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Mark 4:30-33 (New Living Translation)
Jesus said, “How can I describe the Kingdom of God? What story should I use to illustrate it? It is like a mustard seed planted in the ground. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of all garden plants; it grows long branches, and birds can make nests in its shade.” Jesus used many similar stories and illustrations to teach the people as much as they could understand.

For my fortieth birthday, my cousin Wendy gave me a mustard seed pendant. It’s a clear crystal globe held by a gold band. If you look closely at the interior of the globe– really closely– you’ll see a tiny, grayish seed suspended in the middle. The seed is less than an eighth of an inch in diameter– less than half a centimeter. It is, in short, little. And yet this small, unimportant-looking seed is what Jesus chose as an illustration of the Kingdom of God.

In Luke 17:6, Jesus again used the image of this seed when he told his disciples, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you!”

I talk with many people who wonder if their faith is deep enough. They tell me that they think they shouldn’t have any questions or doubts or worries or uncertainties. But Jesus didn’t say, “if you had faith the size of a mountain” or “a small house” or “a full-grown oak tree” or even “the size of a small goat.” No! Jesus told us that if our faith is the size of a tiny seed, God would use that faith in amazing ways.

So… have faith and seek God. Find ways to learn more about God and who God created you to be. And God will continue to nourish that seed of faith in you, and it will flourish!

Question…
How “big” would you say your faith is today?

Matthew 5:11-12 (New International Version)
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

These verses can be a little difficult for us to swallow. We should be not just happy, but rejoice and be glad when we’re being mocked, slandered, and injured for our faith? “Hurray! I’m so happy that you’ve caused me pain in this way! Thanks a bunch!” Really? We’re hard-wired to fight back or to run away. Celebrating the pain is not in our instinctive nature.

Jesus knew that his early followers would experience terrible persecution. In the first few centuries of the church, believers were regularly arrested, tortured, and killed in creatively evil ways. Very few Christians I know personally have experienced this kind of persecution: being physically injured by violent opponents of the faith. But it is important to remember that there are still many areas in our world where it is not just challenging to live as a Christian. It is a life-threatening proposition. Most of us reading this message today will not face persecution at that perilous level. We can pray for those who do, and we can seek ways to bring God’s loving justice to our world.

But persecution also includes a more subtle intolerance. Merriam-Webster defines persecution as “to harass or punish in a manner designed to injure, grieve, or afflict.” We all face choices every day: decisions that can take us closer to God, or pull us farther away. And these choices are not always easy to make. What financial consequences will you face if you refuse to be dishonest in a business culture where corrupt dealings are considered normal and de rigueur? How will you react when a good friend tells you of the adulterous relations she is enjoying? What will you do when you talk about your faith, only to have your beliefs openly mocked by people you thought you could trust?

Jesus knew well that life here on earth may be difficult, even dangerous. Keeping faith in the midst of persecution can be daunting. And maintaining forward momentum when we are tired and worn down– that can seem almost impossible. So Jesus reminds us that this life is temporary, and that, even if everything else falls apart around us, we can look forward to spending eternity with the God who loves us.

In his chapter on this beatitude, J. Ellsworth Kalas writes this: “Here is the ultimate declaration of justice. Not all accounts are settled on this earth… Christians are people with the long view, what might be called the faith perspective. We do what we believe is right… because we believe it is right.”

Question…
When have you struggled to do what you believed was right because you were afraid of what other people might say or do?

Matthew 5:10 (New International Version)
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus proclaimed that people who are “persecuted because of righteousness” are especially blessed. In the next posting we’ll look more in depth at what persecution means in our current context. But today I want to consider Jesus’ promise that “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Usually, the definitions provided by the Friberg lexicon are pretty concise: no more than a few words to explain the concept behind the word in the Greek. But here the word for kingdom, basileia, is given a long, detailed definition: “(1) abstractly, the power exercised by a king; (2) concretely, the territory ruled by a king; (3) predominantly in the New Testament of the rule of God as promised, prophesied, and fulfilled through the spiritual rule of God in the hearts of the people now, and ultimately to be fulfilled in the messianic reign of Christ on earth.”

