What Is Good

Scriptures:     Micah 6:1-8,  Psalm 15

            1 Corinthians 1:18-31,  Matthew 5:1-12

Tony Campolo, a Baptist pastor and professor emeritus at Palmer Seminary – formerly Eastern Baptist Seminary - and Eastern University, located in St David’s, just outside Philadelphia, often begins his talks to Christian audiences as follows:  “I have three things I’d like to say today.  First, last night while you were sleeping, 30,000 children died because of starvation and diseases related to malnutrition.  Second, most of you don’t give a shit.  Third, what’s more is that many of you are more upset that I used the word ‘shit’ than that 30,000 children died.”  Campolo uses this intentionally provocative language to jolt his audiences – often comfortable and complacent – into re-evaluating their priorities with regard to the gospel, leading them to question whether they may have been majoring in the minors, straining out gnats while swallowing camels. 

Today’s Gospel begins a three-week series of readings from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  Some of this material is unique to Matthew’s gospel, though other parts of the Sermon on the Mount also appear in Luke’s gospel, where Luke presents Jesus’ much shorter Sermon on the Plain.  The Revised Common Lectionary links today’s Gospel reading to a key passage from the prophet Micah, in which the prophet asks what God wants, proposes an ever escalating series of sacrifices to appease God’s wrath – burnt offerings, calves a year old, thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil, my firstborn son even -  only to sweep them away and conclude, “He has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.”  We could say that the Sermon on the Mount gives an extended, detailed description of what it looks like to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.  

As long as Jesus’ sermon is – three chapters of Matthew’s gospel – nearly every phrase is a gem.  Matthew’s gospel was written to a predominantly but not exclusively Jewish community of converts to the way of Jesus.  Torah, the teaching of Moses, was central to their thinking.  In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is presented as a second Moses, going up to the mountaintop,  just as Moses went atop Mt. Sinai, to deliver the wisdom he received from God.  And so the Sermon on the Mount has been seen as a kind of Christian wisdom literature, similar in some ways to the wisdom found in the Book of Proverbs or in Ecclesiastes, but with a difference.  While the wisdom in Proverbs, with its repeated warnings against laziness, drunkenness, or consorting with prostitutes, is firmly oriented toward helping the reader navigate the ways of this world as it is, the wisdom of Jesus as found in the Sermon on the Mount is oriented toward helping the reader envision – and live into – the reign of God.  One could say that Jesus was guiding his listeners toward building the new world – the reign of God – within the shell of the old world, the world as it was.

Today’s reading picks up at the beginning of the sermon, where Jesus offers a series of blessings.  And let me read these again - I think we can do with a second hearing:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

“Blessed”, Jesus says – but he applies the term “blessed” precisely to those the world considers unblessed – the poor, those who mourn, the meek, those who seek justice, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted.   Look at those in political authority, and these qualities Jesus blesses are nowhere to be found, nowhere in evidence.  In our day, as in Jesus’ day, it is the wealthiest 1/10 of 1%, the scoffers and mockers, the arrogant, the crooks and shakedown artists, the cruel and merciless,  the warmongers, those who exploit women and traffic children – the Harvey Weinsteins and Jeffrey Epsteins of the world - the persecutors – those who make life miserable for everyone else - who run the show.  These are the ones who live by the golden rule that he who has the gold makes the rules, the ones who are convinced that those who die with the most toys win.  The blessings of Jesus contained in the beatitudes are deeply countercultural, deeply subversive, deeply destabilizing, and deeply offensive to the powers that be.  Truly, as Paul wrote in our reading from I Corinthians today, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but the power of God to those who are being saved.

