The Sermon on the Mount in Our World, Part 5: Blessed are the Merciful

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy." -Matthew 5:7

The wing and hand of the angel with the cross symbolize the act of Mercy and represent those giving mercy as shown with the bandaged hand. The Caduceus represents the medical profession. The Chi Rho represents Christ and the bottomost symbol represents sickness and healing.

There were very few ways to die in the ancient world that were more painful, humiliating, or excruciatingly drawn out than crucifixion. It was generally a punishment by Rome for political enemies or military traitors. They were strung up on a beam and crossbar by hand and foot, and than left until they died from exposure or wild animals. While they waited for death, they had to endure the agony of intense muscle exertion and cramping, as well as hunger and thirst. The depictions of Jesus being hung with no support under his feet are wrong; that would anatomically impossible to do to a person, and would defeat the purpose anyways of a long, drawn out death.

They were often crucified in public places, such as roadsides, so serve as an example to other would-be revolutionaries. In the 2nd century BC, after the Spartacus uprising, the gladiators who followed Spartacus were crucified all along the road from Tuscany to Rome, one every 100 meters. The public aspect was intended to bring great shame on the prisoners. To not have one's body anointed and buried upon death was the ultimate humiliation, as the people of Rome believed  that you could not pass over to the afterlife with a proper burial.

And crucifixions were very, very ordinary. Hundreds of thousands, possibly even millions, of people were crucified during the extent of Roman Empire. People knew that the punishment for treason was generally crucifixion. It was a fairly convincing deterrent.

And, needless to say, it was very, very inhumane. That was kind of the point. It was to degrade their enemies, to shame them and bring them down to the lowest level of humiliation, that Rome did this. It was a particularly intense form of torture, and the death penalty, all rolled into one terrible act.

Jesus was crucified in this way. The man who had been declared King of the Jews, in direct contradiction to the Roman Emperor and King Herod, was strung up on a beam and left to die. He was shamed and humiliated and displayed publicly. It was a way for the Roman to deter future Messianic claimants, and by the Jewish leaders to mock the supposed prophet and Messiah. What Messiah suffers so long and so publicly? What Messiah allows himself to be exposed to nature and hunger and thirst and torture? What Messiah would allow his body, his personal Temple for the Lord to dwell in, to be degraded in such a way?

And yet, as He hung up there, Jesus asked for forgiveness for the one's who did this to him.

He didn't call out for vengeance. He didn't curse them. He didn't charge his followers with avenging his humiliating end.

He forgave. He asked for mercy for his tormentors.

Just as he did in His Sermon on the Mount. Jesus instructed, "Blessed are the merciful." He continuously commanded his followers to love their enemies, to forgive them, to show mercy to those who commit wrong or persecute them.

If Jesus commanded our mercy, then what does it say about us as a nation that has executed 1,364 people since 1976? A nation that, in some places, makes no regard for minors or the mentally handicapped when it comes to death penalty punishments. A nation that has exonerated 143 death row inmates since 1973. How many innocent men and women have we wrongfully executed?

Did we learn nothing from Jesus' example? Jesus really did, under Roman and Jewish law, commit a crime. He got the punishment prescribed by the authorities for his treason to the Roman emperor. Why would we, as a nation, take on the retaliatory role of the empire, rather than the merciful role of Christ?

Jesus demanded mercy from us. He was able to forgive those who persecuted him, people who hounded him and tortured him and humiliated him and ultimately killed him. Can we not find it in us to show mercy to those who commit crimes here, in our time? Not to release them and act as if it never happened. But what right to we have to play God, to determine when someone's time on this earth is done. But taking that person's life, we are taking away any and all opportunity they may have to find redemption. We take away the opportunity for them to show remorse and ask for forgiveness. We lose our chance to follows Christ's example.

Jesus said, "Forgive them, they know not what they do." He was speaking of those who could find no mercy in themselves. He was speaking of those who felt that the best answer to violence was more violence. He was talking about us.

For a really good discussion and meditation on crucifixion, check out Robin Meyer's excellent book, Saving Jesus from the Church. This blog post draws heavily from the ideas in Chapter 3.

