Sermon for 02/02/2020: On emojis, the Beatitudes, and building the kingdom together

Sermon for Sunday 2 February 2020

Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem

The Rev. Carrie Ballenger

Matthew 5:1-12

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

This has been quite the week, hasn’t it?

Trump’s so-called “peace plan.”

Brexit.

Impeachment hearings.

The Corona virus.

Everywhere we looked this week, it seems we were faced with the brokenness of humanity—and with the pervasiveness of injustice and suffering in the world. It’s difficult to keep up with all the news in a week like this. In fact, we might even feel we want to avoid the news in a week like this.

For this reason, you may not have noticed this very important story: A new emoji has just been released.  Finally, at long last, you can answer your texts with this critical Palestinian hand gesture: 

For those who aren’t versed in Palestinian culture, this hand sign simply means “STOP. Hang on. Wait a moment.”

I’ve seen Palestinian men and women stop entire lanes of traffic, and teachers silence crowds of unruly children, all with this one simple hand gesture.

I don’t know why it works, but it works!

Of course, this wasn’t the most important news story of the week.

But as I was thinking of how to preach on the Beatitudes this morning—a biblical text many of us know by heart, and one which has been interpreted and appropriated by many more, including Monty Python (Blessed are the cheesemakers! Amen!)—I thought, I’m happy to have learned this bit of Palestinian culture.  

Because this morning, before we go any further with this text from the Gospel according to Matthew, I want to say: STOP. Hang on. Wait a moment. 

We need to take a moment with this text, because all too often our default interpretation of the Beatitudes takes these statements of blessing and turns them into commandments.

We hear “blessed are the meek” and we think: I should be meeker.

We hear “blessed are the pure in heart” and we think: I need to clean up my heart.

Or, alternatively, when we are hungry or thirsty,

When we are the lonely and poor in spirit,

When we are working for peace and justice, in Palestine and Israel or elsewhere, and find we’re being thwarted at every turn,

We might hear these words of Jesus and think he’s telling us: “Just be happy. Just get over it.”

Even worse is when we hear these words in the mouth of the church or churchpeople, telling us “You’re suffering? You’re oppressed? Don’t worry! Be blessed!”

To this I say: Hold on. 

These are not the “be meekitudes”.

And in spite of what you may have heard, these are not the “Be Happy Attitudes”.

Jesus is not telling you to “be” anything.

I remember a time, a few years ago, when my teenage son was really struggling with depression. I tried to be helpful, seeking out both medication and counseling for him. But one morning, his difficult feelings were frankly causing us to be late getting to church. In one of my less impressive parenting moments, I said in exasperation: “Oh just get over it. Perk up! Get dressed and let’s go.”

And my son looked right at me and said “Mom, you can’t just COMMAND someone to be happy. It doesn’t work like that.”

He was right: It doesn’t work like that!

You can’t command someone to feel or to be happy.

And you can’t command someone to feel or to be blessed.

These famous words from the Sermon on the Mount, are not telling you, or anyone else, to just be happy, to just accept their lot in life, to see your sufferings as blessings.

Neither is Jesus telling you, or anyone else, to strive to be poor, to be mournful, to be persecuted.

These are not commandments. They are a proclamation.

Blessed ARE the poor, blessed ARE the meek, blessed ARE the hungry, says Jesus.

The Beatitudes are statements of fact, not goals to strive for.

Along with everything else that has been going on, this past week has been the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in Jerusalem. I always love this week, as it’s a time to gather with sisters and brothers in Christ from diverse Christian traditions, something a person who works on Sunday morning doesn’t have so much chance to do!

Often at the end of these services, the priests and bishops from the different churches are invited forward to join in the benediction. It’s beautiful, to hear each one blessing us in a different language, with different words, and…with different hand gestures.

On Tuesday, at our unity service here at Redeemer, I stood just behind the priests and watched them blessing the congregation, and I thought: These men don’t have magic hands. Ordained or not, black shirt or purple shirt, no matter which funny hat they are wearing, these holy men did not change anything about the us through the act of blessing us. We weren’t more blessed after they raised their hands and made the sign of the cross.

But I also thought…they were giving us such a gift. They were giving us the gift of proclamation, speaking the truth of who we are. We are blessed. We are seen by God. 

No matter what we are going through, we are loved by God. Hungry, thirsty, addicted, poor, oppressed, occupied, persecuted, depressed, we are blessed.

And what does that mean? What do we do with that blessedness?

I was moved this week to read again the words of Archbishop Elias Chacour, a Palestinian Christian who has made a huge impact in the movement for peace in Palestine. (Thank you Doug for passing along these important words earlier this week at Bible study!)

Archbishop Chacour wrote:

“Knowing Aramaic, the language of Jesus, has greatly enriched my understanding of Jesus’ teachings. Because the Bible as we know it is a translation of a translation, we sometimes get a wrong impression. For example, we are accustomed to hearing the Beatitudes expressed passively:

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.

‘Blessed’ is the translation of the word makarioi used in the Greek New Testament. However, when I look further back to Jesus’ Aramaic, I find that the original word was ashray from the verb yashar. Ashray does not have this passive quality to it at all. Instead, it means ‘to set yourself on the right way for the right goal; to turn around, repent; to become straight or righteous’.

How could I go to a persecuted young man in a Palestinian refugee camp, for instance, and say, ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted’, or ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’? That man would revile me, saying neither I, nor my God understood his plight, and he would be right.

When I understand Jesus’ words in the Aramaic, I translate it like this:

Get up, go ahead, do something, move, you who are hungry and thirsty for justice, for you shall be satisfied.

Get up, go ahead, do something, move, you peacemakers, for you shall be called children of God.

To me this reflects Jesus’ words and teachings much more accurately. I can hear him saying, ‘Get your hands dirty to build a human society for human beings; otherwise, others will torture and murder the poor, the voiceless, and the powerless’.

Christianity is not passive but active, energetic, alive, going beyond despair.”

In other words, I hear the Archbishop saying to us: You are blessed. You’ve received this gift. And this blessedness comes with responsibility.

You, blessed one, are now invited to be part of blessing others.

Your blessedness empowers you to be part of building the Kingdom of heaven on earth. In fact, was just a few verses before the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter 4, when we read “From that time Jesus began to proclaim, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’” The Kingdom of heaven has come near! The Sermon on the Mount is part of that proclamation.

Indeed, the Kingdom of heaven has come near, it is on its way, it is almost fulfilled…when we, the blessed and broken, get up, go ahead, and do something about injustice, poverty, hunger, sickness, and occupation!

Some would say this ridiculous, pointless, or simply foolishness. See our 1 Corinthians reading this morning!

After a week like the one we just experienced, 

Some would say it is foolish to keep talking to those who oppose us

Some would say it is foolish to keep forgiving those who hurt us

Some would say it is foolish to keep speaking truth to power

Some would say it is foolish to keep loving

Some would say it is foolish to keep blessing.

But we are here today– blessing others as we have been blessed.

And we are here, saying to every injustice, every disease of mind or body, every dictator, every system of oppression: STOP. Hang on. Wait a moment! 

You do not have the final say.

You are not the authority in my life. You are not king!

For my King, the king of love, has proclaimed: In my brokenness, I am blessed. I am a baptized child of God. I am called and sent. I am blessed. And together with Archbishop Chacour all the blessed and broken, we will get up, go ahead, and build a world where all will know God’s justice, peace, and love.

May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.