Time was that in old King James and Revised Standard Version bibles, the words of Jesus were printed in red ink.   It was the publishers’ way of saying, “These are Jesus’ own words.  They matter.  A lot.  Pay attention to them.”  Many, perhaps most, white evangelical Christian leaders, though, have left the red letter words of Jesus behind, preferring to invoke Leviticus against those they oppose and to bestow misapplications of Paul’s words on grace for themselves and for those politicians they support.  Because the dirty secret is that for many, perhaps most, of today’s evangelical Christian leaders, “Jesus” is a code word for their real god, which is political power, a code word completely divorced from Jesus of Nazareth, the Jesus of the Bible.  As Jesus teaches elsewhere, by their fruits shall you know them…and many of these misleaders will hear from Jesus the chilling words, “Depart from me, you workers of iniquity; I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:23)  There actually is a small evangelical movement called Red Letter Christians, who call on the wider evangelical Christian community to return to the words and the ways of the savior.  They have a website, redletterchristians.org.  Some of the founders of this Red Letter Christian movement – Tony Campolo, Shane Claiborne – are based right here in Philly.  Tony Campolo I told you about earlier, and Shane Claiborne leads a community called Simple Way in Kensington, on Potter St right at K&A, that tries literally to live according to the description of the early church in the book of Acts, sharing all things in common.  Lately, in response to our city’s epidemic of gun violence, his group, in the spirit of Isaiah’s words about beating swords into plowshares, has been heating up guns – unloaded, of course – in a furnace, putting them on an anvil and beating them into garden tools.   Shane grew up in the south, and his heavy Tennessee accent is a bit jarring down at K&A – and while his dreadlocks fit in fine at K&A, they stick out a bit – literally - among some of the well-dressed church groups to whom he speaks - but that Simple Way community has changed lives, has saved lives.  And the writings of Campolo and Claiborne are transformative.  Check them out.

The words of Jesus’ beatitudes, these blessings, are descriptive, not prescriptive.  In other words, Jesus isn’t laying down a bunch of commandments:  “thou shalt be poor in spirit, merciful, meek, and so forth.”  Rather, Jesus is describing what under God’s reign looks like, what people living in that way look like.  Each of the beatitudes is a stroke of a paintbrush or a piece of stained glass that’s part of a larger picture, describing a way of life.   And Jesus invites his readers to opt into the blessing. 

There are some of the Beatitudes that may need to be unpacked a bit.  In Matthew, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”, while the parallel passage in Luke says, “Blessed are you poor”…and later, “woe to you who are rich.”  I think Matthew’s phrase “poor in spirit” certainly includes the economically poor, but also those who may have some limited resources but who are vulnerable to prejudice and discrimination, those whose safety can be snatched away any moment by a bigot with a baseball bat.  “Those who mourn” certainly includes those grieving the loss of family and friends, but also those who mourn and are sickened by society’s injustice and the suffering of the vulnerable that never seems to end, those who mourn the 30,000 children who died of hunger last night while we slept.  Jesus’ blessings on the meek is not an invitation to be a punching bag, but does lift up those who are not movers and shakers, but who rather are moved and shaken by those in power.   “Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” are those who seek justice, definitely including social justice – so those who think social justice has nothing to do with the gospel may want to have a serious conversation with Jesus.    “The pure in heart” are those who are undivided in their devotion to Jesus, as opposed to those who live in compartments, who follow Jesus here but not there….which unfortunately is most of us, myself included, and I’ll be the first to confess that God is still working to get into some locked closets and cubbyholes in my life.   “The peacemakers” are those who work to resolve conflict not only at a personal but at a community and even national and international level.   “Those persecuted for righteousness’ sake” were present not only in Jesus’ day and are present not only in totalitarian countries elsewhere, but are present in our country as well, such as those who have been arrested for feeding the homeless, or, for example, Scott Warren, who was arrested on felony charges – and eventually acquitted -  for leaving food and water and other aid for refugees near our southern border.  Interestingly, those commentators who are constantly claiming to be persecuted for their beliefs by the use of phrases such as Happy Holidays had nothing to say in defense of Scott Warren, who actually was persecuted – arrested and threatened with serious prison time - for living out his understanding of Jesus’ words. 

From Micah:  “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”  From our Psalm today, Psalm 15:  “Those who do these things shall never be moved.”  From I Corinthians, “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God….we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”  And in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus blesses those considered by the world to be unblessed.  May God use these words of Scripture to shape and form our lives, to transform our lives from worldly ways so that we can be conformed to the ways of the Christ we call Savior.  Amen.

Follow Me

Scripture:        Isaiah 9:1-4, Psalm 27:1, 4-9

I Corinthians 1:10-18,  Matthew 4:12-23

Pastor Dave by the Sea of Galilee, 2015

“Follow me.”  Just two words, but with great potential, for good or ill.  What associations do those two words bring up in your mind – feelings of hope, or of dread?  Are they an invitation, or a demand, or even a threat?   When I’ve heard those words, usually someone wants to show me something.  Often it’s been something I’d rather not see – a broken window, a broken taillight, a water leak, a difficult medical diagnosis.  But that’s just me.  For some, there may be pleasant associations – a surprise birthday party, for example.   Perhaps it depends on who is asking us to follow.