Read Part 1: Blessed are the poor in spirit. 
Read Part 2: Blessed are those who mourn.
Read Part 3: Blessed are the meek 
Read Part 4: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness

The Sermon on the Mount in Our World, Part 4: Blessed are Those Who Hunger and Thirst For Rigtheousness

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." -Matthew 5:6

The Rays of the Holy Trinity flow downward to the Bible and the Baptismal shell representing righteousness for which they hunger and thirst. The Staff and Cross represent the Lord as our Shepherd.

 Righteousness is one of those good old church words. You know the ones I'm talking about. One of those words you hear a thousand times on Sundays as a kid growing up, but have absolutely so idea what it means. And then as you grow up, you are expected to absorb the meaning somehow and understand when it is referenced.

Like through osmosis with the preacher or something.

But no one really ever explains it to us. So what is righteousness?

Websters Dictionary defines righteousness as the noun form of the adjective "righteous." And righteous is defined as "acting in accord with divine or moral law," and "morally right or justifiable."  A subheading says "arising from an outraged sense of justice or morality."

I like that. We are getting somewhere.

"An outraged sense of justice or morality" is what I think Jesus is getting at in Matthew 5:6. So far, through three verses, he has blessed groups of downtrodden people.

The poor in spirit.

Those who mourn.

The meek.

Now, he is blessing "those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." I don't think he is invoking another downtrodden group here. I think, in wrapping up the first half of the eight Beatitudes, he is putting the bow on top of the first three, so to speak.

If you peek ahead a little, the last Beatitude also invokes "Righteousness." Interesting, huh?

So who are these people who "hunger and thirst for righteousness"?

As we have seen, the outcasts of ancient Palestine were forgotten groups of people. The ill. The widows. The gentle. Jesus has already upended things by giving his first Blessings to these outcasts. Now, Jesus is calling on his disciples and followers. By blessing those "Who hunger and thirst for righteousness," he is telling his listeners who they are called to be.

And what a way to describe them! Not just those who want to see righteousness. Those who "hunger and thirst" for it! Those who are starving for righteousness, who are parched for righteousness. One who hungers or thirsts is not one who is just mildly uncomfortable or annoyed. Think about a time you have been really, really hungry or thirsty. The feeling wraps you it up, it consumes you. All you can think about is eating or drinking something.

Jesus wants us to feel a need for righteousness in the same way.

Jesus doesn't just want his followers to see injustice in the world and have a casual reaction to it. He doesn't want them to simply respond with a small cash donation, or 30 minutes bagging meals for the hungry. He wants them to feel the need to rectify it as a deep, painful sensation!

In Palestine, as we have seen, injustice was a huge part of society. So many people lived in poverty, and in need. And with the rule of the Romans, the Jewish people were regarded as scarcely better than livestock. Rome's justice was not one that made sense to the people of Palestine. It did not play by the rules that their God had laid out two thousand years earlier to Moses. It was impersonal and distant and unjust.

But it was the just the way the world was. It was accepted as the way of the world. Rome's dominance was accepted as inevitable, as they swept across the Western world unstoppably over the past century. Unjust? Yes. Unexpected? Not at all.

Jesus wanted to shake the people of Palestine out of this acceptance of injustice! He wanted them to look at the inequality and poverty and bleakness of the world and be just as outrage as He was! He wanted them to feel a righteous anger over it so deep they could taste it. And he knew this "outraged sense of justice or morality" would propel them on to action.

And he made it very easy to realize if you were doing the right thing. One who "hungers and thirsts" doesn't just accept that and move on. They try to quench that hunger and thirst. They don't stop until they find food or drink to satisfy them. By blessing those who hunger and thirst, Jesus told us, "If you really, really care about righteousness, about the injustice in the world, you will not stop until you have quenched your hunger and thirst to see it made it right."

Injustice is still a huge part of the world. It's a huge part of the very nation we live in. So many people in America live in poverty, live with food insecurity, live with the constant threat of violence. Inequality in our country is more pronounced than ever, and much more pronounced than in much of the rest of the world.

And yet we just accept that that is the way it is.

