Bible Text: Matthew 5:1-12 | Preacher: Pastor David Petersen | Series: All Saints, Trinity 21 | All Saints
St. Matthew 5:1-12
November 1, 2020 A+D
In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Jesus preaches the Sermon on the Mount so that you would have hope. Though you be powerless in this world, disenfranchised, ignored if not oppressed, though you suffer grave injustices, terrible pain and grief, though you have shamed yourself, committed grievous sins and errors, so that you hunger and thirst for righteousness, long for mercy, and dream of peace: you shall be filled. Your sorrows, even as your repentance, are not without purpose or without end. Nor should you think it strange. For you do not belong here. This is not your home. The Kingdom of heaven is yours. The earth itself will be yours. And you will be part of a great, joyous reunion in heaven. This is the point of the Beatitudes.
The Beatitudes are neatly divided into three sections. The first presents the giving away of the Kingdom by grace as a reversal of misfortune and sorrow. The second presents the virtues of those who have been given the Kingdom by grace and the rewards that are given to them. The final section turns to the disciples and readers alike and tells us that we are in a long line of heroes that culminates with Christ Himself and reminds us that our suffering is not without end or reward.
So we begin with the reversal of fortunes. Blessed are the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, and those who hunger and thirst for that which they lack: righteousness. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They are not what the world thinks them to be. They belong to God, are loved by God. Though they suffer, they are loved by God. They rule alongside of Him. They are now comforted. The earth belongs to them now. And they are declared righteous for the sake of Christ now. Yet, even now, they sin and struggle with temptation. They often lack in material things. They suffer evil in this world, knowing grief, guilt, and injustice. What they know now in part, comfort, satisfaction, righteousness, they shall know in full for their is the Kingdom of heaven.
The next section describes future reward for virtues. Blessed are the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for their faith and their good works. They are men and women after God’s own heart. They have been formed and are being conformed to Him by grace. They suffer evil in this world and work to help others. They shall obtain mercy. They shall see God. They shall be known as the very sons of God. Already now, the Kingdom of heaven, the reign that rightly belongs to God, is theirs. Soon, though, their works will follow them and all the saints will honor them and sorrows will cease.
Now we are at the last part. Jesus turns and looks you in the eye. He switches from 3rd person to 2nd person. He isn’t just talking about Christians. He is talking to Christians. He is talking to you. Those first two parts weren’t about other people. They were about you, His people, and now He tells you to rejoice because you belong to Him and to the prophets.
One of the ways that the beatitudes can be misread is to think that they are requirements for entrance into the Kingdom. They are not. They are descriptions of what faith looks like in this fallen world and what the ultimate reward of faith is. Faith looks like Jesus chased to Egypt, driven to Nazareth, naked and alone, crucified for crimes that He didn’t commit. Faith looks like Joseph in the pit, John beheaded in prison, James maligned for teaching good works. Faith looks like a woman stuck in covid prison in a nursing home who can’t remember her son’s name but joins in, word for word, at the Lord’s prayer. Faith is personified by the poor in spirit, is exemplified in Jesus on the cross, sitting in a Church in Casper, Wyoming while the world rushes by unaware.
Faith doesn’t earn salvation. It receives it. It was earned by Christ, forsaken by the Father, slandered by men, tortured by the devil. God in the Flesh obtains mercy and righteousness and He gives it away for free to those who believe it. He has met the demands and punishments of the Law. He has been roasted whole in His Father’s wrath, taken your sins into the wilderness, and answered for your crimes. This makes for peace, wins a Kingdom, and gains us as His inheritance. Blessed are those who believe and receive it.
That is why Jesus tells you to rejoice when the world reviles you and persecutes you and says all kinds of evil about you for His sake. What else would you expect? This they did to the prophets. This they did to Him. Thus they do it to you. But what they meant for evil, God means and uses for good.
Our Lord Jesus Christ died but He is not dead. He laid down His life of His own accord and He took it up again. He has been vindicated by the Father, proven righteous, holy, and obedient. His sacrifice has been accepted. The Son is welcomed back by the Father and He brings us in our His coat tails. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad to be counted worthy of your own crosses. You have been Baptized into the death of sin. This world is not your home. Yours is the Kingdom. He gives it to you for free, by grace. And there shall be rewards. There shall be vindication. There shall even be glory. Thus it was and is for the prophets, the apostles, and the martyrs. Thus it is and will be until the Last Day. But there will be a Last Day, a day of glorious reckoning when your faith will be visible and your works known and celebrated.
The very next thing that Jesus says in this sermon is that you are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. You are witnesses, a community of non-conformists and rabble rousers who stand not just for mercy and tolerance, but also for morality and truth. You still know that the 3rd commandment matters. The Beatitudes—with their promise of blessings, rewards, and reversal declare the essence of the Kingdom of God. You shall inherit the earth, but it is a Kingdom of heaven, a spiritual reality which is yours already, which transcends what we can now see, but which will endure beyond and is greater than what we can now see. You are like Abraham standing in the promised land without an army, surrounded by fortified cities, as God tells him that all of it is his. This Kingdom is not founded on the power of men and the threat of violence, rather it suffers violence. It is founded on the right of God to what He has made and then bought at His own cost, on His righteousness and mercy which is freely given to faith.
Jesus promises your blessedness in this Kingdom both now and in the future. He does this to encourage and comfort you. He puts your difficulties and sorrows into perspective by showing not only that they are temporary, but also that they are part of the pattern that He Himself lived and suffered, and which the Church of the prophets and apostles also lived and suffered. They are purposeful. He hears your prayers and He answers them.
That pattern is the connection to All Saints. You aren’t alone. So they treated the Church before you and if He should continue to delay, so they shall treat the Church after you. But not is all that it appears to be. Yours in the Kingdom. You shall be satisfied. You shall enjoy a great and joyous reunion. Your works shall follow you.
In +Jesus’ Name. Amen.