Column on Readings for Jan. 29, esp. Beatitudes

Our pulpit at First Presbyterian is being graced by Alan Meyers of Lindenwood this Sunday and the next. So, I don’t have a chance to work up the material for this Sunday’s readings. Many churches employ a lectionary, a selected group of readings from the Old Testament, the Psalms, an epistle, and a gospel reading over a three year cycle. This week we have a fabulous list from which to choose. All of them pose issues of interpretation. Everyone is laughing at the recent howler: alternate facts. Even when we do agree on facts, we may differ in interpretation of them.

On the face of it the beatitudes (from Latin blessed) are jarring. In Greek (makarios) it means either blessed or happy. It seems as if they all open the heart and mind to the presence of God in different ways in the world, but sometimes listed in places where the word does not seem apt. The very first one says Blessed/happy are the poor (ptochos), the destitute, the helpless, the desperate. Why are they blessed? Not due to their poverty, but this point: they are not separated from God; they are full citizens of God’s kingdom, god’s realm in the world. The same applies to those who mourn. They may feel adrift from God, cast out from the presence of God, but Jesus assures his listeners that they will be comforted. I am troubled by the indefinite future, of course: Does it mean now, soon, at some unspecified point? Nonetheless, I hear a clear word of promise and aspiration there.

Few beatitudes cause the confusion are blessed are the meek. One of the troubles of Bible translation is the shifting meaning of words over time. Words have a range of meaning. Praotes (Gk) means tamed, well suited to a task, fitting, or well-balanced, having one’s feet firmly on the ground.

I Cor. 1:18-31 works with the cross. Paul highlights the same jarring aspect of god’s way in the world. By our standards, the cross makes no rational sense as the vehicle of faith. In our time, that would hold no matter one’s theological position. Further, Paul deconstructs the idea of divine power by pointing to its opposite, the cross. Paul maintains that the very instrument of the death of Jesus, of utter powerlessness, is an instrument of divine power, hidden under its opposite as Luther would say.

In both passages, we can hear an echo of the first step in 12 step recovery programs. They point us toward an acknowledgement of the divine intersecting our experience. They point toward a sense of powerlessness to control a life far too deep and rich to be contained within our tight grasp. They all point us to an aching need for the presence of the divine in this life, but also reaching out beyond our limited grasp.

If you wish a good summary statement of the Bible go to Micah 6:8.In our time it speaks to our obsession with the individual preference and inserts the cause of justice. As I have mentioned before, humility is a needed virtue at a time where inflated, yet tender ego parades about seeking constant support for a personal projected damage. Love mercy it says in many translations. The word (hesed) means steadfast love, lovingkindness. Note well, not self-love, not love of a group or an idea, to love with the compassion, with the passion, of love itself.
As we move through the start of a calendar year, this Sunday’s assigned readings give us a starting point, square one for the Christian journey. At the same time, their depth invites reflection, over and over, the very definition of a classic touchstone.