We say it's their own fault. They are lazy and weak and don't want to work hard and only want a handout. We say they should pulls themselves up, nothing is standing in their way. We say the free market should not be interfered with, that it knows what is the right balance of equality in the world. We say that the rich obviously earned what they have. We say it's not our problem. It's unfortunate, but we can't do anything about it. We say there will always be poor and hungry people. We say it is structural, and the price of a free capitalist society.

If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, you don't say any of these things.

You don't just accept poverty and hunger and inequality as inevitable. You don't just accept the injustice in the world. You act. You quench that hunger and thirst you feel deep down inside, and you don't stop until it is done.

If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, you will be filled. But you have to make it happen.

Read Part 1: Blessed are the poor in spirit. 
Read Part 2: Blessed are those who mourn.
Read Part 3: Blessed are the meek

Indiana GOP Threaten Clergy With Jail Time For Performing LGBT Marriages

Here is some news that should make those who cherish religious freedom nervous:

In what appears to be a rather massive violation of the freedom of religion, the Republican party in Indiana appears to have amended the state criminal code to either make it a crime, or confirm that it remain a crime, for clergy to conduct weddings for gay couples.

While it is not widely known, numerous mainstream American religions permit gay nuptials. The faiths include reform Judaism, Evangelical Lutherans, Episcopalians, and the United Church of Christ, among others.

Yep, the Indiana GOP has decided that they will tell religious groups in their state what they can and cannot do in their own places of worship.

This is a massive violation of the 1st amendment, and the principle of freedom of religion. If a religious group wants to perform a religious act marrying two men or women, that should be no business for anyone but that place of worship. This is government meddling where it doesn't need to be. No matter what your opinion on gay marriage, it should make you nervous as a person of faith that the Indiana Republican legislature feels that they have the authority to do this kind of thing.

This is the distinction I feel a lot of conservatives fail to make on the issue of gay marriage: what a church does or doesn't do is their own business. Just because gay marriage may be legal in a state doesn't mean anyone will force your church to perform gay marriages. Nor should a church be prevented from performing gay marriages if they so choose.

Don't expect this to hold up in a court. And don't be surprised if we don't see more of this kind of thing as the push for gay rights becomes closer and closer to a done deal.

The Sermon on the Mount in Our World, Part 3: Blessed Are the Meek

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." -Matthew 5:5

The lamb symbolizes the meek. The water represents the living water. The fish represents Christianity.

The third beatitude is one of the most beloved of Jesus' sayings, and also one of the most dismissed. It is also one of the most difficult to think about how to live.

This arises from the problems with the word "meek." To be meek is not something that is not very highly looked upon in the world. One who is meek is one who submits, who shuns conflict. In the hyper-masculine world of 1st century Palestine, and the equally hyper-masculine world today, these are not qualities that folks strive for.

In Palestine, as throughout most of history, men were the center of society. They were the only ones allowed to one property, conduct business, attend the synagogue, or travel. The men who were most esteemed were the strong, the smart, the assertive. The ones capable of defending their family and their property, both through their dealings with others and through violence, if necessary. This tough manliness was the view of the ideal man.

So it would be natural that after blessing those who mourn, with a focus on widows and women, that Jesus now blesses again those who don't conform to the accepted view of manhood in the world.

The Greek word used in the original scripture, praus, was an active verb. It conveyed the idea of one who is actively meek in the world, one who actively goes out of their way to be humble and gentle and friendly, as opposed to rough, hard, suspicious of others or violent. In fact, a more accurate translation of praus in the light of today's vocabulary would be gentle.

So why did Jesus call blessing upon the meek?

All through his ministry, Jesus led an example that can only be described as actively meek. Later in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches that we should turn the other cheek when someone strikes us, instead of retaliating.

In Matthew 18:4, he teaches that he who possesses true greatness is the one who "becomes humble like this child."

In Matthew 11:29, he refers to himself as gentle and humble.

In Matthew 26:52, he admonishes Peter to put away his sword, saying "For all who take the sword will perish by the sword."

