18 February 2026 - words from Canon Ric on Ash Wednesday
Gracious and loving God, may your word spoken, heard and thought renew a right spirit within us and guide our steps in the way of your truth. We ask this in the name of Jesus, your Christ. Amen.
This past Sunday was the last Sunday in our Epiphany season and as is customary on the last Sunday of Epiphany, we celebrate the Transfiguration of Jesus. The story of Jesus’ transfiguration provided a nearly perfect bookend to the story of Jesus’ Baptism that we read on the first Sunday of Epiphany. In both those events, not only did Jesus affirm his commitment to follow God’s will, his identity as the beloved, the chosen one of God, was also confirmed. Recall the words of the resplendent heavenly voice in each story, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased.”
Indeed, the story of the Transfiguration was a fitting way to bring the Season of Epiphany to a close but it is also an apt preface to the season of Lent. Again, recall that following the transfiguration, when the spectacular was all over, when Moses and Elijah were gone, the heavenly voice was quiet, Jesus’ face and clothing had returned to normal and Peter, James and John were lying face down in the dirt overcome by fear, Jesus came to them and said, “Get up (which literally means “be raised!”) and do not be afraid.” Ironically, it was not the "glowing," glorified Jesus, the transfigured Jesus Peter would have held on to and housed in a tent on the mountain top who came to them, but rather the down-to-earth, human Jesus, the one with whom the disciples had hiked up the mountain.
At that moment, the disciples were raised to a new life and given the chance to listen in a new way. Remember, for Jesus, fulfilling all righteousness, that is, doing God’s will, was more important than all else. And that could not be done on the mountaintop. After he told the disciples to get up and not be afraid, he actually told them more, so much more. It’s just that he didn’t use any words. Rather, immediately following his transfiguration on Mount Tabor, Jesus hiked back down the mountain. In so doing, without words Jesus told the Peter, James and John that he could not stay on the mountain; he could not remain in that moment of glorious transcendence. Jesus had to go back down, into the valley, to the low places in this world. He had to leave the mountain to bring God’s grace and love to the brokenness of the world. Jesus knew that he had to return to the reality of real everyday life in order to do the will of God, in order to fulfill all righteousness, the righteousness that characterizes the kingdom of heaven. And so Jesus descended the mountain and immediately set his face toward Jerusalem.
I am certain that Jesus knew what lay ahead. He knew what waited for him in Jerusalem. He had already told all the disciples all about it just before he took Peter, James and John up that mountain. But he also understood the mission and purpose of his earthly ministry. He was fully aware of his identity and what God was calling him to do.
Jesus left the splendor of the mountaintop and headed for Jerusalem. And today, marked as followers of Jesus with the holy sign of ashes, we begin walking with him through the brokenness of our world toward the Holy City.
Dear friends, Lent provides us with the opportunity to deepen our awareness of our identity as followers of Jesus, to understand fully what being a disciple of Jesus is about and to reaffirm our commitment to follow him. By the grace of God our Lenten journey will take us further along on our journey of discipleship.
Today we descend the mountain. Today we step out toward Jerusalem with Jesus. Today we begin our journey through the 40 days of Lent - and we are called to mark those days by self-reflection, penitence, prayer, fasting, alms-giving and reading and meditating on the word of God. Those are our Lenten tools, the simple tools we can use to prepare ourselves to celebrate the risen Christ of God when the glorious day of resurrection arrives.
Ultimately, our Lenten journey will lead us to the shouts of “Hosanna!” on Palm Sunday, into the upper room of Maundy Thursday, through the sting of betrayal and denial, interrogation and ridicule, onto the wood of the cross of Good Friday and then into the darkness, emptiness and despair of Holy Saturday. But finally, having remained faithful in this journey, we will find ourselves standing in the opening of the empty tomb on the Sunday of the Resurrection and we will hear the risen Christ call us by name.
Through it all I pray we will come to a deeper and more profound understanding that God has already given us all that God has to give. God has given us the beloved and in the beloved we discover that we are beloved.
May that be our treasure and may our hearts dwell there always.
Have a holy and blessed Lent - thanks be to God.
