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In Monty Python’s The Life of Brian a group of bystanders is trying to hear Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount from behind a large gathering on onlookers. “What did he say?” someone asked. “I think he said, ‘Blessed are the cheese makers.’” A woman nearby said, “What’s so special about cheese makers,” to which her husband responded, “It’s not meant to be taken literally. Cheese makers obviously refers to all makers of dairy products.” This debate is still alive today. Well, not the status of cheese makers necessarily, but what did Jesus mean when he proclaimed that the poor in spirit, the mournful, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted will receive their reward in the Kingdom of Heaven? Some translations even read, “Happy are you who are persecuted.” Happy?
Last year the Louisiana United Methodist clergy gathered for a two day workshop led by Sociologist Rick Foster who discussed the nine habits of happy people. Rick traveled across the globe to find the happiest people on the planet. He would go into a community and simply ask anyone he could find, “Who’s the happiest person you know.” Some were rich. Some were poor. Some were healthy. Some weren’t. He was becoming discouraged because these folks didn’t seem to have all that much in common, which is unfortunate if you’re writing a book about how to find happiness. The more and more he interviewed people there were some commonalities appearing. Eventually he found one overarching attribute of happy people. The number one reason people are happy? They choose to be.
Simple enough, right. Just choose to be happy. Happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. It seems simple enough. Just be poor in spirit and you will receive great reward. Happy are those who mourn, for they will receive comfort. Simple enough. Just go be mournful and God will make his face to shine upon you. So, go and be persecuted and you will receive the kingdom. Well, my wife often says to me, “Matt, I know that you are willing to take a bullet for Jesus, but you shouldn’t go out looking for one. . .” I think she’s right.
I’m not sure this is what Jesus had in mind. The times I have heard this text, my ears seem to stop in the first half of each saying. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn, thirst, make peace, and so on. My heart seems to meditate on those in the kingdom instead of the kingdom itself. At worst, these sayings have been used to legitimize poverty and the like—Don’t worry about fighting for rights for the poor . . . they will get their reward. Don’t change the system to help those who are suffering. God will reward them in the great by and by. At worst, the eschatological hope of God’s kingdom is abused so that the powerful and the wealthy may keep their status, which seems to resonate with Luke in his account of the Beatitudes because with the blessing of the poor, he adds a woe to the rich. It is certainly not wrong for our hearts and minds to meditate on poverty, peace, the mournful, and the persecuted, but when we memorize these traits alone, they seem to be prerequisites for earning the kingdom; as if we earn God’s salvific favor through auto persecution.
In essence Jesus is describing the Kingdom. The beatitudes are not necessarily asking us to do anything other than to see what the Kingdom is. It’s almost as if these Beatitudes are ananyms, words which take on different meanings depending upon which direction they are read, like Evian water being Naïve backwards and Oprah’s production company being Harpo and the magician Yensid in Disney’s rendition of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice in Fantasia. If we read them one way, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted,” seems to suggest that mourning is a means of earning the Kingdom; however if we reverse the saying, simply beginning with the Kingdom it reads something like, “the kingdom is a place of comfort for those who mourn.” It is not reserved only for the mournful; rather it is a place where the mournful are incorporated and cared for. It is a place where the poor in spirit have eternal value, meaning that those who know they are in need of God will inherit the kingdom. Again, Jesus isn’t saying, “Go and be in need;” rather when we live into the Kingdom of heaven which is at hand we realize that we are not complete without God revealed through Christ in the power of the Spirit. The kingdom is a place of comfort for those who are mourning. In the earthly kingdom, mourning can be seen as a sign of weakness, but when we live into the Kingdom which is at hand we see that it is not the mournful who are weak, but those who can’t bring themselves to comfort the other who are lacking. It is a kingdom where righteousness and mercy and peace abound.
Stanley Hauerwas, in The Peaceable Kingdom, writes:
“We can only act within the world we can envision, and we can envision the world rightly only as we are trained to see. We do not come to see merely by looking, but most develop disciplined skills through initiation into that community that attempts to live faithful to the story of God. Furthermore, we cannot see the world rightly unless we are changed, for as sinners we do not desire to see truthfully. Therefore Christians must assert that by learning to be faithful disciples, we are more able to see the world as it is, namely God’s creation.”
To say that Jesus isn’t asking us to do anything is not entirely true. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and when we live into that kingdom we find that we can’t help but be at peace with one another. We can’t help but comfort those who are suffering. We can’t help but show mercy to those seeking forgiveness. We are not called to earn the kingdom; however as a result of God’s grace received, we cultivate a community of faith in which we can, with confidence, say, “Blessed are you for the kingdom is at hand.” You see, every time the kingdom is mentioned; it is in the present tense. There will be comfort, there will be inheritance, they will see God, but theirs IS the kingdom. The kingdom is God’s gift, the fruit of which we have already seen in the risen Lord. The kingdom is; however inclusion of the poor in spirit, comforting the mournful, being at peace with one another will be because this is the role we are to play. We cannot earn the kingdom, yet God is calling us to be stewards of it. The kingdom of heaven is at hand; therefore let us be happy in the work Christ is calling us to do. May this community of faith be a place where the cheese makers, peace makers will be called the children of God. Amen and Amen.