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The Sermon on the Mount, Day 4
Take time to read slowly and meditatively through Matthew 5:1-12 and/or Isaiah 61. Then read Dallas Willard’s thoughts on the beatitudes, quoted below from his book The Divine Conspiracy and then do the exercises below:
“Thus, by proclaiming blessed those who in the human order are thought hopeless, and by pronouncing woes over those human being regarded as well off, Jesus opens the kingdom of the heavens to everyone. [...] In general, many of those thought blessed or “first” in human terms are miserable or “last” in God’s terms, and many of those regarded as cursed or “last” in human terms may well be blessed or “first” in God’s terms, as they rely on the kingdom of Jesus. Many, but not necessarily all. The beatitudes are lists of human “lasts” who, at the individualized touch of the heavens become divine “firsts.” The gospel of the kingdom is that no one is beyond beatitude, because the rule of God from the heavens is available to all. Everyone can reach it, and it can reach everyone. We respond appropriately to the beatitudes of Jesus by living as if this were so, as it concerns others and as it concerns ourselves.[...]
Even the moral disasters will be received by God as they come to rely on Jesus, count on him, and make him their companion in his kingdom. Murderers and child-molesters. The brutal and the bigoted. Drug lords and pornographers. War criminals and sadists. Terrorists. The perverted and the filthy and the filthy rich. [...]
If I, as a recovering sinner myself,accept Jesus’ good news, I can go to the mass murderer and say, “You can be blessed in the kingdom of the heavens. There is forgiveness that knows no limits.” To the pederast and the perpetrator of incest. To the worshiper of Satan. To those who rob the aged and the weak. To the cheat and the liar, the bloodsucker and the vengeful: Blessed! Blessed! Blessed! As they run into the arms of The Kingdom Among Us.
These are God’s grubby people. In their midst a Corrie Ten Boom takes the hand of the Nazi who killed her family members. The scene is strictly not of this earth. Any spiritually healthy congregation of believers in Jesus will more or less look like these “brands plucked from the burning.” If the group is totally nice, that is a sure sign something has gone wrong. For here are the foolish, weak, lowly, and despised of this world, whom God has chosen to cancel out the humanly great (1 Cor 1:26-31; 6).” (Willard, Divine Conspiracy, 119-125)
- Who do you think has the hardest time accepting Jesus’ message of the Kingdom? Who has the most obstacles to overcome?
- Who do you tend to exclude from the Kingdom? What kind of people do you have the hardest time embracing or thinking of as people God might love? Why?
- Stop now and pray for those people. Ask God to give you his heart for them.
- Also… There is a strong theme in these passages of the power of God coming to rescue and restore the broken and the hurting. Is our world crying out for that power? If so, how? Today, let’s begin to listen for that cry, particularly in the realm of the arts. Take the next 2 days to find a song, book, story, poem, movie, or piece of artwork that reminds you of The Beatitudes. Post it to the comments below.
ryanclark said...
1Two literary characters make me think of the beatitudes: Hester Prynne and Prince Myshkin. Hester Prynne is the woman in The Scarlet Letter who has a baby outside of marriage and is made to wear a scarlet letter “A” for the rest of her life to show everyone what she has done. She is not only completely ostracized by the community, but even came to be regarded by everyone as the embodiment of sin. Mothers pointed her out to their kids as they passed her in town as an example of what not to become. She was the lowest of the low.
Prince Myshkin is the main character in Dostoevsky’s novel The Idiot. He’s thought of as an idiot not because he’s stupid, but because he’s easy to take advantage of and he never stands up for his rights. He responds with humility and grace in a way that I can't fathom. Literary characters and real people who lack all cynicism and defensiveness amaze me. They make me realize my tendency to always watch out that I'm not being taken advantage of, and my tendency to claim my rights. I think the poor in spirit Jesus talks about are those who don't claim their earthly “rights,” or even consider that they’re worthy of them. It reminds me of something Chuck Colson said about servanthood: “You’ll know what kind of a servant you really are when people start treating you like one.”
10/8/09 7:22 PM | Comment Link
Mervin said...
2Those who think that they have life under control have the most difficult time accepting those they consider beneath them.
I think that I understand the wideness of God's love, but I'll have to admit that I don't necessarily share that same all-encompassing love. I tend to look down on those that I consider less fortunate than I.
Two movies that come to mind are “Amazing Grace”, the story of William Wilberforce, and “Bella”.
10/8/09 8:36 PM | Comment Link
Mervin said...
3Thanks for sharing that quote from Colson.
10/8/09 8:39 PM | Comment Link
Ben Sternke said...
4I think of two songs that seem to resonate with the Beatitudes: Ben Folds's “Fred Jones, Part 2″ and David Bazan's “Bless This Mess.” “Fred Jones” is about a newspaper employee who is being laid off from his job after 25 years and feels like life is passing him by. It brings out such soul-crushing loneliness I usually cry when I hear it.