15 February 2026 - sermon by Canon Ric
Let us pray. Gracious and loving God, we offer to you that which is here spoken, heard and thought. Accept that which is worthy of you and through the abundance of your grace, forgive that which is unworthy. In the name of Jesus, your beloved we pray. Amen.
Our tour bus brought us to the foot of Mount Tabor about 30 kilometers directly west of the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee to visit the Church of the Transfiguration. The narrowness of the winding road up the steep terrain ruled out the possibility of the whole group of us riding to the top in the comfort of our air-conditioned tour bus. And so, in groups of four or five, we climbed into small vans dedicated to the sole purpose of taking visitors on the madcap ride up the road with its more than a dozen harrowing turns to get to the top of that sacred mountain. A visit to Mt. Tabor, traditionally believed to be the site where the Transfiguration of Jesus took place, is a highlight on the itineraries of many Christian pilgrims to Israel. Mount Tabor has great spiritual significance and the view from the top is stunning - once you get there. The ride to the top … well, that’s another matter altogether.
“Where are the seat belts?” I remember one of the more safety-conscious people in our van asking. “No seat belts.” proclaimed our driver, “only hallelujah!” as he hit the gas pedal and took off up the narrow winding road as if he was in the pole position of the Indianapolis 500. Later that day, coming down the mountain (as fate would have it, in the same van with the same driver,) I had the dubious privilege of being in the front seat. It was a harrowing yet somehow exhilarating experience - I have photographic proof! I have photos showing the very low retaining wall that would not have retained that van if it was ever called on to do so. I have photos of other vans, driving just as fast, coming up the road, seemingly not having enough room to pass. I have photos of the tight corners that were all navigated without the slightest hesitation or reduction in speed. And I have a single photo, my favorite of the bunch, of the sign inside the van with an arrow pointing to where we could leave a tip!
“Tip? Maybe only hallelujah … and a prayer of thanksgiving that we made it safe and sound!
“Six days after” is how today’s reading from the gospel we attribute to Matthew begins. Presumably the author meant six days after the series of events that started with Peter's famous confession that Jesus was the Messiah, and then Jesus' first "passion prediction" in which he told his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and be crucified, Peter’s rebuke of Jesus for saying such unthinkable things, Jesus’ counter-rebuke of Peter accusing him of setting his mind not on divine things but on human things, Jesus then telling all the disciples that to become his followers they needed to deny themselves and finally, Jesus saying that there were some standing there who would not taste death before they saw the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom. Six days after that fascinating series of events, Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain.
Remember, the author of Matthew likes mountains. In his gospel narrative we find Jesus up a mountain six times.
On this particular occasion, up a mountain that tradition holds was Mount Tabor, Peter, James and John experienced something extraordinary - Matthew, and only Matthew, says it was a vision. And oh what a vision it was! Peter, James, and John witnessed Jesus change into a brilliantly shining presence with a face shining like the sun and clothes of dazzling white. They watched as Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets, came for an intimate conversation with Jesus. Peter even offered to make three tents, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. It seems as if Peter was trying to hold on to or capture or prolong the magnificence of that glorious moment on the mountain. (Peter does like the glory part of being with Jesus.) But that was not the purpose God had in mind and so, while Peter was still talking about building tents, a cloud overshadowed the three disciples and from the cloud a booming voice interrupted Peter and said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen - to - him!”or to capture more accurately the nuance in Greek, "keep on listening to him."
That moment up that mountain we call The Transfiguration of Jesus.
Most certainly, something powerful, something life-changing, had occurred on that mountain. What Peter, James and John experienced was a gift from God. It didn't come, it couldn’t have come, from human wisdom or understanding. I would imagine that it was difficult for the disciples to comprehend and it would be nigh on impossible for them to explain it to others. And it is likely difficult for us to comprehend and though many have tried over the years, it is nigh on impossible for us to find a credible, reasoned and rational explanation.
Without a doubt, the story of The Transfiguration, like so many stories in the Gospels, is easier to describe than to explain. I can understand how some people read the account of The Transfiguration and don’t believe a word of it or dismiss it as bizarre fiction, or as an embellished tale, or as myth or folklore or even as a misplaced and reinterpreted account of the resurrection. Yet, the story of Jesus being transfigured is so central to the gospel story that all three synoptic writers include a version of it unique to their particular perspective. (Matthew 17:1–8 / Mark 9:2–10 / Luke 9:28–36).
