Matthew 5:1-12

Mount Beatitude in Galilee

Matthew 5:1-12

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. ² Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴ “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

⁵ “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

⁶ “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

⁷ “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

⁸ “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

⁹ “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

¹⁰ “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

5:1-12 Setting and Wisdom Saying of the Beatitudes

         Matthew 5:1-12 (Year A Epiphany 4) provides a setting for his collection of sayings Matthew has organized and begins the proclamation of the kingdom with a presentation of the Beatitudes. I move from general context in the introduction to specific analysis of each Beatitude. With each section building on the previous one, the narrative should feel cohesive. This study offers a detailed theological and literary analysis, exploring the context, meaning, and implications of the beatitudes for Christian life. This study provides a nuanced interpretation connecting the Beatitudes to Old Testament wisdom, Jewish tradition, and broader Christian theology. I emphasize the transformative and countercultural nature of Jesus’ teachings. I cover:

·      The setting and structure of the Beatitudes.

·      Their paradoxical nature and radical message.

·      The historical and scriptural background.

·      The practical and spiritual implications for followers of Jesus.

·      The universal applicability and relevance of the Beatitudes beyond Christianity.

I conclude with a practical application that moves from theological abstraction to practical implications for daily living and character formation. 

Introduction

         If we are to give priority to the understanding of the Christian life to the teaching of Jesus, then the Beatitudes need to receive careful attention. People often praise the beatitudes. It seems as if people rarely read them. We can easily praise them, but our words are empty when they fail to consistently to translate into action.^[1] "Jesus did not `think what the day thought (Nietzsche).'"  Those who think today’s conventional, expectable thought see it fade and disappear with the day.  These Beatitudes are fresh, radical, and thus capable of unsettling and healing anyone in range.^[2]

         . One should imagine a discussion between Jesus and his students organized around a problem they are pondering. The rabbi in that day would crystallize his teaching with a short and memorable saying. The beatitudes here are the result of that process. They are profound statements. Yet they would make little sense without some of the background just suggested. These beatitudes are inviting us to reflect upon what “success” means to God. Jesus wants to clarify for the disciples and for the people what it means to follow him. These sayings of Jesus are wisdom sayings. Their design is to bring us to a place of insight concerning what Jesus thinks genuine happiness might be. If we spend some prayerful time spending a day using it as a mantra or brief prayer, letting its truth sink into our hearts, we will be far closer to what Jesus wanted. What is your calling? What should you do with your life? What really matters? The vocation of such a one is to daily seek to learn what it means to be Christian in the historical setting one finds oneself. Here is the challenge for us today. Your happiness may not be where you think it is. If we listen carefully, Jesus will turn our sense of happiness upside down.    

Part of the beauty of the beatitudes is that all to whom they apply will have a share in the coming salvation, whether they ever heard of Jesus in this life or not. The reason is that they factually have a share in Jesus and his message, as the Day of Judgment will make obvious.^[3] Congratulating the poor without qualification is unexpected, even paradoxical, since one usually reserves this for those who enjoy prosperity, happiness, or power.  The congratulations to the weeping and the hungry are expressed vivid and exaggerated language, which announces a dramatic transformation.Chapter 6 will give the version of the Lord’s Prayer we find in Matthew. “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” One can easily imagine Matthew viewing the beatitudes as giving some content to the will of God as Jesus understood it and as how the rule of God comes even now, in the prayer and life of the people of God, even as they look forward to the coming fullness of that rule. Moreover, the Beatitudes feature three ways humankind experiences the blessings accompanying the unfolding of the kingdom — as those who need good news, as those who help share good news and as those who are willing to work for the sake of good news even at personal cost.

The Beatitudes receive their name after the Latin adjective beatus (“fortunate”) that stands at the beginning of verses 3-11 in the Vulgate. The word in Greek is Μακάριοι and one best translates it as “happy” or “blissful.” Beatitudes acknowledge praise due to an individual for some deed or quality and are thus not asking God to bless those who do such things. "Blessed" is a formula of congratulations in relation to piety, wisdom, and prosperity.  Μακάριοι is associated with the joy and peace associated with a relationship with divinity.  These are not statements, but punctuation.  How Blest, How wonderful.  There is an emotional quality of blessedness and joy. There are other beatitudes in 11:6, 13:16, 24:46, Luke 11:27-28, Revelation 1:3; James 1:12; Romans 14:22; and John 20:29. Old Testament piety and wisdom formulate such congratulations: Ps 1:1-2, 33:12, 127:5-6, Pr 3:3, Sir 31:8. Such blessedness has its secret within itself. It is serene and untouchable. It does not depend upon the circumstances of life. It addresses the possibility of a blessed life that is possible through the pain, sorrow, loss, grief that touches every human life. Such blessedness arises from living one’s life in the company and presence of Jesus.[4]

The statements are synthetic rather than analytical. Happiness comes to people who possess characteristics like this. They describe the life-direction of the one following Jesus. They stand opposite to current ideas of happiness and good fortune. Jesus is giving people added information about themselves. The presence of Jesus makes these persons blessed.^[5] Jesus saw a new world coming. Jesus himself was a sign of that new world, the first outbreak of the rule of God, a signal that, by the grace of God, reality was making a fundamental shift. The beatitudes may seem like an unrealistic way to live. However, if we ponder them deeply, and considering the proleptic appearance of the rule of God in Jesus, they become a powerful invitation to live in an unusual way.

For Matthew, Jesus ascends one of the hills around Capernaum, symbolizing Moses ascending Mount Zion and the ascending of pilgrims to Mount Zion, while his disciples follow him. He sits down, and he teaches them. The result of the healing and exorcism, the teaching and proclamation, is that some people responded with wanting to follow Jesus as their teacher or rabbi. He will offer a sharp contrast between the effects of the rule of Rome and the effects of the rule of God. For Matthew, (Luke 6:17-20a provides a different setting) Jesus teaches to form a community that will live the type of life he describes here. They will not so alone. Rather, they will have a community of persons devoted to forming its identity by living this way.  

