Happy You

Scripture: Matthew 5.1-12; 1 Corinthians 1.18-31


“The trouble with familiar passages of the Bible is that they are so familiar,” wrote Frederick Buechner. This section of Matthew’s Gospel is not only familiar reading Christians but is among the most recognizable passages in all of Western literature. The problem of familiarity requires us to break it down and then build it back up with hopefully a fresh and accurate understanding.

The beginning of Matthew five is known as the Beatitudes. The word comes from the Latin beatus (“fortunate”) that stands at the beginning of the Latin Bible known as the Vulgate. The word in Greek is Makarios and it is best translated “happy” or “blissful”. This is to distinguish it from the Greek word for blessing which is eulogetus, from which we derive the English word eulogy. That word for blessing doesn’t appear here in Matthew 5. So the translation is, “Happy is the one who. . .”

So that is our start. Only right away we face a problem. If the translation is “Happy is the one who. . . Mourns.” Well. Really. Is such a one happy? Let’s try another. “Happy are the meek. . .” I wonder if the meek are really happy. You know who the meek are? Well, the name we usually give them are “the chumps,” “the nobodies,” “the losers.” Admittedly, these are very flattering names. J. Upton Dickson is writing a book called, “Cower Power”. Not to be confused with the coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Although I bet he too, is feeling meek right about now. Dickson also founded a group of meek, submissive people. It was called DOORMATS. That stands for “Dependent Organization of Really Meek and Timid Souls – if there are no objections.” Their motto was: “The meek shall inherit the earth- if that’s okay with everybody.”

So what does Jesus mean when he calls the meek and the grieving “happy.” Does his words have totally different meanings than our words? Not quite. When we talk about “happy” we are talking about human emotions, feelings. So is Jesus. But I think what he is suggesting in Matthew 5 is that our feelings and our happiness don’t depend on the things or the context that we normally depend on. The Beatitudes are not description of human feelings alone, but feelings the flow from trust in God and a confidence in the future that God promises to bring. One of the reasons the Beatitudes have been hailed as a classic of Western lit and the greatest sermon ever preached is that they have equally powerful punch to the present reality and the future kingdom. Jesus connects present and future like no other. Jesus says, if effect, “Hey, I know it doesn’t look this way now, but you who are taking a beating for your faith are gonna be feeling pretty happy about it someday soon. You who are pure in heart, who turn your eyes away from many of the things this world promises to make you happy with, you really will be happy that you did – you’re going to see God.”

The Beatitudes are a prime example of Jesus turning things upside down – or as he might contend, right-side up. Jesus says “The first will be last.” So get in line now to be last in the world, and you’ll be first in the Kingdom to come. Maybe there’s little virtue in just being poor, or being meek, or being last; but the point is, usually it’s the poor, and the meek and the grieving who actually have room for God in their lives. “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall be filled.”

“Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth,” wrote the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 1.26bff). “But God chose foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are.” It doesn’t look this way now, but believe it can and will be. You’ll be happy you did.

Yahoo.com reports that Matt Emmons had the gold medal in his sight. He was one shot away from claiming victory in the 2004 Olympics 50-meter three-position rifle event. He didn’t even need a bull’s-eye to win. His final shot merely needed to be on target. Normally, the shot he made would have received a score of 8.1, more than enough for a gold medal. But in what was described as “an extremely rare mistake in elite competition,” Emmons fired at the wrong target. Standing in lane two, he fired at the target in lane three. His score for a good shot at the wrong target? Zero. Instead of a medal, Emmons ended up in eighth place. It doesn’t matter how accurate you are if you are aiming at the wrong target.

Unfortunately, Emmons “extremely rare mistake” is all too common in our everyday lives. Jesus tells us pretty bluntly that for most of us, our priorities are pretty messed up. We are aiming at the wrong target. We are happy and satisfied with the wrong things.

So what do we do? How do we respond to this Sermon on an Upside-Down World? I think the first step is trusting that God really has our good and happiness in mind. The second step is becoming a person with Kingdom priorities and Kingdom character – humility, poverty of spirit, hunger for God. In their book, Entrepreneurial Faith, authors Kirbyjon Caldwell and Walt Kallestad describe a spiritual entrepreneur as “one who is not satisfied with the way things are and who refuses to stand on the sidelines doing nothing about it.” In this sense, Jesus is the original spiritual entrepreneur and his Beatitudes nothing if not a sublime protest of the way things are and a confident promise, given with a smile, of how things one day will be.

Jim Forest once asked the biblical scholar Rabbi Steven Schwarzchild, “How would you translate the word ‘blessing’?”

“There is no one word that will do,” the rabbi replied. “It is something like ‘on the right path,’ on the way the Creator wants us to go.’ It is the opposite of the word for sin, which means ‘losing your way.’”

Happy are you, who having one lost your way, have found it again by the grace of Christ Jesus. Happy are you as you live in and for His Kingdom, now and forever!