Not to be overly dramatic but since advent, when I last preached, it feels like the world has changed. Some of us feel disoriented, like we are living in a different country than the one we thought we lived in just a few weeks ago.

The confusion and anxiety, the disbelief and bewilderment that we may be feeling – it is all real. Which is all the more reason to be grateful for these familiar texts from Matthew and Micah that appear in the lectionary today. They are bedrock and touchstones for many of us. The Beatitudes and “do justice, love mercy, walk humbly” – these are texts that inform our faith and give form to our lives. We know these texts well and we love them. We may even have committed them to memory.

How do we hear these well worn words now, in our disoriented state? Since the world seems to have changed, it becomes important to pay attention to what we think we know, what we thought we understood well. As Lauren Good posted this morning from Dar es Saalam Tanzania “Woke up and read the news this morning. Balanced that by reading the Sermon on the Mount. Topical stuff there.”

As Anabaptist Christians, we read the gospels through a particular lens. We pay attention to the way Jesus lived his life. We watch for what Jesus teaches, especially in the Sermon on the Mount. And then with a strange mix of pride and humility, we try to model our lives after Jesus’ life. We try to embody the text.

For much of our nearly 500 years as Anabaptists, we secluded ourselves from the world. We might understand this as a natural reaction to the persecution of our forbearers, many of whose lives ended early and tragically, very much as Jesus’ life ended. We tried to embody our understanding of Jesus – in our own protective communities.

Now as twenty first century, urban, Anabaptists, we are not separate and protected. We are integrated into our local communities and we have a different experience of embodying the text. In our context, we can see that “location, location, location” is not only relevant in real estate. Location is also very important in our experience of reading the bible.

Where we locate our bodies makes a difference. We read in John’s gospel that “the word became flesh and lived among us.” We just observed Christmas when we sing, “Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head.” As Christians, we say we believe in the incarnation, so we should not be surprised by a claim that our bodies make a difference. And yet sometimes we forget that where we put our bodies affects our understanding. Our interpretation of the biblical text is connected to where we read the bible and who we read the bible with.

Father Greg Boyle (who works with former gang members in Los Angeles through Homeboy Industries) says that the Beatitudes, indeed the whole sermon on the mount, “isn’t a spirituality, it’s a geography.” It tells us how to interact with others, who to spend time with, and where to physically situate ourselves in the social world. http://www.christenacleveland.com/blogarchive/2015/01/3-mlk-jr-quotes-that-convict-me-today Where we read, where we live, where we act out our faith matters.

The Beatitudes tell us where to put our bodies so that we can be part of the mercy. Being in close proximity to the poor in spirit, to the gentle, those who are desperate for justice – this affects how we take in – and then live out – the biblical teachings, not just in this passage but in the whole sermon on the mount, in all of the gospels.

Yesterday I sat with a friend who’s husband died just 12 hours earlier. “Blessed are those who mourn.” Though she is not a religious person, there was a steady stream of friends, also non-religious, who came to be with her, to bring food, to comfort her. I know the meaning of the word mourn but to sit with her, to listen to her memories, to see the presence of her friends… this was to be among blessing. She did not wish for such a blessing as the result of death, none of us did, but in her mourning she opened herself to receive comfort and consolation. And so did the rest of us gathered around.

(This is not an unfamiliar experience for many of us though we might be surprised that people without religion also experience the same blessings as Jesus followers.)

Father Greg Boyle tells us that the Beatitudes and the sermon on the mount are a geography. We might push a little further and say that our understanding of the bible is just as much geography as it is theology or spirituality. You may have heard the term “displaced exegesis.” This is when we read the bible in a physical location other than where we usually read our bibles. For instance, instead of preparing this sermon in my office or home, I could have hiked a mountain to read the sermon on the mount or perhaps for a very different understanding, gone to a low and out of the way spot. The passage from Micah 6 which we heard today is written as a court room drama. What might we hear if we read it in an actual courthouse or in a law office or with someone involved in a lawsuit?

