A Sermon by Pastor Tom Lacey . . .

Christ is … Teacher

Matthew 5:1-12, Preached by Tom Lacey at Congregational Church of Boca Raton, August 27, 2006

A minister began the offertory prayer: “Dear Lord, without you we are but dust ...” He would have continued, but at that moment one little girl leaned over to her mother and asked quite audibly, “Mommy, what is butt dust?” When you are up here, you have to be careful what you say.

Being a teacher is one of the most important jobs in the world. I mean, can you imagine wrestling daily with 30 or more kids, struggling intellectually, emotionally, socially, and with all the other issues they bring each day into your room? My hat is off to professional teachers. But each of us can be faced with teachable moments, as parents, grandparents, friends, at any time. It is a good feeling to be able to offer someone a bit of wisdom learned from life. A man and his daughter got on a hotel elevator and headed up. Part way up, the elevator stopped, and on walked a beautiful woman. She pushed the button for her floor, and the elevator started up again. Suddenly, she turned around and slapped the father very hard. About the same time the elevator reached her floor, and she got off. The little girl turned to her father and said, “She didn't like you, did she?” “I guess not,” her father replied as he stroked his red cheek. “Don't feel bad, dad,” the little girl said, “I didn't like her either. She stepped on my toe, so I pinched her.” Barry Bailey You never know when a teaching moment will arise.

In a famous Gospel scene, Jesus visits Martha and Mary’s home, enjoys dinner that evening, and sticks around. Martha, unlike Mary, who cleans up after supper, sits at Jesus’ feet, listening to and learning from her rabbi and master. By the author saying that she sits at his feet, he declares that she is Jesus’ disciple, willing to discipline her life into the shape his words prescribe her to become. This is the image I offer you this morning. What if we were Martha and could sit at Jesus’ feet? What would we learn from our teacher?

What we want to see today is that what Jesus taught was peace. Jesus teaches what it means to live for peace, peace for our world and our hearts.  This is his message and what we are to learn from him. Through Christ’s teachings we meet not with God so much as we meet with the peace of God. This is God’s peaceable kingdom that Christ talks about time and again. Above all, God wants peace for us, between us, and because of us. Now we don’t presume through Christ’s teaching to meet and make friends with God; rather, we find in those teachings the way of peace that passes all understanding. As Jesus said, “My peace I leave with you.” John 14.27

It’s interesting that Jesus had this topic and not something other as the one that would be his life’s teaching. Today, so many folks want to teach us on TV or in books how to be positive, teach us that you can be anything you want to be and do anything you want to do. It makes one curious what would happen if all of them decided to be the most popular program or write the best-selling book. So, we will not learn from Christ’s words how to be popular or prosperous in this world, nor will these pursuits be sanctioned. But the teacher knows everything about how to be light in this world, even when dark surrounds us. “Have salt in yourselves,” Jesus tells us, “and be at peace with one another.” Mark 9.50

William Barclay points out that in the gospels we find several titles for Jesus. He is called rabbi, teacher, and master more than 50 times. All three titles really mean teacher. Most of his teaching ministry took place some 60 miles north of Jerusalem in the area called Galilee, centered around the city of Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee. We know that in the towns he visited he taught in the synagogues. There were some places where the crowds were so great that he could only address them in the open air. One such occasion is reported to us in what we call the Sermon on the Mount. The very first section is called the Beatitudes, of which there are nine, and make up the most famous section of Jesus’ teachings. Perhaps the only statement more famous than these beatitudes is “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” which comes at the center of this Sermon.

Let’s say you were there that day. Jesus stands up, spreads his arm as to embrace you and the many who have gathered. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” he says, “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 the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Surprising words. An alternate universe, Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, might say. But is it God’s word? You know, not everything is as to be expected. Sometimes, we shine in surprising ways. Only hours earlier, Sharon Ellis had gone for a routine checkup, where doctors told her she'd probably have the baby that coming weekend. Sharon had a few minor contractions leading up to the Monday appointment, so her husband, Boe took the day off, and the family spent the afternoon at a friend's house. The couple went to bed that night about 10 p.m., expecting little more than a restful night's sleep. At 1 a.m. Tuesday, Sharon went into sudden labor in the bathroom and yelled to her husband there was no time to get to a hospital. In a matter of minutes, the baby was born. But instead of warming to a healthy pink, she was pale and struggling for air. As paramedics raced to the Ellis home, Boe, 29, followed instructions from 911 operator Tammy Shaver. He cleared his daughter's breathing passage, blew two puffs of air into her mouth and gently pressed on her chest to stimulate her heart. Finally, Boe tapped on his daughter's feet, and Bridget took her first light breaths as paramedics arrived. They found the baby's pulse and respiration were slow, so over the next 18 minutes, they provided physical stimulation and supplemental oxygen. But the paramedics all agreed that Boe Ellis saved his baby's life and protected her from brain damage or other long-term effects. Bridget Ellis was doing fine with her mother at the hospital, with her father and her 2-year-old sister, Brooke, all smiles. Sharon Ellis, meanwhile, was still amazed at her husband's calm response: "I thought for sure he would have passed out in a situation like that." Surprising Boe rises to the occasion.  