The first eight of the nine beatitudes form a single unit in Matthew 5:3-10; the refrain “theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (5:3, 10) acts like a set of bookends for the material between them (scholars call this common literary structure an inclusio). The ninth beatitude in 5:11-12 thus lies outside this literary unit. These declarations of those on the favor of God rests encourage certain actions.

Verse-by-verse study

The first three beatitudes declare that people normally considered unfortunate are fortunate, since they are fit to receive of the rule of God.

³ “Blessed (Μακάριοι) are the poor (πτωχοὶ), with Matthew having in spirit (πνεύματι), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Luke 6:20b). "You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.” (The Message) such persons have their sole help in God rather than relying on their religious knowledge and achievement.[6] Such persons are poor in a religious way, having an inner need, consistent with Old Testament formulations. They are the humble, the poor before God, standing before God as beggars, with empty hands, conscious of their spiritual poverty.[7] They are in dire need of good news, and they will have it. This is in keeping with how Jesus approaches the lowly throughout Matthew. We can see the theme in other Jewish literature. The Lord looks upon the humble and contrite in spirit who tremble at the word of the Lord (Isa 66:2b). The pious shall give thanks, in parallel thought with the poor receiving the mercy of God (Psalm of Solomon 10:7, from around 50 BC-70 AD).^[8] In the history of influence, most of the ancients viewed this as a spiritual poverty, humility. We have no one else upon whom to rely on than God. That is our situation, whether we are aware of it or not. This poverty, true and saving despair, is the gift of the Holy Spirit and the work of Jesus Christ. In this, it resembles faith, of which it is a part. It is to know our sin and divine compassion, forgiving us our sins. It suggests despair about us and the possibilities of existence.^[9] The poor in spirit focuses upon inner life. It has in mind inner resources. It seems close to the ethical attitude of humility. It contrasts lack of sufficiency for life verses self-sufficiency. It suggests the poverty of human resources. In the Old Testament, the poor recognize their state of poverty before God.  "Poor" people do not have to do something first.  One must hear in this beatitude one's own lack.  

Such a paradoxical formulation of those who belong to the rule of God represents the central theme of the proclamation of Jesus.[10] As Jesus speaks, the future rule of God comes.  Clearly, the rule of God manifests itself differently than the rule of Rome. The sovereignty and authority of God is behind what Jesus says.  The humble receive the promise of the kingdom.  In doing so, the salvation that Jesus mediates consists of fellowship with God and the related life, which also embraces a renewal of fellowship with others. To have part in the rule of God is of the very essence of salvation.^[11]

⁴ “Blessed (Μακάριοι) are those who mourn (πενθοῦντες), for they will be comforted (παρακληθήσονται). "You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.” (The Message) Taken eschatologically, this mourning refers to the sorrow of living in this age inflicts, of seeing this age for what it is rather than being led away by its charms.[12] If we are in the presence of one who mourns the natural reaction is one of pity and compassion. Yet Jesus invites us to ponder that the blessing of God is upon them. They are in dire need of good news, and they will have it. This is in keeping with how Jesus approaches the lowly throughout Matthew. Mourning here is over one’s own sin as well as the sins of others. It suggests mourning over the state of the world. What a paradox Jesus discloses here, that we find our genuine happiness in mourning. We experience the suffering and pain of this world, not just for ourselves, I hope, but that of others as well. Evil is in us and around us, erupting in bedrooms and boardrooms, back alleys and battlefields. Your mourning is not the end, but the prelude to the comfort God will bring.

God will replace the mourning of this age with the comfort of the next age. We find the same emphasis in the prophetic promise that in the year of the favor of the Lord, comfort will come to those who mourn, providing for those who mourn in Zion, giving them garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and the mantle of praise rather than a faint spirit (Isaiah 61:2-3). It suggests strengthening and consoling. The promise of this passage is that the suffering and death of human history will not have the final word.

⁵ “Blessed (Μακάριοι) are the meek (πραεῖς), for they will inherit the earth. "You're blessed when you're content with just who you are - no more, no less. That is the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that cannot be bought.” (The Message) We find a similar thought when the psalmist says the meek, gentle, and unassuming shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant prosperity (Ps 37:11). The beatitude is close to verse 3, and even closer if one translates into Aramaic. Gentle people reject the power-hungry and violent ways of the world we live in. It speaks of the need for us to live God-controlled lives. Meekness is something like self-control. A truly meek person is one who has every instinct, impulse, and passion under control. They know themselves well enough to put themselves under the direction God gives them. It refers to those who acknowledge the will of God rather than their own.[13]  These do not need power, because their trust is in God.  The sense is unassuming or undemanding.  A look at Jewish parenesis shows that one can hardly separate the nuances of humility and kindness from each other.  Without humility, for example, one cannot learn, for the first step in learning is the realization of our ignorance. Without humility, love becomes impossible, for the beginning of love is a sense of unworthiness. Without humility, we will not know true religion, which begins with a sense of our weakness and of our need for God.^[14] The word does not mean the sickly weakness, milk-toast person.  The Old Testament calls Moses meek.  Jesus also was meek.  It refers to a strong character; firmness combined with humility.  In the Old Testament, it refers to gentleness, steadiness, and open to trust in God. Aristotle described ethical living as a mean, or mid-point, between two extremes. On the one extreme was wild and uncontrolled anger; on the other was a total lack of anger, a spineless resignation. In between was righteous anger, the middle way, or the golden mean. Aristotle used a form of this very same word translated here as “meekness” to describe a life lived in perfect balance.

The promise is participation in the rule of God over the earth. The promise is that what life experience denied them on earth, influence apart from power and violence, will belong to them. One can accomplish this inheriting only partially now.  Those who act with equanimity and sensitivity will normally get further than those who are rough of will. 

The rest of the beatitudes are concerned with moral qualities.

