Blessed are Those Who Mourn
Matthew 23:37-39
May 15, 2005
I read a book a while ago which began with a few very provocative paragraphs.
You may not be a Christian and wondering why anyone would want to be. The religion that inspired the Crusades, launched witch trials, perpetuates religious broadcasting, presents too-often boring and irrelevant church services with schmaltzy music – or else presents manic and overly aggressive church services with a different kind of schmaltzy music – baptizes wars and other questionable political programs, promotes judgmentalism, and ordains preachers with puffy haircuts (and others who are so superficial as to complain about puffy haircuts or whose baldness makes the complaint seem suspiciously tinged with envy ) …it doesn’t make sense to you why anyone would want to be in on that.
You may not yet be a Christian, and you’re thinking of becoming one, but you’re worried that if you do you’ll become a worse person – judgmental, arrogant, narrow-minded, bigoted, and brainwashed. You feel attracted to something good on the path of Jesus, but you wish you could get that “something good” without a lot of extra religious, social, and maybe political baggage. (Do I have to like organ music? Do I have to say “Praise the Lord!” all the time. Do I have to vote Republican?….You wonder if there is any way to follow Jesus without becoming a Christian.
You may already be a Christian, struggling, questioning, and looking for reasons to stay in. Or you may have officially left the Christian community, but part of your heart is still there and you wonder if you might someday return. So many of us have come close to withdrawing from the Christian community. It’s not because of Jesus or his Good News, but because of frustrations with religious politics, dubious theological propositions, difficulties in interpreting passages of the Bible that feel barbaric (especially to people sensitized by Jesus to the importance of compassion), and/or embarrassments from recent and not-so-recent church history. Or perhaps it’s simply boredom – dreary music, blasé sermons, sappy answers to tough questions, and other adventures in missing the point. Or perhaps it’s fatigue – a treadmill of meetings and books and programs and squabbles that yield more duties, obligations, guilt trips, and stress. (A Generous Orthodoxy, Brian D. McLaren. 2004. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. page 15-16).
I don’t know if any of that resonates with you or not. I don’t know if you found yourself in any of those critiques of the church or not. Maybe you think the guy who wrote that stuff is all wet, or maybe you think he might be on to something. I don’t know, but let me talk for a minute about the church that I’m acquainted with.
The very first Sunday of my life was spent in church when my parents hauled me and my older sister over to Forest Park Methodist Church. I expect the last Sunday of my life to be spent in church (I’m not sure which one, but I expect it to be a United Methodist Church.)
Methodism is just one brand of the Body of Christ; one particular way of seeing, believing, and acting. Methodism has its share of the truth, as do the Baptists, Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Nazarenes, Mennonites, Assemblies of God, Lutherans, Orthodox, Brethren, Amish, Foursquare Gospel, Disciples of Christ, Church of God in Christ, Missionary, Free Methodist, Church of God, Quakers, African Methodist Episcopal, Pilgrim Holiness, Pentecostal, Reformed, Wesleyan, and others to numerous to name here.
It was this wide world of Christian churches that make up the Body of Christ in which I was reared, educated, nurtured, challenged, and empowered for ministry. There are some very good things that happen in these churches. If it were not for the efforts of these churches, the world would be a far sadder place. The Body of Christ is, in my estimation, what makes the world inhabitable.
Within the Body of Christ, people meet Jesus. People come into contact with like-minded individuals who help each other grow in faith and grace. Babies are baptized. Youth are confirmed. The gospel is preached. Bible stories are told and retold. Adults have their lives redeemed and reclaimed. Worship happens which lifts up the glory of God and inspires folks to achieve greater things for the Kingdom.
Within the Body of Christ and all our churches, soup kitchens feed the poor. Micro-loan programs assist persons to build their own businesses in order to escape the ravages of poverty. Prisons are visited. Houses are built through programs like Habitat for Humanity. Missionaries are sent…to the farthest reaches of the globe and around the corner in our city. Military chaplains minister to our young men and women who serve in very difficult circumstances.
Churches and denominations build Christian colleges. We also have a permanent presence in hundreds of state supported colleges and universities through campus ministry programs. We build graduate schools through which people can be equipped for teaching or full-time Christian service.
We care for young, unmarried mothers. We care for children and teens and senior citizens. We care for those on the fringe of society.
We lobby local, state, and national governments to enact legislation which serves to make justice a reality for people for whom it has been long denied. We have been at the forefront of the Civil Rights movement, the Environmental movement, and Women’s suffrage. Jesus comes alive in our efforts, in our worship, and in our service, and in our commitment. People catch a little glimpse of heaven through our corporate witness.