Just because it is the opposite of what you expect doesn’t mean it isn’t going to happen. Just because you are heart-broken today doesn’t mean you won’t be heart-happy tomorrow. Just because you feel you have life by the throat in the morning doesn’t mean you won’t need someone to cover you at noon. Now this isn’t the same thing as saying bad things happen to good people. Jesus is saying that those who are in turmoil will find comfort, and those who hold onto the good while people all around them sell their souls will find their reward, and those who labor in the war-trodden vineyard of this world for peace will receive the Father’s embrace, for they are his children. You know, Christ never let others’ expectation of his behavior alter his actions. There might be the rule that said no work on the Sabbath, but that never stopped his labors of love on that day. His mission was to bring peace to the world without concern for those who, even in the name of God, were willing to forestall peace for a day.

What a guy, right! But, now, wait a minute. Before we so readily congratulate Jesus on his wisdom and us on our goodness for agreeing with him, let’s stop and think. Isn’t it reasonable to wait one more day to heal a paralytic or a blind man, if it means not going against the rule that everybody has had to live by for a long time? Yes, it’s reasonable. Yes, it’s expected to keep things as they are. After all, they’ve had their condition for years and years. Think about it: Why should they overturn a system for just one sick person? Besides they totally believe God is behind the whole thing? It’s not like he wouldn’t be healed the next day. Why can’t he wait? We are going to throw out the Scripture, the ancient teachings and practices of our community for over a thousand years, just so this person can walk today or be able to see today, rather than tomorrow? Who is this person who thinks he’s more important than all of us? And who is this Jesus, who thinks this is right? You see what I mean? Hey, let’s not fool ourselves. It’s not like we would be on Jesus’ side on this one. Surprising, isn’t it. Shocking is more like it. And this is our Jesus. Is it all that difficult to see why he was crucified?

The kingdom of God is not like the kingdom of Man. Thank God. I mean, look at the mess we’re in. But now think of it this way: If Jesus was crucified for holding opinions that stand in polar opposition to how the vast majority of people want things, and yet by any rational configuring this world stands in almost polar opposition to how it should… let’s see, if a does not equal b, and b doesn’t equal c, then a doesn’t equal c … then Jesus, the prince of peace, knew what he was talking about.

Check this out, from staff and wire reports and reported in The Denver Post, Oct. 2, 2005, K2: Higher income people are more likely to swipe Sweet’N Low packets from restaurants than those who earn less. About 67 percent of those who earn $75,000 to $100,000 admit to taking a Sweet’N Low packet from a restaurant or coffee shop, while only 47 percent of people who earn less than $25,000 have done so, according to the Pink Packet Poll released by Cumberland Packing, maker of the artificial sweetener. The packets cost about 2 cents apiece. The money’s not the problem, obviously; it’s the mindset. Resist taking advantage of others. Put someone else first. Do what’s right, even if it doesn’t benefit you.

The kingdom of God is the kingdom of peace, where right makes might, not might makes right. To walk this divine landscape in this lifetime, one must be willing to do two things: See things differently than the way most people do and find a way to bring peace. Mary Ann Bird wrote a short story entitled The Whisper Test. It is a true story from her life: I grew up knowing I was different, and I hated it. I was born with a cleft palate, and when I started school, my classmates made it clear to me how I must look to others: a little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth and garbled speech. When schoolmates would ask, 'What happened to your lip?' I'd tell them I'd fallen and cut it on a piece of glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different. I was convinced that no one outside my family could love me. There was, however, a teacher in the second grade that we all adored—Mrs. Leonard by name. She was short, round, happy—a sparkling lady. Annually, we would have a hearing test. I was virtually deaf in one of my ears; but when I had taken the test in past years, I discovered that if I did not press my hand as tightly upon my ears as I was instructed to do, I could pass the test. Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everyone in the class, and finally it was my turn. I knew from past years that as we stood against the door and covered one ear, the teacher sitting at her desk would whisper something and we would have to repeat it back ... things like, 'The sky is blue' or 'Do you have new shoes?' I waited there for those words which God must have put into her mouth, those seven words which changed my life. Mrs. Leonard said, in her whisper, 'I wish you were my little girl.' As told by Spencer Morgan Rice, The Drama of God, Trinity Church, Boston.

Jesus saw something others didn’t. He saw that God poured all of his love into each one of us, and because of this there is nothing worth anything if each one of us isn’t worth everything. He taught us this preeminent truth in so many different ways. But you know, it’s not the worth that we might be thinking of. It’s not like we are worth so much and are so special that we deserve to acquire free packets of Sweet’N Low. It’s not like we are so special that we deserve to treat the earth anyway we want. It’s not like we are the only ones who are special and deserving of good things. God requires us to find a way to make peace, even when we believe we are entitled to pursue war.

Mother Teresa had a set of small yellow cards that contained words of wisdom for herself and her community. She called them her “business cards.” The cards said: The fruit of silence is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of love is service. The fruit of service is peace. In service to others, in the teachings of Christ, we find the way of God’s kingdom, the path of peace, peace for our heart, and someday, for the world.

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