⁶ “Blessed (Μακάριοι) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (δικαιοσύνην), for they will be filled (Luke 6:21). "You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He is food and drink in the best meal you will ever eat.” (The Message) Here is a hunger, a desire, that the will of God be done.[15] Happiness is for those who we actively seek doing the will of God. We need to fill our lives with the things of God. We must never stop hungering and thirsting. The wonder of humanity is not its sin, but that regardless of the depths of evil to which we can sink, goodness still haunts us. When embedded in the mud of our self-destructive and self-inflicted darkness, we never wholly forget the stars above us. God blesses those who do not stop hungering and thirsting.^[16] They help bring good news to others, committed to nurturing compassion and wholeness in the world according to the kingdom of heaven. They receive blessing to be blessings to others. The Old Testament knows of hungering and thirsting for God's word, mercy, and presence. The Lord shall bring a time of famine and thirst for the words of the Lord (Amos 8:11). The Lord shall be the host of a feast for all peoples that includes rich food and well-aged wines (Isa 25:6). All who thirst are to come to the waters and those without money can come, buy, and eat, eating rich food that will satisfy truly (Isa 55:1-2, 7). They shall not hunger or thirst, for the Lord has pity on them will lead them by springs of water (Isa 49:10). The tears of the psalmist have been his food (Ps 42:3). Some wandered in the wilderness, hungry and thirsty and fainting within, but the Lord delivered them from distress, for the Lord satisfies the thirsty and the hungry with good things (Ps 107:4-9). Even such a background of the saying suggests they have not attained righteousness. It suggests continual hungering and thirsting, the longing of the pious. What they lack, they long for what only God can give. The “righteousness” to which Jesus refers receives a description in 5:20-48. 

⁷ “Blessed (Μακάριοι) are the merciful (ἐλεήμονες), for they will receive mercy. " You are blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care full,' you find yourselves cared for.” (The Message) They receive blessing to be blessings to others. They help bring good news to others, committed to nurturing compassion and wholeness in the world according to the kingdom of heaven. They receive blessing to be blessings to others. Followers of Jesus show such mercy to others, for they are anxious to receive it themselves. They help bring good news to others, committed to nurturing compassion and wholeness in the world according to the kingdom of heaven. They receive blessing to be blessings to others. In a similar thought, we are to forgive neighbors the wrongs they have done and then the Lord will pardon our sins when we pray (Ecclesiasticus or Sirach 28:2). No one can count on God's mercy that does not also show mercy. It stresses the connection between God's love for humanity and neighborly love.  

⁸ “Blessed (Μακάριοι) are the pure in heart (καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ), for they will see God. "You're blessed when you get your inside world - your mind and heart - put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.” (The Message) Such persons are willing to show the world in word and deed that there is nothing more life-changing than single-minded devotion to God. Yet, our focus is fuzzy at best, feeling pulled in all directions. They help bring good news to others, committed to nurturing compassion and wholeness in the world according to the kingdom of heaven. Those who have pure hearts will ascend Zion and abide in the Temple, seeking the face of God (Psalm 24:3-6). Other parts of the New Testament reinforce this theme. Christian instruction has the goal of love that comes from a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith (I Tim 1:5). Those who call upon the Lord with a pure heart pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace (II Tim 2:22). It suggests purity of heart as undivided obedience to God. The point is inner and moral purity, presenting the whole self to God. "Heart" is the center of human wanting, thinking, and feeling.  The point is not opposition to the acts of worship prescribed in the Old Testament, including its sacrifices. Christian tradition has interpreted this beatitude in an ascetic manner. Yet we must not interpret purity of peart in a way that would lead to removal from the world or to a form of piety suitable only for the religiously gifted. This quality will manifest itself as obedience toward God in the world.

The share in the life of God is communicated by the vision of God. The vision of God effects transformation in the likeness of God (I John 3:2).[17] This quality of life has a hope for a future seeing of God that is more than private individual experience. The promise may refer either to seeing God in worship or to the eschatological seeing. When God reveals Christ to the world, we shall be like him, seeing him as he is (I John 3:2b). In any case, “entering into” the rule of God has its definition materially as the vision of God.^[18]

⁹ “Blessed Μακάριοι) are the peacemakers (εἰρηνοποιοί), for they will be called children of God. "You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That is when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.” (The Message) It denotes the establishment of peace and concord between people. Such persons come between two contending parties and try to make peace. They are the children of God because they act among human beings the way God acts among human beings.[19] It speaks of our need to work for peace and the justice that paves the way for peace. However, for most of us, we are lovers of peace, and we want a peaceful existence in our own lives in which the strife and brokenness in our world does not bother us. Peacemakers are active. A person refuses to take sides in a dispute, steps between two parties, and tries to make peace.  It suggests overcoming evil with good.  This beatitude points to the commandment of love of enemies.  Thus, Matthew is thinking not only of a peaceful living together of members of the community but thinks beyond the limits of the community.  They help bring good news to others, committed to nurturing compassion and wholeness in the world according to the kingdom of heaven. They receive blessing to be blessings to others.

The promise is that God will name them as children of God.  The Old Testament reserves the title for Israel. Jesus applies the name to anyone who exhibits the qualities of making peace. Being a child of God is an eschatological gift of salvation.[20]

¹⁰ “Blessed are those who are persecuted (δεδιωγμένοι) for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.[21] "You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.” (The Message) The beatitude points us in the direction of the love of enemies. The world does not want the people of God to point them in the direction of setting things right with God and with each other. If one genuinely hungers and thirst for righteousness (5:6), one may find that suffering is the result. The persecuted are favorites of God. It refers to those who undergo fiery tests of loyalty to God.  The implication is that right conduct before God brings persecution.  Yet we are not to think of masochism or sadism here. Rather, it does seem that the New Testament teaches that Christians should not look upon persecution as strange. They are not to avenge themselves, for it gives an opening for all kinds of unrighteousness and folly and wickedness. In fact, such defenselessness may be dishonorable. Jesus calls upon his followers to love their enemies. The only answer seems to be that they resemble in a faint way the suffering of Jesus.^[22] Christians are not to look upon honor in the same way that the rest of the world may do. Affliction in this world is not an unqualified bad and may be a good. Jesus makes it clear that working for the sake of good news can get you into trouble. Doing what is sacred is not always the safest choice in a world consistently indifferent to, if not the source of, the spiritual impoverishment and grief caused by lowliness that inflicts itself upon people. Receiving blessing from God is challenging, if not risky, business. Jesus is fully aware of the cost of discipleship, indeed, fully aware of the cost of being the Messiah.

