Humble Foundations
“Humble Foundations”
Micah 6:1-8 Matthew 5:1-12
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
February 2, 2020
First Presbyterian Church of Sandpoint, Idaho
Andrew Kennaly, Pastor
Poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those seeking righteousness, the merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, the persecuted, the slandered; Jesus calls people who experience these, “blessed.” This passage is referred to as The Beatitudes. Jesus gives his mission statement, as these very qualities are not only verbally shared, but expressed in his life and ministry. They are not the values of the empire, or nations, or cultures that hold people at levels of fear, anxiously stressing safety and security. These qualities mentioned by Jesus as “blessed” exist even when external circumstances would invite some other response, such as arrogance, defensiveness, or pride.
At it’s core, this list illustrates a shift, moving out of an ego-centric dualism of constant judging and into a stance of receptivity, relationship, and basic trust. Rather than see life as a struggle, like survival of the fittest, or at the mercy of spiritual warfare as good battles evil, one begins to realize in the depth of their experience that we live in a benevolent universe which is essentially, good. From that stance, one enters the struggles of life differently.
Many of you have seen churches or other parks or yards that have the Ten Commandments written as stone monuments. These commands are a listing of the religious laws given to Moses by God. Fair enough, this is an important part of our history and religious heritage. Yet, like monuments, it is very tempting to externalize lists, to objectify one’s righteousness, checking off when certain ideas are agreed with and “belief” becomes solidified, knowing we are “in,” which means others are somehow “out.”
But the Beatitudes are rarely carved into stone, and this listing doesn’t tend make it into church yards very often. The Beatitudes can’t be externalized, and a dualistic mind doesn’t understand them; you can’t get your head wrapped around them, and so they tend to be resisted or ignored. The Beatitudes resonate in the life of someone following Jesus more internally, involving a process of transformation on the level of the heart and soul. Maybe this is what the Apostle Paul calls, sanctification. This process is a changing of how we perceive reality, and includes the transformation of our mind as we experience many conversions along life’s journey.
JP Carver is a retired Episcopal Priest, and he writes reflections occasionally and posts them on his website. (The Rev. JP Carver, Concierge Chaplain, http://ccministry.net/reflections.html). In a recent reflection on Epiphany, that season where we focus on “God with us,” he writes about how faith helps us see God at work in the larger themes of life. He gives an example of a TV series that he watched years ago, but recently revisited. In this second viewing, he notices more references to faith and God than he had previously.
In one of his paragraphs in his reflection, he puts several gems of sentences together, saying things like, “Authentic faith can not be forced or coerced. When you are told, ‘believe this or else’, ask questions or walk away, or both. Your principles are only effective if you are an example of them. You don’t have to blow your own horn, others will, even the sour notes. Learn from the sour notes. Don’t limit your quest. Don’t limit yourself. Enjoy your existence, even if you believe it is an illusion. Enjoy the illusion. Consider that the mechanics of existence and the purpose of existence are intertwined, not separate. Revel in discovery. Power and force are not the same. Age and chronology are not synonymous.”
There’s a lot going on in that paragraph and each of these sentences could be expounded upon as a new reflection write-up. The one that especially stands out for us today as we see this story of Jesus on the mountain teaching his disciples, is the one which says, “Your principles are only effective if you are an example of them.”
Here is Jesus, the teacher, sharing principles, and embodying them, living them out. Let’s be sure to notice how Matthew sets up this scene. “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”… and he shares the teaching. There’s a lot going on in that sentence. “Jesus saw the crowds,” he sees the people looking, searching, bringing their sick for healing; great crowds following him everywhere. He’s getting famous. People are seeking him out.