Though we may not be able to understand or explain the mechanics of The Transfiguration, theologically, The Transfiguration speaks of Jesus' true son-ship and the path of obedience he follows. As at Jesus’ baptism, so at his transfiguration, there is a heavenly voice that confirms his identity and as at Jesus’ baptism, so at his transfiguration, Jesus’ commitment to carry out his role as God’s chosen who will fulfill all righteousness - that is, who will do God’s will, is also confirmed.
Yet there is more to this story than the spectacular, more than the shining face and dazzling clothes of Jesus, more than the transcendent bond between Moses, Elijah and Jesus. The Transfiguration is also a moment of Epiphany for Peter, James and John. Epiphany means "to make known." In that moment on the mountain, the disciples were taken further along on their journey of discipleship in being granted this vision in which Jesus' unique status as God's beloved, as God’s chosen, is made known to them - it’s just that what was made know to them just didn’t fit with their expectations.
Following the transfiguration, when the spectacular was all over, when Moses and Elijah were gone, the heavenly voice was quiet, Jesus’ face and clothing had returned to normal and the disciples were lying face down in the dirt overcome by fear, all that was left was Jesus who came to them and said, “Get up (which literally means “be raised!”) and do not be afraid.” Those face in the ground, scared-stiff disciples,were raised by Jesus to a new life. Ironically, it was not the "glowing," glorified Jesus, the Jesus Peter would have held on to and housed in a tent on the mountain top, but the down-to-earth, human Jesus. Once again the disciples were with their Lord, their teacher, their friend. The one whom the very heavens proclaimed as God’s beloved was none other than the one with whom they has hiked up the mountain.
At that moment the disciples were given the chance to listen in a new way. You see, for Jesus, fulfilling all righteousness, that is, doing God’s will, was more important than all else. Not only did Jesus say “get up” and “do not be afraid”, he also said, perhaps not in so many words but his meaning was clear enough, they could not stay there; they could not stay on the mountain; they could not remain in that moment of glorious transcendence. They must go back down, into the valley, to the low places in this world. They had to return to the reality of real everyday life with Jesus in order to do the will of God, in order to fulfill righteousness, in order to be righteous children of God and bring God’s grace and love to the world.
It seems to me that when the voice said they were to listen to Jesus, the point was that they were to pay attention to what he was teaching them about God’s grace and love, about God‘s justice and compassion - indeed, about the kingdom of God. And paying attention meant putting Jesus’ teachings into practice and they could not do that unless they went down from the mountain top.
Briefly stated, I think that the account of Jesus' transfiguration should be transformative for us - not that we are to expect the same glowing face and brilliantly white clothing otherworldly experience as Jesus experienced, but that we, like the disciples, are to be transformed in our thinking about the identity of Jesus, about his mission to fulfill all righteousness by doing the will of God and our participation in that mission in our world. Jesus' transfiguration should take us further along on our journey of discipleship so that we, transformed by our experiences of the holy, come down from the mountain to be the human presence of Jesus in the right here and right now reality of our corner of God’s world.
Dear friends, there is no question that mountain top experiences are wonderful, even essential in our spiritual lives. I must say that my time on Mount Tabor and at the Church of the Transfiguration was a profound “mountain top” experience, despite the van ride up and the van ride down. However, such experiences are not meant to be sustained. They are not meant to be enduring as Peter would have liked his experience of Jesus’ transfiguration to have been. Jesus set about fulfilling all righteousness, establishing God’s justice and God’s kingdom not on the mountain but in the real world at the foot of the mountain. Lest we become too heavenly minded to be any earthly good, may we faithfully follow Jesus off the mountain to do God’s will and bring God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
And so we pray. Amen.
Loving God, may only your truth be spoken and only your truth be heard. This we pray in the name of Jesus, your anointed one, the Christ and our Lord. Amen.
According to the author of the Gospel of Matthew, following his baptism and time of temptation in the wilderness of Judea, Jesus withdrew from the south of Israel and returned to Galilee in the north, where he settled in the town of Capernaum on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee.