In fact, followers of Jesus receive blessedness, even when persecution occurs. Hatred by the world will in fact mean blessedness from God. Such a paradoxical formulation of those who belong to the rule of God represents the central theme of the proclamation of Jesus.[23] Jesus promises them the kingdom of heaven. Again, in doing so, the salvation that Jesus mediates consists of fellowship with God and the related life, which also embraces a renewal of fellowship with others. To have part in the rule of God is of the very essence of salvation.^[24]

Verses 11-12 (Luke 6:22-23) 

¹¹ “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, speaking of empowerment to participate in the kingdom for the sake of something bigger than personal satisfaction, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets, disciples becoming the successors of the prophets, who were before you. "Not only that - count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort, and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens - give a cheer, even! - for though they do not like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.” (The Message) The certainty of salvation and the security it provides gives followers of Jesus courage to submit to the uncertainties of life, especially related to seeing suffering in a new light as a child of God, here becoming an occasion of joy that receives recompense from God.[25] Jesus would refer to those welcoming prophets in the name of a prophet receiving the reward a prophet (10:41a), that many prophets longed to see what this generation sees and hear what this generation hears (13:17), and that he sends prophets whom the Pharisees will flog (23:34). Jesus claimed prophetic authority that he then shared with his disciples, claiming for himself the promise of the Spirit (Isa 61:1).[26] The beatitude points us in the direction of the love of enemies. Here is precisely where the task of standing with and for the kingdom comes into play most fully, particularly whenever we confront the sad news of the world with the good news of heaven, no matter what the personal cost. One receives blessing from God especially when the world offers rejection. Such blessed boldness connects us to the same heavenly power that sustains Jesus and the prophets before him. 

The ninth beatitude differs from the other beatitudes in that it is longer and less ethereal than the others are. However, note that its theme, persecution, is a theme the eighth beatitude introduces. Matthew here switches suddenly to the second person (“Blessed are you when people revile you ...”), and many scholars believe that the direct address implies that readers of the gospel may have felt harassed by Jewish groups like the Pharisees, with whom it is likely the author and his community were in conflict.

Practical application

Keep it simple. We often hear that advice. The truth behind it is that often, the insights we need to live a full Christian life are just that – simple. We are to love God with all our hearts. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. In a sense, simple, is it not? 

What are followers of Jesus supposed to look like? Well, they are to recognize their complete dependence upon God, concerned with the suffering in this world, meek before others, hunger and thirst for what is right, be willing to suffer for what is right, be merciful to others, have inward and outward purity, and make peace in a world divided. I am not suggesting that any of this is easy. Yet, it is simple and direct, as Jesus puts it, at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. 

Sure. It is so simple that if we are faithful to Jesus, we will spend our lives becoming like this. The beatitudes invite us to consider Christianity as a lifestyle, a way of being in the world that is simple, non-violent, shared, and loving. With all the centuries since shared the beatitudes, the church became an established religion in a way that sometimes avoided this type of lifestyle change. Thus, one could be warlike, greedy, racist, selfish and vain in most of Christian history, and still believe that Jesus is one’s “personal Lord and Savior.” The world has no time for such silliness anymore. The suffering on Earth is too great.^[27]

If we follow Jesus, if our vocation in life is to learn to be Christian, then we need to let Jesus define for us that type of life will look like. Some parts of the Bible are clarifying moments. The Ten Commandments would be an obvious place to go for such a clarifying moment. For many of us, Micah 6:1-8 is a clarifying moment in declaring that God requires of the people of God only that they do justice, act with kindness, and walk humbly with God. It seems to me that Jesus had a clarifying moment toward the beginning of his ministry in Galilee in offering his inaugural sermon that Matthew has expanded into the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has no intention of being a lone ranger. He wants people who will be faithful witnesses with him. He also wants to clarify for the disciples and for the people what it means to follow him.

The Beatitudes contain what Jesus considers to be the successful, well-lived human life that distinguishes itself by being a follower of Jesus. The promises affirmed here are for now provisionally and proleptically but will reach their fulfillment in the eschatological age. God will bring an unexpected bent of the world toward love, peace, and justice. 

Living the type of life described here is not available only to followers of Jesus. The beatitudes describe a life any person of any culture or historical setting might adopt as the goal of proper character formation. If one adopts this direction in one’s life, one participates in the saving work of God now and in the gracious end toward which God is moving natural and human history. My point is this. A personal encounter with Jesus through the Christian message as a response of faith to it cannot be the universal criterion for participation in salvation or exclusion from it if we take seriously what the New Testament says about the love of God for the world that embraces all people. Hearing the gospel in a way that might bring personal encounter is historically contingent and cannot be decisive for eternal salvation. In their case, what counts is whether actual conduct agrees with the will of God that Jesus proclaimed. The message of Jesus is the norm by which God judges, even in the case of those who never meet Jesus personally. All to whom the beatitudes apply will have a share in the coming salvation whether they have ever heard of Jesus in this life or not. They have a share in the message of Jesus and in him, as the Day of Judgment will reveal. Further, the eschatological transformation contains an element of compensation for the sufferings and deficiencies of the present world.^[28]

 

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[1] Archbishop Desmond Tuto.

[2] Martin Marty, Emphasis Ja-Fe 1996

[3] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991)Volume 3, 615.

