Shalom
Matthew 5:1-12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
What does one say about a passage so famous, so quoted, so studied, and just so beautiful? I mean, there are so many ways to go with the Beatitudes, but considering our annual meeting is today, and considering the kind of… obsession I’ve had with keeping communities and relationships alive, there was one thing that really stuck out to me when I was working on this sermon.
You see, it’s very, very easy to read this beautiful passage as a set of moral codes to live by and to be uplifted by as individuals—blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who try to keep peace, blessed are those who are merciful— if we want, we can read this as essentially, ‘blessed are those who struggle, blessed are those who have it rough, because they’ll be okay when the kingdom of heaven comes.’ And you know, there’s nothing inherently wrong, I don’t think, with reading it this way; I think it can be really helpful and uplifting for those who are struggling. I think it can be really helpful for us to remember these as blessings for individuals to keep us persevering, to keep us on the right path… but it’s so much more than that.
If we really look at the context of this passage, and if we look at what inspired it, we can see that it’s so much more than some individualistic moral code. Now, to begin with, Matthew was always making sure to appeal to the disaffected Jewish people of the day. So it’s no coincidence that this is the Sermon on the Mount, and that this is, essentially, a set of blessings and a guide to living—Matthew likely set this up to be a new version of Moses’ revelation of the Ten Commandments; and in understanding this, we can understand that much of this passage was influenced and inspired by Jewish texts and Old Testament prophets.
Let’s begin by look at “Blessed are those who mourn.” Now again, if we want, maybe especially if we’re grieving a loved one, we can absolutely read this as some solace I those times, understanding that we will be unconditionally loved and comforted by God. But this is likely inspired by a passage from Isaiah in which good news comes to those who are mourning their lost homeland. So this is about a collective mourning—a people mourning what once was and what could be. Because although in this time, the Jewish people were technically allowed to practice their faith, and though they were technically in their homeland, they were still living under the boot of the cruel and oppressive Roman Empire, living as an occupied people. And so, this is Jesus telling the crowds that this isn’t how it has to be, and it won’t be like this forever. The masses will be comforted and the world will be righted.
And blessed are the meek—meek here doesn’t mean submissive, it doesn’t mean we need to be a doormat. It simply means humble. It means someone who doesn’t take advantage of whatever power or authority they may have in life. It means someone who accepts themselves as one on equal footing with the masses, and doesn’t believe themselves to be above anyone else—certainly doesn’t believe themselves to be above God. It means someone who is humble for the sake of the greater good. The meek will inherit the earth means a time in which all will be on equal footing.
But I think my favorite example is that of “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Ironically, the gospel of Matthew was written during the Pax Romana—or the 200 years of alleged peace in the Roman Empire. So could one consider the Romans as part of this group of blessed peacemakers? No—because one doesn’t create true peace by way of conquest. True peace doesn’t happen when there’s a constant threat of crucifixion or some other inhumane punishment or death awaiting you if you step out of line. So considering the fact that so much of this sermon on the mount was inspired by Jewish texts, it would make sense that the type of peace Jesus was referring to would be shalom. Now, in Christianity and in English, we’ve kind of just taken the easy way out and translated shalom as peace. But it is so much more than that. In addition to peace, it means harmony, wholeness, welfare. In fact, biblically, in several passages Old Testament passages, it refers to the well-being of others. And this idea of wholeness is central to the true meaning of shalom. The theologian Cornelius Plantinga describes the biblical concept of shalom like this: “The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophets call shalom. We call it peace, but it means far more than mere peace of mind or a ceasefire between enemies. Shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight…”
In discovering the emphasis of togetherness in today’s passage, my memory was jogged of an article, or actually several articles that came out a couple weeks ago about a Harvard study on happiness. It’s the longest ever scientific study on happiness—an 85-year-study on what keeps us happy and content. According to an Atlantic article on the study: “…it’s brought us to a simple and profound conclusion: Good relationships lead to health and happiness. The trick is that those relationships must be nurtured.”