Jesus' ministry was one of continual meekness. It was a ministry where he taught us that the way to change the world, to bring the Kingdom of God on Earth, was not through "manly" virtues like violence and force and hardness, but through love and kindness and serving others. It was a focus on being a friend to those in need, of being gentle to others and humble in our actions and thoughts.

I love this verse for this series because it has a direct parallel to today's world. We still revere the "ideal man" image. We tell our sons they need to be tough and hard, and not to trust anybody.

This bleeds over into leaders. We are told we should vote for the "tough" candidate, the one who will put criminals behind bars forever, who will play hardball with other world leaders, who won't coddle the weak in society. We like the loud and boisterous and confident-to-the-point-of-arrogant candidate.

But is this the kind of leader Jesus would have of choose? Is this the ideal He would want us to live?

Clearly not! We are instructed to be meek, to be gentle, to be humble. We are shown this example, and are supposed to follow it in all aspects of life. We should demand that our leaders show gentleness towards the needy, humility in their words and actions towards others, and yes, meekness in their attitude. We should demand that our leaders lead with these attributes, instead of raw force and power. We should demand they practice gentleness, and present our nation as a nation that is gentle and humble, instead of throwing our weight around and imposing our will on people who don't want it.

As the church, we are called upon first and foremost to live this life. We are to be the examples. The church should be humble. It should be gentle and welcoming. It should have open arms and an open attitude towards others. As the saying goes, we are to be the change we want to see in our world.

Because Jesus tells us that it is the meek who will inherit the world. It is the humble who will rule in His Kingdom. Being manly and tough and harsh may get us somewhere in this world, but we are called to embody the new world. It is not those virtues that will win in the end. If we want to see the Kingdom of God here on Earth, we need to be the leaders Jesus tells us will have that Kingdom.

Blessed are the meek, the gentle, the humble, says Jesus. Be like the little children. Put away your swords.

Is that us?

Read Part 1: Blessed are the poor in spirit. 
Read Part 2: Blessed are those who mourn.

The Sermon on the Mount in Our World, Part 2: Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." -Matthew 5:4

The eagle flying into the sun symbolizes the Resurrection and the Life. The flames reprisent the Holy Spirit flowing down from the resurrection to comfort the kneeling figure in mourning. The hands with the shovel represent burial. The tearful eye also symbolizes mourning.

In our first look at the Sermon on the Mount on Wednesday, I talked about "Blessed are the poor in spirit," and tied it to those who are suffering from depression, addiction, and mental illness. Today's passage logically follows in Jesus' blessings.

In first-century Palestine, Jesus' listeners would have known who specifically he spoke about when he said "those who mourn." Those who mourned the most publicly and with the greatest feeling were widows. Because, to be a widow in Jewish culture was truly a terrible fate. A woman's fate in the Jewish culture was inextricably tied to her husband.She could own no land or property, she could not engage in business, she was not allowed to travel on her own. She was her father's property until marriage, and her husband's thereafter.

So for a woman to lose her husband was a veritable ostracizing event. The Old Testament laws tried to account for their situation by commanding the brothers of dead men to marry the widows. But if these men were married, or a man had no brothers, often times a woman was out of luck. The loss of her husband meant she no longer had a place in the world.

This is why you hear Jesus talk so much about praying and caring for widows. They were outcasts, forgotten and abandoned. So when Jesus says, "Blessed are those who mourn," he is calling blessing down upon women who have no hope. Women who feel no comfort, who have been forgotten by society and felt behind in the world.

So lets fast forward to today's world.

And shift gears.

I want to focus on two groups of people who probably feel they have almost nothing in common, but are more related than they think.

Abortion is the hottest of hot button issues in our current political climate. Since Roe v. Wade in 1972, it has become the major dividing line between our two political parties. It stirs passions on both sides of the aisle like nothing else, and rightfully so. It is an issue wrapped in our human identity and our morality.

As I see it, there are really three groups involved in the abortion debate: those who want to make it illegal, those who want to see it's legality preserved, and those who have ever had abortion (who fall into both other categories pretty evenly.)

And I think all groups involved are greatly misunderstood.

Anti-abortion activists view pro-choice activists as heartless relativists who have no regard for unborn children, and are in fact knowingly complicit in an act tantamount to murder.

