Week 15, Day 3
““Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matthew 5:3–4) “You’re lucky.” We usually say this when someone has fallen into a great situation. When someone gets a financial win, or a promotion, or a good thing happens to them, we say, “Lucky you!” We don’t ever say, “Lucky you, you got persecuted!” or “People hate you, lucky you!” I once heard that when Eugene Peterson took his first translation of Matthew 5 to the publishers they rejected it. He translated it, “You’re Lucky when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. “You’re lucky when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.” (Matthew 5:3–4, The Message) The Zondervan publishers said, “We are going to stick with ‘Blessed’ instead of ‘Lucky’ on this one.” The more I’ve thought about this, I wished Peterson pushed back on Zondervan. “Lucky,” in my opinion, better captures what Jesus is doing with the beatitudes. He’s unveiling the kingdom of God, and in that he is showing us that the mournful, meek, and peacemakers are actually the lucky ones. Never have these unfortunate folks been considered the fortunate, blessed and lucky ones, but the unfortunate and hard pressed. But in light of what new reality God is breaking into the world, the Kingdom of God, these folks are first in line. We will look at the mournful, the persecuted, the poor, and call them the “lucky ones.” Unincumbered by the wealth, popularity and power in the world, they will be first in line. It challenges us to see that the kingdom of God is very much unlike the kingdoms of this world. We have spent most of our lives jealous and calling the rich, the well-to-do and fashionable, all of them we’ve said, “Lucky you!” However, Jesus here reverses our understanding of who the fortunate ones are. Those who are most fortunate have a place in the kingdom of God. The down-and-out are in first place in God’s kingdom. The last are first. We might call them, “Lucky!” This becomes a part of our pronouncement of the Good News. We don’t seek to become mournful. That’s not Jesus’ intentions here. It is rather a part of our announcing and proclamation of the Gospel. We get to bring a word of comfort to people who are suffering, “God sees you, loves you and you have a place in his family.” That might help them know that they are not forgotten by God and unlucky. It’s just the opposite. God not only sees you, he has given you first place in His Kingdom.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorJordan Ickes, Minister of Etna Green Church of Christ. Archives
December 2022
Categories
All
|