David’s sermon of 19 March…..

We are going to take a walk through this story about Jesus meeting the lady at the well. See what comes out to us.

Jesus was living and teaching around Jerusalem in the province of Judea. He had previously annoyed the religious establishment – the Pharisees – by upsetting the traders in the temple courts, upsetting the tables and chasing out the money lenders with a whip – a real demonstration of Jesus anger at the spiritual mess which the Jews had got into. It did not endear Him to the Pharisees.

Also, at the same time John the Baptist was preaching his message of repentance to the Jews and baptising hundreds of folk – again to the anger and frustration of the Pharisees – how could they lead the Jews towards God when people like John and Jesus were working against them. The Pharisees were trying to get the people back to God by teaching them to obey all God’s laws – to live religiously to the letter of the law. And here was John telling them they should repent of their sin and so prepare for God’s Kingdom, and there is Jesus preaching that He is the only way to reconnect with God, only in Him is there eternal life.    

So Jesus was stirring up a lot of trouble for Himself and the disciples in and around Jerusalem and He decides he should move away from the area and return north to nearer His homeland of Galilee. It is too soon in His time of ministry for His final showdown with the authorities.

Now Galilee is about 110 miles north of Judea – a good walk over several days. There were two possible routes – the hard way -straight north through the hill country and through Samaria, or – the comfortable way – go east to the coastlands, walk north up the low lying coastal area, and then go inland to Galilee.

The problem is Samaria. When the Assyrians invaded Israel several hundred years previously they settled a large number of foreigners into Samaria and they intermarried with the local Jews. In the eyes of the rest of the Jewish nation therefore they were a contaminated people, no longer worthy of the name Jews, no longer the pure “chosen people” of God. They were second class, rejected by their fellow Jews and treated as the “untouchables” in proper Jewish society. The feeling was mutual and basically Jews and Samaritans hated each other.    

Any self respecting Jew therefore would have chosen the second route north – they would have gone to the coast, skirted round Samaria and then gone inland to Galilee. Good Jews would not have entered Samaria – with some justification – it was not sensible – like a catholic walking through protestant areas of Belfast, or a Jew today having a stroll through Gaza. – not sensible, not safe.

So here we have the first important point in this story. Jesus chose to go through Samaria, it was not the expected route, it was not the respectable route, it was foolhardy, it was rebellious – it was countercultural. The Pharisees would have been appalled that he took this route – He was reinforcing once again that He was anti religion, anti establishment, He did not care about the rules of the Pharisees or the purity of the chosen people. We might say today – Jesus was really “mixing it” – thumbing His nose to the ruling and religious classes.

Jesus chose to go through Samaria – He did not have to go that way.  

So was He looking for, or expecting this altercation at the well? Did He choose to go this way in order to have this confrontation? We can’t answer that, it is part of the mystery of Jesus as man, and as God – knowing all yet living as a man? We can certainly be sure that nothing in Jesus life was ever just blind chance. This meeting with the woman is also full of demonstration by Jesus of how we should live and act. It is not just a passing anecdote.

Jesus, by choosing to go through Samaria has shown He has no place for man-made divisions, has no truck with separation of people into classes, and no sympathy for hatred based on history and prejudice.

So that is the route – what about this meeting at the well? A woman on her own coming for water at noon? – why alone, why noon? Why was she not there in the morning, when it was cooler, and when all her neighbours would be there to draw water. She was alone – unusual if not unheard of in society then. Was she shunned by her neighbours, was she ashamed herself to come at the same time as others? Did she want to avoid being snubbed, or insulted, what did her neighbours call her? – this woman living with a man, unmarried yet already going through five husbands – hardly a respectable history. Was she expecting a quick undisturbed visit to the well – no challenges, no insults, no cold shoulders.

But Jesus met her.

What was Jesus thinking! Talking to a woman on her own – respectable men don’t talk to unaccompanied woman – scandalous. And not only talk to her but ask her for something, – make Himself dependent on her, put her in a place above Him. “Give me a drink”. Jesus has once again overturned the expectations of respectable Jews. Talking with a woman, asking her for help.

This trip through Samaria is a massive demonstration of Jesus disdain for and refusal to submit to, man-made rules and religious legalism. He will not give them any place. God loves all His creation, God loves each person as they are, God will not recognise Man’s empty divisions and petty dogmatism. If he had paid them any attention He would not have been in Samaria talking to a broken and confused woman about drinking water, about life, about everlasting life and about worshipping God in Spirit and truth.

Wow, that is quite a conversation.    

He says, I ask you for water, but if you ask me – I will give you a drink of something so extraordinary that you will never need another drink – in fact it will bubble up inside you like a spring – unstoppable, everlasting – overflowing.      

