Isaiah 61: 1-4; Matthew 5: 1-12 (verses 3-4)
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
February 5, 2017
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.
They shall build up the ancient ruins,
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations. - Isaiah 61: 1-4
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. - Matthew 5: 1-12
He was anointed as God’s Beloved Son and sent to proclaim the good news. According to Matthew, Jesus’ first public proclamation of the good news is the Beatitudes. Jesus offers nine declarations which assure the disciples, the crowd, and the readers of Matthew’s Gospel of God’s coming kingdom.
That word “beatitude” is Latin for “blessings.” And the blessings Jesus talks about are not some prosperity gospel for Christian success. Jesus uses a prophetic voice to infuse God’s hope-filled kingdom promises into nine life experiences of our broken humanity. They are blessings because within each experience named, Jesus promises that the gift of God’s grace will permanently sustain those in these experiences. In turn they will have long lasting joy.
There was a dire need to hear the good news back in Jesus’ time. The people were still oppressed. They were now under Roman rule in a Greek culture. The Roman government had appointed the three sons of King Herod the Great as kings. God’s people still longed to experience the Lord’s favor and deliverance (Isaiah 61:2).
Jesus went up the mountain and as he sat down his disciples came to him. Jesus looked into their eyes and with the tongue of a teacher he knew how to sustain the weary with a word. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3).
The disciples were quickly learning the full effects of being poor in spirit. Each disciple was leaving everything behind to follow the call of their Rabbi and Savior. They left their families and homes, whatever possessions and properties they had, and their former jobs [1]. The disciples had no significant resources other than their dependence upon the Lord. You see, the blessing for the disciples was to recognize their only need in life was to consciously rely upon God. What a humbling experience.
With each step of following the Rabbi, the disciples would begin to see life through the eyes of the poor in spirit – those who were destitute, living with nothing but scarcity. Jesus knew the poor in spirit had something to teach about depending upon nothing but the mercy of God.
Can you imagine sitting on the mountainside in Jesus’ makeshift classroom and hearing Jesus speak these words? Those words are packed with depth of meaning. To be poor in spirit and to receive the blessing of the kingdom of heaven was life-changing. It was a major shift of one’s identity to go from being a lowly outcast within the Roman kingdom and Jewish society to receiving permanent value, belonging, and provision in God’s kingdom.
As a disciple’s identity in Christ becomes more secure by relying upon God, a disciple cannot help but lament that the far reaching dominion of God’s kingdom has not yet fully come. Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4).
In those words Jesus held the collective story of the past and present laments of his brothers and sisters. Jesus remembered Isaiah lifted up the oppressed, the brokenhearted, the captives, and the prisoners for they mourned the weight of the Babylonian exile and the destruction of the Jerusalem temple. Isaiah prophesied that God’s future blessings of good news would greet the poor and oppressed; broken hearts would be mended, captives would be released, and prisoners would be freed.
These blessings were realized when King Cyrus of Persia crushed Babylon and released the Israelites to go home (Isaiah 48: 12-20). But as the disciples and the people sat on that mountainside, and as we sit in these pews today we still lament that we live in a broken world.
The action of lament moves us beyond ourselves to long for God’s blessings to be fully realized for all people and in all places. Many of us have a faint spirit where we cry for our sisters and brothers across the world and even in our own backyards who live in poverty, violence, abuse, injustice…and the list goes on and on. Every circumstance that we mourn “recognizes the present conditions of this world are far from God’s purposes.”[2]
And yet the presence of Jesus Christ did in fact bring God’s comfort to the disciples and the crowd on that mountainside. In his life and ministry Jesus was fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy as he walked close alongside the children, the poor, the outcasts, the prisoners, the stranger, and the weary. He blessed them with God’s life-changing grace. And he gave it away in abundance.