[4] Inspired by William Barkley, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1, The Daily Study Bible Series (Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, 2017).

[5] (Barth K. , Church Dogmatics, 2004, 1932-67)IV.2 [64.3] 188)

[6] Schweizer, TDNT, VI, 401.

[7] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 112-3. 

[8] And the pious shall give thanks in the assembly of the people;

            And on the poor shall God have mercy in the gladness () of Israel;

[9] (Barth K. , Church Dogmatics, 2004, 1932-67)I.2 [16.2] 265)

[10] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 96-7.

[11] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991)Vol II, 398)

[12] Bultmann, TDNT, VI, 43.

[13] F. Hauck/S. Schulz, TDNT, VI, 649.

[14] William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew (Westminster John Knox, 1968), 112-13.

[15] Goppelt, TDNT, VI, 17-18.

[16] William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew (Westminster John Knox, 1968), 116.

[17] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 248.

[18] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991)Vol III, 528)

[19] Forester, TDNT, II, 419.

[20] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 181.

[21] (Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition, 1921, 1931, 1958), 110, where this is a formulation of Matthew to bring the number of beatitudes to seven.

[22] (Barth K. , Church Dogmatics, 2004, 1932-67)IV.1 [59.2] 243)

[23] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 96-7.

[24] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991), Vol II, 398)

[25] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 183-4.

[26] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971),79.

[27] Richard Rohr, shared by Rev. Dennis L. Stone, Terrace Lake United Methodist Church, Kansas City, Missouri.

[28] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991), Vol III, 615, 639)

I John 3:1-3

I John 3:1-3

1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  2 Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he  is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.  3 And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

In I John 3:1-3, the exclamatory interruption joyfully affirms that believers are children of God now. The use of the imperative expresses a desire to get their attention: See! Behold! The Father has loved (ἀγάπην) us enough to call us children of God, and, emphasizing the point, so we are. This maintains a consistent distinction between Jesus the Son and believers who are children of God.[1] In the prologue to the Gospel, those who receive him have been given “power to become children of God, who were born not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). In Mt 5:9, Jesus says peacemakers are called children of God. The intimacy of the parent and child relation also suggests dependency and trust. He uses the word to express the fundamental relationship humans have with what defines their identity. In typical Johannine thought, one’s parentage is either divine or evil. Since the world does not know God, it does know us as children of God. The relation with the heavenly Father places the children of the Father at odds with the world. The way of life that identifies one as a child of God creates division. The transformed life of children of God changes the relation between them and the world. He addresses them as beloved (Ἀγαπητοί) and reaffirms they are children of God now, whereas prior to their entrance into the community they were children of the world. John 8:44 refers to children of the devil. The mood is the danger the world presents to “us.” Some within the community have revealed themselves to be dangerous (2:19). The writer is suspicious in a way that could lead to an unhealthy withdrawal from the world. He is drawing attention to a conversation the church of every time and culture needs to have regarding church and world, believer and unbeliever. The context forces recognition that some believers, some within the church, will want to identify with elements in the world rather than gain their identity through being children of God. We will be a part of various communities (family, work, interest groups, neighborhoods, political entities), all of which will form our identity over time. The Christian community is to be so important to us that it continually shapes us into children of God, which will create tensions with the other communities with which our lives intersect. Given the intensity that political involvement can demand, it can lead to a suspicious attitude toward those who do not agree with “us,” leading to viewing the other as morally reprehensible and can lead to violence. We may well sacrifice openness and learning from those different from us in favor of full identification with the moral superiority of the political community with which we identify. What if the politically other is a Christian? Here is a sign that we are gaining our identity more through our involvement in a political community than we do our faith community. John then asserts that God has not yet revealed (ἐφανερώθη) what we will be. An important theme of this text is revelation, which here is a future action of God. If they have undergone a change from their previous life to their present existence, how much more will they change when the Father reveals Christ, and they see him just as he is? As Jesus put it, the pure in heart will see God (Mt 5:8). Because we may see God, we shall be like (ὅμοιοι) God, for the vision of God effects transformation into divine likeness.[2] This is an important insight, for fulfillment is reached when Christians are like Christ, a likeness achieved when Christ is manifested. The coming or appearing of Christ in the future brings perfection for believers, a transfiguration that will enable them to see the transfigured Christ as he is.[3] The future will be a new manifestation of the love that has accomplished the gift of becoming children of God. John is offering a brief reflection on time. His point is that on the path in time, objects and people exist only in anticipation of what they will be in the final revelation that only the end can clarify. We can rightly refer to that end as eternity. The clarity the end brings is the entry of eternity into time. In the end, the distinction between time and eternity dissolves as time itself disintegrates into the fullness that eternity represents. In the end, the totality of life arrives, along with the true and definitive identity of the finite and temporal. The future is that toward which the finite and temporal aim. Therefore, the future becomes the basis for the lasting essence of each individual creature that finds duration in its time and place. Finite things must relate to their eschatology.[4] If we belong to God, if we are children of God, then we are to be like the one whose children we are. As children of God, we are to be like our Father. When the final disclosure brought by the end arrives, they will change even more to see Christ as he is. In the prologue to the Gospel, we read that Jesus, the Word made flesh, is the perfect image of God, the one who has “made him known” to the world” (John 1:18). The idea is that we see now in a dim glass compared with viewing the truth of their end clearly (I Corinthians 13:12). Allowing their lives to be guided by this hope purifies them, ridding themselves of attitudes and actions that are inappropriate of those in relation to the Father. They live in the love of God and have the firm hope of a glorious future. The revelation of this glorious future has not yet taken place.[5] The resemblance between the believer and Christ will be in the realm of righteousness. To be a child of God is to begin a journey in the faith that will lead to a more profound knowledge of who Christ is, in his fullness. Furthermore, this journey will lead to a deeper, personal, moral purity; the believer will become like Jesus. Ambrose Bierce once defined a saint, with some sarcasm, as “a dead sinner, revised and edited.” Yet, the statement has a degree of truth. God must revise and edit all Christians for them to enter divine glory.

