Letter from the Rector – October 2009
September 24, 2009 by Andrew
On Sunday mornings we are looking at the beatitudes, those curious sayings of Jesus which declare blessed those who are meek and merciful, poor in spirit and pure in heart, mourning and hungry, peacemakers and persecuted. Familiar as they are, there is much in them that all of us need to hear afresh.
Most noticeable is the contrast between what Jesus calls blessed in Matthew 5:1-10, and the values by which most people live. I quoted recently these ‘alternative beatitudes’:
Blessed are the pushers, for they get on in the world.
Blessed are the tough, for they never let life hurt them.
Blessed are those who complain, for they get what they want.
Blessed are the blasé, for they never worry over their sins.
Blessed are the slave drivers, for they get results.
Blessed are the knowledgeable men of the world, for they know their way around.
Blessed are the troublemakers, for they get their own way in the end.
Blessed are the popular, for they never lack friends.
The former Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, once described the world as a shop window, with all the world has to offer on display. But, he writes, it is as if some practical joker has come in and switched the price tags around, so that worthless things have a high price put on them, and things of real value are rated low. In the beatitudes Jesus gives us those qualities of the highest value and shows up the shallowness of much that our society esteems.
Above all, the beatitudes give us an important reminder of the Christian character, of what those who follow Jesus are to be like. Much of church life is inevitably about activity, things to be done, ideas to be followed through. But the purpose of those activities is to help us become more like Christ; to be merciful, poor in spirit and pure in heart. What we are is every bit as important as what we do.
The Sermon on the Mount is descriptive rather than prescriptive in that it describes what life is to be for those who are part of God’s Kingdom. The apostle Paul writes in a similar vein of the fruit of the Spirit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). In the month we celebrate harvest, let us not forget to look at the harvest of our own lives, and ask that we may live out those qualities which Jesus himself calls blessed.
Nick McKinnel