The Graves Chapel blog page contains recent homilies by our lay preacher, Susan Bagby. For a complete set of Susan's homilies, dating to 2009, visit her blog at http://graveschapelva.blogspot.com/
Who are the people of the Beatitudes? Today’s gospel lesson from Matthew includes statements made by the Lord about those who are blessed in God’s eyes. As we read the verses, the people described do not sound at all like the individuals in our society who appear to be blessed by good fortune, good health, comfortable lives. I am sure, however, that we have encountered some who fit Jesus’s description, even though sometimes they may choose to be invisible. Here are a few…
When she enters the side door of the building at 6:00 AM, everything is quiet. She assembles the tools she needs from a closet: a push broom, a cart with cleaning rags, chemicals, a wet mop and a pail. As she sweeps the long hallways and cleans the bathrooms, others begin to arrive. Soon, over a thousand people will inhabit the school, teenagers, their teachers, administrators. Sometimes, a teacher or a student will speak to her, but most pass her by and go about their business as if they can’t see her. She will leave at 2:00, go home for a bite to eat, then head out for her evening job, cleaning a large office building after hours. Her daughter and young grandchildren live with her, and on weekends, when her daughter is at work, she will care for the children. She decided a long time ago not to allow herself to think about how tired she gets. Thinking about it does no good.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
He is 91 years old, surprisingly tough, surprisingly healthy. He still drives his pick-up, though his son worries he may cause an accident. When his beloved wife died in recent months, he thought he might die, too. Some days, he wishes he had. It may very well be bitterness that keeps him alive, a grief he has never overcome. More than forty years ago, his youngest child, a beautiful daughter, was killed in a car wreck. She was just a teenager. Her face rises in his mind at unexpected times, and he cannot let her go.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
The young man sits in his cell, reading a book. Smarter, somewhat better educated than his nearest neighbors, he helps them with their paperwork, encourages them to study. When he has access to a computer in the prison library, he takes classes and pursues a bachelor’s degree. He studies spiritual texts, endeavors to understand the teachings of Jesus. The young man entered the prison system shortly after his 18th birthday. When he isn’t filled with despair and anger at himself, he searches his heart and tries to understand how he can be a better person.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
When Jesus began his ministry, he walked among the people he hoped to serve, seeking sustenance and a place to lay his head where he was welcomed. He had no idea he was launching a religion that would one day spread across the world and be called Christianity. When he preached, he never asked to be worshiped. His life embodied humility, and he simply asked the people to follow his way, to do the things that he did, to walk in love. We are told in Mark 7, “And wherever he went, into the villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.”
Jesus never asked if these strangers were worthy of healing. He never refused to help them. Their need alone spoke to him, and so profligate was his love that he allowed anyone who merely touched the hem of his garment to be healed. He never counted a sinner among those who sought him; their behavior may not have been perfect in the eyes of their neighbors, but their hearts were in the right place. That was all that mattered to the Lord, supremely merciful and loving Lord that he is.
What if we fully believed what Jesus taught us and truly followed in his way? Surely that would mean we would reach out with kindness, love and mercy to every person whose path crosses ours. If Jesus allowed total strangers, no matter who they were, to touch his cloak and be healed, how can we justify ignoring the needs of those around us? What if we saw such encounters as being intended by God? Surely, we can think back to times when an unexpected event brought someone into our lives and changed us forever. I wonder how often we miss such God-given opportunities? Are we the ones who are intended to fulfill the blessings of the beatitudes for those who surround us?
Jesus began life as a carpenter’s son, and during his ministry, he was poor, homeless, and pursued by enemies, but he persisted (unto death) in speaking the truth with love. He gave us the ultimate example of both humility and courage. He told us he was “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” and he asked us to follow his Way. St. Bernard of Clarivaux interpreted these words from John’s gospel as “Humility is the way that leads to truth, and truth is the light of life.” Catholic theologian Gabriel Marcel took St. Bernard’s words a step further: “Humility is availability. Availability is that which makes ready and makes room for others.”
Living in Christ-like humility requires of us that we make ourselves available to the ones around us who need our help. When we encounter them, we forego any need to judge whether they deserve our kindness. We simply reach out a hand in love. As former Episcopal presiding bishop Edmond Browning said, “We show Christ most truly when we care for the ones with whom he chose to surround himself.”
Maybe those words are easier to understand when we think in terms of the ones who surrounded Jesus, often so closely he must have felt mobbed. Even so, he did not turn away from them. He did not fail to give them what they needed. He did not overpower them or chide them. He loved them indiscriminately. True humility and love made him available to them.
No, the man Jesus did not intend to launch a new religion. He certainly had no idea that this new religion named for him would become so well-defined and well-structured that it would eventually splinter into many competing sub-groups. He certainly would not have imagined that some of these groups, in his very name, would establish barriers for membership. All he ever asked of his followers was that they follow his Way.
The prophet Micah predicted the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem some 700 years before the Incarnation. In his words from today’s lesson, Micah states simply what the Lord asks of us: “And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Who are the people of the Beatitudes? Sometimes they are the ones whose needs call out to us. Sometimes they are as near to us as our own hearts. May we live in love as Christ loved us, seeking justice as we try to do the right thing, loving kindness as we show mercy, and walking as humbly as we can with our Lord.
AMEN.