St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
January 29, 2023
Year A: The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Micah 6:1-8
Psalm 15
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Matthew 5:1-23
Visionaries and Visions
Whenever I sit with a passage of scripture, especially if I’m going to preach on it, I try to keep historical context in mind.
Partly I guess that’s a case of, “once a history teacher, always a history teacher.”
But it’s important to remember that, while scripture is divinely inspired, it was written by people in a particular time and place, telling the story of people who experienced joy and sorrow, people who suffered greatly and yet who still dared to hope.
So, you may remember that last week’s lesson from the Gospel of Matthew began with a kind of matter of fact, by the way, mention that John the Baptist had been arrested.
That arrest is an important reminder that during the days of John the Baptist and Jesus, the people of Israel were oppressed, ruled by the Romans and their local puppet leaders like Herod – powers that be who tolerated no dissent or criticism, willing to arrest and execute any potential troublemakers.
People like John the Baptist spoke truth to power and, as usual, power did not like it one bit.
Under the weight of such terrible tyranny, the people of Israel dared to hope that their God – the God who had led them to freedom in the past – would act once again and overthrow the Romans and their allies, turning the world upside down.
It was in this hard and edgy world of suffering and expectation, that Jesus lived and began his ministry, gathering his ragtag band of disciples and calling the people – as John the Baptist had earlier called – to repent, because the kingdom of heaven had come near.
But what does that mean, exactly?
Well, in today’s gospel lesson – the familiar if still puzzling Beatitudes - we get something of an answer.
Jesus calls his disciples close and announces that the kingdom of heaven is a downside-up kingdom – a realm where it’s the poor in spirit – the mourners and the meek - who are blessed.
The kingdom of heaven is a downside-up kingdom – a realm where it’s those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and the merciful, and the pure in heart, and the peacemakers, and the persecuted, who are blessed.
I always wonder what the disciples and the others who were present thought of Jesus’ vision – probably about the same as us, I guess.
Oh sure, we’re willing to buy Jesus’ downside-up vision if the kingdom of heaven is all about life after death.
But, if Jesus is talking about a transformed here and now, well, this must have sounded pie in the sky to people living under Roman brutality, just as it probably sounds like wishful thinking to us.
After all, we live in a land torn apart by relentless gun violence.
A land where Tyre Nichols cried out for his mom while he was brutalized by Memphis police officers, while he was ignored by others whose job it is to save lives.
We live in a land where so many are enslaved by addiction.
A land where, for many political leaders, cruelty seems to be the only point.
A land where so many of us are convinced that there’s just not enough for everybody and so I can only win if you lose.
And yet, in the Beatitudes, Jesus is not talking about life after death.
He’s pointing to the transformed, here and now world that begins with him.
Jesus unveils a vision of a downside-up kingdom, and invites us to help build it.
As Paul notes to the Corinthians, the supposedly wise ones of the world will never buy this, dismissing it as wishful thinking.
But down through the ages God has inspired visionaries who, in the words of the Prophet Micah, do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.
And, despite all of our many troubles and sorrows, the kingdom of heaven comes nearer and nearer.
If you were around last weekend, you could probably tell that I was thrilled by the turnout on Saturday and Sunday to hear our guest Dawn Eden Goldstein speak about Fr. Ed Dowling, a Jesuit priest who played an important role in the early days of Alcoholics Anonymous.
I find so much of Fr. Ed’s story moving and inspiring, this man who in his youth had been a gifted athlete but then had to endure debilitating arthritis, a priest who was seen as a bit of an oddball even by some of his fellow Jesuits, a person without an alcohol addiction who saw himself as “underprivileged” because he could never be a member of AA.
As most of you know, inviting Dawn to speak about Father Ed was part of my ongoing attempts to celebrate Samuel Shoemaker, the Episcopal priest who grew up here and is buried in our churchyard, who is remembered by the Episcopal Church each January 31, the man who back in the 1930’s provided the spiritual foundations for the Twelve Steps of AA that have saved so many lives.
Because many of you have heard me talk about Sam Shoemaker before, and because many churches, including ours, have long hosted AA and other Twelve Step groups, we might think that Shoemaker’s work with alcoholics was sort of routine, the kind of thing that a clergyman was expected to do.
But that wasn’t the case at all.
As rector of Calvary Church in New York City, Shoemaker had a vision of a church that reached out beyond its doors to the poor and suffering. He opened Calvary Mission, which welcomed the down and out, including alcoholics, people usually looked at with pity and disgust.
Shoemaker’s vision of the down and out as truly blessed – which was really just Jesus’ vision of the downside-up kingdom – set off a wave of blessing that continues to wash over people who had seemed beyond hope.
For example:
The other day while I was thinking about today’s sermon, reflecting on Jesus’ vision, and marveling at the visionary lives of Fr. Ed and Sam Shoemaker, I was sort of idly scrolling through Facebook when I came across a post by a young guy named Mike.
Mike had been a young homeless man who used to show up at our church in Jersey City.
He came to services sometimes and to the monthly community suppers we offered, always taking a plate to go, too uncomfortable or impatient to eat with others.
He was a sweet guy but an addict, and so he would regularly ask me and others for money, usually coming up with some creative story about why he needed it.
“Fr. Tom, I’m not even gonna lie to you,” he’d say, before proceeding to lie to me.
We tried to help him as best we could and he was on our parish prayer list for years.
We certainly didn’t trust him – addiction can make you do some bad things - but we loved him and we hoped he could get clean but we weren’t optimistic.
And then we didn’t see him anymore.
But then, a couple of years ago, Mike sent me a Facebook friend request. Of course, I was relieved and, frankly, kind of surprised to see he was alive and doing well enough to be on Facebook.
Turns out he’s been working as a roofer – hard work, for sure – but an honest living.
He has a girlfriend and they seem to be very much in love.
Well, here is what Mike posted just as I was thinking about Jesus’ vision of the downside-up kingdom and how Fr. Ed and Rev. Sam shared that vision and helped to make it real.
Mike wrote, “Today is a big milestone in my life…one year clean and sober from booze and drugs. Very grateful. One day at a time.”
He went on to thank specific people who had stuck by him and then added, “Also want to say thank you for the 12 Step educational program.”
In the Beatitudes, Jesus is not talking about life after death.
He’s pointing to the transformed, here and now, world that begins with him.
Jesus unveils a vision of a downside-up kingdom, and invites us to help build it.
God inspires visionaries like Ed Dowling and Sam Shoemaker to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God.
And, despite all of our many troubles and sorrows, the kingdom of heaven comes nearer and nearer.
Amen.
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