The weekly Gospel readings this February are from Matthew's "Sermon on the Mount" (which is not really a sermon at all but a rather lengthy rabbinic teaching typical of Jesus' time and place). This set of teachings, which begins with the well-known Beatitudes, come very early in Jesus' ministry against the backdrop of the beautiful, lush, Galilean countryside, and serves as the outline for the rest of the Matthew's Gospel.
To get the most out of this teaching, we must first put on our Jewish glasses in order to discern that which a 2000 year- removed, thoroughly Christianized reading simply will not yield. We must situate ourselves within the historical context of Matthew's world. We must first acknowledge that this is a Jewish text written by a very devout Jew, believed by many scholars to be a Pharisee himself, perhaps even a zealot, like Paul. This being the case we can then understand Matthew's opinions of "the Jews", as a self-criticism of the religious community which he himself is a part; not anti-semitism.
Additionally, if you are not doing the independent bible study which is currently looking at the book of Acts, then I recommend it as it greatly informs a reading of Matthew. (See St. James Facebook page, Discussions) For instance, the lesson on Acts, chapter 15 in which the Christ-followers have gathered in order to discern what it means to be a Gentile follower of the Messiah in a dominate Jewish context. Will the gentiles need to be circumcised? Do they need to follow the laws regarding food and the commandments? There is debate among scholars as to where Matthew falls in this debate - does he expect full or a comprised inclusion into this new Jewish sect which would come later to be known as Christianity. Either way, for Matthew, the followers of Christ, whether Jew or Gentile, are to live Torah - this is not debatable. And this was the conclusion reached by the Jerusalem leaders in Acts as well.
Jesus begins his teaching on the hillside to the crowds that have gathered with a series of blessing proclamations. For a visual on this just picture the faces of the people in Egypt's Liberation Square. These are people who have lived under oppression for decades and they are hoping and praying that God will send someone to them to set them free. The blessings of the Beatitudes are not to be confused with the sentiment: Don't Worry, Be Happy. Instead its an affirmation of the realities of the living conditions under Roman/Egyptian rule: poverty, persecution, lament, hopelessness. To speak of these things aloud is an act of liberation in itself. To speak, to tell the truth about the way things really are and to demand a better life is to seize freedom. This path to freedom is what they see in Jesus. They gather in large masses, ready and willing to stage a protest. They are simply waiting for a leader, a sign from God that the time had come.
But Jesus' message is not about marching into Jerusalem with sticks, spears and stones to take the city back. It is a message of patience and promise. The promise is situated in the pronouncement of blessing. To be blessed is to be given the sound assurance that God's reign will prevail. Jesus, as the agent of God, affirms their/our adversity and assures them/us that God is still working things out on their/our behalf but they/we must be patient and wait. To be blessed then is not simply about being in God's favor, it is much broader: it is the affirming reassurance of God's steadfast faithfulness to his people while they/we, wait in peaceful perseverance for God to act.
In this same way, at the end of Christian worship, when the priest or pastor gives God's blessing, it is not a noun, a thing, like a hymn, but a verb. Blessing indicates action, past, present and future all at the same time. Blessings are fluid, not statements of hope, but statements that capture God in action; a moving, living, involved and imaginative God - who both affirms the difficulty of human life while congruently assuring the coming of a different reality.
In Egypt the desire of the people is that their children will have a better life. They are aware that it will take years, perhaps decades for this to happen, but they see it as a viable possibility because there exists a foundational understanding of what it is to be blessed by God that transcends the religious boundaries of what divides Christians from Jews from Muslims. That is what the people, the Jews and the Gentiles, who came to hear Jesus wanted as well, a life of freedom and possibilities for their children. They came to hear him talk of the new reign of God in great numbers. They stayed with him for days, not even leaving to return to their jobs or to eat. Many in the crowd brought baskets of food and they shared it with their neighbors. When Jesus moved they moved. Though some miles from Jerusalem, such gatherings would have been noticed by the empire. Should there have been signs that the crowds were preparing to stage an uprising the Roman army would have put it down very quickly, as the historical records demonstrates clearly. But Jesus' message reaffirms Torah as the standard for living. The metaphors of salt and light have to do with being faithful to Torah; not the hypocritical life of Pharisees who espoused this life to the letter, but were not true to the spirit of it. Jesus' makes clear that not a single iota, the smallest character of the Hebrew alphabet, would fade away before the Law (Torah) was fulfilled. In other words, God's reign will come and it can stand against any threat; God was, is and will for ever be in charge.
Because this remains true,we can receive the full blessing of God and face anything that comes our way. Not because we are stronger, or better, or smarter, or even more willful, but because we are blessed; our hardships affirmed while being assured that the lives of our children and their children will be better than our own. And sometimes, on rare occasions, we are given a glimpse of what God's reign, the fulfillment of blessing, Torah, might look like. Amid the peaceful, turned violent, protests in Egypt, a group of Christians joined hands to create a human barricade to protect a group of Muslins at prayer from pro-regime protesters in Liberation Square. Herein lies the essence of Jesus' blessings from that Galilean hillside so many centuries ago. Herein lies a foretaste of that promised heavenly banquet. Blessed be the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.
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