Right Side Up in an Upside Down World
Intro: The more I study the Sermon on the Mount, esp. the Beatitudes, the less prescriptive and the more descriptive they become to me. Here is what I mean by that. Last week as I shared them, I introduced the first one (poor in spirit) as a requirement for entering the Kingdom of Heaven – God’s rule in our lives. But as I’ve read and studies the context I feel I need to revisit the Beatitudes again with fresh insight.
-In years past I think I’ve viewed the Beatitudes as something we should strive for in order to qualify for the kingdom of God, yet that doesn’t appear to be what Jesus is saying, then or now. As I stated last week, I do believe Jesus was acknowledging where people really were in their broken, oppressed lives. He was saying, “I see where you are, what you are going through, and I care about you. Furthermore, there is hope for you! The Kingdom of God is yours for the asking. If you receive God’s ruler ship in your heart and life, then you are blessed and welcome into His family and kingdom.”
-If you read the end of Matthew 4, you see that Jesus had already been ministering to these crowds. Matthew 4:23-24 23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them.
-Jesus had already begun to impart kingdom life to these people. Sitting in front of Him were people who had just been healed, delivered, and set free. They believed in Jesus and receiving Him. Life change was already happening to them. It is very likely that as Jesus began to teach the beatitudes, that He pulled a person up who had been injured by a soldier who had taken advantage of him and beaten him; however, Jesus had healed him and the man had come to believe in Him and follow Him. So Jesus may have been using a living illustration of someone who was meek, but that person was blessed b/c they had been accepted into the kingdom of God.
-Now, let me clarify what I am saying here. I’m not saying that we do not need to be humble, or mourn when we’re sad, or meek. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t hunger and thirst for righteousness, or be merciful, or be pure in heart, or be peacemakers, or be willing to be persecuted for righteousness. But Jesus was not prescribing a new set of commandments that would qualify people for the kingdom of God. He was showing the people how readily available and how widely available God’s kingdom was – even for ordinary, poor, ignorant, imperfect, despised people.
-One book I’ve been reading applies the teaching on the beatitudes in a unique way. I changed some of the author’s words, and came up with 3 sides to the beatitudes. First, there is the silly side. TV, movies, the internet, and magazines tell us that the least fortunate people on earth today are those who are ugly, fat, deformed, bald, old, and anyone who does not enjoy unrestrained romance, sex, and fashion. Some people grow up believing the lie that if only they had the right body shape, the right hair, or the right clothes, then they could be considered blessed or happy. Many people feel they are below the standard of what the human race deems acceptable. It is silly to believe such things, but many of us do. Of course Jesus dealt gently and caringly with those who did not fit in or find acceptance. And He calls His followers to truly look and see the value in each person. Blessed are the ugly. There is beauty yet to be revealed. Blessed are those who smell bad. Blessed are the deformed, too big, too little, too loud, too quiet, the bald, the fat, and the old… for they are accepted and celebrated in the party of Jesus (The Divine Conspiracy, 123). That’s the silly side. But then there’s the sad or serious side.
-These are the ones who have been crushed by tragedy and despair. These are the flunkouts, the druggies, the divorced, those with STD’s, the brain-damaged, the terminally ill. The barren, those who get pregnant too often or at inappropriate times. Those who cannot or will not hold down a job and those who work too much. Those who have been ripped off, neglected, or abused. Parents with wayward children. Children with wayward parents. Those who face emotional abuse or neglect. Those who are incompetent or dim-witted. Those who are lonely and afraid. So many people live in this sad and serious zone with little or no hope for something better. But no matter how dark or how low or how sad the circumstance or life condition, Jesus offers help and healing, and full entrance into the kingdom of heaven. All that humanity has ever really longed for is found in simple friendship with Jesus. Now, alongside the sad we find the shocking.
