Ours Is The Kingdom of Heaven
Amy Jill Levine, professor of New Testament and Jewish
Studies at Vanderbilt University and Hartford Seminary, gets it just right when
she suggests that what we refer to as The Sermon on the Mount, chapters five,
six and seven in Matthew, is not so much a sermon, but rather is Jesus’s Beginner’s
Guide to Live in the Kingdom of Heaven. [i]
What is striking about this Beginner’s Guide is that Jesus says nothing about a
need for us to believe anything. It is all about what disciples, followers, of
his are meant to do – how we are to act. The kind of faith Jesus teaches is
about being involved in shaping a future – a future based on Jesus’s
interpretation of Torah, a new look at the ways in which God wants us to live.
It begins with a
series of blessings. A striking detail is the use of the present tense in the
very first blessing: Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. Not will be. Not shall be. The Kingdom Jesus speaks of is
here, it is present. The poor in spirit do not have to wait for those pearly
gates. They already have one foot in the kingdom Jesus proclaims here and now!
Like Moses before him, Jesus goes up a mountain, sits down,
his four disciples Andrew, Peter, James and John sit down with him, and in the
centuries of Jewish tradition, he begins to interpret the scriptures and
traditions of his people. There is a crowd also following him from all over the
ancient world, and we can imagine some of them listening in. The first blessing
sets the stage for the rest of the Beginner’s Guide: “Blessed are the poor in
spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The kingdom of heaven, where God
rules, is both present and future – since the divine reign is still not fully
present on earth.[ii]
To be ‘poor in spirit’ has often been viewed as ‘weak in
faith,’ or not being conceited or prideful. Rather, Levine suggests the poor in
spirit “are those who recognize that they are both beneficiaries of the help of
others, and part of a system in which they are to pay it forward and help those
whom they can.”[iii]
They do so with humility, not looking for recognition, not resentful for having
not received what they consider sufficient honor. They know they do the right
things. And they know God knows, and that is enough.
If we accept that those who are ‘poor in spirit’ recognize
their dependence on others, and other’s dependence on them, it becomes easy to
see how they are blessed. How we are all blessed! They are those people who not
only pray to our Father in heaven, as Jesus also teaches in this Beginner’s
Guide, “they also see themselves on earth as part of a family, defined by doing
God’s will and so engaging in mutual support.” And anyone can be a part of this
new movement, this new family, as we heard in chapter 4 the crowd on the
mountain with Jesus includes Gentiles and Jews from all over. When he says,
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven,” like Moses on Sinai, he is speaking across generations, right down to
all of us, here and now. Should we follow in his movement of recognizing we did
not get her on our own, and so are ready to offer mutual aid to others, we
already have one foot in the kingdom of heaven. [iv]
No doubt, Jesus is familiar with Isaiah’s image of what God
intends for us all. In Isaiah 59:1-9a, we hear of people who are not ‘poor in
spirit complaining,’ “Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble
ourselves, but you do not notice?” No humility in this complaint. God’s
response: “Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all
your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a
wicked fist. Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of
injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to
break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the
homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not
to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the
dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly…”
This is what God’s Mutual Aid Society is to look like. This
is what it looks like to be poor in spirit. This is what it means when Jesus says,
‘you are the salt of the earth’ and ‘you are the light of the world.’[v]
These are not commands. It is present tense, ‘are’, and the ‘you’ is plural. We
are salt and we are light. We are not salt for ourselves, but for the earth,
for the whole world and everything and everyone therein. When people see us,
they should know that we represent what is good in the world. The word salt shares
its Latin root, sel, with the English word ‘salary.’ Salt has value; it
was a precious commodity. Further, the monthly salary to Roman soldiers was
called salarium -they were paid in salt. As salt of the earth, we have
value. Yet, when salt gets diluted with other things, like the cares of the
world, it loses its value. And too much salt is worse. It brings too much
attention to itself and seems to say, “Look at me!” Rather, disciples who are
the salt of the earth recognize they are valuable not because of who they are,
but for whose they are and what they contribute to the world, this fragile
earth, our island home.[vi]
Disciples living with one foot in the kingdom are also “the
light of the world.” Like salt, light is necessary for life. Without light we
would have no plants and no warmth. Just as salt can be diluted, so darkness
seeks to overcome light.[vii]
It can also be snuffed out, and thus is also a precious commodity that must be
preserved. And as too much salt can kill, too much light can blind. Effective
light does not call attention to itself, but rather lights up the world for all
to see!
We also hear Jesus say, “I am the light of the world…as long
as I am in the world.”[viii]
This calls the disciples to both take up his role, acting as he does, and at
the same time Jesus is in the world when we recognize his presence in others: “I
was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me something to
drink., I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me
clothing. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited
me.” [ix]
Jesus concludes that we cannot keep our salt and light for
ourselves – they given to us as gifts by God’s grace to share with others.
Therefore, we are to “let your light shine before others, so that they may
see your good works and give glory to God.” For faith that does not manifest
itself in works of the kingdom of heaven is no faith at all. Faith is our
active involvement in shaping a future. A future fully becomes the kingdom of
heaven. For when we are poor in spirit, all that we say and all that we do
points beyond us to God in Christ Jesus so others will give God the glory. Then
we will know, ours truly is the kingdom of heaven. Here and now, on this
fragile earth, our island home.
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