Matthew 5:1-12
One of the advantages of fishing over preaching is that when you make a cast you don’t like, you can reel the line in and cast again. In preaching, once a sermon is preached, you can’t take it back and try again.
I would like to pull back last week’s sermon, make a few changes and preach again. What I realized this week, as I was reflecting on the beatitude for today, is that each of the beatitudes reflect part of how Jesus was when he was physically present on earth.
Jesus modeled for us what it means to be poor in spirit as he lived in dependence on God the father. He modeled for us how to mourn, meekness and so on. This realization has helped me a great deal in preparing for these sermons. So in studying this beatitude, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted,” I read through the Gospels looking for incidents when Jesus mourned.
It was a fascinating search and what I discovered led to two sermons. A new preacher often tries to preach two or three sermons in one and I’m too experienced to do that. So I’m going to start this morning with a sermon I’m not going to preach. That way, you see, I am still preaching only one sermon.
Take notes and read these passages later for your own study.
The first passage to note is Luke 7:11-16. This is the story of a widow whose only son has died. This meant, in Jewish society, that this woman was now without protection and property. In verse 13 we read:
When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”
Jesus then raised her son from the dead.
A second story to study is John 11:1-44. This is the story of Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus who had died. Jesus arrived and when he saw Mary and the Jews who had come with her to meet him weeping:
he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
And then Jesus raised Lazarus to new life.
In both cases, people were grieving because death had been victorious and they had lost. And in both cases, Jesus demonstrated the truth of today’s beatitude:
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Read these two stories and then read John 16:17-24. Jesus is in the upper room with the disciples giving last instructions before he is to be arrested and crucified. He explains to them that they will soon grieve but their grief will turn to joy.
Finally read John 20:10-18. What Jesus taught in the upper room is now experienced and the grief of Mary is transformed by the resurrection of Jesus into joy.
This is a wonderful sermon about the power of the resurrection of Jesus that broke the power of death so we need not mourn, for our tears will be turned into laughter as we experience the resurrection promised to us by Jesus.
But that is not a sermon I am preaching today.
There are other incidents in the Gospels where Jesus mourned. Many times his heart was moved by the suffering of people around him. Let’s take a look at a few of these.
In Matthew 9
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
This is fascinating because Jesus’ compassion resulted not only in teaching, preaching and healing, but also in a plea to his disciples and to all who would follow him throughout the ages, to come join him in this ministry of teaching, preaching and healing. The point of my reading this passage though is to show Jesus as one whose heart went out to those he saw who were in need.
In Matthew 14 Jesus has just received the news that his cousin John the Baptist has been beheaded. Jesus needed to grieve himself for the loss of his cousin but the crowds followed him.
13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
In the midst of his own grief, Jesus saw the suffering around him and had compassion. His heart went out to them and he healed the sick.
In Matthew 20 we read again of the compassion of Jesus
29 As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
31 The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
32 Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
33 “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.”
34 Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.
In the midst of a crowd, two insignificant men sat by the side and Jesus healed them because his heart went out to them. He had compassion for them.
In Mark 1 we read of the compassion of Jesus for a leper
40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
41 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
Do you get the sense that Jesus had a heart for the world, that he cared about the lives of those living in the world? Jesus was not so wrapped up in his own problems and responsibilities and needs that he shut out the people around him. Even in the midst of his own grief when his cousin John died, his heart was joined with the suffering and the needs of those around him. Jesus did not put his own needs first.
There is an even better picture of this in Luke 19. This is Luke’s account of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. This is a parade in his honor. Crowds are shouting hosannas and laying their cloaks and palm branches in the path in front of him. He is being hailed as the Messiah. All the attention and adoration of the crowd is centered on Jesus and where was the mind of Jesus in this?
41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
The heart of Jesus was broken when he saw suffering around him and the heart of Jesus was broken as he saw the suffering the future would bring.
Jesus was not able to pass by a suffering person without feeling compassion for that person. Jesus was not able to pass by Jerusalem without grieving for the suffering he knew would be coming. Jesus saw the suffering in the world and took it on his heart to share with those who were suffering their grief and agony.
How different I am than Jesus.
I sit down to read the paper or watch TV with a cup of tea and perhaps some fruit to eat.