He says – both Jews and Samaritans have got it wrong trying to worship God only in temples they have built. – God is Spirit, He isn’t confined to buildings, so the time is coming when worshippers will start to worship God truly in Spirit and truth – not confined to one place, or restrained by laws and rules, but worshipping because they have this living water bubbling up inside – their spirits joined with God’s Spirit – and flowing out from them – unstoppable.

And finally, the woman says “Oh I know that all this will happen sometime – the Messiah will come sometime, and he will tell us all things, all about worship, all about God, all about what we should be doing – sometime.”

And Jesus says to this woman, this socially rejected adulteress, this Samaritan despised by the Jews, this person right out on the edge of society –

“You are looking at Him – Look at me, I am the Messiah.”

Jesus chooses this poor classless rejected woman to reveal Himself to – first. Don’t try to tell me that there is anyone who Jesus will not reveal Himself to – no-one is beyond His love.

Where is our Samaria, where is your Samaria, where is my Samaria. Who do we not like to mix with, who do we judge to be out with our social circle? Who do we feel vulnerable and uncomfortable with? Where do we not like to go? Who would we not like to meet? Where would we walk round rather than go through?

If He can go into Samaria, surely He will come with us into our difficult places. If we take the comfortable route round the coast to avoid our Samaria, then Jesus will let us go – but He doesn’t need to be with us there? Does He? But we need Him to be with us in our Samaria.

But why should we bother – why disturb our comfort and disturb other people.

What was Jesus first message to well woman – “I will give you living water”

Water which will well up inside and overflow – a fountain springing into eternal life.    

Later on in Chapter 7, Jesus says:

“If anyone thirsts, let Him come to me and drink.

He who believes in me, as the scripture has said – out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”

We say we believe in Christ, we say we want to follow Jesus – so we can come to Him and drink this living water – and having drunk – so from us, from you and me, from hesitant, and sometimes doubting, from shy or overly confident, from social outcasts or pillars of the community, whoever we think we are – will flow living water – unstoppable, everlasting and life giving.

If we have drunk this water – so we have a well in us which we must share, must allow to flow to others, must go with into our Samarias to find women, men, children, whoever, coming to a well where they will find life – life in its fullness, much more than they expected.

We who have drunk must also allow this water to flow from us.

Jesus living water is too important not to share, it is too life giving to keep to ourselves, – Jesus says – love your neighbour as yourself

In what better way can we demonstrate that love than by sharing with them the living waters from Christ.  

The living water of eternal life.

The living water which shows us how to worship God in Spirit and in truth.    

The living water filling us to overflowing with the love of God. Our journey takes us through our Samaria.  

 

 6 | Page

 

……for they shall see God.By now, you may have noticed a change between the first three beatitudes and these later ones, from four to seven. They, seem like cruel, paradoxical riddles, whereas these four are less puzzling.  

This week, find that the sixth beatitude, is like a crystal-clear gem; a gift of a spiritual truth which means what it says. It has been described as “the bright particular star in the constellation”.

Today, we encounter its clear and simple truth.  

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Earlier in the week, there were two news stories which leapt out at me, and both were about the trouble that using a mobile phone can get you into.  

The first and high profile one was at the night of the Oscars’ award ceremony.

This was one of those nights and events, when the very moment that you need to be on your game, and at your best, and when you have to focus and do the only thing that matters. The person responsible for preparing and handing the correct envelope to the Warren Beatty for the award of Best Picture, had been tweeting, when he should have been concentrating on the job in hand. And at that moment, the spotlight was taken away from the movie that won Best Picture, namely “Moonlight”. And made a mockery of those involved in the show, embarrassing not only the stars of both movies, but also Price Waterhouse who had been entrusted with the handling of the administration of the votes. All because of foolish tweeting on a mobile phone.

The other news item, which is much more serious, is that a long overdue law has been passed to fine people £200 ($245) and hit them with 6 penalty points on their licence if caught using a mobile phone whilst driving. The evidence already exists that you are 4 times, that’s 4 times more likely to have an accident whilst driving if you are using your mobile phone to speak or text. And, on the day that the law was passed, a senior police officers was quoted to say that the effect of using a phone has the same impact on performance as being under the influence intoxicating drink.

Both are examples of how the mind can be distracted from where our focus of attention should be. Clarity of vision cannot be achieved if our thoughts are being pulled every which way. So, when something is important or demands our complete attention, we cannot juggle, or balance agendas or priorities. The most important person, or thing in our life, must always be God. Remember the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me . . . “

And so, if we dare to allow ourselves to be distracted, we are in danger of the sin idolatry.

We often sing: “The greatest thing in all my life is knowing you”

And when we have that singleness of mind and purity of purpose, we shall see God.