“Bless This Mess” is about a man who is beginning to doubt his faith, but the verses have this interesting refrain that asks God to bless people who don't deserve it (the man who yields to temptation, the woman who suffers, the weeds in the wheat).
Here are the lyrics:
Fred Jones, Part 2, by Ben Folds
Fred sits alone at his desk in the dark
There's an awkward young shadow that waits in the hall
He's cleared all his things and he's put them in boxes
Things that remind him that life has been good
Twenty-five years he's worked at the paper
A man's here to take him downstairs
And I'm sorry, Mr. Jones
It's time
There was no party, there were no songs
'Cause today's just a day like the day that he started
No one is left here that knows his first name
And life barrels on like a runaway train
Where the passengers change
They don't change anything
You get off; someone else can get on
And I'm sorry, Mr. Jones
It's time
Streetlight shines through the shades
Casting lines on the floor, and lines on his face
He reflects on the day
Fred gets his paints out and goes to the basement
Projecting some slides onto a plain white
Canvas and traces it, fills in the spaces
He turns off the slides, and it doesn't look right
Yeah, and all of these bastards have taken his place
He's forgotten but not yet gone
And I'm sorry, Mr. Jones
And I'm sorry, Mr. Jones
And I'm sorry, Mr. Jones
It's time
“Bless This Mess” by David Bazan
God bless the man who stumbles
God bless the man who falls
God bless the man who yields to temptation
God bless the woman who suffers
God bless the woman who weeps
God bless the children trying her patience
Trouble getting over it is what you're in
for so pour yourself another
'cause it'll take a steady pair of hands
Holy or unholy ghost
Well now I can't tell but either way you cut it
You should get some distance if you plan
To take a stand
God bless the house divided
God bless the weeds in the wheat
God bless the lamp lit under a bushel
I discovered hell to be the poison in the well
so I tried to warn the others of the curse
But then my body turned on me
I dreamt that for eternity
My family would burn
Then I awoke, with a wicked thirst
By my baby's yellow bed
I kissed to forehead and rubbed her little tummy
wondering if she'd soon despise the smell
of the booze on my breath like her mom
through a darkened mirror I have seen
my own reflection
and it makes me want to be a better man
after another drink.
God bless the man at the crossroads
God bless the woman who still can't sleep
God bless the history that doesn't repeat.
10/9/09 10:44 AM | Comment Link
mkujak said...
5I keep meaning to find a few minutes to sit down and write here, but have been pretty busy. So, I'll just say what I've thought of: the movies “Dear Frankie” and “Lars and the Real Girl”.
Also, the painting “Christina's World” by Andrew Wyeth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina's_World.
Maybe I'll get to come back and tell a bit about these later… (?)
It has been really neat reading others' thoughts and perspectives here.
10/12/09 10:58 AM | Comment Link
Ben Sternke said...
6Thanks for sharing those, Miriam. Lars and the Real Girl was a really amazing film, I thought.
10/12/09 12:04 PM | Comment Link
cherynwhitehurst said...
7I just recieved some lyrics to a friends Newest Song and thought it appropriate in relation to those whom Jesus called Blessed.
Imperfect Heroes by David M Bailey
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
David had his dark side
Jonah ran away
Jacob was a liar
Noah was a drunk
Joseph was abused
Samson was a punk
Job had it all, then lost everything
David was a shepherd before he was a king
Rahab was a prostitute
Bacchius was too short
Naomi was a widow
Martha was a worrywart
Pete had his denials
Thomas had his doubts
Judas let them all down
Then found his own way out
Timothy was too young
That’s what people said
]Abraham was too old and Lazarus… was dead
Now I’m just getting started; the list is real long
These heroes of our faith did not sing a perfect song
So maybe you and I with our bent and broken wings
Maybe we too have a song we can sing…
10/12/09 3:18 PM | Comment Link
jkshanklin said...
8The last scene of the movie “Because of Winn Dixie” where everyone is at the party at Gloria Dump's house, all the misfits of the little town have come together to sing and laugh and just celebrate. That has always felt like the Kingdom of God to me.
10/13/09 5:27 AM | Comment Link
mkujak said...
9“Lars and the Real Girl” is the story of a community accepting and embracing a man who is mentally ill. I find it significant especially because it shows the church laying down legalistic mindsets to choose a path of love and mercy instead. And in that love and care Lars gradually finds healing – the Kingdom comes to him, if you will.
In “Dear Frankie” a mother has been lying to her son to try to protect him from their painful past. It all catches up to her and she realizes what a mess she has created. But, it becomes a wonderful “knight in shining armor” sort of tale. It very much makes me think of how God comes and blesses us in the midst of our messiness.
I have always loved “Christina's World” by the painter Andrew Wyeth. It depicts a crippled woman crawling her way home. I think it touches a deep place in my heart because sometimes my life, this journey home to God, feels so broken. But the painting has such a soft, comforting beauty about it despite its pitiful subject matter. Peter and I recently looked at an art book of Wyeth's work and much of it has that same feel: beauty and brokenness all intertwined.
10/13/09 2:30 PM | Comment Link