Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
(A)
February 1, 2026
Text:
Matt. 5:1-12
What kind of life would the world
call blessed? Certainly not
what Jesus says here. Blessed are the poor
in spirit? No, no… blessed, rather, are
the rich in spirit. Those who mourn? The meek? Those hungering and thirsting for
righteousness? How about, rather, those
who are disgustingly happy (you know the type), the bold and
assertive, and those full to the brim of the admiration of the
masses for their public virtue and pious respectability? Merciful? Sure, to a point. But only to the deserving. Or, to those who, if I help them, I’ll feel
good about myself. Pure in heart? Okay, whatever that means. Peacemakers? Absolutely.
We like peace. As long as the
peacemaker maintains the advantage. But,
persecuted? No way. That is the opposite of blessed. If the world composed the Beatitudes
(the “blesseds”), those Beatitudes would have nothing to do with weakness
or sadness or suffering.
They would have everything to do with strength and exaltation,
glory and triumph.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,”
Jesus says (Matt. 5:3; ESV). Sounds like
utter foolishness to the world.
But isn’t that exactly what St. Paul says in our Epistle? “The word of the cross is folly to those
who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1
Cor. 1:18). The cross. Weakness.
Suffering. Poverty of spirit. That is to say, having no rightful claim on
the blessings of God by your own merit.
Just a beggar before Him, with an empty sack. Mourning. Mourning what? Your own sin.
Unrighteousness. Injustice. The state of things in the world. The brokenness of it all. Death, the great destroyer. Meek.
Unpretentious. Patient. Humble.
Again, making no claim for yourself, whether before God, or before other
people. Putting yourself after God, and
after others. Hungering and thirsting
for righteousness. Within others,
yes. But above all, within
yourself. You are yearning for it,
longing to be filled by it. And you know
that it doesn’t come from you. It can
only come from God. The righteousness of
God that comes through faith for all who believe (Rom. 3:22).
Jesus calls this blessed. Why?
How so? Well, it is not because
there is some inherent righteousness in suffering and lack. Poverty is not a virtue, any more than
wealth; sadness, any more than happiness.
What makes these things blessed, then?
It is only when you come before
God with an empty sack, that He can fill it. And He does.
With all His gifts in Jesus Christ.
He empties your sack of all that is worthless in repentance, which He
often brings about by sufferings. He
fills your sack to overflowing in Christ, who suffered for you, and is risen
for you. He fills it, such that then you
can go and pour out His gifts on others.
And then what? Come back, and God
will fill your sack again. So now, you
can go and be merciful. Even to
those who don’t deserve it. That is, you
can forgive their sins. Not hold their
trespasses against them. Not despise
them, even when they are despicable (you realize, that is exactly what God does
for you, right?!). You can help them in
their time of need. Give them what you
have, and what they lack. Pure in
heart. Cleansed of your own filth by
the Absolution of Christ. He’s your only
source of purity. And now, like Him, not
only can you have mercy, but you can make peace. Between yourself and others. And between others. You can make peace. Even to your own disadvantage. (How did Jesus make peace with you? He died on the cross, that’s how. See how He made peace with you by His own,
unspeakable, disadvantage?) Love your
enemies, He tells you (Matt. 5:44)… and shows you (the cross)! Pray for them. Bless those who persecute you. Bless, and do not curse (Rom. 12:14). And there is that word, “persecute.” “Blessed are those who are persecuted for
righteousness’ sake” (Matt. 5:10). “Blessed
are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil
against you falsely on my account” (v. 11).
He tells you to “rejoice and be glad” in that (v. 12), because it
puts you right up there with the prophets.
It is blessed, He says.
Because you are pouring yourself out for your persecutors, like Jesus,
who poured Himself out for you.
And you know what God did for the dead Jesus after three days. Resurrection.
Vindication. And so you. Sack empty, you come before God in death, and
what does God do, but fill you up again, to the brim and beyond, with
resurrection life, and all good things.
That is what the second part of each
Beatitude is about. Here is the Gospel
for all those who are poor in spirit, and know it! Theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Comfort for the mourning. The meek receive the earth as their
heritage, and that is to say, the New Creation, the Resurrection
world. Those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness? What else could
satisfy them like the perfect righteousness of Jesus, God’s Son, credited to
their account, given to them as a gift, covering them and dumped in their sack,
by grace alone? And then, enacted in
them. And so… mercy for the
merciful. The beatific vision
(that is, the blessed seeing of God Himself) for the pure in heart. And the peacemakers? Sons of God, they are called, because
they do what the Son of God, Jesus, did and does by His self-sacrifice
on the cross… they make peace. And, the
persecuted… We come full circle. Again, theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Not because they’ve earned it by suffering
persecution. Nobody earns, here. Remember, this is all by grace. But it’s just a statement of fact. What can they actually take from you by
persecuting you, when the Kingdom of heaven belongs to you? Your life? Nope, you have that, eternally, in Jesus
Christ, who is risen from the dead. So
that, dying, you live. And Jesus will
raise you up on the Last Day. Your freedom? Nah, if the Son sets you free, you will be
free, indeed (John 8:36). The reality
is, it is precisely because of your freedom in Christ, in whom you live
eternally, that you can suffer persecution without loss. Your possessions? Well, let’s face it, you could stand to get
rid of some stuff, anyway. And, you
know, as it is, everything they take from you will only break or rot away. But your lasting possessions are eternal in
the heavens (cf. 2 Cor. 5:1), and those they cannot take away.
What it comes down to, beloved, is
that your blessedness is Christ.
Blessed are you who are in Christ. No matter the circumstances. By virtue of His Baptism into you
in the Jordan River (Matt. 3:13-17), and your Baptism into Him at
the font, you are united with Him in such a way that He takes all the emptiness
and lack and weakness and suffering and death that you deserve by your
sins, upon Himself, and puts it to death on the cross… so that you
get all the blessedness… the Kingdom, the fulness, the joy, the righteousness,
the life that belongs to Him.
Everything is transformed in the death and resurrection of Christ, and
by your Baptism into Christ. Turned
upside down (or really, right side up).
Made new. “Behold,” Jesus
says, “I am making all things new” (Rev. 21:5).
And here is why it matters, to you,
personally, here and now. Every time you
suffer some kind of grief or setback… every time you shed a tear… every time
you are weary, or heavy laden, as you come to realize that things are not as
they should be in the world, in you, in those around you… every time you come
to realize that you need saving, and everybody else needs saving,
and you can’t save, them or you, because you don’t make a very
good savior… Every time you experience pain, or loss, or rejection, or any
other sadness… and especially when that is for the Name of Jesus… you
know that there is a hidden beatitude in it. Hidden, but assuredly present. And if you doubt it, just come read this
Gospel text again. Things are not as
they appear. There is always hope. Hope, sure and certain. Because Jesus Christ, who was crucified, is
risen from the dead. That is the power
of God for the salvation of all who believe.
And He is coming back, this Jesus.
For you. He is coming soon. To pull back the veil, and bring the
blessedness, the beatitude, to light. You
cannot see it now. But you will. And, in the meantime, what does He do? He brings you to His Table, and feeds you
with Himself. The Bread of Life, the
Blessed One. His body, His blood, given
and shed for you, for your forgiveness, life, and salvation. Filled to the brim, with every good and
perfect gift.
That is the kind of life Jesus
calls blessed. Emptied of all that is
not Him. Filled with all that is Him and
His. That’s you. Blessed are you. And yours is the Kingdom of heaven. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X,
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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