Broken and Blessed: Matthew 5:1-12 - Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

¹When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. ²Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
  ³“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
  ⁴“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
  ⁵“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
  ⁶“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
  ⁷“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
  ⁸“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
  ⁹“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
  ¹⁰“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
  ¹¹“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹²Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (NRSV)

W. Leechburg steel mill.  Photo by author.

To me, there is no word in the Christian vocabulary that is more confusing than the word blessed.

Anytime I hear the word, I can’t help but think of the people we all know who send letters at Christmas boasting of how much God has “blessed” them: with career success, dream vacations, flashy new cars, bigger houses, perfect children, et cetera…  No one fails, no one gets sick, no one dies, no one worries about money—and if it just so happens that there is adversity, they practically dance right through it…

Then you can’t help but think, “why am I not so blessed?  What have I done that God is withholding or taking away his blessing?”

Consider this: if anyone who ever walked the earth should be blessed, it would be Jesus—and for obvious reasons: he’s God’s Son.  He’s without sin.  He loves and does good to everyone.  God ought to have blessed him with power, riches, and fame the likes of which the world has never seen.  But Jesus carries a cross instead.  His cross equals the sum of everything we fear and dread: failure, helplessness, defeat; evil and death. 

I should point out that the heroes of the Old and New Testaments were hardly “blessed.”  John the Baptist is imprisoned and later executed; the prophets and apostles were persecuted and suffered much the same fate.

But if you listen to what Jesus says today:

 “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 meek, for they will inherit the earth.
 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

If you were to sum it all up, Jesus says “blessed are those who aren’t blessed.”  Blessed are those who need blessing.

At the end of the day, I think we need to redefine the word “blessing,” because according to Jesus, blessing is not synonymous with personal perfection and prosperity.  It’s not a reward for strong, iron-clad faith that never questions or doubts. It’s not a quick and easy to life’s most terrible problems.

God blesses when you cannot bless yourself; when you can’t pull yourself up by the bootstraps.  God blesses when you can’t put a smile on your face and act as though everything’s wonderful when it is most certainly not. 

God blesses when the burdens of life become so terrible that your faith literally crumbles under the weight. 

God blesses when you have sinned so terribly and there’s nothing you can do to change what you’ve done and make everything right. 

God blesses when you lose everything you’d built your life upon, and the world turns its back on you.

God blesses when you are walking dead.

Make no mistake—you die every day.  But you are blessed, because Jesus dies with you—so that you may rise to new life in him.

But first, you must die to the false belief that God rewards faith and good works with prosperity and answered prayers.  You must die to the false belief that you can handle things on your own.  You must die to your refusal to accept the things you cannot change. 

God takes all the bad stuff you did and all the bad things that happened to you, and makes you a new creation.  You rise with faith to see God’s hands opened in blessing in ways you never noticed before or never thought possible.  God’s blessing gets you back up on your feet again, and takes you in a new direction. 

As a disciple of Jesus, you become a blessing.  Not only do you give blessing, you also find blessing because you’re heart is pure and not self-serving.  You make peace.  You experience the presence of Christ as you give yourself away as bread for the hungry.  And when you are persecuted and hated, or you are suffering and dying, you can rejoice—trusting that Jesus is in it with you.

It is most certainly true that there’s more than enough death happening all around us.  If it’s not loved ones lost, we know death as poverty and unemployment; addiction and mental illness, violence and greed, and the bitter divisions tearing our society apart.  Yet Jesus is in the midst of it all, eager to bless; ready to heal; and mighty to save.

Blessed are you, child of God.  Blessed you will be.