Jesus’ death and resurrection open our hearts and minds to trust that God has been at work throughout history and is at work today and tomorrow. Even when it feels like the sky is falling, the gift of faith emboldens us to proclaim that God is still sovereign over all heaven and earth. It is in Jesus Christ that God was and is still reconciling the world to himself and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us (2 Corinthians 5:19).
And there are days where the Spirit convicts us in such a way that we cannot help but risk taking a step to participate in God’s purposes.
Twelve years ago I felt God’s Spirit nudge me to participate in an international mission trip. It was a risk for me back then because my daughters were so young, just ages two and four and Doug (my husband) traveled all the time. But the trip is one that forever changed my life. When I think about this formative time of my faith, I remember Elena.
Early into the week I made a connection with Elena. She invited me to come to her home anytime I wanted to take a break. At first I felt a bit uneasy because she did not speak English and I was limited in my Spanish. But each day as the mission team worked I felt compelled to go next door and visit.
While the village homes had dirt floors, Elena’s home had concrete floors. The windows were open to the elements with metal bars as the only barrier to the inside. There were two small bedrooms, a kitchen and living area. Elena cooked on a fire outside from the kitchen. There was no running water so all cleaning and washing was done in the river. The restroom was an outhouse. It was common for chickens and roosters to walk through the homes; their hunting and pecking always gave Elena and me a good laugh.
In our visits we talked about our families, our children, and our lives. If Elena was cooking something over the fire she would always offer me a plate. I was so humbled by her hospitality because she was so generous to share what little she had with me.
Elena told me how God had truly blessed her and her family with their home and all they had. Her gratitude for God’s provision, in contrast to what we describe as poverty, made a lasting impression upon me. Elena felt a deep joy of God’s abundance. It is a joy that is not found in the greatest privilege of overflowing financial resources.
Elena’s self-worth and security were deeply rooted in God’s spiritual landscape of self-giving love. To abide in Jesus Christ meant everything to her. I have heard similar stories from other mission trips and also within local outreach when I am privileged to hear other’s stories. The common thread in these stories is that having gratitude for God’s provision reinterprets one’s circumstances.
Elena was poor in spirit and she knew the blessings of God’s kingdom. Elena also mourned what was out of her control. She wept for her children. Elena was concerned about the lack of financial resources they needed to provide for their oldest daughter’s elementary education. She was also concerned about her baby who needed medical treatment. Again her family had no additional means to fill in the gaps.
My home church was able to share resources to assist meeting Elena’s children’s needs. Members of the mission team remained in contact with Elena and her family for years to offer guidance and prayer support through some very difficult times.
But more importantly this mission trip opened the team’s eyes and my own to wrestle with our positions of privilege. We were challenged to see the world and faith through the eyes of those very different than us.
We learned so much from the relationships we made in Peru. And we were moved by knowing in a deeply personal way that the work of Christ takes many hands.
You see the privilege of our resources allows many of us to choose what hardships we face – not all hardships but many. If we are not self-aware, privilege can easily be an obstacle preventing our faith to look beyond ourselves and hear Christ calling us to join him in this holy work of kingdom building.
The Beatitudes bless us by giving us a new lens in which to see. As our spiritual sight develops then our spirits faint as we see what breaks God’s heart. And yet all our laments are held by a God who promises to be present and actively working through these broken circumstances.
The blessings that Jesus names bear the weight of God’s grace for all of God’s children and for us. God’s grace is always at work – even in the silence and even when it seems like the sky is falling– in order for God’s kingdom to break in a little more among us and through us. May we never forget that.
In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sources Referenced and Informed By:
[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "The Cost of Discipleship" (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003), p. 102.
[2] Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 1 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), Homiletical Perspective by Ronald Allen, p. 311.
The New Interpreter's Bible Commentary Volume VII ( Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015), 106-112.
Beth Lindsay Templeton, "Loving Our Neighbor: A Thoughtful Approach to Helping People in Poverty" (New York: iUniverse, Inc., 2008), pp. 3-6.
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