One scholar puts it like this:

“What is purity of heart? ‘Heart’ in the Bible, usually means the whole personality, it involves mind and will, not only the emotions. Two meanings are perhaps dominant

– rightness of mind and singleness of motive.”

So, if our thinking is clear headed, we can begin to experience the purity required to see God. Too often, our clear headedness is impaired, by the sins of over indulgence in alcohol and other substances, or even through neglecting our health through lack of sleep or a good diet. It’s amazing how we fool ourselves into thinking that cheating on being the best that we can be, is somehow a kindness or a treat to ourselves. Take getting sleep for example, I love a good night’s sleep. It refreshes, rests and restores the mind and the body, but how often do we deny ourselves this most natural and wholesome tonic, in favour of burning the candle at both ends. Ironically, there is even a mobile phone app, which encourages us to set the alarm so we can get to bed in time to make sure we get our optimum sleep requirement. This, of course proves that it’s not the phone’s fault, but the user’s weak mind and ill-discipline, which gets so easily distracted. But, when you get that sleep, you are set to tackle the day by giving your very best to God, and those who depend on you most.

And that is what God requires of us, clarity of thought, so we can give our best to Him.

Singleness of motive, on the other hand, is less about the ‘how’ of purity, and more about the ‘why’.

“Jesus said, that “harlots” given to lust would go into the kingdom before the Pharisees – who were double minded”

Blessed are the pure, for they shall see God!

Because purity of heart is about the intention and its honesty and goodness, and not about the reputation that someone might have earned for their past mistakes, or successes.

When people go into politics, they usually enter that field with good intentions to work for change that matters in the lives of those they serve. But few remain pure from the alloy of horse-trading in what used to be smoke filled rooms and the compromised integrity when sordid deals that have to be made in the negotiation process.

The pure in heart have a clarity of vision in the world and in their lives.

They are not diverted by conflicted loyalties, or impure motives. The pure in heart, “see God in the world about them when others are blind; the pure in heart are aware of the Divine Will in their lives even in the midst of pain, when others are rebellious or despairing.”

This means that purity of heart, allows us to appreciate the beauty of God’s world; from a crocus, or daffodil in bloom to the first buds of spring time as they burst into the light. To hear the music of birdsong, or the joy in the laughter of the ones you love.

Purity of heart, has no axe to grind, nor score to settle, because the person who is pure of heart, sees God in the face of their sisters and brothers. Purity of heart also embodies many of the other beatitudes, such as mercy, hunger and thirst to see right prevail.

Purity of heart, is a display of complete transparency, where there no guile, or hidden agenda, only grace and peace and the understanding that we are loved by God, and that it is enough, as we walk His path and rejoice in belonging to Him and being in His presence.

But this is no easy street, as we find that purity of heart, is a constant struggle to achieve, because of our sinful nature.

Which is why we read the Psalms and pray, “Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51), and “Search me O God, and know my heart today, try me O Lord, and know the thoughts I pray, see if there be some wicked way in me, cleanse me from every sin and set me free.” (Psalm 139)

And for the last two weeks, we sang a hymn by Katie Barlcay Wilkinson that could have been sung this week also;

“May the mind of Christ my Saviour,

Live in me from day to day,

By His love and power controlling

all I do and say.”

For the purity of heart we crave, is so simple, yet elusive, unless we constantly and daily seek God’s presence and cleansing balm in the healing room we call prayer, it will remain as rare in our lives as diamonds. God is source of our desire, and when wait upon the Lord, and gaze upon His presence, we will find that purity we seek allowing us to see Him, and allowing His glorySermon 6 Matthew 5:8

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

By now, you may have noticed a change between the first three beatitudes and these later ones, from four to seven. They, seem like cruel, paradoxical riddles, whereas these four are less puzzling.  

This week, find that the sixth beatitude, is like a crystal-clear gem;

a gift of a spiritual truth which means what it says. It has been described as “the bright particular star in the constellation”.

Today, we encounter its clear and simple truth.  

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Earlier in the week, there were two news stories which leapt out at me, and both were about the trouble that using a mobile phone can get you into.  

The first and high profile one was at the night of the Oscars’ award ceremony.

This was one of those nights and events, when the very moment that you need to be on your game, and at your best, and when you have to focus and do the only thing that matters. The person responsible for preparing and handing the correct envelope to the Warren Beatty for the award of Best Picture, had been tweeting, when he should have been concentrating on the job in hand. And at that moment, the spotlight was taken away from the movie that won Best Picture, namely “Moonlight”. And made a mockery of those involved in the show, embarrassing not only the stars of both movies, but also Price Waterhouse who had been entrusted with the handling of the administration of the votes. All because of foolish tweeting on a mobile phone.

