Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.
They shall be like a tree planted by water,
Sending out its roots by the stream.
So may we be blessed--Amen
It was a scene that is repeated again and again in life. Last night a young member of this congregation put on ice skates for the first time--or maybe it was their second. At any rate they weren't that sure about what they were doing. Helpful hands of parents and older teens laced their skates and assured them everything would be fine--they would be great. But then came the moment to step out on the ice. A quick look around revealed skaters whishing by confidently--and a few others splayed out on the ice--a parent's voice assured them, "It's okay. Come on." But the look on the child's face betrayed an "I'm not so sure" caution. But then one of the older teens glided up--the child recognized their Sunday school teacher or occasional baby sitter. "Here, take my hand," came the invitation. "I'll hold you up." And with that the child stepped out on the ice with a parent on one side and the teen on the other--confident that even when there was a slip there would be hands to hold. It was a simple question of trust.
Downtown Chicago last Monday afternoon I stepped into the elevator and press the button for the 29th floor --after my meeting I stepped into the same elevator and rode it back down to street level. It never crossed my mind to question my trust in the designer of the elevator or the manufacturer who built it or the contractor who installed it or the company that maintains it or the inspector who certifies it--I just pushed a button--It's a simple matter of trust.
A child is born--and is welcomed by the dirt and disease that fills a refugee camp--the sounds in the night are the cries of other children hungry from lack of food--food unable to be delivered because the rebel forces attack the caravans of trucks attempting to reach the isolated border--there is little clean water--no medicines available to protect a newborn from even the most common threats to health--shelter, warmth, food, clothing--if the child is lucky there may be a parent or older sibling to provide some care and protection--but the child will soon learn that there is nothing that can be counted on or expected as a natural right--little that can be trusted.
One way to read our lessons for this day is in terms of blessing and curse. It starts with the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, "Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength. Blessed are those who trust in the Lord." It continues in our gospel reading when Jesus announces, "Blessed are you who are poor, who are hungry, who weep. But woe to you who are rich, who are full, who are laughing." Blessing and curse--most of us don't spend a lot of time thinking about either category --but if we were forced to assess our lives most of us--probably all of us in this congregation--would have to admit that our lives are characterized by far more that we would describe as blessing than curse. Some might even say that their greatest curse is the blessings they have received. Blessings--beatitudes--the generally agreed foundational teachings of Jesus. Most of us are familiar with them as part of the Sermon on the Mount which comes to us in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew tells us of Jesus leaving the crowds that have followed him--withdrawing up the mountain side to share a few select words with his disciples. Our lesson for today is slightly less familiar from the Gospel of Luke which has Jesus coming down the mountain onto the plain where the crowds gather around him trying to touch him in order to be healed. Matthew has Jesus pronounce nine blessings--Our Lukan text today has only four blessings. Matthew "spiritualizes" the beatitudes--blessed are the "poor in spirit." Luke is much more direct--"Blessed are the poor"--period. Matthew puts the blessing in the third person--"blessed are those" while Luke is up close and personal "blessed are you". Matthew tries to keep things basically pretty positive and upbeat--focusing only on the blessings. Luke matches the blessings with an equal number of curses. Luke reminds us that the opposite of blessing is woe--curse. I don't know about you, but every time I hear or read the beatitudes in Luke I become very uncomfortable. Luke presents the words of Jesus in their full honesty and directness--Those who are blessed--or those who are described as happy in another common translation--are the poor, the hungry, the ones who are weeping. Blessed are those who are hated and excluded. And then Luke records the curses--Woe to you who are rich. Woe to you who are full. Woe to you who are laughing. Cursed are you who enjoy the admiration of others.
I've looked at this text in Greek and a dozen different translations--I've checked the commentaries and read the explanations of the best scholarly minds--and try as I might I can't seem to get us out of the cursed group--we are the well--fed, happy moneyed folk --and we are cursed. Which strikes me as peculiar for the obvious reason that most of us would consider the lives we live to be lives filled with blessings. If you are like me--you at least occasionally find yourself in awe of the communities we live in--the beauty of the woods--the high quality of the education systems--the freedom and opportunities we and our children have to thrive--to develop our artistic--athletic--social--even spiritual gifts. If this is cursed then maybe someone needs to check the definitions. The problem in hearing our lessons for today is that we naturally tend to look at things in terms of either/or--either you are blessed or you are cursed --either you have food or you don't have food--either you have money or you don't have money. Either you have or you need and we know which is blessed and which is cursed--or do we?