I honestly cannot think of any other group whose impact for good is felt more keenly than the Body of Christ. Name any program, or effort, or emphasis, or idea, or dream that has had lasting significance to the world’s people, and I can pretty much guarantee that the Body of Christ has been behind it. I am so proud, honored, and humbled to be part of it.
With all of that being said, we must acknowledge that there is another side to the church. This is the church of the Crusades which cost the lives of innocent people all over Europe and the Middle East. This is the Church that gave rise to the Inquisition. This is the church that tortured the early Mennonites and Amish in Switzerland and Germany because of their views on baptism. This is the church that gave biblical and theological warrant to seventeenth and eighteenth century slavery.
The eleven o’clock hour on Sunday morning is still the most segregated hour during the week. The church needs to be held accountable for that. The church has a tendency to be pretty self-righteous and arrogant. Too often, many of us have trouble accepting others if they disagree with us. Too often, we welcome people into our fellowship only if they fit into our pre-conceived notion of what they ought to look like and what they ought to believe.
We tend to fuss and fight over things that are non-essentials: do we sprinkle, pour, or dunk at baptism? Do we use an organ or praise band? Do we sing only early 20th century gospel hymns or are Contemporary Christian praise songs allowed? Should the preacher go to seminary or not? Should women be allowed in the pulpit or not? Should we use only the King James Version of the Bible?
We tend to fight over the definition of “evangelical,” deciding that those who don’t meet narrowly defined criteria aren’t really part of the “in crowd.” Each side tries to set the agenda and define the debate. Part of us believes that the most important issues facing the church today are abortion and homosexuality. Letters to the editor from these folks always accuse “liberals” of being unchristian. The other half of us thinks that the most important issues are war and peace, full inclusion of gays and lesbians in the life of the church, tax policy which punishes the poor and federal budget cuts which target the least among us. They accuse the other side of being brain dead as well as being biblical and theological illiterates. The Christian Right is accused of being the Republican Party at prayer. The Left is far too afraid to use faith language because it might be accused of not being politically correct.
We don’t talk to each other. We talk past each other. We don’t try to understand each other’s worldview. We arrogantly assume that we know best and that the other side doesn’t know anything. Just the fact that we talk about “the other side” is evidence of our brokenness.
I love the church and have given my entire adult life to its service, but I get so frustrated. The church can be glorious, filled with power and majesty and a glimpse of the Kingdom of Heaven. It can also be exactly the opposite.
During the last week of his life, Jesus was in Jerusalem being continually confronted by those who were searching for evidence to have him put to death. Pharisees and Sadducees and Scribes and teachers of the Law were all there trying to trip him up, trying to get him to say something wrong, trying to trick him into putting his foot in his mouth. Like a skilled orator, he answered all of his critics until they were unable or perhaps afraid to ask him anything else. He looked out over his accusers, the assembled crowd, and his disciples and said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing“ (Matthew 23:37). I wonder how often WE have not been willing to put aside petty differences and gather under the outstretched arms of Jesus.
This is the second in a series of sermons on the Beatitudes. Matthew 5:4 says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” In chapter 23, Jesus is in mourning. He is looking out over the city with tears in his eyes and a heavy heart because they could have been so much more. They didn’t have to kill the prophets, but they did. They didn’t have to stone God’s messengers, but they did. They didn’t have to reject God’s presence, but they did. They didn’t have to ignore God’s warnings, but they did. They didn’t have to go on as though they didn’t need God, but they did. They didn’t have to be disobedient, but they were.
And Jesus wept at the failed possibilities. He mourned over chances lost. He grieved over what could have been. He lamented the fact that they missed opportunities to find true happiness. His heart broke over Jerusalem because they could have been so much more than they had become.
The second beatitude is “Blessed are those who mourn…” I believe that one of the characteristics of those who truly are striving to be God’s people is that they genuinely mourn over the failures of God’s people and God’s church. People who mourn are those who are tremendously sorry that the Kingdom of God has not yet come and God’s will on earth is not yet being carried out. People who mourn are those who see the great potential for goodness, love, justice, mercy, service, and fellowship among God’s people; attributes of the Kingdom which are not yet fully developed.
There is, however, good news. The beatitude promises that those who mourn will be comforted. Those who are not content with the status quo are rewarded with a promise of participation in God’s future and the future of the redeemed church.
It is true that not everyone is spiritually poor, mournful, meek, merciful, a worker for peace. But there are some of them out there, and their presence sweetens the whole Body of Christ and serves as a sign of God’s blessing. They serve to be a call to all of us to conform our lives to kingdom values.
Blessed are those who mourn for our present state of values, for they are the ones who are the hope of the world. They are the ones who will not be satisfied until those Kingdom values reign on earth as they do in heaven. They are the ones who are promised comfort as they work and pray for the coming of the Kingdom. Their mourning will be turned to dancing with the coming of the Lord.