The other news item, which is much more serious, is that a long overdue law has been passed to fine people £200 ($245) and hit them with 6 penalty points on their licence if caught using a mobile phone whilst driving. The evidence already exists that you are 4 times, that’s 4 times more likely to have an accident whilst driving if you are using your mobile phone to speak or text. And, on the day that the law was passed, a senior police officers was quoted to say that the effect of using a phone has the same impact on performance as being under the influence intoxicating drink.

Both are examples of how the mind can be distracted from where our focus of attention should be. Clarity of vision cannot be achieved if our thoughts are being pulled every which way. So, when something is important or demands our complete attention, we cannot juggle, or balance agendas or priorities. The most important person, or thing in our life, must always be God. Remember the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me . . . “

And so, if we dare to allow ourselves to be distracted, we are in danger of the sin idolatry.

We often sing: “The greatest thing in all my life is knowing you”

And when we have that singleness of mind and purity of purpose, we shall see God.

One scholar puts it like this:

“What is purity of heart? ‘Heart’ in the Bible, usually means the whole personality, it involves mind and will, not only the emotions. Two meanings are perhaps dominant

– rightness of mind and singleness of motive.”

So, if our thinking is clear headed, we can begin to experience the purity required to see God. Too often, our clear headedness is impaired, by the sins of over indulgence in alcohol and other substances, or even through neglecting our health through lack of sleep or a good diet. It’s amazing how we fool ourselves into thinking that cheating on being the best that we can be, is somehow how a kindness or a treat to ourselves. Take getting sleep for example, I love a good night’s sleep. It refreshes, rests and restores the mind and the body, but how often do we deny ourselves this most natural and wholesome tonic, in favour of burning the candle at both ends. Ironically, there is even a mobile phone app, which encourages us to set the alarm so we can get to bed in time to make sure we get our optimum sleep requirement. This, of course proves that it’s not the phone’s fault, but the user’s weak mind and ill-discipline, which gets so easily distracted. But, when you get that sleep, you are set to tackle the day by giving your very best to God, and those who depend on you most.

And that is what God requires of us, clarity of thought, so we can give our best to Him.

 Singleness of motive, on the other hand, is less about the ‘how’ of purity, and more about the ‘why’.

“Jesus said, that “harlots” given to lust would go into the kingdom before the Pharisees – who were double minded”

Blessed are the pure, for they shall see God!

Because purity of heart is about the intention and its honesty and goodness, and not about the reputation that someone might have earned for their past mistakes, or successes.

When people go into politics, they usually enter that field with good intentions to work for change that matters in the lives of those they serve. But few remain pure from the alloy of horse-trading in what used to be smoke filled rooms and the compromised integrity when sordid deals that have to be made in the negotiation process.

The pure in heart have a clarity of vision in the world and in their lives.

They are not diverted by conflicted loyalties, or impure motives. The pure in heart, “see God in the world about them when others are blind; the pure in heart are aware of the Divine Will in their lives even in the midst of pain, when others are rebellious or despairing.”

This means that purity of heart, allows us to appreciate the beauty of God’s world; from a crocus, or daffodil in bloom to the first buds of spring time as they burst into the light. To hear the music of birdsong, or the joy in the laughter of the ones you love.

Purity of heart, has no axe to grind, nor score to settle, because the person who is pure of heart, sees God in the face of their sisters and brothers. Purity of heart also embodies many of the other beatitudes, such as mercy, hunger and thirst to see right prevail.

Purity of heart, is a display of complete transparency, where there no guile, or hidden agenda, only grace and peace and the understanding that we are loved by God, and that it is enough, as we walk His path and rejoice in belonging to Him and being in His presence.

But this is no easy street, as we find that purity of heart, is a constant struggle to achieve, because of our sinful nature.

Which is why we read the Psalms and pray, “Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51), and “Search me O God, and know my heart today, try me O Lord, and know the thoughts I pray, see if there be some wicked way in me, cleanse me from every sin and set me free.” (Psalm 139)

And for the last two weeks, we sang a hymn by Katie Barlcay Wilkinson that could have been sung this week also;

“May the mind of Christ my Saviour,

Live in me from day to day,

By His love and power controlling

all I do and say.”

For the purity of heart we crave, is so simple, yet elusive, unless we constantly and daily seek God’s presence and cleansing balm in the healing room we call prayer, it will remain as rare in our lives as diamonds. God is source of our desire, and when we wait upon the Lord, and gaze upon His presence, we will find that purity we seek allowing us to see Him, and allowing His glory to shine through our lives as He fashions us into the crystal clear gems He has called us to become.

Amen.

……. for they shall be called children of GodBlessed are the peacemakers: this theme of peace is frequent in the teaching of Jesus: it was fitting that the angels who hailed his birth sang of “Peace on Earth”.

