The “B” Team
Sermon preached By Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli – January 30, 2011
Matthew 5:1-12
Next week is The Big Game. It was fun to see some folks last week in worship proudly wearing their team colors as they prepared for the conference championship football games that took place last Sunday (sorry to any Bears or Jets fans…) It’s fun to root for a team, to get together with others to share the triumphs and heartbreaks of a given season. Maybe football isn’t your thing, but I imagine you know what I mean. I think back to sixth grade, when me and my friends from Kiefer (Oklahoma) screamed over and over again across the football field at our arch-rivals—the Mounds Devils—“We’ve got spirit, yes we do! We’ve got spirit, how ‘bout you?”
Today, we find Jesus going up the mountain to teach the disciples (and the crowds that were gathering around him) about the kingdom of heaven. In essence, Jesus teaches how to be on God’s “team,” to be on God’s side. The first bit of teaching is commonly known as the Beatitudes and, frankly, they mystified me for years. You may have heard these preached as the “Be-attitudes,” as things and ways of being that we will BE if we are living according to the ways of God’s reign. This is where I’ve gotten caught—because it seems so contrary to other messages of the Gospel to believe that we are to be “poor in spirit,” “mournful,” and such. Why would a God who loves us want us to be these things?
I’d like to share a somewhat different reading of this teaching of Jesus.[i] The whole of the teaching is framed by the image of “the kingdom of heaven.” What Jesus is talking about has to do with thereality of life when God is truly the ruler. Each of these ‘beatitudes’ is a promise of God—each beatitude follows the form that those who are blessed will be or will receive. These are promises of a future reality in which God’s wholeness will be achieved—promises of the fulfillment of the kingdom of heaven.
Let’s look for a moment at the first four Beatitudes. First of all, what does it mean to be “poor in spirit?” Some scholars argue (and I tend to agree) that to be “poor in spirit” means that you lack hope. Spiritual poverty, therefore, would be characterized by an inability to hope in the future, in God, in anything. To be “poor in spirit” is to despair. Jesus says those who are poor in spirit, who despair, will receive the riches of the kingdom of heaven.
What about those who mourn? To mourn is to suffer loss, to grieve, to find no cause for joy. Jesus says that those who mourn will be comforted.
And, what of “the meek?” In Greek, the word that is translated “meek” can have a positive sense—for example, it can be translated “humble” or “gentle.” But the same word can also be used in a negative sense—for example, the meek might be those who are humiliated…those who are powerless, who are walked on, who are doormats for others. In this sense, the meek are those who are overlooked and who are powerless to receive their fair share of the resources of the earth. Jesus says that the meek will inherit the earth.
The fourth Beatitude, in some ways, sums up the first three: those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are those who have been starved of the righteousness of God’s realm; their lives afford no hope for the future and so they are poor in spirit; their lives are miserable, giving them no cause for joy (they mourn); they are caught in cycles which allow them to be walked upon and overlooked—they are powerless to receive their fair share of the resources of creation (they are the meek). Jesus says that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled.
These first four Beatitudes are promises of reversal. In the context of the kingdom of heaven, the promise is that when God rules, the unfortunate and unjust realities of these persons will be reversed. Or said another way, in the kingdom of heaven, there will be no one who will have to hunger and thirst for righteousness. All will be filled.
The next four Beatitudes are a bit different. While the first four are promises of reversal, the next four are promises of rewards. When God rules—in the kingdom of heaven—the faithful lives of these persons will be rewarded. What I want to point out is that these promises to the faithful are related to those Beatitudes that we were just reflecting upon. The merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake—these are persons who are faithfully seeking to live according to the kingdom of heaven—they are on God’s “team.” They are those who are laboring to bring hope, joy, and justice to broken humanity, they are those who are laboring to meet the needs of those whose suffering was named in the first four Beatitudes…they are on the side of God and God’s love…
Jesus says that these faithful disciples will be rewarded—not with riches or power, but rather with the greater gifts of mercy, visions of God, assurance that they are children of God, and with the gift of sharing life in the kingdom of heaven. But what about that bit about persecution and slander? The virtue being blessed here is commitment in the face of trials and temptations—commitment that is willing to suffer for the cause of right. To be on God’s side, to stand up for God’s way of love, mercy, justice, compassion—won’t make you the most popular kid…it will often put you in the hot seat, because so often God’s way challenges the way of the world. People and principalities and powers will be threatened and so the attacks certainly come…but those who have thrown in their loyalty with God can surely say—we’ve got Spirit, yes we do! … The Spirit of God strengthens those who seek to follow Jesus, strengthens us to be able to stand firmly in solidarity with those who hunger and thirst for righteousness—in the midst of whatever gets thrown at us.
I do think that there are some “Be-attitudes” among these verses today, but I think that they are those that call us to work for a world in which the others no longer exist. I believe that we are to form God’s “Be” team that embodies mercy, peace, pureness of heart (integrity), and steadfastness. Thanks be to God that we all have a place on God’s “Be” team—and that there are faithful, committed servant leaders who have responded to God’s call to help us work as a team to care, to grow, to share, to love more fully, creatively, and powerfully.
Next week, inevitably, there will be a champion, someone who gets the ring, the trophy, the glory…and there will be the losing team. This is the way of things in this world. But consider this—the really extraordinary part of being on God’s team? The goal is to have no losers…
[i] God With Us: A Pastoral Theology of Matthew’s Gospel, by Mark Allan Powell (Fortress, 1995).
