The words of the gospel lesson are so familiar. I suspect that many of you memorized the Beatitudes in Sunday School, as I did. And that was a good thing, for later in life, at just the right moment when these words of Jesus were needed, they were suddenly available in memory. More times than I want to think about, these words were needed. I am grateful to the Sunday School teachers who encouraged me to learn so many Bible passages.

But, unfortunately, familiarity makes things get stale. We can rattle off the words without thinking about the meaning of what we are saying, as we do with the Lord's Prayer. So I invite you to listen again, as if you have never heard these words before. Listen as if you are sitting on that hillside, one of the crowd which has come to hear the great teacher and healer speak.

• Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
• Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
• Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
• Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
• Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
• Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
• Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

It is Jesus of Nazareth talking to us, addressing you and me, teaching us something important. He shares with us, his followers, his knowledge of the kingdom of God. We listen, and we are there on the hillside, because we want to know about the kingdom of God, and because we know Jesus' deep understanding and knowledge are far greater and deeper and more true than ours can ever be. This Jesus is the one who can tell us.

So we listen and we let the words enliven our imaginations. What we hear is both a promise and an invitation. A promise and an invitation, not a judgment or a condemnation of our failure to act as we should. This is not a new Law, a new set of rules to follow, although it is a new version of the Law, a re-write, if you will.

I have long since grown weary of the legalists among us who persist in turning the teachings of the New Testament into rules for behavior. Such folk announce to us that to be a Christian we must do this or we must do that. There is only one way...and it is usually their way. People like that have missed the good news that Jesus came neither to bring new laws nor to end the Law of Moses, but to show us in person how a changed heart lets us live in relationship with God, as the spirit of the Law intends. Jesus of Nazareth does not teach us new Law, by which we can be divided into the obedient and the disobedient. He offers us in these words and in the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, a promise of what the kingdom of heaven will be like, when in God's own good time God's reign is established. And he offers us an invitation to live in the spirit of the kingdom now, on the basis of the promise that it will be.

What is the promise that Jesus lifts up for us? it is a new vision, more detailed, more concrete, of the promise that God gave Abraham, "I will be your God, and you will be my people."

Let me paraphrase the Beatitudes in hope that we might hear more clearly the intent and the meaning of the words.

• In the kingdom of heaven, we are God's people, inheritors of God's Creation.
• In the kingdom of heaven, grief and suffering and loss and separation are no more.
• In the kingdom of heaven God's justice will prevail; in reconciliation with God there will be no oppression or poverty or hunger.
• In the kingdom of heaven there is no condemnation and no exclusion; God's grace is abundant and available for all.
• In the kingdom of heaven we will live in purity of heart rather than obedience to laws of purification.
• In the kingdom of heaven, we will live in reconciliation and knowledge of God.
• In the kingdom of heaven, God's peace will bind human beings to one another and to God. There will be no conflict, no division, no lust for power, only harmony and unity.

The promise is that the kingdom of heaven, a realm of peace, justice, comfort, compassion, harmony, and unity, is governed by the grace of God. This, Jesus tells us, is what the kingdom of heaven is like.

And the invitation? The invitation is issued to us, the poor in spirit, to us who already know the possibility of God's promise. The invitation is issued to us, who know that what the world offers leaves us empty, and hungry, and searching. The invitation is issued to us, who are aware enough of our own emptiness or doubt or poverty of spirit to be sitting out here on the hillside listening to Jesus of Nazareth talk about another way, making real the vision of the kingdom of heaven. His invitation is issued to us who have made the first steps toward God's kingdom simply by being here and listening.

The invitation is simple. Believe the promise of God's future. Enter now into the kingdom of heaven that will be, and live your lives accordingly, as if the kingdom is already. A warning and a promise are offered with the invitation.

To accept the invitation is a matter of the heart. It is to change one's attitude and direction and indeed one's very life. Such a change puts us in direct confrontation with those in the world who are unconcerned with God or God's kingdom, and with ourselves as we seek to discover how to live out our choice for the kingdom.

If we accept the invitation to discipleship and to live as if the kingdom is now, we will try to be gentle, and we will be perceived as powerless by those who live by strength and force. If we accept the invitation, we will try to bring our grief and suffering to God for comfort and healing, and we will be ridiculed by those who see tears and pain as weakness. We will seek justice for the hungry and the oppressed, and we will stir the wrath of those whose greed is fed by poverty and exploitation. We will be compassionate and forgiving, and we will risk manipulation and humiliation by those who see love as foolish and useable. We will seek to be uncorrupted and committed to the promise, and we will be tempted by the attractiveness and power of a hundred false gods. We will be seekers after peace in the midst of power-hungry nations that bristle with weapons and hatred and fear.

We who accept the invitation that Jesus offers us will know moments of difficulty and we will know struggle and failure and persectuion by those who feel threatened by God's reputation. We will also know moments of joy, of comfort, of peace, of blessedness, when the kingdom comes near. We will know what it is to be strangers in a strange land, and we will know what it is to be one with Christ. We will feel isolated and abandoned and alone, and taste deeply of a poverty of spirit. We will discern that we are and always were and always will be enveloped by the grace of God.

It is an invitation and a promise that God offers us through Jesus Christ. We are free to accept or reject the offer, to say "yes" or to say "no". The invitation is always open. No identification cards are required. No proof of purity is necessary. We need send no resume or list of accomplishments, no claim of inheritance. There need be no groveling or wretchedness or guilt, no pleading or arm-twisting. No extraordinary gifts are required to buy our way in. There is no admission charge. All that is necessary is to say "yes" and a share in the loaves and the fishes is ours. All that is necessary is to say "yes" and we are guests at the banquet; "yes" and we can take up our beds and walk; "yes" and we can become workers in the vineyard, even if we do get there late; "yes" and God, the father, will come out to meet us, the prodigals, and bring us home.

We can also say "no": "no," the time isn't right, we have other things to do; "no," we do not yearn for the kingdom of heaven, this life is satisfactory enough; "no," we'd rather not take the risk; "no," it doesn't seem worth the trouble. Each time the invitation is made, there is always the option of saying "no". Our "no" does not earn condemnation. It simply means there will be another invitation. Each time the invitation is made, it is urgent. We muse decide "yes" or "no" right then. let me remind you that anything less than "yes" is "no". A "maybe," or "I'll think about it," or "perhaps some day" is "no". Be assured that, even if you say "no", the invitation will come again and again and again. It is an invitation to enter into God's future and God does not give up.

It may not always come in the words of a man teaching on a hillside or walking the dusty roads of Galilee telling parables. The invitation may be delivered by a stranger who asks for help. Or it may be a situation of such outrageous injustice that you can't turn away any more. Or it may come in a life crisis that is so shattering and painful that there is no other direction in which to turn. The invitation will come again. Invited into the kingdom of heaven we will be. That is guaranteed. And one thing more: the promise of God's future is good for eternity. That also is guaranteed.

Let me close with a short story.

A man was lost in the desert. later, when he was describing the ordeal to his friends, he told how, in sheer despair, he had knelt down and cried out to God to help him.
"And did God answer your prayer?" he was asked.
"Oh, no!" Before he could, an explorer appeared and showed me the way."

Consider that we, too, are lost in a desert. The Beatitudes show us the way.

Amen

(c) 1999, Shirley Hoover