Jesus said, “Love your enemies, . . . do good to them that hate you and pray for those who persecute you”. Matthew 5:44.

And in John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “My peace, I give to you” John 14:27.

And so, peace is an integral part of Christian teaching. Paul writes in Galatians, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace . . .” Galatians 5:22.

The makers of peace, are few, for it is easier to fan the ashes of ancient feuds than to prevent conflict. The appeal to angered prejudice is stock in trade to certain politicians, while the plea for understanding is often a lonely cry.

Peace does not come on its own, it requires work to bring people and groups together. Often, there can be no real peace until people are reconciled to God, for when we are right with Him, then we can reach out to each other in peace.

But when we are at odds with God, we will not be right with ourselves or our neighbours.

Therefore, helping each other to practice the presence of God, we can help to bring peace both in our homes and in the world.

We sang “Be Still, for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One is here”.

By simply acknowledging God’s presence in our midst for worship, work, meetings, social or business, we can realise that we are on holy ground, and that God has a transforming effect upon our thoughts, speech and actions.

Peter Millar, minister, author and poet, has written a beautiful prayer/poem:

Amidst the washing-up (Be still – and know that I am God Psalm, 46:10)

Amidst the washup-up

And shopping and filling of forms

And paying bills

And worrying about the next bill

And doing the ironing

And speaking on the phone

And waiting for the bus

And feeding the dog

And paying more bills,

May there be these moments

Of simple awareness

In which

I know I am held

Within the wonder of that love

Where my heart is at home

And at rest.

 

And in that moment, we can know peace, when we are right with God; in fellowship and communion with God.

In Psalm 34:11-14, we hear an invitation to God’s children,

“Come, my children, listen to me;

I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Whoever of you loves life

and desires to see many good days,

keep your tongue from evil

and your lips from speaking lies.

Turn from evil and do good;

seek peace and pursue it.

In Greek the word is eirene, in Hebrew: shalom.

In Hebrew, peace is never only a negative state; it does not only mean the absence of trouble; in Hebrew, peace always means everything which makes for a person’s highest good.

Peace is something, we must therefore work at achieving. It will not come on its own or through being passive. The Psalmist reminds us that we must “seek peace and pursue it” (v11-14) by turning from evil and doing good, keeping our tongues from evil and our lips from speaking lies.

William Barclay also points out that the active making of peace is not the same as loving peace. People can love peace so much that they fail to act and thereby make trouble, not peace. “The peace which the Bible calls blessed does not come from the evasion of issues; it comes from facing them, dealing with them and conquering them. What this beatitude demands is not the passive acceptance of things because we are afraid of the trouble of doing anything about them, but the active facing of things, and the making of peace, even when the way to peace is through struggle.”

Remember the often-quoted words of Edmunde Burke “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

And perhaps that is the struggle to which Jesus points when, he surprises us by saying, “I have not come into the world to bring peace, but a sword.”, because the path of righteousness leads to struggle against evil, either internally, or against others.

These are the challenging words of instruction by Jesus to the Disciples when he is sending them on their missionary journey to the lost sheep of Israel. Matthew chapter 10.

And after encouraging them not to fear persecution for their part in teaching all that he has taught them, he warns them that this path of obedience and righteousness might well bring suffering and conflict.

This is not because Jesus wants to create trouble, but because the evil of sin in our world needs to be confronted.

Peace can be won, sometimes through conflict, and we owe a debt of gratitude to the brave men and women who have fought to win the peace, and keep the peace.

But peace can also be a preventive measure. We bring peace, by placing bread in another person’s hands as in the words of the hymn by Fred Caan:

Put peace into each other’s hands

      and like a treasure hold it;

protect it like a candle flame,

      with tenderness enfold it.

 

Put peace into each other’s hands

      with loving expectation;

be gentle in your words and ways,

      in touch with God’s creation.

 

Put peace into each other’s hands,

      like bread we break for sharing;

look people warmly in the eye:

      our life is meant for caring.

 

As at communion, shape your hands

      into a waiting cradle;

the gift of Christ receive, revere,

      united round the table.

 

Put Christ into each other’s hands,

      he is love’s deepest measure;

in love make peace, give peace a chance

      and share it like a treasure.

In Scotland, a piece of bread and jam, is known as just a ‘piece’.

And for those unschooled in the arts of the Scots tongue, they can be forgiven for getting confused at lunchtime, if asked “Do you have yer piece?”

As children, we are always taught to share, but somewhere along the line, we grow up and forget the most important things we learned as children in pre-school. Perhaps, as children of God we need to be reminded, and that is what the author and minister, Robert Fulghum does at the beginning of his wonderful book, All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten

“Share everything.

Play fair.

Don’t hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up after your own mess.

Don’t take things that aren’t yours.

Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.

Be aware of wonder.”

