Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Matthew 5:1-12
Pastor: Pastor Schlicht
Sermon Date:  January 29, 2023

There’s a pair of artists out of London named Tim Noble and Sue Webster who make some very interesting sculptures. Let me show you. You walk into a gallery room and here’s what you see [picture 1]. There’s an old picnic table with a heap of beer cans and trash on it and the whole thing is shot through with bullets. But then, in the corner of the room, a spotlight turns on. [picture 2] And you see the silhouette behind the table. It’s a shadow sculpture of a Manhattan Sunset from 2003. This is about perception, isn’t it? What you thought was trash is actually the vehicle for meaning and beauty. You just need to see it in the right light. Here’s another one. [picture 3] You walk into this room and you see another heap of trash on the ground, but then the light comes on [picture 4] and it’s some people lying on the ground looking up at the stars. The title is called “Wasted Youth” and the juxtaposition of the trash and these people gets you thinking about perception, doesn’t it? Now, we can only infer what Tim Noble and Sue Webster had in mind. But these pieces are about a reversal perspective. What you think should be discarded, what seems worthless, when you get the light at the right angle, becomes something beautiful and significant! This gives us an idea of what Jesus is doing in Matthew chapter 5.

Today we begin our series on the Savior’s Sermon, looking at Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5. We start with the first 12 verses, what’s called the Beatitudes. The name beatitudes refers to Jesus’ repeated phrase “blessed are” in verses 3-12. But before we look at the individual blessings, let Matthew set the scene: When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up onto a mountain. When he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 He opened his mouth and began to teach them. Note that Jesus is teaching his disciples but he also wants the crowds to hear. And who is in this crowd? Well, if you read Matthew 4, we learn that it was the common people of the area, and specifically the poor and the downtrodden of society that have come to Jesus for healing and help. The unimportant and the unclean. The formerly possessed by demons, the paralyzed and the sick. These are the people to whom Jesus speaks the beatitudes. He speaks to those who may have looked, for all the world, like a heap of trash to the powerful and elite, and he says, “Blessed are…” Not “blessed if” or “blessed when”. Blessed ARE. He turns on the spotlight of God’s kingdom and shows that people who may often feel like a heap of trash are really blessed, they are beautiful and significant works of God our Father.

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Two terms in Greek were used to describe poverty; the one used here was the more severe of the two. It was often used of a beggar who was dependent on a provider. In the Old Testament this implied hope in God alone. Matthew makes it clear that this does not refer to physical poorness, but to spiritual poverty. The poor in spirit are those who are aware of their own spiritual inadequacy. This is the beginning of saving faith, when you say “Lord, I have nothing to offer you spiritually—I am poor in spirit—I need you to provide for me! Jesus says blessed are those who think they have nothing to offer God, because God freely gives them the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn, because they will be comforted. This one is beautifully pretty simple. For believers who mourn, God promises comfort. Perhaps you are mourning right now over the loss of a loved one, over hardship and pain in a sinful world. Know that in Christ those who mourn are blessed because you will be comforted. Comforted in this life and the next. Maybe it’s the moment of absolution when you hear that your sins are forgiven. Maybe it’s the promise that you will see your loved one again in heaven. Maybe it’s the confidence of the hymn writer who wrote, “From his own fullness, Jesus can repay from his own fullness all he takes away.”

5 Blessed are the gentle, because they will inherit the earth. “Gentle” This is literally “meek” or ” humble.” Jesus used this word to characterize his own heart in Matthew 11. Its origin implies domesticated strength, like a trained horse. In saying this, Jesus is referring to not using your strength to take vengeance or being willing to be thought of as weak because you have the patience to “turn the other cheek”. It’s even just a general term for those often thought of as insignificant. He is echoing something from the Psalm 37. Listen to the original context: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed…But the meek will inherit the land. (Ps 37:7-11) Blessed are the gentle, because they entrust their vindication to the Lord, and while those who fight for gain seem to get all the notoriety, seem to take over the land, the Lord’s eyes are on the gentle. The gentle have an eternal inheritance.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be filled. Don’t you hunger and thirst for righteousness. Don’t you ever see what’s happening in our world and feel that deep hunger for God’s will to be done? I heard some harrowing stats on self-harm and depression of teenagers last week at the worship conference and I thirsted for righteousness. What a blessing this is! Your hunger is not in vain. The degree of your thirst for what is right is just the size of the dinner plate that God is going to fill up some day. The Lord will set all that is wrong right and our hunger for righteousness will be satisfied. The word for “filled” here comes from language to fatten cattle. We are going to be stuffed with righteousness in heaven! And even now on earth, we are blessed to yearn for it and work to bring it about. 