Abstract, concrete, present, and future. All that wrapped up in one eight-letter Greek word! Here’s the part that interests me the most: back in Matthew 5:3 Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” In both 5:3 and today’s 5:10, Jesus used the Greek eimi— the verb “to be”– in the present tense: “is.” But the verses in between 3 and 10– in verses 4 through 9– all those other verbs are in the future tense: “will be.”

Present tense: God’s kingdom is already here, shown through loving actions, kind words. God’s rule is demonstrated whenever good triumphs, whenever compassion overcomes apathy, whenever truth shines through. God’s kingdom is already here in the hearts and spirits of people who actively seek out God’s grace.

Future tense: We know that God’s kingdom is not yet fully realized in our world. That’s obvious enough when we turn on the tv or look online. Or when we just walk the streets of our city. There is so much pain, so much suffering, so much that is out of alignment with God’s loving will. Our job as Christ-followers is to show God’s love in everything that we do and say. We can act in ways that bring peace, that relieve suffering, that demonstrate God’s healing, reconciliation, and forgiveness. Every day, in every moment, we have the opportunity to joyfully make God’s kingdom known on earth.

Until the day that “will be” becomes “IS.”

Question…
What does it mean to you that God’s kingdom is already here, and also not yet fully realized?

Matthew 5:9 (New International Version)
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

The Greek eironopoios means establishing a friendly relationship between persons.* This implies that there was not a “friendly relationship” prior to the peacemaking. Peacemaking is, quite simply, bringing peace where there was not peace before. It is reconciliation. It’s the restoration of an important relational bond.

And isn’t that exactly what Jesus did for us? In 2 Corinthians 5:18, the apostle Paul celebrated Jesus’ self-sacrificial peacekeeping: “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself though Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” Or, as it appears in The Message paraphrase: “All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other.”

In today’s passage, Jesus tells us that peacemakers will be called children of God. The word used here for “children” is yios, which means child, offspring, descendant, one adopted as a son.* It means “one who shares a special relationship with or likeness to someone or something.”**

I especially like that last definition: “shares a special relationship with or likeness to.” When we seek peace in our relationships– in our family, church, workplace, community, world– we are acting in a way that shows the “family resemblance” between us and Jesus. When we are peacemakers, we demonstrate that we are in fact God’s children: reaching out in love, forgiveness, and grace. Just as God does.

Question…
What actions can you take today to seek peace?

* Friberg lexicon
** United Bible Society Greek New Testament

Matthew 5:8 (New International Version)
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

When we see a bright red heart on a card or bumper sticker, we automatically insert the word “love.” If we hear that someone is “all heart,” we know they are a caring person. A person who “wears his heart on his sleeve” lets his emotions show through openly and noticeably. If we urge someone to “have a heart,” it means we think they should have more compassion in a situation.

But in Jesus’ day, the heart (kardia in the Greek) was about more than emotion. It was considered to be the inner self, the source of soul and spirit, the seat of the rational life. So what does it mean for a person’s heart– their inner self,  mind and soul– to be pure? The Greek katharos meant, taken literally, free from dirt. According to the Friberg lexicon, katharos is used in metaphors like this one to mean living a life that is free from sin.

Jesus tells the crowd that if they are pure in heart, they will see God. And this is not just a “passing glance” kind of seeing. Orao meant to see, but also to experience, to know. It is mental and spiritual perception.

The pure in heart: they will be aware of God.

Okay, so, let’s take a poll here… How many of you have made it through the week so far without sinning? How many of us can say right now that we’re completely pure in heart? Anyone? No one? Me either. Don’t panic! We’re not alone. In his letter to the church in Rome, the apostle Paul wrote: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

So does this mean that we’ll never see God? No! God deeply desires for us to be in full, healthy relationship with him, and that’s exactly why Jesus came to earth. Jesus showed us the way God wants us to live. He showed us what true purity of heart looks like. And as we follow Jesus’ path more and more faithfully– as we seek God’s love and truth– our purity of heart will grow through God’s grace. And as that purity grows, we’ll be increasingly aware of God at work all around us.

In the last chapter of the Bible, we’re told that “no longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be upon their foreheads” (Revelation 22:3-4).

“They will see his face.” I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty amazingly, awesomely good to me…

Questions…
In what areas of your life do you need more purity of heart right now? How can God help you to live in a healthier way?