50 killed in fighting for governor’s post in Afghanistan
I wonder what I should have for supper tonight?
the abductors of Daniel Pearl, an American reporter, threatened to kill him if their demands were not met
Maybe some fish?
Roman Catholic Church in Ireland has agreed to pay £128,000,000 to people who were abused in children’s homes run by religious people
I’ve got some tuna I can heat up. That’s a good idea.
World Health Organization is calling for a major new push against malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS, three infections that killed 5.7 million people last year
But the last time I ate that tuna I had a little upset stomach. Maybe that’s not a good idea.
Islamic extremists killed 24 people overnight in three attacks in northern Algeria
I think maybe some soup would be good.
two Russian paratroopers killed 7 people in a daylong rampage across central Russia
Soup and a bit of salad. That’s the ticket.
five Palestinian militants killed in the Gaza Strip
How about watching a video tonight?
Hezbollah fires on Israeli jets over Lebanon
some action adventure movie
1,000 killed in explosion of a munitions dump in Lagos, Nigeria
maybe Blackhawk Down
Do you get the point? Horrific news and I’m able to skim past without any emotional connection or maybe just a limited emotional connection.
Why is it that we allow such terrible news to come in one ear and go out the other so that it never comes near to our heart?
In the paper this last week there was an article about a volunteer group in Israel who come to the scene of every tragedy in order to collect body parts for a proper Jewish burial. Before I go on, let me say that the suffering being experienced is taking place on both sides of this conflict. The humiliation of the Palestinians as they have to endure Israeli checkpoints and long detours to get to work and hospitals in emergencies is overwhelming. The deaths of innocents as Israel strikes back at militants are a tragedy. This article focuses on the suicide attacks in Israel.
In the last sixteen months, there have been thirty suicide bombings. The article talks about the efficiency with which these people operate. But what struck me, relating to this sermon, was the way people were dealing with the horrors of these attacks.
“Every terror attack we come to is an individual trauma. You can’t get used to a child without a leg or an arm, or a head found on the second floor,” said Mr. Weingarten, 31, a slight, serious man who owns a grocery store. “But human nature is – the first time something awful happens, you talk about it for a few weeks or a month. The next time,” he shrugged, “you talk less. It becomes routine. And everyone has to decide how to deal with this new routine.”
The article goes on to say that the TV stations now devote less and less time to the suicide attacks because people are shutting down emotionally to the news of these suicide bombings.
The premier Israeli newspaper columnist, Nahum Barnea, rushed to the scene of a suicide bombing on Jerusalem’s bustling main street just minutes after the explosion. With awe and pity, he described the rapid arrival of police, ambulances, medics and volunteers.
“Everything is fast, so businesslike, so well executed, that it seems for a moment that it was all a show prepared in advance. A few dozen meters away life went on supposedly as usual. People sat in cafés. Bought books. Sat in their offices.”
“The problem is the dulling of the senses. The problem is that as long as it doesn’t affect you personally, it’s easy to watch it at 9 or 10 o’clock on TV and say, ‘Oh, that’s too bad.’”
So you see, this is how we work. We cannot cope with the pain of the suffering around us so we shut off our emotions and sit by the side of suffering drinking our tea and coffee. Medical people do this, social workers do this. How can they not. If they were to feel the pain and suffering of each patient and each case they would collapse under the weight of the emotional pain they experience.
I used to play a game when I traveled on business in which I fantasied about going back in time. I set up rules for this. My car would continue to exist in the modern day, only what I saw around me would change. I could not affect the past and the past could not physically affect me. I could drive through a herd of buffalo or a crowd of people without their being aware I was there.
I could go on and on about my fantasy, but at one point I realized that if this were to happen, I would eventually go crazy. How could I sit in my car watching a massacre or a rape or a child being abused and not be able to do anything about it. It is one thing to read about it, quite another to witness it. How could I watch the suffering of people and not be able to offer anything to help them in their suffering?
Isn’t that why we don’t take on the heart of Christ for the world? It’s simply too painful, too depressing, too much for us.
And then I thought to myself, how does God do this? He is intimately present in the suffering of the world. He is not a distant, casual observer of the suffering in the world. We are disturbed by suffering when it becomes personal. The suicide attack on the World Trade Center in New York was shocking, but we got over it fairly quickly. But those who lost a spouse, or sibling or parent or friend are still grieving.