It’s as if he needs a break. He shows compassion, he sees them, he knows their need. But he went up the mountain. Valleys are wide, and most of life takes place in the accessible areas of farms and villages. The crowds are in the valleys. A mountain, by it’s very structure, has a limiting effect, both in terms of steepness so it’s not as accessible, and in terms of vastness; a summit holds less people than a valley. Jesus is seeking a retreat, a time away from the crowds and the demands they have as they come to him. Mountains are where religious temples are located, on the acropolis above whatever village may be settled. Religious leaders throughout scripture go to a mountain to have encounters with God, theophanies, like Moses in the Hebrew Scriptures, like the disciples at the Transfiguration in the New Testament. Having Jesus go up a mountain is an intentional signal that the message about to be revealed comes straight from spending time with God. Jesus is sharing the word of God, and his disciples come to learn. When one is on retreat, this gives perspective, helps quiet the other voices, helps puts life in a certain frame, like taking a breath before the plunge back into the moving waters. It’s good for us in our busy lives to ask, “When am I intentional about spending time with Christ, to hear the Word of God?”
“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.” Here we see Jesus taking a seat. The disciples would stand. That is how things work in this type of culture; the important people with power and authority sit, while everyone else stands. Jesus is called teacher, and they are listening. Notice it’s not the crowds that come, it is his disciples, which would indicate a smaller group, perhaps more committed, more intimate, personal, and able to make connections of larger lessons because they stick with him as he travels, journeying from place to place. The disciples go to Jesus because a good teacher doesn’t have to drum up business.
Earlier, in the calling of the first disciples, there’s a strange mix of Jesus calling them, while they also are interested in finding out more about him. At this point in Matthew, it is established that Jesus is the teacher and his disciples come to him. His authority is growing, his authenticity and revolutionary insights speak for themselves, resonating with people who are weary of Empire religion and false promises of power politics. Jesus speaks with authority because his humble foundations are grounded in the living expression of God’s loving grace.
The Beatitudes taught by Jesus on the mountain are picking up on echoes of prophetic wisdom, such as the passage we hear from Micah in chapter 6. “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Like a country music song, this verse is even better when we play it backwards. Things have a way of working out, and we can trust the benevolence of the universe as essentially good when we start from the humble stance of being with God, in God’s loving and accepting Presence, regardless of the circumstance. But Micah reminds us this is not a static experience. It is a journey. “To walk humbly with your God” involves walking, which implies action and motion, but not from our ego or pride or sense of identity, because we’ll defend our identity; but from a humility, our core essence, which is a gift as the eternal Christ gives expression in our life.
From this humble beginning, then comes a result, to love kindness. Not arrogance, not retribution, not power or violence, not even competition. Love kindness. Kindness is also love in action, and love is a verb, really. Like a crescendo in music gradually increases the intensity and the volume of a musical masterpiece, moving from walking humbly with God leads to love, kindness, and as traction begins to build we see it leads to justice. Justice is the other side of the coin, love on one side, justice as the expression on the other side of the same coin. You cannot love without justice, and you cannot have justice without love. Not justice as we know it, for our culture promotes retributive justice: you do the crime, you do the time. This loving justice is restorative, relationally based, rooted in kindness, grounded in humility which sees reality through the lens of unity. This is how Jesus can say, “Love your enemies.” Loving justice is possible when connection is experienced, not distinction, not separation, but union as one life is reflected in another and everything is an expression of God with us.
Jesus teaching on the mountain, Micah sharing a prophetic vision: these are Epiphanies which speak to us on a soul level of God with us, calling us to open our hearts as the center of perception for spiritual realities. We are invited to spend time with God, taking retreat, prayerfully listening, simply being as we learn to let go of all the story lines, assumptions, and self-inflicted identities we cling to.
As we gather around Jesus on the mountain and hear the Beatitudes, we are offered an expansive view of deep love that is relentlessly moving in our lives and the world at all levels of existence and all moments of time. God Almighty, the LORD, Christ is in our midst! May we learn from the teacher who not only tells, but embodies soul lessons so we may become expressions of transformation.
May we internalize, in the depths of our heart and soul, the embrace of our loving God who calls us by name. As we follow Jesus, may we have courage to not only climb the mountains before us, and they are there, but to follow into the valleys, which are also there. In this journey of walking humbly with God, kindness and justice and love make all the difference, no matter how conducive our circumstances may be. In Christ, the source of life, may we continue to learn the LORD’s Wisdom.
And may we live the humble love of God, both NOW, and forever. Amen.