Pro-choice activists view anti-abortion activists are misogynistic neanderthals driven by a dogmatic religious creed that has no regard for women's rights or bodily autonomy.

And those who have had an abortion are often pushed aside, forgotten after their ordeal, demonized by one group, and held up as a political victory by the other.

But they are the ones who mourn.

Those arguing this issue forget the tragic and unimaginably difficult decision making process these women go through. Often alone, and frightened, and ashamed, they don't see a better option for their lives. Many are poor. Many are single. Many have families who would condemn them, or even ostracize them, for being pregnant.

They may have felt like they had no choice with the man they were with. They may have been the victim of a rape, either from a stranger or a friend or even a spouse. Maybe their birth control failed. Above all, this isn't their fault. Our society has a disturbing tendency to make them feel that way. But it's not. As the saying goes, it takes two.

They probably realize they are in no financial place to raise a child. They are already in a non-optimal situation, and can't afford the doctor's appointments, the clothes and food and car seats and everything else it takes to raise a child. They don't want their child to live a life of poverty.

And so they feel as if they have no other choice. And then they feel dirty. They feel like they are the lowest of the low for even thinking of abortion. But they don't know where else to turn.

So they find a local clinic. But, in today's world, now they often have to go through state-mandated counseling. And a state-mandated ultrasound. And they may have the state mandate that they have to hear a verbal description of their baby. And then there may be a state-mandated waiting period.

As if this wasn't already hard enough.

And there may be protesters outside the clinic who yell things like "baby killer!" at them. And hold signs with pictures of aborted fetuses. Or maybe a pro-choice group wants them to speak about their exercising of their rights.

These are the one's who mourn. No one uses abortion as birth control, contrary to some rhetoric. This is a decision brought about by a lack of hope, by a feeling that they are alone and have no other choice. It's not one approached with anything other fear and sadness and mourning. And those emotions continue after. There is no sense of closure, no lifting of a weight.

Our leaders will continue to debate abortion as a campaign issue. They will do little to change the status quo, because it makes such an effective political cudgel to motivate the faithful.

Meanwhile, there will be thousands of women who mourn.

As followers of Christ, we need to embrace these women. We need put aside any judgment, any urge we may have to politicize their ordeal. We need to comfort them, welcome them, help them heal. We need to present an image to the world that helps women understand they have choices, that they aren't dirty, that they aren't at fault. We need to understand that abortion is a complicated issue, one with a lot of gray area. We need to realize that women consider it for legitimate reasons, go through with it for legitimate reasons. We need to realize that they need us, both before and after abortion.

Because these are the ones who mourn.

Read Part 1: Blessed are the poor in spirit.

The Sermon on the Mount in Our World, Part 1: Blessed are the Poor

This is the first of a semi-daily blog series about the Sermon on the Mount. I want to go through the Sermon from Matthew 5 teaching-by-teaching and talk about each teaching in the context of today's world. This being a blog about Christianity and politics, these modern-day applications will of course focus on public policy and governing. This will come from Matthew 5:3-7:27, and the translation is the NRSV, although I will reference others as well (noted in parentheses throughout.)

The stained glass series presented throughout the Beatitudes comes from Saint Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Seward, Nebraska. The story behind these beautiful pieces of art can be found here. The captions under each come directly from the St. Vincent de Paul's website.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." -Matthew 5:3

The Crown and Scepter symbolize the Kingdom of Heaven; the dove the Holy Spirit; the hand reaching from the flower symbolizes humility.

Jesus opens his Sermon with the Beatitudes, a set of blessings commonly found in Hebrew writings. Jesus, however, shakes things up from the start by pronouncing blessings on a very unlikely group of people. His first: the poor in spirit, or the hopeless (CEV).

In first century Palestine, this encompassed a very large part of the population. Most people in ancient Palestine lived in abject poverty. They lived hand to mouth, and had to constantly worry about the whims of the Roman proconsul or legionnaires. The tension, stress, and want they lived with engulfed them in a poverty of spirit, a lack of hope. Nothing had ever been good for them. Why would anyone ever think it would?