For God, all suffering is personal. God is a witness to all the suffering that takes place. Every accident, every murder, every rape, every massacre, every tragedy, every death. How is God able to grieve with those who suffer without being overcome by it?
And then I read a wonderful little book by Henri Nouwen titled, In the Name of Jesus. In this book, a series of lectures he gave to priests in the priesthood, he talks about the connection between a love relationship with God and having the heart of Christ for the world.
We are called, says Nouwen, to have the heart of Christ for the world. We are to be like him. When we see suffering, we are to suffer with those who suffer. When we are with someone in grief, we are to grieve with them. Jesus wept over Jerusalem. His heart went out to those who were in pain, who suffered the humiliation of social alienation, who had no hope for the future. And we are to care for those around us as Christ cared. We are to be like Christ in his ability to mourn with those who are suffering. We are to take on Christ’s heart for the world.
But how can we do that? The reason we shut down emotionally and pass by those who suffer and casually glance at a newspaper account of those who are suffering is that we will be destroyed by the suffering if we do not shut down an emotional connection with what we see, read and hear.
So Nouwen points us to a conversation Jesus had with Peter. The conversation took place after Jesus had resurrected from the dead. He met with his disciples where they were fishing on the Sea of Tiberius. Jesus cooked a meal of fish and then spoke with Peter.
15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus says three times, “Do you love me?” and then three times, “Feed my lambs, Take care of my sheep.” The connection is clear. Jesus calls Peter to take on the responsibility of Jesus for the world. He calls him to see to the needs of his sheep. Jesus calls Peter to take on his heart for the world.
But notice that is not the first thing he calls him to do. He tells Peter three times to, Feed my lambs. Take care of my sheep,” but before saying that, he says three times, “Simon, son of John, do you truly love me?”
The point of this is that before we can take on the heart of Jesus for the world, we need to have a love relationship with Jesus that can sustain us.
To take on the heart of Jesus for the world without a living love relationship with Jesus will destroy us.
From time to time I get depressed. I talk with people in the church who are going through a difficult time and despair because I don’t have a solution to their problem. I read the papers and watch the TV news and despair because it seems that the world is heading downhill, that Satan is making advances and God is losing the battle.
I see no solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine. I see the increasing disparity between rich and poor in the world and conclude that Islamic Fundamentalism will continue to increase. I go to sleep at night in my comfortable bed in my comfortable home and wonder about the many in the world and even in Rabat not far from where I sleep who live in desperate conditions. The world seems terribly unfair.
I begin to take on the heart of Jesus for the world and begin to emotionally connect with the suffering in the world and it overwhelms me and I begin to collapse.
The problem is that my relationship with God is not strong enough, not vibrant enough to sustain me in caring for the world.
So what do I do? Stop caring for the world? That is certainly one solution. But when we do not mourn for those who suffer in the world, we work against the heart of God who mourns for those who suffer. God calls us to take on the heart of Jesus for the world.
The solution is to rededicate myself to God. To seek him. To know his love more completely. To die to myself so I can make room for the Holy Spirit to fill me completely. That is where my focus must be. That is where I will find life. That is where I will find the strength to take on Christ’s heart for the world and not be overwhelmed.
This is my challenge to you this morning. In the words of the musical Godspell, see God more clearly, love him more dearly and follow him more nearly. Read your Bible. Meditate on what you read. Don’t read simply to gain knowledge, read to learn about the heart of God. Let your heart be weaned from this material world and store up treasure in heaven. Let your hopes and aspirations be kingdom oriented. Instead of dreaming about how you can get rich, buy a bigger house, get a better job – long for a deeper and richer experience with God. Long for a day when God will bring revival to a land desperately in need of living water. Rejoice in the evidence around you of God at work.
As you grow in your love relationship with Jesus, you will discover that you will increasingly take on his heart for the world. You will be increasingly able to have compassion for the beggars and lame and blind as you pass them on the street. You will increasingly be able to weep for the suffering that is taking place in the world. And then you will be blessed. Because blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
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Romans 12
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
Romans 16
Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him— 27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
