Every Body Is Invited
The Rev. Dr. John Judson
March 13, 2011
[Matthew 5:1-12] When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
‘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 heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
It was like running into a brick wall. That is the only way to describe it. I was in my late 20s and had been invited to play in a pick-up basketball game at church where I was serving my internship. I slipped around a pick at the top of the key, received the pass and headed down the lane. Jim, whose name has been changed to protect the innocent, stepped in front of me. I was afraid that I would knock him down but I simply bounced off. As time went by I got to know Jim better and learned his story. At 6-3 and 250 pound he had been a highly recruited high school lineman. He had chosen to go to Auburn where he started every game at right guard his last three years, ultimately earning all-conference honors. Upon graduation he was drafted by the Denver Broncos. As Jim put it he had a great training camp and an excellent preseason. The coaches praised his hard work and savvy. So on following the final preseason game as he entered the coach’s office he expected there to be a contract before him. Instead he heard these words. “Jim, we hate to do it, but we have had to cut you.” There were explanations about the depth chart and other player contracts, but all he heard was one word, cut. For the first time in his life he had been cut. It was devastating.
You have been cut. Most of us have heard some form of those words at some time or another in our lives. Maybe it was being cut from a sports team, or in tryouts for a dance team or a play. Maybe it was being cut from a relationship or a friendship…sort of like when someone defriends you on Facebook. Maybe it was from a job or a career…something which too many people have experienced during this recession. To be cut is devastating…a fact to which I can attest having been cut from all of these at one time or another in my life. It is difficult because being cut means being cut loose from the blessings of that to which we were connected. It is to lose the blessings of friendships, paychecks and meaning. We are not isolated human machines which perform their functions and then can be put in a closet. We are interconnected and desire to experience the fullest blessing that life can offer. And this realization is nothing new…for in a way it forms the background for the Beatitudes which we read this morning.
In the time of Jesus people looked as surely for the blessing that comes with being connected as surely as do we. In fact they looked and longed for it more than do we because there was no sense of being an individual as we think of it now. One was either part of the collective or one had no life. This meant that being part of the people or God was critical to any sense of existence and blessing. Thus there was a sense of fear which gathered around people as they thought about the coming of the messiah and the restoration of the kingdom. The fear was based on the understanding that the return of the messiah would not mean the salvation of all of God’s people, only some, only those who were faithful and blessed. Unfortunately for most ordinary Jews, they knew they were not the blessed. The blessed were those who had the time and money to observe Temple rituals. The blessed were those who had the time and money to strictly follow the Law of Moses. The blessed were those who had power and wealth…in other words those who had been blessed by God. So while most Jews prayed for the coming of the messiah, they did so with trepidation in their hearts…would they be cut.
Jesus’ words then as he opens this first great teaching in the Gospel of Matthew were like a breath of fresh air. They were words that no one expected to hear. Jesus told his audience that everyone was invited to join the messiah’s new community. Everyone was invited to be part of the new body of the people of God. Jesus makes this clear by the two overarching categories of people whom he claims are those who are already blessed by God and thus will be part of the kingdom. He begins by tell his audience that those who have been completely ground into the dirt by society are invited. He talks about the poor in spirit, meaning those who have lost all hope; those who mourn, meaning not simply mourning for someone who has died but for the blessings and connections lost; the meek, those who have allowed society to do with them as they will. Jesus tells them that they are blessed, not will be blessed, but are already blessed and because of that blessing they will be received into the fullness of the kingdom.
The second group of people who are blessed and will thus not be cut are those who have strived to be faithful to God’s vision of loving God and neighbor, but have been insulted, persecuted and ostracized because of it. These are those who refused to buy into the belief that power and wealth were the only marks of blessing. These people, those who hunger and thirst after right relationships, who show mercy, who strive to be pure in heart and who make peace, rather than war have found themselves persecuted because the society in which they live believes more in violence, vengeance and power than in mercy, peace and forgiveness. These are people who thought ground into the dirt had been pushed to the very margins of society. It was hard for anyone to see them as blessed. Yet Jesus tells them that they are welcome. They are invited to be part of this new body because they are blessed. And here is where I think we need to be clear. The idea of blessing is present tense. It is not something they will get in the future. They are blessed in this moment because they are invited into the new body of the people of God.
Jesus had come to create a new kind of community; a new kind of body; a no cut community of God. This was a community that was to be open to the religious elite and to those who struggled with faith. It was to be open to rich and poor. It was to be open to men and women; it was to be open to saint and sinner. It was to be open to those on the margins and to those in the midst of society. The blessings of God were to be for all people. In this Jesus echoes the words of Second Isaiah which we read this morning. “Comfort, comfort my people says your God, speak tenderly to Jerusalem and dry to her that her warfare has ended that her iniquity is pardoned.” In other words this is a new beginning, a fresh start. The old rules of who is in and who is out no longer apply. This good news is for all of the people, not just the select few.
It is to that end that First Presbyterian Church has been moving over the past several years. The vision of this body of Christ is that all are welcome. All are welcome regardless of race, income, marital status, sexual orientation or developmental abilities. This is a no-cut congregation which is why I like the slogan Hal Bay has developed for us to consider which is, “This is Everybody’s Church.” That describes the body we are building that regardless of what happens outside of these walls you have a no cut contract in here. The challenge then is this, to ask yourself how am I helping to build this body into a congregation in which all are welcome?
