What’s It All About, Menno?

I feel like I hit the jackpot! When I checked the lectionary for my text, I found that I had drawn the Beatitudes! For a Mennonite preacher, that is like winning the lottery. These verses stand at the centre of our identity as followers of Jesus. They are part of what we call “the Sermon on the Mount”, and this sermon is the centre of Jesus teaching in his earthly ministry. AMBS has a chapel on campus named “The Sermon on the Mount Chapel.” Similarly, the Houston Mennonite Church (part of MCUSA) call themselves, “The Church of the Sermon on the Mount”. 

 

And then I realised I might be in trouble. We have heard the Beatitudes so often that my chances of saying something new are nil. I can only remind you of what you know, and I can only hope that you don’t lose interest because we are travelling well-known paths. 

 

I invite you to listen carefully. Remember that these verses and the sermon they introduce got our forebears in trouble. Swiss Mennonites, for example, were followers of Ulrich Zwingli and his Reformed Church. They got in trouble because Zwingli told them to take Jesus seriously, and they did! They took Jesus so seriously that they refused to fight in the wars that kept Zurich free. Zwingli was so annoyed that he started preaching from the accounts of wars in the Old Testament to stop them following Jesus so single-mindedly. 

 

In the beginnings of our own stream of the Mennonite Church, a basic part of Menno Simons’ formation was his turn away from the violence of Munster. A group of Anabaptists in Munster, Germany tried to establish a Christian city, taking up arms to enforce their decisions. They were defeated by the German authorities, and their violence was put down by violence. Menno was repulsed by violence and embraced the way of peace. The teachings of the Sermon on the Mount were basic to his own embrace of peace. 

 

So these verses are important. If you want to know what being Mennonite – indeed, being Christian – is all about, listen to the beatitudes. 

 

The Setting 

In Matthew 4, Jesus calls his first disciples and begins his ministry, teaching in the synagogues, preaching to the people, and healing many. Soon he had attracted a large following, and so he went up a mountain with his disciples to give them some basic teaching. Evidently, the crowds followed, since the end of the sermon in chapter 7 refers to the response of the crowd: They “were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority”. 

 

The whole sermon is probably Matthew’s compilation from teaching that Jesus did in a variety of settings. By bringing Jesus’ teaching together in this way, Matthew shows us that this is the core of Jesus’ message. If you want to know what Jesus taught, read the Sermon on the Mount. 

 

The Text

Verses 2 to 12 introduce this central teaching and give us a clear picture of what Jesus’ followers look like. These are not commands (like the Ten Commandments); rather they are description combined with promises. There are eight statements following the same form: Blessed is this kind of person. Then the blessing is stated: They will receive this promise. 

 

What does “Blessed” mean? Some translations use the word “Happy”, and the word used in Greek can indeed by translated “happy”. But Jesus means something deeper than a simple smile on your face. More like Paul’s words, “I have learned to be content with whatever I have.” (Ph 4:11) Content. Fulfilled. Full of joy. Something deeper than a simple happiness. 

 

I like the word “fulfilled”. As I get older, I sometimes wonder what my life has been. If I can die feeling fulfilled, I will be happy indeed. So we will use the word “blessed”, and you can supply further words to help clarify the meaning of blessing. 

 

The Blessings 

Blessed are: the poor in spirit; those who mourn; the meek; those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; the merciful; the pure in heart; the peacemakers; those who are persecuted. As I said, these are not eight commands, to replace the law of Moses. They are not eight separate descriptions, so that some of us are “poor in spirit”, others are “meek”, and still others are “peacemakers”. Rather, the eight qualities of life go together as a description of what each one of us is to be. These words describe us! 

 

If these descriptions all belong together, then these words are all connected. The beatitudes are like a diamond that you turn this way and that, looking at the different faces of the diamond. Each face lets you see into the soul of the whole; each quality takes you into the heart of God. What then do these words mean? 

