Difference between revisions of "Sermon for May 3rd, 2015"
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But there's another stream of thought that also runs throughout Christian history, championed by Saint Augustine of Hippo (who is regarded by Catholics and Protestants alike as the greatest theologian of the first millennium). Saint Augustine taught that sometimes a Christian had the obligation to take up arms precisely in order to protect the weakest and most vulnerable in our society. In Augustine's view, sometimes war--in a limited sense--was necessary in order to establish and protect the greater good, the greater peace. Augustine and others in this stream of thought point to Jesus taking up a corded whip in order to drive the money changers out of the temple, money changers who were exploiting the poor. | But there's another stream of thought that also runs throughout Christian history, championed by Saint Augustine of Hippo (who is regarded by Catholics and Protestants alike as the greatest theologian of the first millennium). Saint Augustine taught that sometimes a Christian had the obligation to take up arms precisely in order to protect the weakest and most vulnerable in our society. In Augustine's view, sometimes war--in a limited sense--was necessary in order to establish and protect the greater good, the greater peace. Augustine and others in this stream of thought point to Jesus taking up a corded whip in order to drive the money changers out of the temple, money changers who were exploiting the poor. | ||
| − | I think it's entirely possible that Jesus, when he said "Blessed are the peacemakers" was addressing both streams of thought. Three chapters | + | When I read the news headlines lately, I am often torn: Who are the peacemakers? Is it the law enforcement officers who are trying to establish and maintain peace in the face of often violent riots and looting? Or is it the protesters who are who are crying out for justice in the face of what they believe is wide-spread police brutality and race discrimination? Which ones are the peacemakers? |
| + | |||
| + | Our country has deployed military forces to establish and keep the peace in distant parts of the globe. I have no doubt that without their presence and often heroic efforts, many vulnerable people would suffer. And yet, when I hear reports of torture, mistreatment of prisoners by American soldiers, or needless casualties inflicted among civilian populations, I am torn. Which ones are the peacemakers? Those who fight for peace, or those who protest against the fighting? | ||
| + | |||
| + | Unfortunately, neither side is completely without guilt. We are human beings, after all. And yet I believe there are good, well-intentioned people--peacemakers--on both sides of these hardened lines, people who need each other. | ||
| + | |||
| + | I also think it's entirely possible that Jesus, when he said "Blessed are the peacemakers" was addressing both streams of thought: Those who believe in peace through force, and those who believe in peace through non-violence. Three chapters after the Beatitudes, in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus shows great compassion to a Roman soldier, and does not chastise him for his profession or tell him to "go and sin no more." But in the garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus has been betrayed and captured, he does tell his disciple Peter to put away his sword. I suspect that being a true peacemaker requires knowing when to draw one's sword, and when to put it away. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Knowing that difference hinges directly to our next beatitude: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. | ||
Revision as of 15:06, 2 May 2015
Matthew 5:1-12
1When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: 3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Luke 6:20-26
20Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. 24“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25“Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. “Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. 26“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
Beautiful Attitudes: The Purehearted and the Peacemakers
- Video Clip: Blessed are the Cheesemakers
Blessed are the cheesemakers. This clip is from Monty Python's Life of Brian, and is probably one of my favorite films. Unfortunately, the characters in this clip aren't the only ones to get this verse wrong. The second edition of the Geneva Bible (produced by our own Presbyterian founding fathers, John Calvin and John Knox, among others) misprinted this verse as "Blessed are the placemakers, for they shall be called children of God." I'm not entirely sure what a placemaker is, but if you are one, know that for a very brief window time in the 16th century, you were blessed.
As far as Bible misprints go, that one's not too bad. The 1631 printing of the King James Bible rendered the 7th commandment as "Thou shalt commit adultery." As you might imagine, today it is a highly valuable and sought-after edition of the Bible.
Blessed are the peacemakers. Even when correctly printed, this beatitude is not as simple as we might like it to be. What is a peacemaker? The Nobel Peace Prize, awarded almost yearly since 1901, has named as peacemakers social advocates like Martin Luther King, Jr., Albert Schweitzer, Mother Theresa, Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama. They've also nameed as peacemakers several diplomats and world leaders like Woodrow Wilson, Henry Kissinger, Mikhail Gorbachev, Yitzhak Rabin, Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter (and more recently, Al Gore and Barack Obama).
The creator of the Nobel Peace Prize, Alfred Nobel (who ironically made his fortune by inventing dynamite) established in his will the criteria for a peacemaker as someone who has "done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."
But that definition would have been entirely foreign and strange to anyone in Jesus' first-century audience, as he pronounced "blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." In fact, the image of "peacemaker" in Jesus' time was pretty well established: It was the image of the Roman centurion--the representative of the Roman Emperor and the "Pax Romana" or the "Roman Peace."
The Pax Romana was part imperial propoganda, but part truth as well. For almost 200 years, the Mediterranean lands controled by Rome experienced significantly more peace and less violence than the centuries immediately before and after it. But it was peace through strength, peace gained through warfare, and peace often maintained by brutal violence.
And that's where this beatitude gets tricky. Because there is a stream of thought that runs throughout Christian history that envisions Jesus as a pacifist. Turn the other cheek, and love your enemies, which probably means don't kill them. This version of Jesus inspired peacemakers like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. and the whole notion of passive, non-violent resistance.
But there's another stream of thought that also runs throughout Christian history, championed by Saint Augustine of Hippo (who is regarded by Catholics and Protestants alike as the greatest theologian of the first millennium). Saint Augustine taught that sometimes a Christian had the obligation to take up arms precisely in order to protect the weakest and most vulnerable in our society. In Augustine's view, sometimes war--in a limited sense--was necessary in order to establish and protect the greater good, the greater peace. Augustine and others in this stream of thought point to Jesus taking up a corded whip in order to drive the money changers out of the temple, money changers who were exploiting the poor.
When I read the news headlines lately, I am often torn: Who are the peacemakers? Is it the law enforcement officers who are trying to establish and maintain peace in the face of often violent riots and looting? Or is it the protesters who are who are crying out for justice in the face of what they believe is wide-spread police brutality and race discrimination? Which ones are the peacemakers?
Our country has deployed military forces to establish and keep the peace in distant parts of the globe. I have no doubt that without their presence and often heroic efforts, many vulnerable people would suffer. And yet, when I hear reports of torture, mistreatment of prisoners by American soldiers, or needless casualties inflicted among civilian populations, I am torn. Which ones are the peacemakers? Those who fight for peace, or those who protest against the fighting?
Unfortunately, neither side is completely without guilt. We are human beings, after all. And yet I believe there are good, well-intentioned people--peacemakers--on both sides of these hardened lines, people who need each other.
I also think it's entirely possible that Jesus, when he said "Blessed are the peacemakers" was addressing both streams of thought: Those who believe in peace through force, and those who believe in peace through non-violence. Three chapters after the Beatitudes, in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus shows great compassion to a Roman soldier, and does not chastise him for his profession or tell him to "go and sin no more." But in the garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus has been betrayed and captured, he does tell his disciple Peter to put away his sword. I suspect that being a true peacemaker requires knowing when to draw one's sword, and when to put it away.
Knowing that difference hinges directly to our next beatitude: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
