Matthew
5:1-12
Jesus stood the world upside
down. He presented us with a picture of
what it would look like if we saw things, not from our perspective – from the
bottom looking up all the time, like someone who has fallen into a well or a
mineshaft who stares up at the sky hoping somebody will hear them shouting for
help – but from the perspective of God, the helper, seeing things from above
and eager to rescue and save.
From our perspective, we get a view
of life that goes something like this:
“Sorry about the down-and-out. They’re kind of stuck.
It’s too bad for those
who are grieving. That’s life.
It’s a shame about the
mousey-types. They never get their due.
You have to feel for the
folks who always think they get a raw deal.
When will they learn?
Forgive, maybe. Once.
But don’t forget.
Ignorance is bliss, but
it’s still ignorance.
Don’t make enemies, but
when you do, remember who they are.
Whatever you do, don’t
make waves.
If you can’t be good, be
careful.”
From Jesus’ persepective the view is
totally different. No wonder Matthew
describes him as delivering his message from a mountain. What Jesus proclaims is the broad message,
the long view. What he teaches is that
the love of God overcomes despair and always will. There is no such thing as a hopeless
situation. God is always there to turn
things around in surprising ways.
“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.
Blessed
are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed
are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.
Blessed
are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil
against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in the kingdom of heaven,
for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
[Matthew 5:1-12]
The
troubles themselves are not good news.
It’s not good news that someone who has been looking for work for too long
gives up and decides he is clearly not worth anything to anyone. It’s not good news that a kindly parent or
grandparent is taken advantage of. It’s
not good news that somebody trying to settle bad blood between their siblings
may be rejected by both sides. It’s not
good news that a teenager who just tries to do what is right may feel
caricatured by classmates as snooty or stuck-up. All of those things happen. We all know it.
The good news is something that
comes from having a view that is wider than the moment, the view that Jesus
shares with us of what goes on in God’s mind, and what God’s plans for people
are, troubles or not. It’s to turn the
world’s way upside down.
I have a stereotyped image in my
head of rural New Englanders as stiff, reserved, unsmiling people. Even their humor is dry.
“Excuse me, sir! Can I take this road to Bangor?”
“Reckon you could, but
don’t they have enough there already?”
Frederick
Buechner, who lived in Vermont himself, preached a sermon on the 200th
anniversary of a church in Rupert, Vermont in which he said this:
“In the year 1831, it
seems, this church was repaired and several new additions were made. One of them was a new steeple with a bell in
it, and once it was set in place and painted, apparently, an extraordinary
event took place. ‘When the steeple was
added,’ Howard Mudgett writes in his history, ‘one agile Lyman Woodard stood on
his head in the belfry with his feet toward heaven.’
That’s the one and only
thing I’ve been able to find out about Lyman Woodard, whoever he was, but it is
enough.”[1]
Part
of me wants to give a back-story, making this man into the standard, sour
character, someone who declared at the previous year’s town meeting, “We no
more need a steeple than I need to stand on my head in it.” Buechner points to the act as a
crazy-wonderful expression of faith.
In a world of troubles, he reminds
us,
“We must help bear each
other’s burdens. We must pray for each
other. We must nourish each other, weep
with each other, rejoice with each other.
Sometimes we must just learn to let each other alone. In short we must love each other. We must never forget that. But let us never forget Lyman Woodard either
silhouetted there against the blue Rupert sky.
Let us join him in the belfry with our feet toward Heaven like his
because Heaven is where we’re heading.”[2]
In fact, when we discover the
unexpected, upside-down ways of heaven touching earth, as they do when those
who mourn are comforted, or when those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
do get a taste of it, or when a little bit of mercy finds its way into the
world, then we may realize that heaven is a whole lot closer than we usually
realize and we may not have all that far to go.
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