 

“The poor in spirit”: Many years ago. I found a definition of the poor that has stayed with me: “The poor are those who need God’s help – and know it.” The rich, then, are those who need God’s help – but they don’t know it. John writes to the church at Laodicea these tragic words: “You say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” (Rev. 3:17) 

 

There is no great blessing in poverty. God does not want us to live in poverty; God wants us all to have enough. That is why Jesus says here, “the poor in spirit”. We want to recognize our need of God and turn to God for help. When we do, we receive the kingdom of Heaven. 

 

“Those who mourn”: We may think first of people who are bereaved, and certainly God’s blessing comes to us in our grief. But Jesus is referring to a greater grief even than our personal losses. Think of the problems and dangers that face our world. Those who wrestle with these dangers and weep over our world (like Jesus wept over Jerusalem) are the ones God comforts. 

 

“The meek”: When we hear “meek”, we think “weak”. Our society is so tuned into power and force that we can’t imagine meekness as a virtue, so it is important to understand what is meant by “meek”. The basic idea is that the meek refuse to use their power selfishly. They focus on the other, not on themselves. 

 

These qualities describe Jesus above all, and we know that Jesus could be direct and challenging, for example, clearing out the moneychangers from the temple. But he used his power for others rather than for himself. That absolute commitment led him to the cross for us. When we follow Jesus and become the meek, we “inherit the earth”. This is a paradox our world does not and cannot understand. 

 

“Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness”: This quality embraces all that has been said so far. We can pray daily, “Lead me in paths of righteousness for your name’s sake.” It means to desire God’s will and God’s way in every situation and to give up our own will in the process. In short, we become poor sin spirit, grieving over the evil in our world, meek in the sense of committed to others, and desiring God’s constant presence in everything. When this becomes our deepest desire, God fills us with the Holy Spirit. 

 

“The merciful”: Those who show mercy, rather than insisting on their own Way. In North America today, we admire those who fight for what we want. The popularity of our politicians depends on this characteristic of our society. Mercy takes another path – looking out for the interests of the person who stands against us. This particular quality highlights the reciprocity of life. In Jesus’ own teaching, he says it most often in terms of forgiving others. So, in the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” 

 

“The pure in heart”: We heard this quality in the Psalm read today. Who can ascend God’s holy hill? Who can come into God’s presence? Those who are pure in thought and deed. Which means of course, no one! This particular beatitude stands as a subversive commentary on the whole of the Sermon on the Mount. We will come back to this point. 

 

“The peacemakers”: Our favourite in the Mennonite Church! Also, one of the basic reasons that Menno Simons rejected the violence of Munster we referred to earlier. When we choose the path of peace, we begin to see God clearly. God is always with us, but violence obscures our vision. Work for peace, and God’s presence becomes clear. 

 

“The persecuted”: Paradoxically, choosing the way of Christ and embodying these qualities makes us an object of persecution. These qualities stand in sharp contrast to what the world says is necessary, and those who embrace them are not welcome in the world. The last two verses personalize the eight beatitudes and remind the disciples that the way Jesus walks, as well as the way he calls them to, turns away from society’s standards and therefore brings rejection. 

 

These Strange Attributes and Promised Reward 

I have noted several times already that these qualities – the attributes of a Christian lifestyle – do not fit well with our society. They did not fit well with first century societies either. 

 

John Stott notes the way that those who love power feel about the Sermon on the Mount.

Probably nobody has hated the ‘softness’ of the Sermon on the Mount more that Friedrich Nietzsche. Although the son and the grandson of Lutheran pastors, he rejected Christianity during his student days. His book ‘The anti-Christ’ (a title he had dared to apply to himself in his autobiographical sketch Ecce homo) is his most violent anti-Christian polemic and was written in 1888, the year before he went mad. In it he defines what is ‘good’ as ‘all that heightens the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself in man’, and what is ‘bad’ as ‘all that proceeds from weakness’. Consequently, in answer to his own question, ‘What is more harmful than any vice?’, he replies, ‘Active sympathy for the ill-constituted and week – Christianity.’ He sees Christianity as a religion of pity instead of a religion of power; so ‘nothing in our unhealthy modernity is more unhealthy than Christian pity.’