In a world where many go hungry, food shared is often the way to creating peace and turning enemies into friends.

Or, even before things fall apart, food relief both domestic and international can save the peace and prevent more damaging conflict and unrest. Which is why acts of compassion and justice are performed every time the church is involved in soup kitchens and foodbanks and international disaster relief.

The breaking of bread between politicians and world leaders over banquets is an essential path to peace, for these are occasions when a place at the table is sign of acceptance and recognition. And when all are fed, are the actions of those creating justice in our world.

The New Zealand hymn writer, Shirley Erena Murray, captures God’s desire for justice, not only that everyone is fed, but also that they are heard and included at the table. For without justice, there can be no peace. ​​Amen.

Let us sing together:

For everyone born, a place at the table,

for everyone born, clean water and bread,

a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing,

for everyone born, a star overhead,

          and God will delight when we are creators

          of justice and joy, compassion and peace:

          yes, God will delight when we are creators

          of justice, justice and joy!

For woman and man, a place at the table,

revising the roles, deciding the share,

with wisdom and grace, dividing the power,

for woman and man, a system that’s fair,

          and God will delight when we are creators

          of justice and joy, compassion and peace:

          yes, God will delight when we are creators

          of justice, justice and joy!

For young and for old, a place at the table,

a voice to be heard, a part in the song,

the hands of a child in hands that are wrinkled,

for young and for old, the right to belong,

          and God will delight when we are creators

          of justice and joy, compassion and peace:

          yes, God will delight when we are creators

          of justice, justice and joy!

For just and unjust, a place at the table,

abuser, abused, with need to forgive,

in anger, in hurt, a mindset of mercy,

for just and unjust, a new way to live,

          and God will delight when we are creators

          of justice and joy, compassion and peace:

          yes, God will delight when we are creators

          of justice, justice and joy!

For everyone born, a place at the table,

to live without fear, and simply to be,

to work, to speak out, to witness and worship,

for everyone born, the right to be free,

          and God will delight when we are creators

          of justice and joy, compassion and peace:

          yes, God will delight when we are creators

          of justice, justice and joy!

For gay and for straight, a place at the table,

a covenant shared, a welcoming space,

a rainbow of race and gender and colour,

for gay and for straight, the chalice of grace,

          and God will delight when we are creators

          of justice and joy, compassion and peace:

          yes, God will delight when we are creators

          of justice, justice and joy!

Words Copyright © 1998 by Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream IL 60188

…….for they shall be comforted.
There is little that is more shattering to us, than the pain of loss.

And by now, it cannot have escaped our notice that the Beatitudes provide one paradox after another. Today’s is possibly the most extreme. How can it be a blessing to be in mourning? How can it be a blessing to lose a loved one, or a limb, or a job, or anything or person that would cause us to grieve?

Mourning, like poverty is a great stripper of illusions; it stops us pretending that life is other than it is.

And, in a paradoxical way, when we mourn, our tears are not only for ourselves, they are also for those we have lost.

Grief may well cause us to turn in on ourselves, but we also can be taken out of ourselves in our remembering of those who have gone from us.

Those of us who are called upon to minister to people in their time of bereavement, often witness the deep truths of human grief, out of which come springing the beginnings of comfort and compassion, which can be offered to others.

There is a funeral prayer that I like to use, which speaks of this:

Oh God of all comfort,

In the midst of pain, heal us with your love;

In the darkness of sorrow, shine upon us as the morning star.

Awaken in us the spirit of mercy, that as we feel the pain of others,

We may share with them, the comfort we receive from you.

This prayer for empathy, is grounded in the knowledge that God who comforts us when we are mourning, in turn gives us ability to comfort others in their time of grief.

But, when grief is a raw and so deep that you feel numb, and anger, or denial for a long time before the hoped for acceptance we need before we can move on.  

One person whose grief was very deeply felt, was C. S. Lewis, one of the greatest Christian writers of the 20th Century. A Catholic and a convert to Christianity, who not only wrote the famous children’s adventure, Chronicles of Narnia, but many other works, on Christian theology, such as The Screwtape Letters, and based on his own grief after the death of Joy, his wife, “A Grief Observed”.

Lewis, unlike most people, was able to articulate and write about it saying,

“Grief still feels like fear. Perhaps, more strictly, like suspense. Or like waiting; just hanging about waiting for something to happen. It gives life a permanently provisional feeling. It doesn’t seem worth starting anything. I can’t settle down. I yawn, I fidget, I smoke too much. Up to this, I always had too little time. Now, there is nothing but time. Almost pure time, empty successiveness.”

Perhaps you will identify with some, or all of what Lewis is describing.