I encourage you to try “displaced exegesis” in real life. For now though, let’s do some time and space travel and try to displace ourselves as we hear the text again. Feel free to close your eyes. Imagine that you are at Dulles Airport. You walk up the steep ramp to the international arrivals gate. You find yourself among hundreds of people of all ages, gathered in the waiting area. There are people lining the path that will be walked by the passengers as they come through the closed double doors. There are welcome signs, balloons, flowers. There are people chanting, “No hate, no fear, everyone is welcome here.”

There in the midst of the crowd, waiting and chanting, we read this:

Blessed are those who are poor in spirit: the kindom of heaven is theirs.
Blessed are those who are mourning: they will be consoled.
Blessed are those who are gentle: they will inherit the land.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice: they will have their fill.
Blessed are those who show mercy to others: they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are those whose hearts are clean: they will see God.
Blessed are those who work for peace: they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of their struggle for justice:
     the kindom of heaven is theirs.

You are fortunate when others insult and persecute you and utter every kind of slander against you because of me. Be glad and rejoice, for your reward in heaven is great; they persecuted the prophets before you in the very same way.

What do you hear? What resonates? It may feel strange to imagine reading the bible in a public place. It may even feel dangerous. What do you experience when you hear the text in this place? in this noisy airport context? ———

Who are the gentle?
Who hungers and thirsts for justice?
Whose hearts are clean?
What does persecution look like?
Can you see God?
Are you willing to share that with us?

 

I think what Father Greg Boyle is trying to tell us is that when we place our bodies near the blessed bodies, we too may receive a blessing. It is hard for the reign of God to draw near if we are unwilling to draw near to those who Jesus says are blessed. And this kindom of heaven is not one that is far off in “some heaven, light years away.” This is an incarnated reign of God, right here among us, in the mess of our lives, maybe at the airport.

But it is not always as simple as just placing our bodies in a space that we think is a right or just place.

This week, Melanie Penner reflected on her experience at the Women’s March in Washington in Canadian Mennonite magazine. She writes, “Like the march, our composition as Mennonites is largely white. Though our shared history is one of being outsiders and oppressed, those of us with white skin now enjoy the privilege that goes along with it. A look through the Beatitudes is a reminder of this. It is time to give the blessed ones—the mourning, the persecuted, the reviled—their time on the platform. If they do not have a platform, we must build it for them and lift them up to the microphone. If they tell us we are wrong, we must humbly repent.” http://www.canadianmennonite.org/stories/canadians-join-women’s-march-washington

It can be scary in these strange days, here in the heart of the empire. It is confusing and bewildering and unbelievable and overwhelming. This is why we hang onto this story, the story of a God who comes among us, bringing healing and freedom and reconciliation. Jesus didn’t change everything about the Roman empire while he was here on earth. He went close to particular people, in particular places. He healed a particular leper, and Peter’s mother-in-law, and even the servant of one of the Roman centurions.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to embody his life in this particular time and in this particular place. That means following Jesus toward “the blessed” and placing ourselves with them, sometimes literally placing our bodies near their bodies.

This may seem like one more overwhelming task in a never-ending list. Remember that we are not starting from scratch. Many of us do this every day in the kind, respectful interactions we have with people who do not usually receive respect. We even have some experience with this as a congregation. When our beloved LGBTQ church family was “insulted and slander uttered against them” we stood together. We did not step away from each other, from our dear friends, we came close. We learned the meaning of the text, “The kindom of heaven is theirs.” We discovered that the reign of God is not about some superman God swooping out of the sky to rescue us. The reign of God truly is “God with us,” in these bodies, in this place.

When we are not sure where to place our bodies and our prayers, let’s move toward those Jesus says are blessed: the poor in spirit, those in mourning, the gentle, the merciful, the peace makers, the pure in heart, those working for justice who are insulted and persecuted. These blessed ones may be from Syria or Iran, Iraq or Somalia. They may be Muslim or Jewish or Hindu. When we stand near these people, walk with these children of God, show compassion and mercy to these blessed souls, we will be blessed as well. And we will be walking humbly with God.

May God give us wisdom and strength, courage and hope, as together we  follow in Jesus’ way.