In today’s Gospel reading, those who would become Jesus’ first disciples hear the words, “Follow me.”  We have no reason to think that Peter and Andrew, James and John – all fishermen - had met Jesus before.  And yet, along comes this stranger, saying, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”  Apparently they just dropped whatever they were doing to tag along with Jesus. 

Why would they do that?  If, at this point in my life, somebody walked up to me and said, “Follow me,”  I’d probably respond with something like, “Nah, I’m good.”  And that’s because I’m at a place in my life where I’ve settled into a routine – working at my day job, and then pastoring here.   Not only is my routine settled, so have my expectations and responses…..as I’ve told people more than once, at this stage in my life, the concrete has pretty much set. And that could be good or bad….on one hand, there’s a lot to be said for sticking with work and relationships over the long haul, through good times and bad.  On the other hand, there are times when a routine can feel like a rut, and a rut can feel like a narrow grave for one’s earlier hopes and dreams.  But in any case, here’s where I am, and while it’s theoretically possible that something could come along that would make me willing to drop everything and move in a new direction, I have a hard time imagining what such a thing could be.  And I suspect that’s where many of us are – we’re invested in lives as they are – but not all.  Perhaps those who are younger, those with more flexible expectations, those with more of a sense of adventure, or those with less to lose – particularly those whose lives aren’t working for them in any way, shape, or form, those who are in crisis -  might be entirely willing to walk away from all they’ve known to respond to the words, “Follow me.”  Somehow Jesus’ words broke through whatever inertia was holding Peter and Andrew, James and John in place, and each of them had a “God moment” that led them to follow.  And that momentary decision to follow set the course for the rest of their lives.

Could they possibly have had the slightest idea what they were getting themselves into?  To be sure, they were privileged to hear the words of Jesus from Jesus’ own lips, privileged to have front row seats to healings and exorcisms.  Three of them - Peter, James, and John – were privileged to be present for Jesus’ transfiguration, when Jesus revealed just a glimpse of his glory to the inner circle of his disciples. They were also privileged….if that’s the right word, and it almost certainly isn’t…..to experience hardship, hungry bellies, aching feet, travel on foot through unfamiliar and sometimes hostile territory, long periods of separation from their families.  To follow Jesus brought life-changing experiences, but it also brought real suffering, and took real commitment.

It’s notable that Jesus said, “Follow me.”  He never said, “Worship me.”  Probably a good thing too; I could imagine the response if I walked down Thompson Street on some Saturday morning walking up to random people and saying, “Worship me.”  They’d probably say, “Worship this” and punch me in the face.  Jesus never asked for worship.  Worship is what we do, our response to our experience of Jesus.  But Jesus never asked for worship, but for followers, for people who were willing to be taught, and who were willing to learn how to walk as Jesus walked and live as Jesus lived. 

Jesus was looking for followers, not a fan club.  In our country, to be a fan of Jesus costs very little, though in some countries, one worships Jesus at the risk of one’s life.   But for us, worshipping Jesus can either lead us toward or away from being followers.  If through the work of the Spirit, the Scriptures, the hymns, the sermon sink into us and transform us, worship can lead to great commitment, can lead us to truly follow in the way of Jesus, can lead us to become Christlike ourselves.  But worship can be and for many is cop-out that brings complacency, that excuses from further commitment.  It’s easy to express great admiration for Jesus, to recite creeds about Jesus, to praise Jesus to the rafters, and then go home to live entirely self-centered lives, to live as if Jesus had never existed.  As Paul wrote to the church in Rome, “shall we continue in sin, so that God’s grace may abound?”  (His answer was a very loud “no”.)   Or as Gandhi expressed, “I like your Christ.  I do not like your Christians.  Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”  Many witness to Jesus with their words and against Jesus with their lives. And this disconnect between the Christ of Scripture and the Christians in many churches is why younger generations have largely turned away, not that they don’t like Jesus, but they certainly don’t have much patience for BS.  It’s the same as any other commitment.  I can buy a gym membership, but if I don’t get on the machines and run and lift and sweat and strain, I’ll be as flabby as ever.  (Unfortunately.  As I’ve discovered….)  If we want to be musicians but don’t practice scales, our skills won’t improve.  