From our too-human perspective we often believe that we understand the world and ourselves better than we really do. In a sermon on these texts, Susan Andrews recalls a story Anthony De Mello (The Heart of the Enlightened, p. 31) tells of a Quaker who put up a sign on the vacant piece of land next to his house. The sign read: THIS LAND WILL BE GIVEN TO ANYONE WHO IS TRULY SATISFIED. A wealthy farmer who was riding by stopped to read the sign and said to himself, "Since our friend the Quaker is so ready to part with this plot. I might as well claim it before someone else does. I am a rich man and have all I need, so I certainly qualify." With that he went up to the door and explained what he was there for. "And art thou truly satisfied?" the Quaker asked. "I am, indeed, for I have everything I need," came the reply. "Friend," said the Quaker, "if thou art satisfied, what doest thou want the land for?"
What does it take to make us satisfied? What does it take to make us happy? And is happiness the same as blessing? It is too easy to make the ultimate measure of our lives pleasure or control or success measured by our standards. Our modern drive it to pit human power over against the threats of the world. We no longer fear the cold--our houses are strong against the storms and our cars have become all terrain vehicles--we defeat ignorance with an open press--the world wide web and the best education opportunities in the world--we still fall victim to age and disease but our life expectancy is double that of any period of human history prior to last century--we have been to the moon and are beginning to look at the planets and beyond. We are blessed with the security of the biggest and best military--the strongest world economy. And yet we are haunted by the words of Jesus--"Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now for you will mourn and weep." We can so easily count our blessings and yet there is this haunting suspicion of curse. We can't seem to live in the fullness of blessing--in the midst of our joys we have sorrows--even the most satisfied among us finds that there are things that are still desired--maybe even needed. We live in fear of falling victim to the very things we would call blessings.
At some point we realize that happiness is not having a warm puppy--it is not about feeling good but about being and doing good. Blessedness is not about the "good life"--it is about a life that is good. The Hebrew writers have given us a very simple image in our reading from Jeremiah to help us understand the tension between "happiness" as the world defines it--and happiness as God offers it. The image is that of a tree--planted by streams of living water--a tree that is so deeply rooted in the ways of God that no matter how violent or desolate the world around us may become--we stay connected in a very deep and basic way--connected to the vast ocean of God's grace. The Biblical picture is the contrast between the verdant green watered haven of northern Palestine and the barren dry desolation of the shrub land around the Dead Sea where the earth is parched and life quickly bakes away. The prophet basically gives us a choice this day. Do we live our lives in the dazzling dessert brightness of the world or rooted in the faith fed by streams of living water. The words Jesus proclaimed are not intended to condemn lives that are blessed with money, health and happiness. Life is never that simple--we do not live in a world of simple contrasts. It is not just either/or--blessing or curse--our world is a world of both/and. We know the stories--from our own families and from the lives of those we know--from the history books and from the media. A successful business built by those whose marriages have failed--the happy good soul who is taken too soon by illness--the talent that is lost--the opportunity that is missed--blessed to be able to fail--No life is lived to perfection--The blessing is for but the moment--and to every blessing there is the curse.
Jesus is offering this morning a caution for the moments that seem too good to be true--and a promise that the most cursed moments will also pass. Ours is a world of blessing and curse--our natural expectation is that it is our blessings that are our strength --but Jesus' words turn that upside down--he would have us live out of our vulnerability and need--out of our moments of emptiness and not our fullness. We are called to not only recognize our need and dependence on God--we are called to also recognize the need and vulnerability of others. Blessed by God we offer to them the rich soil of compassion and justice. Susan Andrews notes that Biblical scholars refer to the beatitudes as "performative words". That means that these predictions about blessedness are not going to happen--they are already happening. This is not about what might be. This is about what is. This is God's agenda--God's vision--God's kingdom. The reality described in the Beatitudes will happen--is happening--whether we choose to be part of it nor not.
Only a few of us are called to be hungry. A few more of us are called to work with the hungry. But all of us are called to be for those who hunger--because that's what it means to be God's people. And so at least once each month from the blessing of our bounty we offer what we can against the curse of famine, disease and want. God actually calls us to be in solidarity with the hungry --with the poor--with the innocent victims. The Jesus question is how can respond to the curse in our blessedness--how do we proclaim--reveal--bring blessing to those who are needy and vulnerable in God's world? Our scripture readings for today remind us that "human happiness" and "holy happiness" are often two different kinds of reality. The one is lived out in the world of either/or --of success or failure--affluence or poverty. The other is measured by blessings of wholeness--balance--love--and grace. So the child steps our on the ice--blessed with helping hands. And we ride the elevators--blessed by the wonder of technology.
And a child is born--waiting for the blessing of a world's bounty
Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.
They shall be like a tree planted by water,
Sending out its roots by the stream.
So may we be blessed--Amen