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“BEATITUDES 101: MAKARIOS ARE THE PTOCHOS”
Matthew 5:3-12
Psalm 86:1-7
On this first Sunday in Lent, we begin a series of messages on what are commonly called “The
Beatitudes;” the “blessed are they” statements. The beatitudes actually serve as a prelude to the
Sermon on the Mount, preserved in chapters 5 through 7 in Matthew’s Gospel. Some of the same
Beatitudes – with slight variations – are also found in the 6th chapter of Luke. But for our purposes
over the course of the next several weeks, we’ll depend heavily on Matthew’s account.
Matthew places this most renowned of sermons early in the chronology of Jesus’ ministry. Je-
sus had been baptized by John in the Jordan River. He’d endured forty days of temptation in the
wilderness. He’d begun His teaching in Galilee to rave reviews. And He’d begun the process of
choosing and calling those who would become His inner-circle. Before long, Jesus’ fame had
spread far and wide. People came in huge numbers to hear His teaching and to be healed of their
afflictions. On one particular occasion, the crowd was becoming so overwhelmingly enormous
that Jesus retreated to a high place where He sat down. In typical rabbinical fashion, surrounded
by His student followers, He began to teach.
(Read Matthew 5:3-12)
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"Beatitudes 102: Blessings in Mournings and Meekness"
Matthew 5: 4-5
2 Corinthians 7: 9-10
Isaiah 61: 1-4
This morning, we are confronted with, and challenged by, the 2nd and 3rd of Jesus’ nine beatitudes
which open His Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” As with the first beatitude we talked about last
week, we are again hit in the chops with statements which, on the face of some of them, seem
oxymoronic; self-contradictory. In fact, all of the beatitudes hold within them the potential to shake
us at the level of our foundational beliefs about life, and how things are supposed to work.
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"Game Changer"
Mark 9: 1-8
Luke 22: 14-20
Have you ever had a mountaintop experience? By mountaintop experience, I mean an intensely
personal experience or life event which, on some level, was profoundly life-changing; transformative.
Oftentimes, such mountaintop experiences separate all which came before from all which comes after.
I guess a good way to understand a mountaintop experience is as a game changer. So let me reframe
my question. Have you had a game changer in your life?
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"Ambush Theology"
Romans 8:18-19, 22-25
John 9:1-7
Three-time Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning actress and singer Ann Jillian was on top
of the world. A few of us may remember her as Little Bo Peep in Disney’s 1960 version of Babes in
Toyland; then a few years later as a regular on a sitcom called Hazel. In the early 1980’s, Jillian
was starring in the role of Cassie Cranston on another moderately successful television sitcom
called “It’s a Living,” which I believe remains in syndication on LaffTV. Her obvious physical attri-
butes and three-octave voice were bringing multiple offers from Broadway. Jillian’s one-woman
show was winning her rave reviews on the Strip at Las Vegas. She had everything to live for, and it
appeared there was nowhere to go but up. Then came a fateful day in 1985 when she was
blindsided by a diagnosis of breast cancer. She as only 34. Treatment would require double
mastectomy followed by months of chemo.
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"Hold Fast the Anchor"
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Psalm 119: 97-104
As we read from Paul’s second letter to his friend and younger colleague in ministry by the name
of Timothy, let’s be reminded of Paul’s circumstances. Many scholars hold that Paul was imprisoned
in Rome at the time this letter was written. The charge against him: refusing the demands of the
Roman authorities that he cease and desist from preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. As Paul was
languishing in a dark, dank jail cell, the fledgling church outside found itself under rising persecution.
Instead of grand cathedrals which send their towers skyward in Rome today, in Paul’s and Timothy’s
time, Christians’ places of worship were the homes of its members, where they usually met with the
shades drawn.
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"Chosen and Upheld"
Isaiah 42:1-9
2 Corinthians 4:7-12
The 42nd chapter of this prophecy speaks of a servant; one who is chosen and upheld by the
Lord, and in whom God delights. Commentators are in broad agreement that this is a prophecy
pointing toward the promised Messiah; the one who would speak for God; the one who would
give up life and liberty for the sake of the world on God’s behalf. In our era and frame of refe-
rence, we recognize that Jesus – who came some five hundred years after this prophecy was
declared – best fits the bill as the One who was uniquely able to speak God’s word, and who
would indeed sacrifice life and liberty for the life and liberty of the people from whom and to
whom He was called.
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"Unlawful Behavior"
Mark 2: 23-28
1 Samuel 21:1-6
I never tire of stories shared by the late author and humorist Erma Bombeck. She wrote of a
certain “supermom” who possessed the gift of seemingly being able to do everything right. She
kept a spotless home. She cooked like a chef. She kept her husband happy. She always had a
copy of Dr. Laura’s latest book on the coffee table. And she usually answered the door pregnant
when the priest came by for a visit.
“One day,” Bombeck wrote, “I asked her how she did it, and she said, ‘As a Catholic, I follow
the example of the blessed virgin Mary.’ And I said, ‘Marge, it’s a little late for that.’ She said,
‘Very well, I’ll tell you. I have certain customs I follow daily without deviation. Every evening,
when the children are bathed and tucked into their clean little beds, and their little shoes are
racked up, and their little clothes are all in the hamper, and I’ve heard all the little prayers of the
children, I fall down on my knees and say my own little prayer: ‘Thank you, God, for not letting
me kill one of them today.’”
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"Seafaring Wisdom"
John 5:19-20, 30
Proverbs 12:15: 15:31-33
I have become convinced, now cruising into my 64th year on God’s green earth, that there are
some people on God’s green earth who are un-teachable. Now I’m not suggesting that such folks
are cognitively impaired or intellectually incapable. On the contrary, they may be intellectually
super-capable and cognitively ultra-gifted. It’s less about inability to be taught; more about
unwillingness to be taught. And it’s usually because, at least in their own minds, they already
know it all. Have you ever met a know-it-all? I think the writer of the Biblical book of Proverbs
may have had know-it-all’s in mind when he wrote this:
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"For You"
Mark 1: 4-11
Romans 5: 6-11
On the first Sunday after Epiphany, we observe on our liturgical calendar what we call The
Baptism of the Lord. Our primary text comes to us this morning from Mark’s Gospel account of
Jesus’ baptism, but we will be referencing Matthew’s and John’s accounts as well. Let’s go out to
the river and meet a guy we might call strange.