Blessings and Promises
Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane
This summer I performed a wedding. The bride was anxious that she would remember her lines. The groom was worried about her. They entered as two single people, in love and excited for the life that was to be. And then…with the words: “I now pronounce you husband and wife” their status changed. They were now married.
If I can change the status of two young people, how much more can Jesus – with a single word – change the world?
And Jesus does.
To the ordinary people of Galilee and his disciples, Jesus declares, “Blessed are the poor… Blessed are those who mourn, Blessed are the meek, Blessed, Blessed, Blessed. Nine times Jesus blesses those who do not seemed blessed by the world’s standards, turning upside down the values of the world for money and power and glory and lifting up those whom the culture considered weak, poor and shameful.
But then again…maybe Jesus blesses those who mourn for they wouldn’t be mourning if they had not loved. And maybe Jesus blesses the merciful because they show mercy to their enemies instead of taking revenge. With a word, Jesus blesses – honors – and transforms those who had been considered unworthy, un-holy, unfit for blessing.
Who would Jesus bless if he was standing on a mountain – or in a stadium today?
Perhaps we would hear Jesus declare:
Blessed are the caregivers who care for the weak and vulnerable, the youngest children or the aging of body and mind – for God will care for them;
Blessed are the schoolteachers who not only teach with their words but also protect with their actions – for God will teach and protect them;
Blessed are the nurses and the nursing assistants for they change dressings and bedpans for those who are too ill to care for themselves – for God will care for them.
Blessed are those who drive school-busses, food trucks, ambulances, firetrucks and more for they bring people and what we need to where we need to be – God will be with them on the journey and one day carry them home.
Blessed are the parents and grandparents, the aunts and the uncles, the neighbors and the Sunday school teachers who care for others’ children for God will care for you as God’s child.
Blessed are you. With a word, Jesus pronounces blessings on ordinary people – like you and me – out of Jesus’ love for you. Jesus’ blessings proclaim who you are - you are a child of God. And, God has given you the freedom to live into that identity.
NOW you are blessed… then you will see God. Once blessed, our calling as children of God is to live into the space between the NOW and the THEN.
In the same way, John proclaims to his struggling congregation – and to all of us who follow: “Beloved, we are God’s children now! (1 John 3:1-2). We are God’s children because out of God’s love – that is what God has declared. That was true of the people who first read this letter – and every time a person is baptized that proclamation is repeated – You are a God’s beloved child. NOW. And you are called to live into that identity with love for God who loves you… and with love for the other children that God loves.
And yet… it is challenging to live into that proclamation of being a blessed Child of God whose call is to follow Jesus.
For the world and our culture has different values. And we live in that world, a world in which divisions keep growing and human capacity to hurt other humans seems to be growing too. It’s hard not to become numb when reading or listening or watching the news about wars and, closer to home, the violence that happens in our own streets. When there is a school shooting – it should make us take action… and not just sigh. It is hard not to feel helpless and simply do nothing. But does our inaction make us complicit? How do we keep from enabling a culture that treats others as collateral damage?
Divisions. Conflict. This was the norm for the community that Jesus was preaching to on the Mount of Olives. Their land was occupied by Roman soldiers. Taxes were high. The people were poor. There were division between them. Likewise, John, the writer of Revelation is writing to a people besieged by the Empire. And the writer of 1st John was writing to a congregation that had split in two over differences between them.
And yet… into each of these seemly hopeless communities, God proclaims blessings and promises for the people both NOW, in that moment and also THEN – into their future.
“Beloved, we are God’s children now! This is the blessing, the word that was written in the first letter of John – and that is indeed who they are and who Christians are called to be – in every time and place.
The Christians on the island of Patmos were a marginalized community of outsiders suffering from persecution, martyrdom and exile. In the midst of seemingly impossible suffering and violence, they asked: “Who then can stand?” “Who is worthy?”
The first answer to their question is one that we read in Revelation – an answer made popular by apocalyptic – end of the world – stories. It is a rather small, excusive number – 144,000 from the 12 tribes. Maybe it seemed like a large number at the time.
But our reading today reveals that this was just the beginning of the number of people whom GOD made worthy, who God blessed. Instead of a small elect group of people, we read that there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”
When Jesus blesses – the action happens now. Beloved, we are God’s children NOW. Our reading from Revelation points to what the kingdom of heaven will be like THEN– “They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat.” The challenges of this world will cease and the peaceable kingdom will begin.
Hear the promise: the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”This is the hope and the promise to which God called the people of Patmos and to which God calls you and me.
NOW, we are claimed as God’s Children. And THEN Jesus will lead us. And in the in-between time, we are called to live as Christ Jesus called us to live – loving one another as He first loved us. But we are not alone. Jesus walks with us, beside us, giving us the courage to share that love with one another even, or maybe especially, with the ones that we despise, those who we disagree with, those with whom we call as “other.” For God calls those we would call “other” – our brother and our sister, another child of God.
When will this happen? The “when” is not ours to know. But, as John tells us, “What we do know is this: when he [Jesus] is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.”
Brothers and sisters, friends in Christ, may you trust in God’s promise both for the NOW and for the THEN and in the in-between time. For Jesus has promised to walk with you, leading you like a shepherd to springs of water and wiping away every tear from your eye. And for this, and all that is to come, we can say Thanks be to God. Amen.