In those days I was the king’s cup-bearer. Nehemiah 1:11
“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” Matthew 5:14-16
All the way back in March, 1630, Puritan John Winthrop preached a sermon entitled “A Model of Christian Charity” to his fellow Massachusetts Bay colonists as they embarked to settle Boston. Borrowing from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, he warned them of the serious nature of the task they undertook: “as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us.” His words were not an encouragement, they were a warning. Don’t mess this up…everyone is watching!
Since that time, his words have been borrowed by many a politician, including John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, and Mitt Romney, always referring to American exceptionalism on the world stage. Indeed, it became a running theme in several of President Reagan’s speeches, from his election eve address in November 1980 all the way to his farewell address in January, 1989. But, with all due respect to each and all of these politicians, Jesus’ words about a “city on a hilltop” were not about any particular nation-state, but about his followers. More specifically, they were about his followers’ identity…about their place in this world. They were to be the light of the world.
From the very beginning of his teaching ministry, Jesus challenged his followers to usher in the Kingdom of God, i.e., to live out the upside-down ways of God’s kingdom as a contrast to the kingdom of this world. Our role (the church’s role) in this regard is to connect people with the ways of God. “In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” We are to be the light of the world.
As I read this word, letting our light shine seems to be much less about the books we write, the videos we make, and the social media posts we create and much more about how we live our lives. It is less about our apologetics and more about the choices we make in our personal lives…less about winning the culture wars and more about being peacemakers in our day to day living. The point is, this word is not just about what we say or what we do. It is about who we are…our very identity as the Church of Jesus Christ. It is more than mission or objective. This is a word about our very place in this world. It is about our very identity as the light of the world.
There are plenty of qualities and characteristics of light. Surely, Jesus intended all of them to apply to us with this metaphor. But the one that stands out in our current culture, the one that should contrast the church with the ways of this world, is the indiscriminate nature of light. You see, when you put a lamp on a table in the middle of a room, that lamp does not pick and choose who to help with its light. It does not weigh who is “worthy” of its light and who is not. It simply shines, for anyone and everyone in the room.
The light does not make marketing strategies about whom it will serve and whom it will not serve. It does not have criteria that make some people more deserving of its light than others. There are no prerequisites which would-be recipients of its benefits must first meet in order to then receive light to their path. Like an utterly impartial lighthouse shining for each and every vessel on the nearby sea, shouldn’t the church be indiscriminate as well? We are the light of the world. And that is a high calling.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
I love my friends at church, and the teaching/preaching, and the music. Moreover, I love the ministry opportunities and the mission trips. And the ways it grew my kids and its relationships within our community. I believe God loves my church as well. But, if I’m honest, it is for completely different reasons than mine. Surely, God is not as impressed with our programs and our polish as we are. He doesn’t measure a church by its numbers of people nor by its budget. So, what? By God’s standards, what church is good? What church does God bless?
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 is, in a word, shocking. It was disruptive to its original hearers in their own cultural context and it is disruptive to us today in our context. It presents the kingdom of God, i.e., a life “in the Spirit”, as being so very upside-down from the understandings and structures of the world as we know it. And it does so from its very first introduction, which we call “the beatitudes”. In short, the world’s understanding of “blessed” is so very shallow, even hollow, compared to God’s understanding of “blessed”.
We have all seen the social media posts that end with #blessed. They are posts and photos about amazing vacations or other incredible experiences or children being born or new houses or terrific new jobs or any of a huge variety of happy moments in friends’ lives. And there is nothing at all wrong with those posts; indeed, they are wonderful occasions worth celebrating and yes, posting.
But that kind of #blessed and the “blessed” with which Jesus begins his sermon on the mount are very different concepts. #Blessed is about moments of undeserved happiness, comfort, ease, and fortune. But Jesus’ word which we translate as “blessed” is much deeper, much broader than that. It is about enduring joy, profound peace, and a kind of deep-seated contentment rooted in completeness and relationship. As is the theme of the entire sermon on the mount, #blessed is aimed at the tip of the iceberg, while Jesus’ “blessed” captures the entire iceberg.
In the beatitudes, Jesus’ account of whom God blesses begins with those who are lowly and humble. The poor in spirit, the meek, and those who mourn all have an honest assessment of themselves, i.e., who they are and who they are not. They are at rock bottom and know they are nothing without some help from God. Such people do not have inflated egos and they are not wielding worldly powers (economic, social, political, etc.). This is true of individuals, and I believe it is true of churches as well. The church God blesses is fostering and growing attitudes of humility and lowliness.
From that lowly starting point, Jesus then “blesses” those whose inner thought life is pure and right with God. He blesses those who hunger for righteousness, i.e., those who desire the things God desires. Then there are those who are merciful and those who are pure in heart. Again, the focus is less on the outward and much more on what is on the inside…the heart and the mind. It is not about branding, nor impressive abilities, nor power or influence. It is about wanting the things God wants and about caring about the things He cares about. The church God blesses is growing that kind of heart in its people.
Lastly, Jesus blesses peacemakers and those who suffer persecution. Both of these deal with our relationships with others. In our engagement with the world around us, we are to be building healthy relationships and bridges rather than divisiveness. And we are to embrace the persecution and suffering that will no doubt come our way in response. The church God blesses understands this and fosters these attitudes in its people.
In short, God’s priorities and values are so very inside out and upside down from those of this world. As a result, Jesus’ words throughout his ministry were always disruptive and challenging. Nowhere is that clearer than in his Sermon on the Mount. His opening beatitudes to that sermon are intentionally shocking that way. They challenge me. I do love my church. But Jesus challenges me to consider WHY I love it, and to reimagine all the ways I measure my church’s effectiveness in the light of what God blesses. And reimagining church in that way can only be good for us. Right?