Sermon for May 10th, 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 Magnificat

Your bulletin probably indicates that today's sermon is entitled "Beautiful Attitudes: The Persecuted." And you might expect that today we would come to the final beatitude in our series on God's Beautiful Attitudes. It's important to remember that here at First Presbyterian Church, the bulletin is merely a guide to things that may or may not actually occur in the worship service.

The original plan was to talk about the final beatitude today: "Blessed are those who are persecuted" but as you may have noticed, today is mother's day. I'm sure there are some mothers out there who feel persecuted, but I'd like to push that one back a week, and take a small digression today. I say "digression," but it is still quite related to the beatitudes Jesus preaches in his famous sermon on the mount. In fact, you might even think of it as an "origin story" that hints at where those famous beatitudes came from.

Today we're going to pause right in the middle of Jesus' sermon, and turn back the clock 30 years earlier (and six chapters earlier in the Gospel of Luke), to an encounter between two unlikely mothers, two pregnant women who weren't supposed to be pregnant. One is Elizabeth, who unexpectedly became pregnant well past her child-bearing years. Her son will be John the Baptist. The other woman is Mary, who shouldn't be pregnant because she isn't even married to her husband Joseph yet. Of course, we know that Mary's son will be Jesus. Mary and Elizabeth are cousins, though separated by several years in age. Listen to the story of their encounter from the first chapter of Luke (and listen for that word we've been hearing so often the past few weeks..."blessed"):

39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

Then Mary responds to Elizabeth, and her beautiful words have inspired countless songs, paintings, and poems. Her speech is known as the "Magnificat," after the Latin translation of it's first word. I'm going to read it to you, but what I want you to listen for are the echoes of all the beatitudes we've been studying for the past several weeks: Blessed are the poor, the hungry, the meek, the merciful, the purehearted, and so on...

46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”