There, in and around Capernaum and along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus began his public ministry ….. and great crowds began to follow him. In the passage from the Gospel attributed to Matthew that we read last Sunday, we heard that when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up a mountain. There he sat down, as rabbis would do to teach. When the disciples came to him, he began a series of teachings that we call the Sermon on the Mount, which is the first and longest of the five collections of Jesus' teachings found in this Gospel.
For some 1,600 years now, Christian tradition has held that the site of the Sermon on the Mount was on the southern slopes of the Korazim Plateau, also known as Mount Eremos. Today that location is known as the Mount of Beatitudes. Many years ago I joined a number of other clergy from our Diocese of Toronto and made a pilgrimage journey in Israel. I recall spending a profound and spiritually enriching afternoon on the Mount of Beatitudes in contemplation and personal prayer as I imagined what it would have been like to sit with Jesus in that moment so long ago.
But I digress.
On that mountain, whichever mountain it may have been, Jesus spoke the words of the Sermon on the Mount. Last Sunday, we read the beloved and so very well known opening words of that “sermon”, which, since the early 15th century, have been called the Beatitudes.
In considering the Beatitudes I suggested, following biblical scholars Bruce Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh, that within the honor-shame society in which Jesus lived, the Greek word customarily translated as "blessed" would be better understood as "honourable" and so a more appropriate wording of the Beatitudes would be “honorable are those who…” rather than “blessed are those who …”
I also pointed out that the Beatitudes are statements, not commands. The Beatitudes are in the indicative mood, not the imperative mood. Hence, Jesus was not giving us a list of things that we must do in order to enter the kingdom of God or requirements we must meet in order for God to accept us. Rather, he was simply and directly stating that in God’s economy, that’s the way things are - in God’s Kingdom those denied righteousness by the world and those dedicated to bringing righteousness to those whom society ignores or rejects are those who are honoured.
We should note that righteousness is a significant theme in the Sermon on the Mount. That should not come to us as a surprise since, in this Gospel that we call the Gospel of Matthew, the very baptism of Jesus was done to "fulfill all righteousness" (Matthew 3:15). In fact, today’s Gospel reading ends with Jesus saying that our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees.
While today’s Gospel passage ends with Jesus saying that our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, it begins with him affirming the identity of his disciples - they, and you and me - after all, we are listening to his teaching and so, we too are his disciples - they and we are salt and light. Do note: Jesus doesn’t say, “If you want to be salt and light, do this, that, or the other thing.” They, and we, he says, are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. That’s the way it is! Period.
Interpreters, commentators, biblical scholars and countless preachers have spent oodles of time and effort finding creative ways of explaining the meaning of the images of salt and light. While we, more likely than not, understand the phrase “salt of the earth” to mean a pretty decent person, I don’t know what specific connotations the phrase might have had for 1st century Galilean folks. Likewise, the meaning of the phrase “light of the world” may have shifted over time and again, I do not know how hard working 1st century Jews in northern Israel would have understood the phrase. Yet, interpretations and explanations of those words of Jesus are many and varied. We could spend the next couple of hours delving into and unpacking them all. We could ..… but we won’t. Suffice it to say that “salt of the earth” and “light of the world” are allegorical descriptions of the identity, and hence the way of being, of Jesus’ faithful followers in the world. Then and now!
The last four verses of today’s passage from the Gospel attributed to Matthew, verses 17-20, introduce and lay the foundation for a whole series of teachings that make up a good portion of the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. In those verses we hear Jesus declare that he has not come to get rid of the law of Moses or ignore the teaching and example of the prophets but rather to fulfill them. Verse 17 records Jesus’ explicit words, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." Indeed, says Jesus, “not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law.”
Please indulge another digression - well, actually two digressions.
First, when I hear these words of Jesus about not one letter or one stroke of a letter of the law or the prophets being cast aside, I recall yet another moment from my time of pilgrimage in Israel. I was exploring the Jewish quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem and I entered a shop in which there was a rabbi who was making a copy of the Torah. I remember being both fascinated and entranced as I watched him work. Remember that Hebrew letters are precise - each one is composed using one or more pen strokes. The rabbi was meticulous, ensuring that each letter, and each stroke of each letter was perfect. Jesus said, “not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law.”