This might be a simple concept, but sadly, it’s not an easy one to put into practice. I’ve talked before about how even before the pandemic, social club membership, church memberships, these things have been plummeting for decades, and the pandemic made it so much worse so quickly. Ironically, it’s the thing that helps us be in touch with people more than ever—the internet, technology, that is in many ways forcing was further apart. It’s face-to-face communication, real togetherness that brings about this relational happiness. That’s why everything Jesus mentions in this passage has to do with the greater good, it has to do with being humble in understanding we should all be on the same level; that we must work together to create shalom, to create a true wholeness on this earth.
And between crazy work hours, between over-scheduled kids activities, between the general outrageous demands of today’s world, something as simple as meeting up with a friend or organizing a monthly meeting for a social club takes a backseat to everything else. And the real issue with is that keeping relationships healthy and intact, and therefore keeping communities healthy and active takes real work. That same Atlantic article notes,
…having healthy, fulfilling relationships is its own kind of fitness—social fitness—and like physical fitness it takes work to maintain…It requires stepping back from the crush of modern life, taking stock of our relationships and being honest with ourselves about where we’re devoting our time and whether we are tending to the connections that help us thrive.
Church, we can’t create an earth as it is in heaven by ourselves. We need to be in relationship with people, we need to have support and we need to support one another if we’re going to thrive. This goes for friendships, familial relationships, and it goes for the relationships we have with each other— it goes for the commitment we’re able to give to things outside the crush of the modern world, as the article states—the commitment we’re able to give things that will bring us joy and fulfillment and will bring joy to other people.
A people who mourn together are also a people who are comforted together. A people who humble themselves around one another are a people who respect and love one another. A people who work as peacemakers, who work for shalom, are people who want that shalom, who want that wholeness for all people.
Last night, this church was filled with so much joy, and it was also filled with a sort of relief from the diners who returned after the roast beef hiatus. I believe people truly did collectively mourn the loss of that great community event, and there was a real sense of comfort in its return… because people long for community and togetherness; they long for a place where everyone is welcome to join together over a meal and laughter. They long for relationships and a place where they can feel safe and comfortable.
And last night, one of our dining room volunteers—it was actually volunteer extraordinaire Joan Fariel from over at the UU church, towards the end of the time came up to me, and exclaimed, “How many people does it take it put this on?! There have got to be about 30 of us working here!” And that’s the thing, right? For people to have that community that allows them to feel so safe and so loved, we need help. We need to support one another and support the things that give life to this community, to this church.
And this doesn’t just go for the Roast Beef Suppers of course—this is all on my mind because we’re heading into our annual meeting in just a little bit, and we’re gonna see all the nitty gritty not-super-fun things like what the budget looks like for this year, what the utility costs look like; we’re gonna see the people rotating off of and onto committees, and when we do that, I encourage you to look to the future a little take a peek at who’s going to be rotating off in 2024. Maybe you might be interested in being a deacon and learning the ins and outs of worship services on Sundays, and getting to know the people in this community who need outreach and pastoral visits; maybe you have incredibly executive functioning skills, you’re really organized and in the future you might want to see what being an assistant clerk or an assistant treasurer is like. Maybe you’re really creative and innovative and you have ideas for other uses the community could have for this building—in which case you’d make a great trustee.
Because with all these ways to get involved, you won’t just be lifting up the church—you’ll be lifting up one another and lifting up this whole community. As another article referencing that happiness study states, “It’s not just about having a partner. The science tells us we should be cultivating relationships of all kinds. It’s in every realm of your life.”
And this in the Beatitudes, this is essentially what Jesus is telling us—in every realm of our lives, we have to make an effort towards real togetherness and real community—we will mourn together, but we will therefore be comforted together. We will see one another as equals, and therefore the world will be ours. We may sometimes be scoffed at, but we will be scoffed at together, knowing we are doing what’s right in God’s eyes, and what’s right for this community. We will work to create shalom—goodness and welfare for all people—so that all will know they are beloved children of God.
But the key words here are we, and all. As much as the society we live in pushes so hard for individualism, for these toxic every-person-for-themselves kind of mentality, as much as this society does everything it can to make sure we don’t work together to make a better world, to make an earth as it is in heaven, we have to hold strong and continue to work for shalom. Both the science and Jesus tell us that to be a fulfilled and happy people, we have to see one another, have real relationships with one another; we have to work together for the good of one another, for the good of community; we have to work together for the very real possibility of an earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
