Business hindered completing the next and final post to this thread...so I continue yesterday’s with this…
As noted yesterday, there is an entirely different way to read these B-attitudes (which I suggest is closer to how Jesus and Matthew meant them to be understood) beyond the love affair we have with the self-centered-private sphere which is all-about-us (me,me, me, me!). When we get to the powerful words, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (v 9), why do we cheapen them through small and petty application? On two fronts, these words spoken by the Son of God, who left His majestic throne in unspoiled and untainted heaven to come down to sin-filled, corrupt, and self-centered earth, and who would soon die on a shameful cross as the ultimate peace-maker, ought to carry that same weight. First, the crowds that day would have well understood the great movements of history that left them—that is the poor in spirit, those who mourn, and the meek who have no place on the earth—as pawns, marginalized, subject to the whims of history and those with power, and powerless to advocate for themselves. They would have known the brave few peace-makers that had come to stall or avert the powerful who were there to enslave or capture them. They would have known their end—whether in triumph or defeat (mostly defeat). Second, in their time they would have understood that to be a “Son of God” was akin to being a king or emperor (e.g., Caesar was called and referred to as a “son of the gods” himself). Here is the twist—the biblical spin—the sons of God as referred to by Jesus would certainly have the ring of royalty and chosen-ness, but one also of suffering.
As I listened to a rather good sermon on this text one Sunday, I mentioned to my daughter that it is in the destiny of biblical “sons of God” to die in their peace-making activities. We, however, prefer a better, more recognized, life-fulfilling destiny as a peace-maker. Biblical peace-makers die on crosses to bring peace. There is a slight twist in this blessed-position, for to be called a “son of God” in the biblical context is to also to own all the potential suffering that goes with the title.
This brings us to the later book-end of the B-attitudes…and for some summary comments and potential application…
Posted by Chip Anderson at 08:00 AM. Filed under: In the Margins • Discipleship • Gemara (expository notes) • Thoughts on justice •
(0) Trackbacks • Permalink