And second, lest we think that a single letter matters only in biblical Hebrew, let me share a story in which the omission of a single English letter made a rather profound difference. In the early 1970’s, the Anglican and United Churches of Canada joined together to produce a hymn book - aptly but not very creatively called The Hymn Book - which many call the equally apt and equally uncreative name “the red hymn book”! When I was a student at Wycliffe College they ordered a good number of the words only version of that hymnal for use in the chapel. When the books arrived, a group of us quickly looked therein to find the Wycliffe hymn “King of Love, O Christ, We Crown You”. It’s number 451 in Common Praise, the hymn book we use here. Perhaps you might turn to that hymn now. To me, this hymn has some great theology expressed in phrases such as “we with you by grace co-workers” and the first half of verse four, which is ..…
King triumphant, king victorious, take you throne our hearts within,
Lest the might of fierce temptation snare us into deadly sin.
Beautiful words beseeching our gracious God to dwell in our hearts, why? - so that we might not be enticed into wrongdoing - a thought poetically expressed in the hymn as “lest the might of fierce temptation snare us into deadly sin.” Well my friends, there is power of one letter. In this little red words only copy of The Hymn Book one letter was missing in the Wycliffe hymn - the letter “s”. The absence of that little “s” rendered the words “Lest the might of fierce temptation snare us into deadly sin.” as “Let the might of fierce temptation snare us into deadly sin.”
Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." Indeed, he said, “not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law.” Each letter and indeed each individual stroke of ink in each letter is important!
I believe what Jesus was driving at was that he intended to bring about the full and true purpose of the law and the prophets. He was actually insisting on a more focused, more intentional and more extreme living out of the law. He was saying that the observation of the law was not about adhering to the literal wording of the law but understanding and adhering to the intent, or the spirit, of the law. While the Jewish religious leaders had sought to fulfill God’s law by specifying precise actions one could or could not do, Jesus called his disciples to obey the spirit, the very heart, of the law. Jesus sought to reclaim the heart of the law as it was interpreted through the prophets and embodied in faithful lives of justice, compassion, and mercy. In other words, Jesus didn’t make it easier to follow God’s law, he made it harder. For Jesus, the intention of the law was to produce a people who would practice God’s justice, compassion, and mercy toward one another. He was saying that the spirit of the law, the very heart of the will of God, was and is to be manifest in the very lives of each one of us.
As I mentioned, these words of Jesus proclaiming that he came to fulfill the spirit of the law, introduce and lay the foundation for a whole series of teachings that make up a good portion of the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. In the rest of the Sermon on the Mount we hear Jesus say, “You have heard it said ….. but I say to you…..” not just once but six times - each time pushing us beyond a righteousness based on rules, as the Pharisees required, to a righteousness that comes with a spirit filled living of the law. Also found in the rest of the Sermon on the Mount are Jesus’ words concerning alms-giving, prayer, fasting, judging others, serving two masters, profaning the holy and self-deception. We will find also the Golden Rule and the words of Jesus about the lilies of the field, about being hearer’s and doer’s, about those who are wise and those who are foolish and about striving first for the Kingdom of God.
The Sermon on the Mount has so much to offer us and the Revised Common Lectionary actually makes provision for us to read almost every word of the Sermon on the Mount week by week from the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany through the Ninth Sunday after the Epiphany. Alas, the Season of Epiphany varies in length depending on the date of Easter. Thus, this year, because the season of epiphany is shorter, we will not hear any more of the the Sermon on the Mount save for the few words we will read on Ash Wednesday. The next time Easter Sunday will be as late in the year as possibly, meaning there will be nine Sunday’s after Epiphany and we will get to hear all six appointed parts of the Sermon on the Mount as our Sunday Gospel reading is 2038 - mark it on your calendars.