And he in his grief was also written about by one biographer, Michael Coren, in The Man Who Created Narnia:

“This was the first time Lewis had seen a natural death. He had seen men die in war, bloody and bruised, but never seen someone decay into death. He was in a state of shock and travelled home from the hospital numb and disbelieving. He arrived (home) and told his brother, “God rest her soul,” . . . “I miss her to a degree which I would not have imagined possible.”

“Monday July 18th, was Joy’s funeral. . . . Lewis was physically and mentally exhausted, and when Joy’s name was mentioned, he would cry. Some people were surprised by this, expecting him to be some godlike figure who was immune to such commonplace grief.”

“My heart and body are crying out, come back, come back . . .But I know this is impossible. I know that the thing that I want is exactly the thing I can never get. The old life, the jokes, the drinks, the arguments, the lovemaking . . .”

And so, Lewis wrote his book, A Grief Observed. . . . about the way he felt after Joy’s death:

“At other times, it feels like being mildly drunk, or concussed. There is a sort of invisible blanket, between the world and me. I find it hard to take in what anyone says. Or perhaps, hard to want to take it in. It is so uninteresting. Yet I want the others to be about me. I dread the moments when the house is empty. If only they would talk to one another and not to me.

​There are moments, most unexpectedly, when something inside tries to assure me that I don’t really mind so much, not so very much, after all. Love is not the whole of a man’s life. I was happy before I met her. I’ve plenty of what are called, ‘resources’. People get over these things. Come, I shan’t do so badly. One is ashamed to listen to this voice but it seems for a little to be making out a good case. Then comes a sudden jab of red-hot memory and all this “common sense” vanishes like an ant in the mouth of a furnace.”

Lewis’s writing, like others who write about grief, has helped many people find the words they wanted to express, but did not know how.

But there are other kinds of mourning. The mourning for a limb lost through accident or illness, the loss of job, or the loss of one’s faculties, either mental or physical.

Exiles mourn for places to which they belong, but where they will never return. Anything to which we might become attached, can be mourned for.

In the years following the rise of Hitler, and the coming to power of the National Socialists in Germany, Deitrich Bonhoeffer wrote his powerful exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, which was translated into English and entitled The Cost Of Discipleship. In his commentary on this beatitude, and out of his own life situation in Nazi Germany, Bonhoeffer puts mourning into a larger context saying:

“ By ‘mourning’ Jesus, of course, means doing without what the world calls peace and prosperity: he means refusing to be in tune with the world or to accommodate oneself to its standards

“And so, Leith Fisher concludes, “Bonhoeffer moves us from being grief stricken to sorrow-bearing. He reminds us of the call to live in sympathy “suffering with” others; to share with them in a common human solidarity. Thus, do we offer comfort to one another?”

And so, in feeling our grief, we are once more able to offer comfort. Perhaps, this is where the blessing begins to be felt and shared, when comfort is given and received.

Many people, care about the world and its people are grieving over its condition; whether it is the environment, or the state of man’s inhumanity to man.

For, only when we grieve and mourn over a situation are we then in a position to be motivated into action to change that situation, or aspect of the world’s malaise.

Perhaps this is another way that mourning can be a source of blessing, because pain we feel, becomes the irritant that makes us need to bring about change.

Every cloud has a silver lining, and when a particle of sand or grit gets into an oyster, that is the beginning of the making of a pearl.

At first glance, there is surely no blessing in mourning. But, perhaps once the intensity of pain and shock subside, and healing has begun enough to let us acknowledge our vulnerability and ask for help to reveal the cracks our loss has caused. Then, God’s light can shine into and through our lives.

Leonard Cohen had a song in which the chorus went:

“Ring the bells that still can ring 

Forget your perfect offering 

There is a crack, a crack in everything 

That’s how the light gets in.”

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted”,

By the tears which themselves are a release of emotion, by friends who gather round, by memories that will sustain us in the years to come, but most of all, by knowing that God our Father will enfold us in His everlasting arms, and will one day, wipe every tear from every eye.​Amen.

The Disciples were always quarrelling like the sibling rivalry we can all remember from our childhood. And as we know Peter, who was so hot headed and impetuous must have owed many apologies to various people. And so, it is surprising that he is the one who is asking about how many times he must forgive. Perhaps he thought that he was being generous offering to forgive seven times. After all, in the Rabbinic tradition scholars, such as Rabbi Jose ben Hanina said,
‘He who begs forgiveness from his neighbour must do so no more than three times.’

And Rabbi Jose ben Jehuda said,

‘If a man commits an offence once, they forgive him, if he commits an offence a second time, they forgive him; if he commits an offence a third time, they forgive him; the fourth time, they do not forgive him.’

The biblical proof for this comes from Amos, chapters 1:3, 6, 9. 11 and 13, and 2;1, 4, and 6.

