Blessed are the Placemakers
Like many office environments, we have an established rhythm to our week here at Midway Hills. On Monday we work on the newsletter, the Echo, and on Thursday we duplicate the bulletins for Sunday. There is no way the staff could get through the week without the help of one volunteer extraordinaire—Jack McCracken. Jack is our ‘eagle eye’ proofreader and all ‘round grammatician—is that a word Jack?
I am sure Jack has saved us from many an embarrassment with his proofreading skills, and I know I count on him to check my column for clarity and readability. Well, just in case you thought Jack missed a typo in the sermon title for today, I meant to title the sermon, “Blessed are the Placemakers.” Actually that phrase literally was a typo in one printed version of the Bible.
Have you ever wondered whose job it is to proofread English copies of the Bible? There is actually a company called Peachtree Editorial and Proofreading Service that combs each page of each Bible repeatedly before it goes to press, looking for misspellings, lost words and punctuation errors. Some of the typos they have found include:
What is so shocking about today’s passage from Matthew is that it sounds like it is full of typos—when in reality it is completely accurate. When we hear these words of Jesus we do a double-take; we think certainly they must be a mistake. Blessed are the meek? Blessed are you when you are persecuted, reviled? Blessed are those who mourn? These words, what we have come to call the “Beatitudes,” describe conditions in the kingdom of God. They are like a typo, because the kingdom of God is like a typo in a world that operates by different standards. These words of Jesus, like the Kingdom, cause us to do a double-take and invite us to take a deeper look into the reality they evoke.
These nine Beatitudes form the beginning of a longer teaching of Jesus known as the Sermon on the Mount. The word that begins each one of them has been translated variously: ‘Blessed’ are you; ‘Happy’ are you; ‘Fortunate’ is the one…..
The beatitude was a well established literary genre in ancient Judaism and Christianity. We find them throughout the entire Bible. The book of Psalms opens with a familiar one: “Blessed are those who walk not in the counsel of the wicked….” There is even beatitude in the book of Revelation: “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it….”
So how does Jesus use beatitude to introduce his sermon? The Greek word translated ‘blessed’ in Matthew’s gospel is makarismos, a noun that connotes being on the receiving end of divine action. And this divine action is prompted by a behavior and a condition of being as a people. They announce who is related to God. As blessings on the lips of Jesus, these Beatitudes are an exhortation, shouting that the center of gravity in the world has shifted and people who exhibit these behaviors are its citizens.
These statements of Jesus are like Zen koans. We cannot explain them or reduce them to a single meaning. Rather they function as doorways—portals—to the realm of God.
In
his book, Shaped by the Word, Robert
Mulholland speaks of the iconographic nature of scripture: “Icons turn our perspective around.
When you look at an icon you discover that the point of focus is in
you, not ‘out there’ in the picture.
You find yourself drawn into a reality, a mystery, which opens out in
front of you. Instead of being an
independent, objective observer who retains control of the picture, you find
that the icon conveys and independent, objective reality that encounters you,
addresses you, and draws you into its order of being.”
These Beatitudes are icons of the kingdom of God. They present a divine reality that encounters us, and draws us into its order of being. As we are drawn into this reality our lives are literally shaped by it and when we recognize God’s work in our lives and our participation in the kingdom it is indeed a blessed state.
These
beatitudes do not describe some pie in the sky ‘consolation prize’ for those
who might be down on their luck. They
are the dynamic force of the kingdom at work in our lives and in the world.
Jesus’ Beatitudes are icons into the realm of God. They invite behaviors, practices that make the kingdom of God a present reality and they describe a quality of life—an inner quality—of the person who participates in the kingdom. In essence, they mirror what Jesus taught about the kingdom of God: it is already and not yet; it is within you.
It is already and not yet. So we work for it to come more fully. We work for it by following Jesus’ example of feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and welcoming the stranger.
It is within you. The kingdom of God is a realm we cultivate in our hearts as well as our world. We do this by hungering and thirsting for righteousness, and embracing a spiritual poverty that claims only God alone can fill us.
Jesus taught the Kingdom has an outer and an inner reality. That is why we find two versions of the Beatitudes in the gospels. Luke focuses on the outer dimension of the kingdom. The beatitudes he includes address socio-economic conditions that will be transformed at the coming of the kingdom.
Matthew spiritualizes these two beatitudes and adds several more.
Luke and Matthew balance each other. They bear witness to Jesus’ example that the realm of God is coming into our world as a tangible event that has real impact on people’s lives. The poor are included and the hungry are fed. And the realm of God is a spiritual reality. When we seek it first all other things are added. To be poor in spirit describes people who find their true identity and security in God. To hunger and thirst for righteousness describes our deep longing and the world’s deep longing that only God can fill.
There is story told of an old monk who was making his way to a special prayer service. The leader of the service was anxiously looking about for the old monk so he could begin the prayers. It was very unlike the monk to be late; he was so devoted to this service. Finally it became so late that the leader decided to start without the monk.
Just then the Angel Gabriel appeared and held the leader back; asking him to wait just a little bit longer—the old monk would soon arrive. Meanwhile, the old monk who had been hurrying to get to the prayer service on time had fallen behind a woman who was moving very slowly because she was crippled and bent. The old monk took the time to help the woman get to her destination and God, the Most Compassionate One, did not want the old monk to miss the beginning blessings of the prayer service so the Angel Gabriel was sent to delay the beginning of the prayers.
Blessed are the placemakers. Typo? Not really. Blessed are those who make a place for the kingdom of God—in the world and in their hearts.