Indeed, the Sermon on the Mount has so much to offer us so it would be a good use of our time to explore it’s teaching more fully and deeply. To that end, I invite you to take some time latter today or through the week ahead to reflectively, prayerfully and intentionally read the Sermon on the Mount - that’s chapter’s five, six and seven of the Gospel attributed to Matthew. Read not with opinions already formed and questions already answered but with a heart open to hear God speak. Reading it in such a way should take no more than fifteen minutes. Perhaps you might even read it each day this coming week.
Dear friends, we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We are the activity of God in the world, bringing righteousness to those whom society ignores or rejects and demonstrating the difference God’s grace makes in real human life on a daily basis. May we faithfully follow Jesus, seeking always to fulfill the spirit of the law and the prophets that our righteousness may exceed that of the scribes and pharisees of our day and age. For as we heard the psalmist say today, “Happy are they who delight in the commandments of God - their righteousness will last for ever and they will hold up their head with honour.”
8 February 2026 - sermon by Canon Ric
1 February 2026 - sermon by Canon Ric
Prayer: Gracious and loving God, as we hear your truth may we live your truth. We pray in the name of Jesus, your anointed one and our Lord. Amen.
In the opening chapters of the Gospel we attribute to Matthew, the author dedicated a good amount of time and ink to establish the identity of Jesus as God’s anointed agent - or, in more theological language, as God’s son, the Christ, Messiah. The crowning moment certifying the identity of Jesus came when he emerged from the waters of the Jordan River, having been baptized by John the Baptizer, and God bore witness, declaring Jesus to be God’s beloved son or agent (Matthew 3:13-17).
Had we gathered for worship last Sunday, we would have heard that, following his baptism in the River Jordan by the weird and wonderful John the Baptizer and with his identity firmly established, Jesus, motivated, so it seems, by the arrest and imprisonment of the Baptizer, withdrew from Judea in the south of Israel and returned to Galilee in the north of Israel. We are told that, following a brief visit to his hometown of Nazareth, Jesus made his home in Capernaum, a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee of about 1,000 people who relied on farming and fishing to survive. There, on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, in and around the town of Capernaum, far, far away from the epicentre of religious authority and the religious elite in Jerusalem, Jesus began his public ministry, calling people to repent, not for the forgiveness of sin as the Baptizer had done, but because the kingdom of heaven (Matthew’s distinctive way of referring to the kingdom of God which is the term found in all other parts of the New Testament) was at hand. He then invited Peter, Andrew, James and John, who earned their living fishing, to leave their nets to become fishers of people and join him on what would become a spectacular roller coaster ride to the cross and beyond. And finally, in those initial moments of his public ministry, Jesus ministered to the people, taught in their synagogues, proclaimed the good news of the kingdom and cured their diseases and sickness. (Matthew 4:12-23)
Certainly, by the end of the fourth chapter of the Gospel we attribute to Matthew, not only has Jesus been introduced, his identity has been well established and his public ministry has begun.
And his fame began to spread.
And great crowds began to follow him.
That is where the bit of the Gospel attributed to Matthew assigned for today starts off. Great crowds began to follow Jesus and when he saw the crowds, he went up a mountain, sat down, as all rabbis would do to teach, and when the disciples came to him, he began to instruct them.
At this point, we should note that in this Gospel we hear about Jesus being up a mountain six different times - Matthew likes mountains. We should mention that in this Gospel, teaching is an essential part of the ministry of Jesus. We could debate who was actually present up this mountain: was it just the four disciples we know of at this moment? Did the author just not mention that seven others had been recruited so there were actually eleven disciples present? (There certainly could not have be twelve because we know that Matthew, that is the tax collector Matthew, was not called until later in the story!) Or does the word “disciples” here indicate all those who were Jesus’ devoted adherents, those who were truly following Jesus?
Yes, we could pay some serious attention to those things, but though they are potentially interesting discussion points, they are secondary. The primary thing to note in today’s Gospel reading is that, up that mountain somewhere in Galilee, early in his ministry, Jesus began a series of teachings that we call the Sermon on the Mount, which actually, is the first act of Jesus' public ministry that Matthew describes in detail and is the first and longest of the five collections of Jesus' teachings found in this Gospel.
