and purpose help you to see everything from God’s perspective. A day when injustice and unfairness has ended and you take your rightful place in the kingdom of joy that God has prepared for you. The banquet will be spread and you will be led to your seat at the wedding feast of the Lamb.
We read in the book of Revelation these wonderful words: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new ’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true’” (Revelation 21:1-5).
Hauerwas and Willimon write that, “The church is on the long haul, living in that difficult time between one advent and the next.” That is, we live between the first advent of Christ — his birth into the world, and the second advent — his return to earth. The point is that in spite of the way things may look, God has forever changed the configuration of the world. He has turned the world upside down, and those who are presently first will be last. Those who have suffered will rejoice. And the opposite is also true. In a statement in juxtaposition to the beatitudes, Jesus said, “Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep” (Luke 6:25).
In a parable about a rich man and a man named Lazarus, Jesus told how the rich man had all the advantages that earth could afford. He feasted sumptuously every day. He had great health and great wealth. He had a great house and great clothes. But Lazarus was ill, and his body covered with oozing sores which the dogs licked. Rags barely covered his body. He had no way of making a living and no food. His only hope was to get a few discarded scraps of garbage thrown out after the rich man was done feasting. But in the end, both men died. The rich man complains that he is in agony in hell. But he is told: “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony” (Luke 16:25).
Is this not the promise that God has made to us? In the end, the Bible says, “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world’” (Matthew 25:34).
In our culture we say, “Blessed are the millionaires, better yet, the billionaires. Blessed are the famous, the beautiful, the brilliant. Blessed are the Paris Hilton’s, the Brad Pitt’s, the Donald.” The truth is that they could be blessed, but often their success in the present world order blinds them to their need of God and the necessity of relying on Jesus Christ. They could be blessed if they would allow the kingdom of God to come upon them. But their wealth, fame and looks are not a blessing. It is a curse when it keeps them from God.
The lyrics in Paul Simon’s song “Blessed” say, “Blessed are the sat upon, spat upon, ratted on.” That can be a song, because there is another song which we will sing — the song of the redeemed and the restored. Dallas Willard, in his treatment of the beatitudes says, “Blessed are the spiritual zeros — the spiritually bankrupt, deprived and deficient, the spiritual beggars, those without a wisp of ‘religion’ — when the kingdom of the heavens comes upon them.” So we can also say, “Blessed are those that religious folk considered hopeless. Blessed are the moral failures. Blessed are those who were far from God — when the kingdom of God comes upon them.” Willard goes on to say, “The Beatitudes, in particular, are not teachings on how to be blessed. They are not instructions to do anything. They do not indicate conditions that are especially pleasing to God or good for human beings. No one is actually being told that they are better off for being poor, for mourning, for being persecuted, and so on, or that the conditions listed are recommended ways to well-being before God or man. . . . They are explanations and illustrations, drawn from the immediate setting of the present availability of the kingdom through personal relationship to Jesus. They single out cases that provide proof that, in him, the rule of God from the heavens truly is available in life circumstances that are beyond all human hope.”
The condition of being poor, sorrowful, hungry or hated are not conditions that are good or laudable in themselves. There have been plenty of people through the years who were poor, but who were more ungodly than many wealthy folk. There are many who have been hungry, but who have lived sinful and selfish lives. There are those who were in mourning who became bitter and resentful, and thereby missed being blessed. There are those who were hated who hated back and took vengeance in their own hands. They too missed the blessing, because the blessing, as Willard points out, is only found in a relationship with Jesus. The blessing is found in trusting the realities of another kingdom — in the favor of the Father and his complete provision. Blessed are those who are poor and live in a relationship with God, and look to him for their supply. Blessed are those who are hungry, who do not live by bread alone. Blessed are those who are in mourning, who go to God for their comfort. Blessed are those who are persecuted, who leave justice to God and continue to live in love. These are blessed, and these alone.
Making sacrifices or making yourself miserable is not a spiritual quality. We do not seek to be poor, hungry or in mourning. Paul says, “If I gave everything I have to poor people, and if I were burned alive for preaching the Gospel but didn’t love others, it would be of no value whatever” (1 Corinthians 13:3, LB).
Ted Olsen tells the story of Martin and Gracia Burnham in an article in Christianity Today magazine. The Burnhams were missionaries in the Philippines who were abducted by terrorists. Olsen writes, “Less than a week before Martin Burnham’s abduction by Muslim guerrillas on the Philippine island of Palawan in May 2001, the New Tribes missionary gave the devotional at a Wednesday evening service at Rose Hill Bible Church in his small hometown outside Wichita, Kansas. Some of Burnham’s last words in the United States were also the last words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of John, said Ralph Burnham, Martin’s uncle, during yesterday morning’s service at the church. ‘His very last words were, “Follow thou me,”’ Ralph Burnham said, his voice choking up. ‘Martin not only spoke of following him, but he took on that responsibility. Of course, at that time neither he nor any of us expected how far he was going to be required to go. But he was willing to go.’ Martin Burnham, 42, kept that attitude throughout the 376 days he and his wife, Gracia, 43, were held captive by the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group. Just before a Philippine military raid on the kidnappers that led to Martin’s death and Gracia’s freedom, the two huddled together in a hammock under a makeshift tent. ‘Martin and Gracia had really been thinking that there would be a chance that they would not make it out alive,’ said Martin’s brother, Doug, relying on a phone conversation with Gracia. ‘Martin said to Gracia, “The Bible says to serve the Lord with gladness. Let’s go out all the way. Let’s serve him all the way with gladness.”’ The two then prayed in their hammock, recited Scripture verses to each other, and sang. They laid down to rest. Then the rescue assault began and bullets began to fly, puncturing Gracia’s leg and Martin’s chest. ‘That was Gracia’s last [memory] of Martin, that to the very end he served the Lord with gladness,’ Doug Burnham said.”
The reason that Martin and Gracia Burnham were able to endure their captivity and even face death, was that they had a relationship with Jesus that carried them through, gave them strength and helped them to see that this world is not all there is. They overcame because they were living in the kingdom of God in the present and looking forward to its fulfillment in the future. They were blessed.
Rodney J. Buchanan
June 19, 2005
Mulberry St. UMC
Mount Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
