Blessed are... Part 3

This the continuation of the previous posts. I recommend reading Part 1 and Part 2 first.

3. It's not about who deserves it.

The destitute, the desperate, and the downtrodden who Christ addresses were assumed by their society to be such because of their sin (John 9:1-3). They were cursed by God, not blessed.

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:1-2)

The prosperous, the pious, and the powerful were the ones deserving of God's blessing, as evident by their station.

For [the scribes and the Pharisees] make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others." (Matthew 23:5-7)

Not so, says Jesus; we have it entirely backwards. It is exactly those who -- regardless of status or perception in our society -- come freely to Jesus to be healed who receive true blessing.

Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. (John 9:3)

"The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." (Matthew 23:11-12)

Illustration by counter-example

The Apostle Paul reflects in a few of his letters on who will not inherit the Kingdom of God. For example, to the church in Corinth he wrote:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

Though cast as a judgment against unrepentant sins in the church to whom he writes, Paul is certainly aware of Christ's words on who will inherit the Kingdom, and is exhorting his audience, like Jesus preached, to "repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand". His turnabout in the last verse shows this: sinners who deserve no inheritance ("such were some of you") are still granted entry into the Kingdom when they call upon the name of Christ.

Paul is remarking that just like those crowds gathered around Jesus in Matthew 4 to be healed, none could inherit the Kingdom save that they call upon Jesus to wash, sanctify, and justify them. And when they do, He proclaims abundant blessings -- belonging, comfort, inheritance, fullness, mercy, presence, and adoption (Matthew 5:3-10)!

Woes

In Luke's account of the Beatitudes, the four statements of blessings are followed immediately by four statements of woe or curses.

But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets. (Luke 6:24-26)

If we invert the formula for the blessings discussed in Part 2, we can interpret these woes similarly:

Woe to you who are [cause for why one is praised], for you shall [be ruined].

Like with the blessings, being praised here reflects the eyes of society, not the eyes of God, and these are not necessarily "bad" or "undesirable" traits. Having wealth, enough to eat, mirth, or a good reputation are not inherently evil. It comes down to allegiance to the earth or to heaven, to humans or to the Christ. I need to ask myself, "Which kingdom am I desiring to be nearer, to be filled, to reign? The one of money, pleasure, and prestige; or the one of love, mercy, and humility?"

When the sick and outcast approach Jesus, they're admitting that this world and its human kingdoms have nothing for them, but God's Kingdom has everything they need, and is their only hope for restoration. No one on their own deserves either poverty or wealth, hunger or fullness, sorrow or laughter in this world. And what good we do receive is not based on what we deserve. We are all "poor in spirit" when approaching Jesus as our sole provider, healer, and savior. That's the "good news" of the Gospel.

If I return to the opening two "blessings" from the introduction of this series of posts, it's easy enough to see them in light of Jesus' words as "woes" instead:

Woe to the Trump supporters, for their callous hearts have enthroned a king who is impotent to save them.

Woe to the politically-anxious, for their fears have blinded them to the works of the Kingdom of God.

Fittingly, Jesus puts two pertinent teachings back-to-back in the Sermon on the Mount:

"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." (Matthew 6:24)

And:

"But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" (Matthew 6:30)

We can only serve one master. And money is not the only idol against God here -- anything that promises power or security in this world serves just the same.

We are of "little faith" (literally, a single word oligopistos akin to "mini-faith" or "micro-belief") when we, in our worrying and anxieties, look past the incredible scope of God's goodness and abundance.

It's, in other words, quite terrible news to put our trust in "rulers" or "powers" or "anything else in all creation" to save or protect us; only in "Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39). James, too, extrapolates from the teachings of Jesus and the prophets before him a similar warning:

For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. (James 1:11)

Hopeless blessables

So how can we have hope in the midst of brokenness? How can we get away from despising others, or seeking to prop up ourselves, or chasing after unfulfilling idols? We need a much, much bigger picture of the Kingdom.

The Kingdom is for everybody, including the ones you couldn't ever fathom as being part of it. In the book The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard provides a list of what he calls "hopeless blessables" in today's world, whom would fit right along side Jesus' list in the Beatitudes:

The flunk-outs and drop-outs and burned-outs. The broke and the broken. The drug heads and the divorced. The HIV-positive and herpes-ridden. The brain-damaged, the incurably ill. The barren and the pregnant too-many-times or at the wrong time. The overemployed, the underemployed, the unemployed. The unemployable. The swindled, the shoved aside, the replaced. The parents with children living on the street, the children with parents not dying in the “rest” home. The lonely, the incompetent, the stupid. The emotionally starved or emotionally dead. And on and on and on.

But Willard doesn't stop the list there. He reminds us that, if one turns to rely on Jesus for redemption, none is beyond participation in the Kingdom:

Murderers and child-molesters. The brutal and the bigoted. Drug lords and pornographers. War criminals and sadists. Terrorists. The perverted and the filthy and the filthy rich. The David Berkowitzs (“Son of Sam”), Jeffrey Dahmers, and Colonel Noriegas.

Can’t we feel some sympathy for Jesus’ contemporaries, who huffed at him, “This man is cordial to sinners, and even eats with them!” Sometimes I feel I don’t really want the kingdom to be open to such people. But it is. That is the heart of God. And, as Jonah learned from his experience preaching to those wretched Ninevites, we can’t shrink him down to our size.

Open to all

And such were some of you.

Sometimes I feel I don’t really want the kingdom to be open to such people.

These really cut at me and my personal bitterness I opened this series of posts with. Let me not make the mistake of blindly discounting who is and isn't eligible for the Kingdom, or who is or isn't worthy of love and compassion. But, wow, is God and His Kingdom so much bigger than I can imagine.

Thus, I think it's reasonable to remix the Beatitudes, not necessarily as an explicit promise ("for they shall..."), but as a reminder that Kingdom grace is bigger than we often think, and as an invitation ("for they may...") for all to turn and freely enter this Kingdom with its proven outcome of restoration. That's where my heart first landed on the introduction to this series: I knew I was despising people to whom Jesus has already made open His Kingdom.

That invitation, open to all, is truly a reason to call even our "enemies" blessed:

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. (Matthew 5:44, NKJV)

Jesus first loved us, me, you: His enemies. And He blessed us and offered us the opportunity to join Him in His Kingdom, open to everyone. And that's exceptionally good news.

Probing questions

• Who do I think is worthy of God's blessing? Who do I think is unworthy?
• How can I witness to my friends and family in a way that is actually welcoming and good news to them, instead of coming across as judgmental?

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. (1 Peter 3:8-10)