The Sermon on the Mount, one of the most significant and well-known teachings of Jesus, is not an historic record of a great speech, nor a series of philosophical abstractions, nor simply a code of expected Christian behaviors. They are teachings that describe a community of faith in ways that call conventional wisdom into question; teachings that subvert the status quo in order to re-shape it into a new community, a new reality. In short, the Sermon on the Mount is a collection of teachings by Jesus found in Matthew chapters five to seven that emphasize the radical, counter-intuitive and counter-cultural nature of the kingdom of heaven that over-turn our expectations of how life works, and our understandings of what is ultimately valuable.
The Sermon on the Mount includes some of the most quoted passages in the Bible, such as the Beatitudes, which we have read today.
The term "beatitude", mainly understood to mean a "state of blessedness," originated in the early 15th century and is derived from the Latin "be-a-ti-tu-di-nem " signifying supreme happiness or blessedness.
But I have to ask, can anyone consider themselves happy or blessed if they are poor, or in mourning, or spiritless, or reviled or persecuted? And why would Jesus suggest that being poor, or in mourning, or spiritless, or reviled or persecuted is something to be happy about?
Through the ages, some folks have understood the beatitudes as commands that we must obey in order to enter the kingdom of God or requirements we must meet in order for God to accept us. And I wonder if we still tend to hear the Beatitudes in that way. Do we understand the Beatitudes to be another list of “thou shalt’s” and “thou shalt not’s” as were the Ten Commandments and, as a consequence, end up asking ourselves if we measure up?
Well, I don’t think that is what Jesus is saying here. While the Beatitudes is a list, it is, as some scholars point out, a list that is, grammatically speaking, in the indicative mood, not the imperative mood. It is description, not prescription. The Beatitudes are statements, not commands. Jesus is simply saying that in God’s economy, that’s the way things are - much like Walter Cronkite's iconic sign-off phrase, "And that's the way it is!"
It will also help us in considering the Beatitudes, to recognize, as Biblical scholars Bruce Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh point out in their book “Social Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels”, that the Greek word translated as "blessed" or "happy" would be better understood as "honourable." In fact, they go as far as to say that the translation “blessed” is, and I quote, “horrific language” - unquote. Within an honor-shame society such as the one in which Jesus lived, the more appropriate wording would not be “blessed are those who …” or “happy are those who …”, but “how honorable are those who…”
And who are the who? Who, according to Jesus, are the honourable? According to Jesus, in God’s economy, in the kingdom of heaven, the honourable are the poor, the sorrowing, the hungry, the hated, the excluded, the reviled, the left out, the out cast, the ignored, the scorned, the hurting, the beaten down, the down-trodden, the defamed and so on … - all those that society disregards at best and despises at worst. And there is more! Jesus also says that in God’s economy, in the kingdom of heaven, honourable also are the humble, the merciful, the righteous, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and the justice bringers - all those who are not resigned to the present condition of the world, those who lament the fact that God's kingdom has not yet come and that God's will is not yet done.
What is radical about the message of the Beatitudes of Jesus here at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount is that he is proclaiming that those whom society disregards and pushed out to the margins, those who are denied righteousness by the world, are those who are honoured in the kingdom of heaven … as are those who exhibit righteous behavior on behalf of and are dedicated to bringing righteousness to those who society ignores or rejects.
The Beatitudes stand as a daring act of protest against the current order. Those swept aside by society and those who reach out to them are those Jesus declares to be honoured in God’s eyes and in God’s kingdom.
Recall that it was but a few short verses before this in Matthew’s Gospel that Jesus proclaimed his message: “Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” (Matthew 4:17) Here in the Beatitudes he has begun to reveal the nature of that kingdom as a new way of seeing, a new way of naming, and so a new way of being.
Jesus not only declared, but embodied this new way of being and those who seek to follow Jesus are called to the do the same, embodying a completely different vision of life. God's reign is characterized by mercy, purity, love, inclusion and righteousness and we are called to spend our lives working to extend God’s mercy, grace, love and inclusion. We are called to act, to participate in what God is doing, to establish God’s peace and God’s justice for all people. We are called to align our lives with the virtues of the kingdom of heaven and in so doing we can rejoice when God’s will is done here on earth as it is in heaven. And so we pray “Loving God of all, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven”. Amen.