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[1] (Dunn, Christology in the Making: A New Testament Inquiry into the Origins of the Doctrine of the Incarnation, 1980, 1989) 58.

[2] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971) 248.

[3] J. Schneider, TDNT, V, 188.

[4] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991)Volume 3, 531, 603.

[5] (Barth, Church Dogmatics, 2004, 1932-67)II.2 [37.3] 608.

Revelation 7:9-17

Revelation 7:9-17 (NRSV)

⁹ After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ They cried out in a loud voice, saying,

“Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

¹¹ And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹² singing,

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom

and thanksgiving and honor

and power and might

be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

¹³ Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” ¹⁴ I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

¹⁵ For this reason they are before the throne of God,

and worship him day and night within his temple,

and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.

¹⁶ They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;

the sun will not strike them,

nor any scorching heat;

¹⁷ for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,

and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

           

          Revelation 7:9-17 is a vision that is part of an interlude between the sixth and seventh seals that unleash judgment upon the earth. The message of Revelation is one of comfort and reassurance. It offers a resounding refrain of hope. It upholds the need for faithfulness among believers and holds out the promise of redemption for the future. The purpose and presence of the redeeming love of God is the moving force that informs this entire book. The context of this passage is that the Lamb has broken six of the seven seals. We now have an interlude in the form of two unnumbered visions that reveal the nature of the church as under divine protection. Despite their persecution, the people of God are safe and secure in the presence of God. 

We turn to a book that many pastors rarely preach from or study much anymore.  The book of Revelation is rich in symbolism that can be difficult to understand.  However, the images in this text are easy to understand.  The 24 elders, a combination of the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 disciples, symbolize the whole people of God offering up praises to God.  The One sitting upon the throne is God.  The lamb is Jesus.  The great multitude is those who have gone through the great ordeal, and yet remained loyal to God.  They dressed in white robes, symbolizing victory and purity.  The four living creatures symbolize all creation that offers its praises to God.

  We also turn to a topic that we rarely talk about anymore.  This is a vision of heaven.  We talk so little about heaven.  This is a dramatic change from many years ago.  Critics accused the churches of offering a "pie in the sky, by and by."  Sadly, preaching concerning the hope of heaven became an excuse for tolerating injustice and suffering on earth.  The result was that many of us began to emphasize the here and now.  We asked, "What does Christianity have to say to the world in which you and I live?"  Though I can identify with that, I believe that eventually we must answer the question: Is there a "pie in the sky" or not?  Is there something beyond the realities of this world for which we hope, or is this world all that there is?  

⁹ After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count. The contrast between the two visions that one can count the people involved in verses 1-8, but not in this vision. This means that those who will go through tribulation on earth merge with the innumerable people in heaven.[1] In the end, such distinctions will not matter, so we must not have undue anxiety in our finite time here with whatever distinctions heaven might include. In the end, supreme happiness will be the lot of all (John Wesley). The people come from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white. White robes symbolize victory and purity. Their victory was in not allowing the seductions of sin to win their lives. The robes are a gift of God in 3:5 and 6:11. Here, the free choice of human agents bestows them. Some commentators find precedence for this dress in the appropriate garb worn for first-century temple worship. These white garments are the official robes along which they receive a new being and are both empowered for and engaged to a corresponding current activity. One who puts on these clothes become, in 2:14, the bearer of a name that corresponds to this true reality that God enters into the book of life (3:5, 13:8, 17:8).[2] When a young novice joined a monastery in the Middle Ages, he received a monk’s cowl.  The elders made all the monk’s robes in one size.  A young man, wearing the large robe of an adult monk, looked ridiculous.  Yet, given time, over the years, the young man would grow into the cowl.  One day it would fit him perfectly.  When we receive baptism, God clothes us in the big name, “Christian.”  It may seem ridiculous placing such a large name on someone. Yet given time, by the grace of God, we shall grow into the name.  One day it will fit us perfectly.  We shall be as we profess.[3]The people also appear with palm branches in their hands. Some commentators see the palm frond tradition rooted in the Jewish celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. Others have combined the two images of white robes and palm branches into a general symbol of victory among the faithful ones. John Wesley, in his notes, says that there is an inconceivable variety in the degrees of reward in the other world. He does not want the slothful one to say, "If I get to heaven at all, I will be content." Such an approach may lead to letting go heaven entirely. He observes that in worldly things, people are ambitious to get as high as they can. Christians have a far more noble ambition. The difference between the very highest and the lowest state in the world is nothing to the smallest difference between the degrees of glory. Despite this, he concludes his comment: But who has time to think of this? Who is at all concerned about it? In the end, we will all be happy to be part of this multitude. ¹⁰ They cried out in a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God. Commentators who see white robes and palm fronds as victory symbols question the NRSV's literal translation here. One can also use soteria to convey a general sense of "victory," or to describe a vindicating moment (compare with Philippians 1:19). In this hymn-like scene of triumph, such an interpretation is certainly possible. Victory then belongs to the one who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!" ¹¹ And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God. This hymn reintroduces a crowd of heavenly actors. “Angels” now accompany these elders and “living creatures,” already described in chapter 4. The sense of an unmitigated divine victory still directs the praise of these heavenly beings. This vision occurs after six of the seals of judgment have unleashed horror upon the earth. This vision provides an insight into what lays beyond judgment. Thus, the vision now includes seven ascriptions of praise to God, ¹² singing, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen." The author marks relief from the harrowing revelation of the seven seals by seven ascriptions possessed by God. ¹³ Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?" The third unit, verses 14-15, opens with a formulaic question-answer moment between the visionary and the vision. In both Jewish and Greek pedagogical tradition, it was customary for the teacher to ask the student a question that only the teacher knew how to answer. ¹⁴ I said to him, "Sir, you are the one that knows." Then he said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. The answer the teacher now reveals about the identity of the white-robed worshipers may be confused for contemporary readers by an inaccurate translation of the verb's tense. The past tense rendering "who have come" in verse 14 has suggested to some that this was a vision of faithful Christian martyrs persecuted under Roman law (e.g. by Nero or Domitian). “Great tribulation” may refer to the destruction of Jerusalem. It could also refer to the trials that precede the end of the world. In any case, the great ordeal is the grim conflict of loyalties. The past tense translation of the verb, however, is not wholly accurate. The verb "to come" has a more progressive meaning. This entire passage, a momentary hiatus from the horrendous visions revealed by breaking the seven seals, is more concerned with describing how things should be and will be than with events already past. The multitude of white-robed celebrators represents all faithful Christians who survive the tribulations because of God's loving protection. These who have "washed themselves" may have joined battle with a warrior Messiah or died a martyr's death. Verses 15-17 are set forth in a series of three-line stanzas. In both form and content, these final verses remind us of traditional Hebraic prophetic literature. ¹⁵ For this reason, they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. ¹⁶ They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; ¹⁷ for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." Just before the holy smoke and thunder that usher in the terrible visions of the seventh seal, traditional images and forms that held out divine hope comforted first-century Christian believers. Again, the flexibility of Greek verb tenses can make these final words of comfort even more vital to their audience. The temple became a metaphor of the community of the new covenant. In this passage, God calls the people of God to a priestly office, serving God day and night.  The text repeats much of the image in Isaiah 49:10, where prisoners are free, and will no longer be hungry or thirsty, and they will receive shade from sun and shelter from the wind. There are good grammatical arguments for suggesting that the future tenses declared in verses 16-17. We would understand more correctly "They will hunger no more," "God will wipe away every tear," by appearing in English in the emphatic present. Thus, the seer declares God does dwell with them, believers do not hunger or thirst, and God does wipe away all tears. These words have brought comfort to many over the years. The connection of these verses with 21:3-4 confirm that we are reading a prolepsis of the end.[4] Now they rest from their labors. Now they are in the presence of the great shepherd who wipes away all tears and guides them to the waters of eternal life. Note that these saints, robed in white, are in a great processional, a great parade moving around the throne of God. You and I today are part of that long, more than 2,000-year processional moving toward the lamb. The Lamb will guide us to the springs of the water of life. The saints are those who walk before us, those who show us the way.