Matthew 5:7 (New International Version)
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

This is a very, very straightforward message. No tricky words. No ambiguous translations. If you want to receive mercy, you need to show mercy. Later in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus will tell a parable that powerfully illustrates this point. He says:

The Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold— along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned— to pay the debt.

“But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.

“But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.

“His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.

“When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.

So very sad. But let’s consider an alternative version of this story… This is how it could have happened…

The servant, grateful for being shown such unexpected mercy, came upon his fellow servant and rushed up to embrace him. He told the man what had happened with the master, and then shocked him by saying that out of gratitude for the mercy he had received, he was now going to forgive his friend’s debt.

How happy the master would have been when the report of the servant’s action made its way back to him!

The truth is that we can never hope to fully pay back the mercy we have received from God. Our debt is just too large, and God’s grace too vast. No, we can’t pay it back. But, oh!, what a wonderful time we can have paying it forward to the people in our lives!

Question…
When you have expected to be punished, but were instead surprised to receive mercy?

Matthew 5:6 (New International Version)
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

In a different context, addressing his disciples and the surrounding crowd, Jesus spoke similar words: “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied” (Luke 6:21). In many ways, this verse is easier for us to understand than Matthew 5:6. After all, at some point in life we have all probably experienced feeling hungry, then the happy feeling that comes from being filled.

In today’s scripture, Jesus takes that familiar experience of yearning, and puts a twist on it: “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” The Greek dikaisyne means what is right, or justice. It means righting wrongs. If we are following God, we will yearn for righteousness in our lives and in the world around us.

When we understand– really understand– the depth of God’s love for us, then injustice, persecution, abuse become intolerable to us. Bill Hybels, a pastor out in Illinois, calls this “holy discontent.” I love that phrase. In his book by the same name, he says this: “Truth be told, the most inspired, motivated, and driven people I know are the ones who live their lives from the energy of their holy discontent. They have a constant awareness that what is wrecking them is wrecking the heart of God. Refusing to stay fed up, though, they instead get fueled by their restless longing for the better-day realities God says are coming soon. They listen to the soulish instinct inside them that says life just doesn’t have to be the way that most people experience it.”

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

At my work computer, I have a wonderful program that pulls up multiple Bible translations at the same time. It’s the German translation that I found most interesting for verse 6 today. In it, Jesus promises that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled: “sie werden gesättigt werden.”

“Sie werden” means “they will”– something that will happen in the future. But “gesättigt werden” is a preterite form– it’s past tense– “became satisfied.” So, we’re looking at an accomplished fact, but set in the future: “They will became satisfied.”

Huh? Outside of time travel and Doctor Who, how can something in the future already be accomplished? God doesn’t view time the same way we do. When we seek after God’s righteousness, we may  not see the results immediately. We may not see the results in our lifetime. But Jesus promises us that our yearning for justice will be satisfied. Our efforts are a part of that future accomplishment. Our efforts matter!

Question…
How can knowing that true righteousness will one day exist for all give you more enthusiasm for pursuing what is right… right now?

Matthew 5:5 (New International Version)
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Hero.

What is the first thing you thought of when you read that word? “Hero.” Maybe you thought of a “superhero” like Iron Man or Captain America. Or of your favorite athlete, author, movie star, musician. Or someone you’ve heard about who bravely rushed into a dangerous situation, risking his or her own life to save others.

Did any of you think of someone meek? Don’t feel bad if you didn’t immediately go there. Being meek is not, after all, a character trait that is generally celebrated by our culture. Merriam-Webster defines hero as: “(1) a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability, (2) an illustrious warrior, (3) a man admired for his achievements, (4) one who shows great courage.”

But, in the scripture above today, Jesus tells the crowd that people who are meek will “inherit the earth.” They will receive God’s special favor. The word we translate here as meek is the Greek oi praeis, meaning a gentle, unassuming person, kind and considerate.

But this “meek” should not be confused with weak, cringing, or fearful. It is “meek” in an older sense of strong but accommodating. It is a meek that Jesus perfectly embodied. When Jesus faced a hostile crowd, he kept his cool, answering their accusations in a consistently level-headed manner. When he was arrested and brought to trial, he listened to their long list of false charges with astonishing calm. When he hung on the cross, instead of railing against his enemies, he looked down with compassion and asked God to forgive them.

