“Blessings for a Feuding Family”
First United
Presbyterian Church
“Blessings for a
Feuding Family”
Rev. Amy Morgan
Revelation 7:9-17
9 After this I looked, and there was a
great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and
peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,
robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.
10 They cried out in a loud voice,
saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to
the Lamb!"
11 And all the angels stood around
the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell
on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
12 singing, "Amen! Blessing
and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our
God forever and ever! Amen."
13 Then one of the elders addressed
me, saying, "Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come
from?"
14 I said to him, "Sir, you
are the one that knows." Then he said to me, "These are they who have
come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb.
15 For this reason they are before
the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one
who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
16 They will hunger no more, and
thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat;
17 for the Lamb at the center of
the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the
water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
Matthew 5:1-12
When Jesus saw
the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came
to him.
2 Then 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.
12 Rejoice and be glad, for your
reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who
were before you.
My parents had to convert our dining room into my bedroom. That’s
how bad the fighting had become between me and my sister. We’d tried
everything. Drawn lines down the middle of the room. Moved my clothing into a
separate closet so I wouldn’t be tempted to borrow her outfits without asking.
Unstacked the bunk beds so we could sleep on separate sides of the room.
Nothing worked. My sister and I fought and bickered and complained until my
parents finally gave up and moved me into the dining room where, instead of a
closet, I had a wet bar.
There is nothing more vicious than a family fight. From sibling
squabbles to confrontations between parents and teenagers, family in-fighting
is the most hurtful and scarring kind of conflict. It’s easy to villainize a
stranger, and we can usually shrug off a slight from someone we don’t know
well. But when someone we love turns against us, insult quickly escalates to
war.
The family of first-century Judaism was defined by its factions.
Pharisees, with their strict adherence to the law that stretched beyond the temple
and into everyday life. Sadducees, borderline secularists who held to temple
rituals as a means to exert power and prestige. Zealots, who were determined
that God was on their side in their quest to violently overthrow their Roman
oppressors. And a milieu of smaller groups with singular beliefs and practices
that contributed to the cultural-religious mix.
Jesus is born into this household of faith and begins to pick
fights from the time he is 12 years old. Today’s text, known as the Beatitudes,
or blessings, represents the very beginning of Jesus’ teaching ministry. He’s
disrupted the Galilean fishing industry by recruiting several of their most
promising young people to follow him as he wanders around teaching and healing
people. Now he’s attracted attention, drawn a large crowd, and he takes off up
a mountain. The newly recruited disciples, not sure what else they’re supposed
to do, follow him. And then Jesus begins talking, directly to his disciples,
with the crowd listening in.
Now, the Beatitudes may sound like this lovely list of blessings
for folks who don’t appear to be particularly blessed. They offer reassurance
to those who aren’t so well off at the moment that God is looking out for them
especially and has good things in store for them.
The Beatitudes might sound like they line up nicely with some
messages on Twitter from mega-church pastor Joel Osteen. Osteen assures his
followers, “Life may have weakened and discouraged you, but where you are is
not where God wants you to stay.” And “God has already lined up the right
breaks, the right people, the answers you need.” Or, my personal favorite, “God
made you. He knows everything about you, and He still approves of you.”
Now, I mean no offense to brother-in-Christ Joel, but not all
Christians agree with his interpretation of the faith. In a most comical post
on social media, the late great father of the Reformation, Martin Luther,
responded to Osteen’s tweets, calling him “butter in sunshine,” “a toad eater
and a fawner,” and a “cousin of the Antichrist.”
While Martin Luther’s twitter account is fictional, the epithets
are actual quotes from the writings and letters of Martin Luther. His target
was, or course, not Joel Osteen, but his brothers-in-Christ in the Catholic
church. Luther’s criticism of his church family was so hurtful, so disruptive,
that it’s effects are still felt today, 500 years later. Once Luther cleared
out his closet and moved his bed into another ecclesial room, it seems there
was no turning back from schism and the divisiveness that has defined the
Christian faith ever since.