 

Paul Simon has a similar note in a song titled “Blessed”. The people who are blessed in Jesus’ teaching are the “sat upon, spat upon, ratted on”. Who would want to be like them? And then we turn the diamond of the beatitudes and their beauty shines out again. Blessed are those who seek God and give themselves to live for others. Blessed are those who refuse the lure of wealth and power and weep over the destruction so many powerful people have caused. Blessed are those who give themselves to be Christ’s hands and feet in this world. They receive the reward. 

 

And what a reward! Inherit the earth – Receive the kingdom of Heaven – Be filled with the Spirit of God – Know comfort and joy deeper even than the horrors of war in Ukraine. Sometimes we think that this reward is waiting for us only after we die, but remember how Jesus began his ministry. He came preaching, “The Kingdom of Heaven is near!” This reward is one that we begin to taste already. As we search for peace in this world, we begin to know God’s peace and presence already in this world. The Beatitudes do not just describe future glory; they tell is what we begin to have here and now. 

 

How Do We Get There? 

A bit ago I said: “Who can ascend God’s holy hill? … Those who are pure in thought and deed. Which means of course, no one!” At the end of this chapter, Jesus says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Now there’s a council of despair. He tells us what we are to look like, and then he says we have to reach this description perfectly. We can’t do it! We really cannot do it! Does this make the whole sermon on the mount a pipe dream and the beatitudes a waste of time? (That’s what Paul Simon seems to imply in his song.) 

 

We started with Menno Simons. Let’s finish with him too. Menno was a Catholic priest in the 1530s when he began to read the Bible more carefully, especially concerning the issue of adult baptism. In his search for truth in this area of life and in his search for God, he came to a conversion experience that absolutely transformed him. 

 

For a Catholic priest to start teaching Anabaptist doctrines was dangerous. The authorities – both Catholic and Lutheran chased him for many years. One website quotes him thus:"Menno himself wrote in 1544 that he “could not find in all the countries a cabin or hut in which my poor wife and our little children could be put up in safety for a year or even half a year” (Writings, 424). 

 

He spent much of the rest of his life giving leadership to the Dutch Anabaptist community, preaching and teaching as he moved from place to place. I remember a story my theology professor, J.C. Wenger, used to tell of these years. Menno was driving a cart full of people out of a village when he was stopped by the authorities looking for him. They told him they were looking for Menno Simons and asked if Simons was one of his passengers. Menno turned around and asked, “Is Menno Simons back there?” The people in the cart said no, and Menno turned to the authorities and said, “He’s not back there!” True enough. 

 

The writer I quoted above notes of Menno’s preaching: “No single organizing center of Menno’s thought has been identified but there is general agreement that he moved from a stress upon conversion early in his career to a gradually increasing emphasis on the church which, in turn, led to greater emphasis on discipline.” 

 

Conversion – then the visible church. These two points help us with the Sermon on the Mount and with the Beatitudes. We cannot live this life on our own: We need Christ; we need God’s Spirit living in us to make us the pure in heart, those who are becoming like Christ. And we need each other; we need the church, which is the visible body of Christ. 

 

Conclusion 

This sermon has no conclusion. Our efforts to work out what it means living together as God’s people are the only conclusion we have. It’s up to us – and to Christ in us – to work it out.

 

 Psalm 15 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 

 

¹ O LORD, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill? 

² Those who walk blamelessly and do what is right and speak the truth from their heart; 

³ who do not slander with their tongue and do no evil to their friends nor heap shame upon their neighbors; 

⁴ in whose eyes the wicked are despised but who honor those who fear the LORD; who stand by their oath even to their hurt; 

⁵ who do not lend money at interest and do not take a bribe against the innocent. Those who do these things shall never be moved. 

 

 

Matthew 5:1-12 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

5 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.  ² And 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 the sake of righteousness, 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.” 

 

 

Steinbach Mennonite Church 

29 January 2023