It takes a great deal of strength to be meek. Frankly, it takes more strength than we as human beings possess! But through the borrowed strength of the Holy Spirit we can act against our natural and cultural tendency to fight back aggressively, and to instead demonstrate a powerful, soul-transforming love. And… oh!… what a witness true meekness is to our world! Meekness, compassion, selflessness, courtesy, kindness: these gentle things boldly shout the truth and power of God’s love!

Question…
In what ways have you shown this kind of meekness recently?

Matthew 5:4 (New International Version)
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

One of my spiritual heroes is Henri Nouwen, who wrote this beautiful passage: “Every time we make the decision to love someone, we open ourselves to great suffering, because those we love cause us not only great joy but also great pain. The greatest pain comes from leaving. When the child leaves home, when the husband or wife leaves for a long period of time or for good, when the beloved friend departs to another country or dies … the pain of the leaving can tear us apart. Still, if we want to avoid the suffering of leaving, we will never experience the joy of loving. And love is stronger than fear, life is stronger than death, hope is stronger than despair. We have to trust that the risk of loving is always worth taking.”

In our scripture today from the “Beatitudes,” Jesus promises the crowd that those who are grieving will be comforted. The word we translate as “comfort” here is the Greek verb parakaleo, which means to call to one’s side, to encourage and strengthen, and, yes, to comfort. What does this mean? How are we to be comforted in the midst of mourning?

In John 14:16-17, Jesus explained that the Holy Spirit would be a guide for the disciples after his death: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever– the Spirit of truth.” The word Jesus uses for the “Spirit of truth” is parakletos: the comforter, the encourager, the one called alongside to help. Jesus then promised his friends, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18).

On that night long ago, Jesus knew that his disciples were about to experience tremendous loss. They had no idea what was coming over the next few hours. Jesus knew that they would soon be grieving the painful death of this man they followed and loved. But he also knew that death was not the end of the story! Jesus’ resurrection was to be the powerful proof of that promise from God. As Henri Nouwen wrote two millennia after the Resurrection, “love is stronger than fear, life stronger than death, hope stronger than despair.”

No matter what we are going through in our lives, no matter what loss we have experienced, God’s Spirit is always available to us for support, love, and guidance. The Comforter is here.

Questions…
Where do you most need the comfort of the Holy Spirit– the parakletos— in your life right now?

Matthew 5:3 (New International Version)
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This is the first line of the “Beatitudes,” a section in Matthew’s gospel recording some of Jesus’ most famous teaching. Each of the verses in the Beatitudes begins with “blessed are,” followed immediately by a group of people we wouldn’t usually think of as “blessed.” We start today with “blessed are the poor in spirit.”

The word used here for poor is ptochos, which refers to a person who is completely dependent on other people for survival, as opposed to the Greek penes, meaning a person who has few possessions and who must work hard to support himself. A person who was ptochos was experiencing abject poverty.

But it isn’t really financial poverty that Jesus is talking about here. He tells the people: “blessed are the poor in spirit.” What does that mean?

During Jesus’ lifetime, people in Israel were subjects of the Roman Empire. Jerusalem, their holiest city, was inhabited by soldiers of the Empire, who could arrest and punish them without warning. The crowd Jesus was addressing would have well understood what it meant to feel defeated, to be broken— to be poor (ptochos) in spirit.

The New Living Translation of this verse is interesting: “God blessed those who realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them.” Or from The Message paraphrase: “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.” Jesus reaches out to all people, but it’s when we know of our need that we are most willing to reach back out to him.

The Greek word for “blessed” is makarios. It is such a fascinating word! It doesn’t mean simply content or happy. It means “transcendent joy.” It is a joy that is not dependent on the situation in which we find ourselves. It is a joy that lifts us beyond our circumstances.

When we recognize our spiritual poverty— when we recognize our need of God’s grace and love— that is when the Kingdom of God is within our reach. Because we can’t reach the Kingdom by our own strength. We can only get there by holding God’s outstretched hand.

Questions…
When have you felt blessed in spite of difficult circumstances?