Lamentable as this continuing family feud may be, like a child in
the back seat of a station wagon, I have to say, “He started it!” And that “he”
would be Jesus. Up on that hill in Galilee, these 9 Beatitudes are Jesus’
version of Martin Luther’s 95 theses. Instead of nailing them to the door of
the temple, as Luther did at the Wittenberg church, he writes them in the
hearts of his followers.
Jesus is addressing a conflicted, contentious culture. There are
abuses and misuses and misunderstandings in every part of the Jewish family of
faith. The Beatitudes are no Joel Osteen tweet, no promise of prosperity. They
are blessings on a divided people, on a family at war with itself. These are
not words of comfort and assurance. These are words of reformation.
Those people you think are spiritually malnourished, led astray,
on the outs with the religious authorities? They are the ones who can see and
experience the realm of God.
Those folks who long for community, love, connection, who have
hearts tender enough to be broken? They are the ones who can experience the
love of God wrapping around them.
Those people you take advantage of and walk all over? They own
this place.
Those people who’ve been truly oppressed, victims of injustice?
They will be nourished for the revolution.
Those people who know how to forgive, who can walk in someone
else’s shoes? They are forgiven and free, and God is walking with them.
Those people with motives unclouded by selfishness and greed? They
can stand face to face with God without fear.
Those people who refuse to engage with your petty infighting and
will put themselves in the middle of your disputes to help heal your divisions?
They are God’s people.
Those folks who are put down and kicked around because they speak
truth to power? They’re stakeholders in God’s estate.
And you all, my followers. You will be spat on and called names
and run out of town. And that is awesome. Because you are prophets,
revolutionaries, reformers.
Jesus isn’t speaking in generalities. He’s talking about defined
groups of people in his current context. The Beatitudes are not just promises
of blessing, they are observations of the reality of God’s realm in heaven and
on earth. These are fighting words.
Maybe Jesus, like Martin Luther, never intended to break with his
faith, start yet another new Jewish faction called Christianity. But that’s
what he got. These Beatitudes, these revolutionary blessings, kick off a
reformation that ultimately takes Jesus to the cross.
His followers keep preaching these words, they keep sharing about
the Jesus reformation. And eventually, they get to where they can no longer
share a room with their Jewish brothers and sisters. The Christian faith moves
out of the synagogue, shifts its Sabbath day, and claims its own space in the
global religious landscape.
And people of faith have been picking up our stuff and moving out
on each other ever since. There are more than 30,000 Christian denominations
across the globe today, and new ones continue to be created by ongoing conflict
within church bodies. While no one is crucified or burned at the stake, as in
previous reformations, the church, in its ongoing reformation, continues to
hurl insults and slander the opposition.
The last time my sister and I shared a room, we were in a hotel in
Austin for a family funeral. We didn’t fight. Or bicker. Or steal each other’s
clothes. In fact, we talked, and laughed, and shared lots of good memories. We
haven’t said a cross word to each other in over 20 years.
“What brought about this miraculous transformation?” you might
ask. Growing up, I suppose. Which is its own kind of reformation. Those words
of Jesus that sought to reform his contentious Jewish family continue to reform
each of us today. Encouraging us to give up childish categories of who’s “in”
and who’s “out.” Developing the courage to love. Becoming old enough to know
how little you know. Getting knocked around by the world enough to see that not
everything is as clear-cut, black-and-white, right-and-wrong as we thought.
Learning to forgive, and put others before ourselves. Discovering when to speak
up and when to let things go. This was the reformation that drew my family
together. And I can only pray that someday it will do the same for the family
of Christ.
The Beatitudes are, in a way, the very definition of growing up.
They illustrate a way of living that leads away from the infighting and
factiousness of first-century Judaism, and the 16th-century
Reformation and the 21st-century EVERYTHING. And they lead us toward
that vision laid out in John’s Revelation of “a great multitude that no one
could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages,
standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” No more picking up our things
and moving out. All of us, together, without any fighting or tears.
That’s the vision we await, the vision we strive for, and the
vision we live into – just a little bit, at least – each time we come to the
table of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here, we are called to be one body. Here, we experience
a mystical union with Christ and with all people. This is the spiritual food
that nourishes us so that we might grow up, reform, and live together
peacefully as one family. May it one day be so. Amen.
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