-What about immoral people? Surely there can be no friendship offered until changes have been made – can there? Certainly there must be reforms made before acceptance is extended? Yet Jesus opened the kingdom to those who were moral wrecks. If they were willing to enter the kingdom of God, to literally come under His rule and reign, then they would be accepted. Murderers, rapists, bigots, pornographers, perverts, prostitutes, adulterers, and more! How shocking that Jesus would openly embrace such people! Where does it stop? Doesn’t Jesus know how filthy those people are?
-So Jesus takes the outcast and loves them right into the kingdom of heaven. He forgives their sin and heals their bodies, their minds, their emotions. And He speaks and breathes His life, Kingdom life, into them – the silly, the sad, and the shocking. What a Savior! What a great salvation! He turns death and ruin into life and peace!
-So blessed are the spiritual nothings who are spiritually bankrupt, deficient beggars who are unspiritual, who live in spiritual poverty, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, when they trust and follow Christ.
-Blessed are the weeping ones, those whose mates have deserted and rejected them; those who have lost a child or someone close. As they see Jesus and see God’s life in Him and begin to enter the kingdom and live in it, their tears turn to joy and they can not only laugh again, but freely for the first time.
-Blessed are the shy ones, too mild to assert themselves, always giving way to others, whose frustration can turn to a dark rage when cornered b/c no one cares or understands them. The earth will be theirs as they learn to trust and enter the kingdom now with the gentle reassurance that love brings.
-Blessed are those who intensely desire things to be made right. The righteousness they seek may be sought to fill the wrong in themselves. Or perhaps they’ve been wronged and are being consumed by the desire to see justice. When they receive the King of the kingdom by faith and the life that He offers, the losses they have suffered are forgotten in the vast reservoir of God’s goodness. Souls are restored. Cups run over. God’s goodness and mercy now pursue and fill the once empty heart.
-Blessed are those who are taken advantage of b/c of their kindness and merciful nature. They’ve been burned and lied to and stolen from, but a greater mercy than they were ever capable of has been shown to them, as they found complete forgiveness of debt by the King Himself.
-Blessed are those who have kept their noses clean. They have followed the rules and are hard on everybody, most of all themselves. They are the perfectionists who find fault with everybody, striving to make the grade, to meet the standard of excellence. The kingdom is wide open to them as well, where they find the perfect King to be more than enough for them. They will see God and know the truest expression of perfection.
-Blessed are those who get caught in the middle, seeking to make peace with all sides. They are often hated by the very ones they are trying to help b/c they refuse to take sides with one over the other. After encountering the Prince of Peace they know that He knows their struggle of trying to bring peace to troubled lives. They will be called children of the King who is the ultimate Peacemaker.
-Blessed are those who are attacked for standing up for what it right, going against the flow. In God’s kingdom they find all they need to enjoy a blessed life.
-Again, even though we can identify right stances, attitudes, or behaviors here, Jesus is showing that no matter how bad your situation is, or how rejected you are compared to all the upper class, wealthy, religious, dominant, confident, aggressive, the difference is made by whose kingdom you choose to belong to. And Jesus was speaking to (and maybe using several as examples) people who had already begun to receive the kingdom of heaven through His ministry. So they were blessed b/c God’s kingdom had come to them in the person of Jesus. That is what helps us make sense of the verses that follow the beatitudes.
Matthew 5:13-16 13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. 14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
-Why would Jesus give such high praise to such lowly people as He just described? He was surrounded by people who aptly fit the description of poor, hungry, grief-stricken, hated and hurt due to their ties with Jesus.
-I believe Jesus is doing more than just giving them an encouraging word. He knows the impact each one of them can have on the world around them b/c of the kingdom life that now flows through their hearts and spirits.
-So He encourages them to let His life flow through them. Stay salty. Don’t lose what I’ve given you. Keep shining your light! Don’t give up on others. It’s not enough to have the light. We are called to share the light. Why? So people will see what we do and praise our Father in heaven. It’s not just about me! It’s about a dark world that needs light.
Wrap Up: Ordinary people with messy lives are invited into the kingdom of heaven. The door is open wide for all who desire to accept God’s rule and reign in their lives. Have you done so? Is God the boss in your life?
