Repository of Sermons / Calendar of Events / Activities

Sixth Sunday in Epiphany
February 11, 2007 Sermon by The Rev. Bill Van Oss, Rector

It was a “great crowd” of his disciples and a “great multitude” of his people from all over. Jesus had been up on the mountain, alone, and deep in prayer, and he came down to a level place and saw this great multitude. “All sorts and conditions of humanity”, I would imagine, rich and poor, men and women, black and white, young and old, sick and well, happy and sad. All kinds of people standing shoulder to shoulder on a level place, and Jesus, on the level with them, looking them in the eyes, delivers a shocking, disturbing message. “Blessed are you poor, hungry, weeping, reviled and excluded. And woe to you rich, filled, laughing and highly regarded.”

A difficult and troubling message it is - but a foundational message for Jesus: a message that sets the stage for Jesus’ entire life and ministry. The most important message Jesus ever delivered, in the opinion of many.

For Jesus, in these Beatitudes, is turning his world upside down by delivering a recipe for kingdom living. He is describing the reign of God.

It would have been shocking for the hearers of Jesus’ day: “What?” the rich and satisfied would have said. “I thought my wealth and happiness were blessings from God for being so good.”

And likewise, the poor would have said “what? But I thought my lot in life was due to my not being good enough, not working hard enough.” And Jesus, in this single troubling, powerful passage turns those notions upside down by speaking of God’s kingdom, God’s reign.

For in that crowd Jesus has a vision of God’s kingdom, which is “all sorts and conditions of humanity” gathered on a plain, all at the same level, with God standing in their midst, not making pronouncements from on high, but speaking directly to them, blessing them.

“Kingdom living” on that plain – all kinds of people standing shoulder to shoulder, with God present in their midst. And God turns the world upside down, for Kingdom living is so very, very different than earthly living.

Earthly living encourages us to ask first and foremost, “What’s in it for me?” It encourages us to be self-centered. Earthly living says that wealth and power are rewards for our efforts, and blessings from God.

But kingdom living spells out a vision of the common good, where all are valued as God’s beloved children, where compassion and generosity reign. “These are the things that last” Jesus says. “Focus on them” and not on things that are passing away.

“Kingdom Living” has no room for “them” and “us.” More than anything else in His life, I believe that Jesus came to break down barriers; to tear down the walls that divide us and to establish the City of God that has room for all people.

The Beatitudes are meant to tear down the walls we put up in our earthly living, so that the kingdom of God might reign. These Beatitudes need to be planted in our hearts, so that our world becomes less about “them” and “us”, about “those people” and “our kind of people” and more about we, brothers and sisters, beloved children of God.

But we have a long way to go to reach the City of God – to abandon earthly living and embrace kingdom living. We are so quick to construct walls, to point and talk about “them” and “us”.

Julia Dinsmore is a woman and a writer who used to live in Duluth. Last week I was given a piece that she wrote awhile ago right here in Duluth and I believe it points out just how far we have to go to live out the Beatitudes and to engage in kingdom living.
 

My Name Is Not “Those People”
My name is not “Those People.”
I am a loving woman, a mother in pain, giving birth to the future,
where my babies have the same chance to thrive as anyone.

My name is not “Inadequate.”
I did not make my husband leave – he chose to,
and chooses not to pay child support.
Truth is, though, there isn’t a job base for all fathers to support their families.
While society turns its head, my children pay the price.

My name is not “Problem and Case to Be Managed.”
I am a capable human being and citizen, not a client.
The social service system can never replace the compassion and concern
of loving grandparents, aunts, uncles, fathers, cousins, community.

My name is not “Lazy, Dependent Welfare Mother.”
If the unwaged work of parenting, homemaking, and community
building was factored into the Gross National Product, my work
would have untold value. And I wonder why my middle-class sisters
whose husbands support them to raise their children are
glorified – and they don’t get called lazy and dependent.

My name is not “Ignorant, Dumb, or Uneducated.”
I live with an income of $621 with $169 in food stamps.
Rent is $585. That leaves $36 a month to live on.
I am such a genius at surviving that I could balance the state budget in an hour.

Never mind that there is a lack of living-wage jobs.
Never mind that it is impossible to be the sole emotional,
social, and economic support to a family.
Never mind that parents are losing their children to the gangs, drugs,
stealing, prostitution, social workers, kidnapping, the streets, the predator.
Forget about putting money into schools – just build more prisons.

My name is not “Lay Down and Die Quietly.”
My love is powerful and my urge to keep my children alive will
never stop. All children need homes and people who love them.
They need safety and the chance to be the people
they were born to be.

The wind will stop before I let my children become a statistic.
Before you give in to the urge to blame me,
the blame that lets us go blind and unknowing into
the isolation that disconnects us, take another look.
Don’t go away.
For I am not the problem, but the solution.
And . . . My name is not “Those People.”
--Julia Dinsmore (Used by permission of the author.)
 

I would add, “No, Julia, your name is not ‘those people.’ Your name is ‘blessed.’”


 Click here for earlier sermons