What does it look like to follow Jesus in our day?  One example that I always return to is that of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor who resisted Hitler when most around him – including most of his Lutheran pastor colleagues along with much of the Catholic leadership, bought into the idea that Hitler was God’s chosen instrument to make Germany great again.  Bonhoeffer took increasing risks to open an underground seminary to train would-be church leaders to be faithful to Christ and resist the demands of the Third Reich, and particularly to resist Hitler’s intended extermination of Jews and other disfavored groups.  Many years ago, in the late 1980’s, soon after I joined Old First where I would be a member for 15 years, its pastor, the Rev Geneva Butz, gave me Bonhoeffer’s book “The Cost of Discipleship” which contains the words, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” At the time, on reading those words, I thought Bonhoeffer was nuts, a raving fanatic, and couldn’t imagine why Geneva would want me to read such a thing, why she would even put such a book in my hands.  But Bonhoeffer’s words echoed in my mind, and I kept coming back to that book, and Bonhoeffer’s words worked on me over the years.  Over time, I came to realize how shallow my faith up to that point had been – while I was a regular worshipper and sang in the choir, I was more of a fan of Jesus than a follower - and over time I came to see what it was to die, not all at once but over time, to one’s other attachments and priorities, to die to self and live for Christ…..not that I’ve arrived in any sense or even gotten particularly far on the journey, but I’m learning, still learning, all these years later.  For Bonhoeffer, Christ’s call to come and die was quite literal; for participating in a plot to assassinate Hitler, Bonhoeffer was hanged in early April, 1945, less than a month before Hitler committed suicide.

Another example is the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, whom Christ also called to come and die.   And truly Jesus’ words in Matthew 23 to the religious leaders of his day apply, as he accused them of building the tombs of the prophets killed by their fathers, and saying, “If we had been there, we would never have acted as our ancestors did.”  Last Monday we celebrated King’s life, but often it’s a very safe, sanitized version of King, using quotes from earlier in his life, such as the 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech, with its vision of little black boys and girls joining hands with little white boys and girls as sisters and brothers.  We don’t as often hear quotes from his Letter From A Birmingham Jail, which called out the white churches who were constantly imploring him to wait and to go slow.  We rarely hear about King’s sermon at New York City’s Riverside Church, titled, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence”, where he spoke in opposition to the Vietnam War, and called out what he called the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism, where he said that “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” – words as true today as when King spoke them.  A gunman’s bullet cut King down on April 4, 1968, a year to the day after that sermon.

We’re not all called to follow Jesus into a concentration camp, as Bonhoeffer did.  We’re not all called to follow Jesus to take a bullet such as the one that claimed Dr King.  But we’re all called to follow Jesus, and following Jesus will inevitably come at a cost – to our money, to our time, to our convenience, and quite possibly at cost to our health and our life.  To follow Christ is not just religious observance – Sunday attendance at church – but a way of life, a way of life, something that affects everything we say and do.  We may well ask, “What would we have done had we lived in Bonhoeffer’s circumstances, or King’s”.  And the answer is, whatever we’re doing or not doing now is what we would have done or not done then….there is love to be shown to outcasts and spiritual wickedness in high places to be resisted as much in our time as in theirs, and to sleepwalk through our days is to miss Jesus’ call to follow.

Why do it?  Why bother?  Why open up one’s life to the demands of the gospel?  To put it pointedly, why let Jesus mess with your life?  Why should I let Jesus mess with my life?   Why not just sidestep all that?    Bonhoeffer’s book, The Cost of Discipleship, also contains these words:  “Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves….the preaching of forgiveness without repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship.  Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked form, the door at which a man must knock….[please hear these words]  it is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.”

“The only true life.”  Christ calls us to die to the false priorities that we call our life, and offers us the only true life.   To devote ourselves only to our own comforts, to live only for ourselves, is to die without ever having truly lived. 

“Follow me!” Jesus called to his first disciples.  These same words are for us as well.  May we, like those first followers, be willing to leave our nets and boats, our projects and priorities, and where Jesus leads, may we follow.

I’d like to close with a song:

I have decided to follow Jesus/I have decided to follow Jesus/I have decided to follow Jesus

No turning back, no turning back

The world behind me, the cross before me/the world behind me, the cross before me, the world behind me, the cross before me

No turning back, no turning back.  Amen.