And so Peter thought he was going the extra mile by doubling the Rabbinic teaching and adding one more for good measure.

You can imagine the pride and self-satisfaction that Peter was awarding himself, and expected to be warmly commended by Jesus for his grace.

But Jesus’ answer that he should forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven. And, unless he were to keep a record of wrongs against him, it would be impossible to remember 70 times 7, which is 490.

Jesus was meaning that he must forgive into infinity and never keep a count of wrongs done against him.

To illustrate his point, in Matthew 18:21ff Jesus tells the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.   It teaches the lesson which runs through much of Matthew, all the New Testament that we must forgive, because we have been forgiven much. Those who cannot forgive others cannot hope that God will forgive them. For God, has forgiven us for so much more than anything we might find to forgive in other people.

‘Blessed are the Merciful, for they will receive mercy.’

Much of the teaching of the Sermon on The Mount is an expansion of the Beatitudes, which is why in Matthew 6:14, Jesus’ teaching about prayer reinforces what he said, by saying,

‘Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors’, or ‘Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. For if you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive you.’

James also repeats this teaching when he says in Chapter 2:13 of his letter, ‘For judgement will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy.’ Therefore, divine and human forgiveness go hand in hand.

William Barclay also reminds us that one of the great points of this Parable is the contrast between the two debts. The first servant owed his master over 10,000 talents – and a talent was equivalent to over 15 years’ wages. Apparently, the total budget of Idumea, Judea and Samaria was only 600 talents, and the total revenue of Galilee was 300 talents, so the debt of this servant was comparable to what the corrupt bankers owed us after the Credit Crash. And, against this background his debt was staggering and this is what he was forgiven.

However, the debt which a fellow servant owed him was tiny in comparison. It was only 100 denarii, and a denarius was a usual day’s wage for a working man.

The biblical scholar A. R. S. Kennedy draws a vivid picture to contrast the size of the debts which were owed: “Suppose they were paid in small coins, (he suggested sixpences, or five pence pieces or US dimes). The 100 denarii debt could have been carried in one pocket. The 10000 talents would have taken an army of about 8600 carriers to carry it, each with a sack of coins weighing 60 pounds. And they form up at a distance of a yard apart, in a line five miles long. The contrast between these debts is staggering. And the point is that nothing that others can do to us can compare to the suffering Jesus endured on the cross on our behalf. And if, God can forgive us the debt we owe him, for what was done on the cross for us, then we must forgive our neighbours the debts they owe to us.

Blessed are the Merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.

By the same token, another illustration is offered by Jesus, when teaching about judging others.

And of course, when it comes to God’s mercy, we can only depend on His grace when we need it. American bible teacher, writer and broadcaster says,

“Justice is for those who deserve it, mercy is for those who don’t.”

In the encounter between Jesus and the Canaanite woman, she cries out to him, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon possession.”

At first Jesus did not answer, but his Disciples urged him to send her away.

So, he replied, “I was sent only to the Lost Sheep of Israel.”

Again the woman pleaded, this time, on her knees, “Lord, help me!”

He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread, and toss it to their dogs.”

“Yes Lord”, she said, “But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

Jesus Answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request has been granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

So, why did Jesus relent, and why was the woman’s daughter healed?

Because of faith. We are saved by faith, not by lineage, race, or works, or by the sacrifices which were thought to be the way to faith under the old covenant of the law, between the children of Israel and God. The new covenant, Jesus was bringing was about the mercy God had for his people, which through Jesus he was bringing, which is why people were healed, and fed, and forgiven and accepted.

For God desires mercy, not sacrifice.

In Matthew 12 we remember how Jesus walked through the cornfields on the Sabbath and because his disciples were hungry, they picked ears of corn to eat. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.

Jesus answered,

“Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread – which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. . . . I tell you that one greater than the Temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent? For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shrivelled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

And Jesus said to them,

“If any of you has a sheep, and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and take it out? How much more valuable is the man than the sheep! Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Then he said to the man, stretch out your hand.” So, he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.”

Perhaps you can think of laws or rules, which even today seem unjust, and how God wants us show mercy.

On Radio 4, I heard of how A. L. Kennedy on Desert Island Discs spoke of her love for reading and libraries, and as she discovered the magic of books and stories, she shared how even the library could be place of mercy over judgement when the librarian turned a blind eye to the vagrant who slept away the afternoons in its warmth and safety.

Maybe you’ve been on a bus or behind someone in the queue when they realised that they don’t have enough for the fare. It would be easy for the driver to tell them to step aside, and deny them access, but then someone stepped forward with the difference that it takes to pay their fare to get them home. That is mercy in action. Sometimes it’s known as ‘paying it forward’, because somebody once did something for them in their time of need.

And Jesus would say, go and do likewise.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.”​Amen.