So Jesus making them the very first line of his great Sermon is huge. Immediately, he is reaching out to people listening, most of whom lived in despair and without hope. Immediately, he told them they are blessed before all others. What a way to get them listening!

Who are the poor in spirit in our world today? Notice Jesus doesn't just say "the poor" here. Now, I'll admit, when I first began embracing progressive Christianity, this bothered. I thought it must be a mistranslation. Wouldn't it make more sense for Jesus to just say "the poor?" I never quite understood it.

But by saying "the poor in spirit," Jesus casts a wider net in today's world. There are many people who live in poverty. There are many more who suffer not just from a lack of wealth, but from depression, or mental illness, or addiction, or loss. This is the poor in spirit in our world.

And yet, they are often the most forgotten. I wrote just today about how the mentally ill are becoming the first victims of states' refusal to accept federal dollars for Medicaid expansion, as safety net hospitals are forced to turn away patients. When it comes to living up to Jesus' first blessing, we are failing miserably.

Two-thirds of the homeless population in the United States are mentally ill. Over 90% of suicides involve a someone suffering from a mental illness. Since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, over 100,000 veterans have been treated by the VA for mental illness. 57% of children with mental health issues come from families living under the poverty line.

And yet, our nations leaders continue with a push for brutal austerity that inevitably falls hardest on those who need help the most. When cuts happen to federal and state budgets, they don't fall on corporate subsidies and perks. They fall on Medicaid, on DHS, on CHIP, on addiction counseling. Every time we cut more and more in a effort to stop the "takers," we are leaving behind thousands of the mentally ill and needy. We are leaving behind the poor in spirit that Jesus spoke of with his first breath in the Sermon.

If the poor in spirit are so important that Jesus felt compelled to name them first, why do we make them the last in our society today?

How "Christian America" Deals With the Mentally Ill

It's often the most politically conservative states who like to pride themselves on being the most Christian states as well. They only elect God-fearing Christians, they say, and the only rules they live by are the rules of Christ.

Christian Example and Georgia Governor Nathan Deal

So how do the God-fearing men and women of Georgia explain this?

Every day he’s without his meds, Scott Patrick’s demons return: the urge to get high to forget that he’s dying of AIDS; the anxiety, paranoia, and phantom noises spurred on by his bipolar disorder and PTSD.

Patrick, a former male prostitute and recovering drug addict, was released from a Georgia jail last month without any of his medications on hand. “I could die dirty or die clean,” he said. “I want to die clean.”

So like many struggling Atlantans with nowhere else to go, Patrick sought treatment at Grady Memorial, the state’s largest safety net hospital. He carried all his worldly possessions with him: a change of clothes, a Bible, and some vitamin C drops.

The partisan war over Obamacare is now threatening the mental health services that Patrick and countless others are seeking. The president’s health care law cuts federal subsidies to safety-net hospitals that were expected to have more paying patients under the law’s Medicaid expansion and insurance exchanges. But Republican-controlled states like Georgia have refused to go along with the expansion. That’s turned safety-net providers like Grady into unintended casualties—and mental health services for Georgia’s most troubled residents are first on the chopping block.

It was never meant to happen this way. States like Georgia, which has the nation’s sixth-highest uninsured rate, were supposed to be the biggest beneficiaries of the new Medicaid dollars. But in 2012, the Supreme Court unexpectedly ruled that the federal government couldn’t force states to accept the expansion.

Along with 22 other states with Republican governors or statehouses, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has refused to go along with the Medicaid expansion, saying the cost to the state would be untenable. Democrats counter that it’s a cruel political stunt, since the cost of new coverage is overwhelmingly paid for by the federal government.

So safety-net hospitals like Grady are now caught in the middle: they aren’t getting new Medicaid funding, yet they’ll see a cumulative $18 billion reduction in federal payments by 2020.

It's terrible that people have to live like this, with no hope and no security. And all for political games, all for the purpose of sticking it to President Obama. Rejection of live saving medical care for the most vulnerable doesn't seem very Christ-like to me. These political games and partisan cheap shots have real world consequences for real people. Perhaps Governor Deal and other Republican leaders should put down the latest Americans for Prosperity newsletter, and pick up a Bible.