I should note that the Scofield Bible presents a different view of matters than I will present. For it, the great tribulation is the period of unexampled trouble that Chapters 11-18 predicted. Involving in a measure the whole earth Revelation 3:10 it is yet distinctly "the time of Jacob's trouble" Jeremiah 30:7, its vortex Jerusalem, and the Holy Land. It involves the people of God who will have returned to Palestine in unbelief. Its duration is three and a half years, or the last half of the seventieth week of Daniel. The elements of the tribulation are:

(1) The cruel reign of the "beast out of the sea" Revelation 13:1 who at the beginning of the three and a half years, will break his covenant with the Jews (by virtue of which they will have re-established the temple worship, Daniel 9:27 and show himself in the temple, demanding that he be worshiped as God ; Matthew 24:15 ; 2 Thessalonians 2:4.

(2) The active interposition of Satan "having great wrath" Revelation 12:12 who gives his power to the Beast Revelation 13:4 Revelation 13:5.

(3) The unprecedented activity of demons Revelation 9:2 Revelation 9:11 and

(4) the terrible "bowl" judgments of Re 16.

 

According to the Scofield Bible, the great tribulation will be, however, a period of salvation. An election out of Israel is seen as sealed for God in Revelation 7:4-8 and, with an innumerable multitude of Gentiles Revelation 7:9 are said to have come "out of the great tribulation" Revelation 7:14 . They are not of the priesthood, the church, to which they seem to stand somewhat in the relation of the Levites to the priests under the Mosaic Covenant. The return of Christ in glory immediately follows the great tribulation, and the events associated in Matthew 24:29-31, in which cosmic powers tremble and the Son of Man will arrive and fill the skies.

Suffering is so much a part of human life. One can hardly imagine human life without it. Certainly, suffering is deeply engrained in nature. Living things are born, eat other living things, and die. If that were not difficult enough, we inflict suffering upon self and others through our sin. One of the beauties revealed in the Book of Revelation is that through it all, God will preserve us. This world is not all there is. God has an eternity planned for us, engaged in worship and praise, wiping away every tear. 

This passage invites us to reflect upon our destiny and thus upon heaven and eternal life with God. I do not think it too negative of a view of most of us today that we are firmly rooted in this earth. We bind ourselves firmly to the earth. We may well need to loosen the ties of this world by strengthening our bond with eternity. The vision contained in this passage can console us in the loss of friends and family, of course. Those who have fallen asleep have not perished. Far from losing life, they have gained the fullness of their lives. The dangers of this life are gone. They surround the throne of the one who sits on the throne and the Lamb. Thoughts of eternal life can inspire, encourage, and strengthen us to lead lives worthy of that divine election and calling. The passage makes it clear that the joy and blessedness of eternity comes for those who have endured the suffering of the great tribulation. Thus, they were not necessarily fortunate on earth! They are there because the Lamb was slain for them. 

I would note that the multitude in Revelation sees this brightness because they gather around the throne of God in worship together. In that time to come, that throne is the place where they get their questions about life answered. However, what John’s vision shows us is that in that place of worship, they jointly perceive what they need to know, that the Lamb is their shepherd. As we live on this side of eternity, what we need to know is that God is still here in this life, that God has not left us, and that the Lamb is our shepherd as well. Moreover, corporate worship can bring us that assurance; it can give us a glimpse of the divine perspective. It is significant that we do not go to church for private devotions. We go there as part of a congregation, and we get some of the uplift we need from fellow worshipers. Therefore, it is no wonder that in the eternal age to come, the author does not describe those gathered around God’s throne one by one but as an uncountable multitude. They grew to be so many because they were already following Jesus in company with each other when they were on this side of eternity. However, standing here among the people of God, in the place of worship, we can sense the truth: that good is stronger than evil, that there is something that nothing can take from us because God has given it to us. Furthermore, we together know that nothing — nothing — can separate us from the love of God. 