7 Blessed are the merciful, because they will receive mercy. Jesus said the same thing in the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” Those who understand the mercy that God has shown them will be merciful to others. This is a result of our faith and we are blessed when we are merciful because it is a clear sign that we have already received mercy from God. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God. “Pure in heart” refers to the inner thoughts and motives of a person. Jesus isn’t talking about purity as moral perfection, he’s referring to believers who are not double-minded or hypocrites. This term was used in the Old Testament for ritual washings. So the pure in heart are those who are honestly dedicated to the LORD and his purposes. The pure in heart are blessed “because they will see God”, as in they will see God in heaven, but also that their focus on the Lord will open their eyes to his hand and blessing in all of life.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God. This refers to reconciliation between God and humanity, which results in peace and also, simply peace between people. This is not a peace at any price, not at the price of compromising God’s Word. But those who bring God’s peace and make peace between others are blessed because they show themselves to be God’s children, “sons of God. Our God is a peacemaker; Jesus is the Prince of Peace! We look like our father when we make peace in his name. Now, is it fun to get in the middle of two people’s problems? Or to insert yourself into someone’s hatred toward God? No! It’s not comfortable. But you are a child of God and he loves to see you make peace.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven. In fact, that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” This is really all one Beatitude, just expanded a bit at the end. Jesus promises that those who are persecuted for his sake are blessed because their reward will be great in heaven and because they share in the company of prophets and martyrs who came before them. How many of you have been in a scenario where a co-worker, friend, acquaintance doesn’t know you’re a Christian and you get along great. But then it comes up that you’re associated with Jesus, you really love Jesus and you’re serious about following him. And then the conversation turns. And all of these screwed up motives and unloving attitudes, things that you hate too, they think these things about you. They attribute all these motives to you that you don’t have. You don’t hate people and it hurts to be misunderstood. This is what I’d call subtle persecution, but it can wear on you, can’t it? But Jesus calls you blessed when you are dishonored for bearing his name. Jesus stands with you and reminds you that you are part of his kingdom and that you are in good company of the prophets before you and the great cloud of witnesses of every age.

So, now at the end of these verses, whose picture do you see in the stained glass window? The nine pieces of colored glass from the Beatitudes make up a portrait. If you look at these nine blessings and the characteristics they embody, who do you see? Can you think of someone from poor circumstances who mourned and wept over the sin of the world, and who was extremely powerful but chose to domesticate that strength and did not fight for himself. Can you think of someone who hungered and thirsted for righteousness. Can you think of someone who through amazing acts of mercy for hurting people showed his pure hearted dedication to God’s kingdom, who inserted himself into a dangerous world for the sake of peace, and in the end was persecuted and, in fact, killed. Whose picture do you see but our Savior Jesus? And the crucifixion of Jesus, the embodiment of the Beatitudes, is not the unfortunate death of ‘Jesus the great social worker’. His death is what makes us blessed. He set aside his heavenly glory and died in our place. He took into himself all of our sin and God’s justice over it, so that he could say, “Blessed ARE..”. Not “blessed when you shape up and get your life in order” but “Blessed ARE those who love Jesus right now and always.” Only by standing underneath Christ’s cross can you hear the call “Blessed ARE…” clearly. Jesus did not give us the Beatitudes as a new set of commands. And they certainly are motivating, but not as a way to earn blessing, but only because we have already been blessed. Because long before we tried to be blessed, Christ gave himself for us and changed the way we look at the world.

On this Sunday when we’ll fill out our annual Time and Talent survey, I can’t help but think about Jesus’ words “Blessed ARE…” and the many hours of time and the gifts of talent that have been dedicated to Eastside Lutheran. I can’t help but think of the often unseen effort, work, and prayer that has gone into this  ministry for 98 years. I think of the volunteers and the leaders who give of themselves and don’t always get to see the plant that they water grow up. I think of the hours spent in meetings in room 208, the prayerful conversations, the amount of bulletins folded, and concession stand shifts, the June Jumble Day and Art and Craft Fair crews, the Soccer and Science Camp, Easter and Thanksgiving for Kids, our Canvas Food Drive, our ushers and counters and screen operators. I think of all of you and all those past and I hear Jesus say “Blessed ARE…” For those who are serving, thank you. For those who have served, God sees your service and he does bless you. Even when it doesn’t seem like our work amounts to much, remember that in the light of God’s kingdom, Jesus takes our work and produces something eternal and beautiful.

My friends, in the light of the Savior’s sermon, look at your Christian life from a different angle. Look at what he calls blessed. Look at what some think is just a pile of trash—useless— and see the reality of blessing in the shadow sculpture which Jesus has made. Look at how blessed we are in HIM. Amen.

“Blessed ARE…” the Savior said,

not “Blessed will” or “Blessed was”.

“Blessed are?” I shake my head,

“I’ll be blessed when I’m dead.”

Blessed ARE…” the Savior says,

not “Blessed if” or “Blessed when”.

“Blessed are?” I hang my head,

Those must be words for other men.

“Blessed ARE…” He speaks to me,

not “Blessed could be” or “Blessed maybe”.

“Blessed are?” I scratch my head,

I don’t think you know me.

“Blessed ARE…” from the mount he thunders.

“Blessed NOW and ETERNALLY!”

Blessed are those called to see

what, in Christ, they are already.