Matthew 5:1-12

All Saints Day, 2002

Jesus is the Source of our Joy and Blessing

Once a survey was conducted with a number of people from 38 different countries asking them the question: "Considering all things, would you say you are: 1) not at all happy, 2) somewhat happy or 3) quite happy or very happy." Where do you think Canada ranked? First? Second? Perhaps third? How about twenty-first! Iceland was first and Canada came in behind Northern Ireland and even Turkey. Now personally I would have thought it would have been easier to be happy in Canada, especially since this survey was taken when Canada was ranked “the best place to live in the world,” and when terrorism was a severe nuisance in Northern Ireland. Perhaps this shows us an important reality, that happiness is not related to the standard of living or an easy, comfortable life.

What does it take to find happiness? A man named Robert Reed has been noted to say: “I have everything I need for joy!” Yet, if you should meet him, you would notice that his hands are all twisted and his feet are useless. He can’t bathe himself. He can’t feed himself. He can’t brush his teeth, comb his hair, or put on his underwear. Strips of Velcro hold his shirts together. His speech drags like a worn out audiocassette. Robert has cerebral palsy. The disease keeps him from doing most of the things we take for granted, like driving a car, riding a bike, and going for a walk. But it didn’t keep Robert from graduating from high school or from University with a degree in Latin. Having cerebral palsy didn’t keep him from teaching at junior college or from venturing overseas on five mission trips. And his disease didn’t prevent him from becoming a missionary in Portugal. Once he came to speak at a conference, where some men carried him in his wheelchair onto the platform. A Bible was laid in his lap. With stiff fingers he forced open the pages. People in the audience wiped tears of admiration from their faces. Robert could have asked for sympathy or pity, but he did just the opposite. He stuck his twisted hand up in the air, declaring, “I have everything I need for joy.”

That is hard for us to believe, because what we usually see are all the disabilities, all the things that are “wrong” and so we fail to see what is essential. That which is essential for happiness. “I have everything I need for joy.” Are you able to say that with conviction about your life? You see, while Robert’s shirt was held together by Velcro, his life was held together by joy. Joy is the key to a happy and fulfilling life.

Joy is also the key to understanding the Beatitudes, the “Blessed are you’s” of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount we just heard in our Gospel lesson. Now, the blessings Jesus describes are quite contrary to what we are accustomed to think about what it means to be blessed; they run contrary to all our conventional wisdom. From a secular point of view, one might not be very far off in summarizing the Beatitudes as “Blessed are the losers.” We see, for example, that the first four blessed’s deal with situations where something is missing. 1. “Poor in spirit” -Lacking spiritual power, 2. “Mourning” -losing a loved one, 3. “Meek” -Lacking influence, and 4. “Hungering for righteousness” -The absence of holiness.

The fact that Jesus contrasts each of these scenarios with something better in the future indicates that these conditions of lack and want are not blessings in and of themselves. But, as Paul says in Romans 8:28, God can use any circumstance, whether good or bad, to bring about immeasurable blessings for his children. In addition, we should be careful not to understand the Beatitudes as being prescriptive, like a recipe on how to become happy. We are not, for example, to go out looking for persecution or the like, in order that we might be blessed. No, the Beatitudes are not an ingredients list or a “to do” list on our way to attaining ‘Blessedness’. Rather, they are descriptive of those who ARE blessed.

Who are the blessed Jesus is addressing? He is addressing his disciples; He is addressing us, who have been called through our Baptism into God’s family. We are the ones who are blessed; we are the ones Jesus is talking about in the Beatitudes. It is as if Jesus were standing before you saying: “Yes, I know how you struggle with pride, with self-righteousness, with anger and envy, with greed and with only a lukewarm desire for My Word. But listen carefully. I am calling you ‘poor in spirit’. I am calling you ‘meek’. I am calling you one who hungers and thirsts for righteousness. I am calling you ‘merciful’ I am calling you a ‘peacemaker’. I am calling you ‘blessed’. And I do this not because I am ignorant of your sin, or because I am ignoring it, or because I think you really aren’t as bad when compared with others. I do it because as your Saviour I won for you the right to be called ‘blessed’. Your pride, self-righteousness, greed and envy, all your sin died with Me on the cross, and by faith you now lay hold of My righteousness, My holiness. Now having won that right, I, God the Son, the One who called forth light out of darkness and the God who ‘calls things that are not as though they were,’ I declare you blessed. You may be a sinner, but I am naming you to be a saint. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.”

Notice that Jesus does not say, “Rejoice and be glad, for this may be your reward in heaven,” or “this could be your reward in heaven.” Jesus places no condition on our reward in heaven, saying: “Great is your reward in heaven.” It is an accomplished fact. Why? Because you are blessed! By faith in Christ, we stand before God, our sins washed away and thus God calls us saints. This is further proved by what Jesus says immediately following the Beatitudes: “You are the salt of the earth,” “You are the light of the world.” Again, Jesus does not enjoin us to “Go out and try your best to be salt” or “Work on being light.” Rather, he declares that we, as His children, are the salt and light of the world. Now, we might not feel like these words are true. We might only see our lives full of sin and corruption, but Jesus would encourage us, “Even the smallest of your works is of benefit to this dreary world, the actions you think most dim and insignificant shine brightly as a beacon for me. Why? Because they are the works of one that I have declared blessed, one of my saints.” And so we have a great reward in heaven. This is God’s gift to you!

Today our Sunday school and Friday family Bible fellowship is bringing forward gifts they have prepared for children in the third world to be blessed. Why are we preparing gifts for children? Perhaps we have been touched by the joy we have seen on the face of a child opening his or her Christmas presents. The joy of receiving something absolutely wonderful that is absolutely free and without any strings attached! Receiving something you could not just go out and buy yourself; something you have been waiting for a long time. This is joy: Receiving grace, undeserved love and attention. That is how our heavenly Father treats us as he showers us with his grace and love and everything necessary for happiness and contentment. And Jesus, in whom God reveals his love, is the source of that joy.

Often we lack joy and don’t feel blessed because we fail to see God from the perspective of a child. That happens when we don’t see his kingdom as a gift, but as something we must work for and earn. Then we compare ourselves with others and our relationships are poisoned. We focus our attention on ourselves and our religious acts. Getting up for church on Sunday mornings becomes a chore and the sacrifices we make to support God’s work become unwilling and helping a friend in need becomes difficult. In short, we begin to see our relationship with God as becoming burdensome and no longer a source for joy and inspiration.

To this God would say: “Forget all your sacrifices. Instead, come to me for rest. Come to me for comfort and refreshment. See, it is I who has redeemed you and I promise you everything you need. Just keep your eyes and attention focussed on me. Seek first My kingdom and My righteousness and all these things you need will be given to you as well.” As we do that, our failures and the shortcomings of others will fade into the background, for they will no longer matter, as we will see the Giver of all good gifts, the One who gives us everything we need without measure. Then we will find that our lack has been turned into blessing and our gloom to rejoicing. As his disciples, Jesus predicts that we are going to face a rough road ahead. But as we encounter hardships, we are blessed, for these troubles force us to take our attention off of the gifts and things of this life and direct it to the One who gives. And the good news is that the best, most awesome gift is yet to come: When we shall be united in fellowship with our Lord and all the saints at the great marriage feast in the kingdom of heaven.

May our heavenly Father keep your hearts and minds focussed on Christ Jesus our Lord, the source of all joy and blessing. Amen.