Blessed

Blessed

I Corinthians 1:18-31   Matthew 5:1-12       The poet Mary Oliver wrote this elegy for her beloved dog, Percy, in her collection “A Thousand Mornings.”

For I will consider my dog Percy.

For he was made small but brave of heart.

For if he met another dog, he would kiss her in kindness.

For when he slept he snored only a little.

For he could be silly and noble in the same moment.

For when he spoke he remembered the trumpet and when he scratched he struck the floor like a drum.

For he ate only the finest food and drank only the purest of water, yet would nibble of dead fish also

For he came to me impaired, and therefore certain of a short life, yet thoroughly rejoiced in each day….

For when he came upon mud, he splashed through it.

For he was an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon….

For when he sniffed it was as if he were being pleased by every part of the world.

For when he sickened, he rallied as many times as he could,

For he was a mixture of gravity and waggery.

For we humans can seek self-destruction in ways he never dreamed of…

For when I went away he would watch for me at the window.

For he loved me.

For he suffered before I found him, and never forgot it…

For when he lay down to enter sleep he did not argue about whether or not God made him.

For he could fling himself upside down and laugh a true laugh…

For often I see his shape in the clouds, and this is a continual blessing.

Blessing. Percy, like all of us, is blessed simply to be who he is.   He was just a dog, as we are simply human.  The wonder of Jesus’ message is that he lets us know that we are loved and blessed by God, not because of some special ability. We are loved just for being God’s children.  God does not bless us because of our fabulous good looks, or our wealth or education or achievement or ability to do gymnastics.  God loves us because God knows us and holds us in God’s heart.  And the more that we live this way, basking in God’s love, the happier we are.   We are blessed by God’s abundant love, even if the world doesn’t bother.

Here are Jesus’ words in the beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-11) as translated by Eugene Peterson in The Message:

 “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are— no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

“You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. God is food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

“You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.

“You’re blessed when you get your inside world— your mind and heart— put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

“You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

The wonder of these passages is that they turn the values in Jesus’ day on their heads.   To be valued in Roman society was first to be a free male; women were undervalued, as were children, and slaves, of which there were very many.  Slaves were invisible and were considered to have no soul.  Achievement was everything, along with fame and public praise.  A laurel wreath placed on the brow of a general or famous poet was the height of status.  Society was broken down into well-defined classes, with a wealthy male Roman citizen at the top.  It was clear in those days those who were blessed and who were not.

Are things so very different in our age?  Who is blessed in our day more than a CEO or rock star or athlete with a seven-figure salary, or one with the largest house, or fanciest car, or even the one with the best pension or best health insurance?  The famous are given adulation and awe.  This week we celebrate athletes in the Super Bowl and in Sochi, especially those who win.  We are clear, as most societies are, about who is on top and who is not.

But Jesus turns all of this upside-down.   Who are those blessed by God?: everyday people.  The blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, peacemakers, and those who suffer persecution.  The blessed in Jesus’ book are common folk, ones with kind hearts, with loving eyes, with a passion for justice and equality, mediators and the ones who give their lives for others.   Jesus turns the values of this world on its head, and reminds us that we can be blessed simply by being ourselves…our best selves. 

Leo Tolstoy wrote:  There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth." 



Louisa May Alcott said:  "Simple, genuine goodness is the best capital to found the business of this life upon. It lasts when fame and money fail, and is the only riches we can take out of this world with us." 

The modern writer, Sue Monk Kidd, said this in an interview recently about her new book, The Invention of Wings:  “Empathy is the most mysterious transaction that the human soul can have and it’s accessible to all of us, but we have to give ourselves the opportunity to identify, to plunge ourselves in a story where we see the world from the bottom up or through another’s eyes or heart.”   This is what Jesus was able to do: to see the world from the ‘bottom up.’  He had compassion on everyday people striving to do good.

Kidd’s book is about the Grimke sisters, who grew up on a slave owning plantation, and had a change of heart.  Ironically, these slave owning women became leading voices in the Abolitionist movement.  In the midst of this battle of seeking equality for African slaves, these sisters realized that women at the time were treated as innately inferior.  Women had no vote, nor the ability to hold leadership positions, or to work outside of the home. They became leaders in the Suffragette movement.   Kidd went on to say: “It was through fighting for the rights of others that these women discovered they were oppressed.” 

Early Christians must have had a similar experience.  They didn’t plan to be persecuted or oppressed; they just wanted to follow the example of their Savior.  But they were persecuted mercilessly for their way of living, which included treating people with kindness and equality, sharing what they had with each other, visiting each other in jail, and refusing to respond with violence.    In the midst of this persecution, the words of Jesus must have rung true time and time again: blessed are the merciful, for they will attain mercy; blessed are the persecuted, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This reminds me of songs of Pete Seeger, who passed away this week.  He once said  “Being generous of spirit is a wonderful way to live.”  He certainly lived that way, spending his life singing out for those who were most oppressed, protesting unjust wars and racism and inequality and unfair labor practices.  He also said, “I want to turn the clock back to when people lived in villages and took care of each other.”   He wanted to be part of a way of life lived with compassion, caring for the meek, those who mourn, those who are persecuted.   He lived the upside-down way of life that Jesus talked about, not using his fame or wealth only for himself, but seeking always to better this world, fostering justice and cleaning up the environment around him.  He said we can be blessed even when we are mourning, or not at our best, or injured or broken or frail.  

A commentary on the passage from Matthew illuminates this upside-down vision of Jesus:  “To be "poor in spirit" combines three traits of Jesus: servanthood, obedience and self-denial. The one who is poor in spirit recognizes that he or she has nothing to offer God on his or her own, that his or her life has no purpose apart from God. The poor in spirit are those who voluntarily empty themselves so that they can be filled by God.



This leads to the second beatitude, which focuses the attention from the inward to the outward: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." Disciples who are poor in spirit, who have turned their attention away from themselves, now turn their attention to the world and begin to see it as it currently is -- a world in pain, a world where the selfish desire of sin dehumanizes people, a world full of violence. Those who mourn are blessed because they enter into the world's pain and grief and are not afraid of it.



“Synthesize those two beatitudes together and you get the third: "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." We tend to think of meekness as wimpiness, as though our lives could be written as a "Diary of a Wimpy Christian." But here meekness is a combination of the previous two elements: The spirit of self-denial and the spirit of service come together to make a new being -- the most formidable person on earth -- the powerful meek. They are powerful because they want nothing, hence they can't be tempted or bought, and they are powerful because they are willing to go to any lengths, even unto death, on behalf of others.”

This is how Jesus lived and died: courageously standing up for the poor in spirit, for those oppressed and marginalized, for those who suffered unjustly, for those who were rejected by society.   As we take communion this morning, let us rest in the assurance that we are blessed and loved by God for being true to ourselves, for having hearts of compassion, for striving to be good. We are not loved for our gold and trophies, but for our hearts turned toward God.  Like Mary Oliver’s Percy, we are blessed as we are, here and now.  Amen.