In one sense, the church is always changing as it moves into new cultures and new generations. In another sense, the church is always out of step with the times in which it seeks to minister. At its best, it seeks to be faithful to the apostles who founded it and the faithful have continued throughout the centuries. It can be frustrating to see church buildings with ancient symbols and clergy wearing robes with symbols that no longer gain immediate recognition. The music is not from the top ten. The book from which it reads is ancient. The church is full of old words and old ideas. “We never did it that way before” may well be the seven last words of a dying church. At the same time, the church always needs to consider the new considering its faithfulness to the old. Whether or not the new still looks like the church of the apostles ought to matter to us. Yet, it also looks to the future with the hope of the people of God gathered from across generations and cultures to offer praise and worship to God. 

One lecture by a distinguished professor of jazz found it difficult to talk about the craft of jazz, its complexity, and its dependence on individual originality. However, when someone asked him, "Who are your models?" he immediately listed the names of famous pianists, saxophonists, and drummers. He spoke of his mentors with such reverence. He spoke of sitting for hours in a piano bar studying nothing but the fingers of a pianist's left hand. He says that a jazz artist must spend at least a couple of decades in rigorous imitation of others before that person can hope to be original. 

I have found it much the same with teaching and preaching. Reading is like allowing persons from the past to become your mentor for a while. Teaching and preaching recognize that the only way this generation can make advances is to instill in our minds and hearts what past generations of known. 

In other words, all thinking is a kind of apprenticeship, submitting oneself to the discipline of the thought of another person before you have interesting thoughts of your own. We are dependent on those who have gone before us to give us the words, tell us the stories, and teach us the tunes whereby we praise God, grow in our faith and commitment, and find the way that leads to God. 

Revelation 7:9-17 speaks of heaven as a great multitude so large that no one could count them. They are those who, having sung God's songs on earth in their lifetimes, now sing that song before the throne of the lamb for all time. When asked, "Who are these?" the angel tells John that they are the ones who passed through great ordeals and yet were faithful. They kept believing, and hoping, witnessing, and giving, even when the going got rough. Now they rest from their labors. Now they are in the presence of the great shepherd who wipes away all tears and guides them to the waters of eternal life. 

Note that these saints, robed in white, are in a great processional, a great parade moving around the throne of God. You and I today are part of that long, more than 2,000-year processional moving toward the lamb. The Lamb will guide us to the springs of the water of life. The saints are those who walk before us, those who show us the way. 

The Bible includes some silent partners — spiritually speaking. Their support is not of the financial variety. These partners are a great multitude, from every nation, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white. They are what the Apostles’ Creed calls “the communion of saints.” They stand behind us, the present-day church, quietly lending support in ways of which we’re only dimly aware. As long as there is a communion of saints — and the promise of Revelation is that their heavenly witness is eternal — we are never lacking in spiritual capital. They are our silent partners. Awareness of their presence can be a source of strength.

Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary says they will not perform again as a trio. Mary Travers has been battling cancer and Yarrow tells WTOP Radio in Washington, “The band will not be able to perform live again, in the absence of some kind of medical turnaround, which is unexpected.” He says Travers is on oxygen and in a wheelchair, but they still get together as friends. Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey are continuing to perform without Travers. Yarrow says they don’t sing Travers’ part and he’s delighted when the audience sings it for them.[5]

I would not be here today if it were not for all those saints who put up with me in Sunday school and told me the stories of Jesus, who taught me in a college religion class, and guided me when I was confused, and put their arm around me when I wanted to give up. I am thinking of a multitude that I could not possibly name today, I think of the faith, hope, and courage of my mother. I think of Joe, Ed, Wayne, Dwayne, Robert, Bill, and on and on. I expect that you are also thinking about the people who put you here today, the saints who nurtured you in this faith and to whom you owe your commitment to Christ. 

We give thanks for these saints, all of them, and acknowledge our indebtedness to them. We give thanks for the saints who surround the throne of the lamb. Name them, claim them, give thanks to God that they were there for you. 

Teddy Roosevelt went on a hunting expedition in Africa after he had been president for two terms.  When he got on the ship that would take him back to the States, to home, there was a great celebration.  Two other people got on that ship.  Two missionaries who had spent the last 20 years serving Christ in Africa.  It had been a long and hard service.  When the husband observed how Teddy Roosevelt was treated, he was discouraged.  He said to his wife that those years of service were lost, because look at who gets the praise.  They went across the ocean, and when they landed in the States, there was another great celebration as Teddy Roosevelt had come home.  It was also time for the two missionaries to get off the ship.  The husband again said that they should not have wasted their lives the way they did.  By this time, the wife was upset, so she told him to go to his room and pray.  When he was done, he came out of the room.  "What did the Lord tell you," she asked.  "The Lord told me that it is OK.  You are not home yet."  

I conclude with a prayer.

I am grateful, O God, that your Spirit is at work within me, nudging and stretching me, causing me to grow, to think, and to present myself in worship. Sometimes, it takes courage to do so. Suffering is so much part of a human life that I can hardly imagine a human life without it. Suffering seems deeply engrained in nature as well. As friends surround me, I sense again that I could never live alone. Worship reminds me that this life, which I receive as your gift, is not all that it can be or will be. Let my worship be an expression of my gratitude for what you are doing now, yes, but even more, that you bring our lives to its fullness and completion.

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[1] Bruce Metzger (Breaking the Code, 1993)

[2] Barth (Church Dogmatics, IV.4, p. 7)

[3] Inspired by Zwingli.

[4] Michel (TDNT, Volume 4, 888)

[5] —From a 2009 Associated Press news article, “No More Live Performances for Peter, Paul and Mary; Mary Travers has been battling cancer.” No longer available online. (Travers died later that year.)