A foundational component of creating a culture of racial diversity and justice in our churches is an understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ as a message of mercy and justice. Jesus is always pointing us toward a just vision of life in the kingdom. As preachers, we have the opportunity to share this vision every Sunday.
If you are a lectionary-guided church as many of us are, the Office of Racial Diversity and Justice wants to help by providing regular “Preaching Notes” to help with the crafting of a justice-themed message on an upcoming text.
These Preaching Notes are meant to nudge your sensibilities to perhaps “new” thoughts about Jesus and justice. We’ll also point to some trusted resources. Feel free to contact the author for a conversation!
This month’s Preaching Notes are on Matthew 5:1-12, appointed text for the Fourth Sunday of Epiphany, shared by the Rev. Amanda Holm Rosengren.
Preaching Notes on Matthew 5:1-12
By the Rev. Amanda Holm Rosengren, Rector of Church of the Redeemer
The Beatitudes offer a perfect opportunity for preachers to expand their listeners’ love for God’s heart for justice. Here are three ways to draw out the biblical theme of justice in Matthew 5:1-12, depending on your congregation’s current level of engagement.
Get Biblical
If your congregation is new to God’s heart for justice, explore key biblical terms that often get overspiritualized.
Mention the high overlap between the concepts of righteousness (vv. 6 & 10) and justice in both testaments (try out: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice…”). For example: “In the Hebrew Scriptures the term [righteousness] is not so much about sinless perfection as it is about right relationship and the fulfilling of covenant obligations. It is about the establishment of God’s will that justice should everywhere prevail” (Anna Case-Winters, Matthew: A Theological Commentary on the Bible, Belief Series, p. 50).
Justice—which in Scripture includes “actually seeking out vulnerable people who are being taken advantage of and helping them”— is integral to the right relationships with others God requires (See Bible project video, “Justice”).
Mercy is not simply sparing someone punishment, but acting in concrete ways to alleviate the suffering of the vulnerable.
Peace is not simply the absence of conflict, but the presence of flourishing (shalom).
In other words, those who follow Jesus and thus are blessed are those who seek the full flourishing of their neighbors—spiritually, emotionally, financially, and physically (c.f. the OT reading for the day).
Get Personal
If your congregation already has some understanding of God’s heart for justice, explore the cultural context of Matthew 5 and ask hard questions. (In majority white and/or upper-middle class congregations, think of this as an exercise of “de-centering.”)
Jesus’ audience was:
- physically and financially oppressed by the Roman empire
- ethnically Jewish and Middle-Eastern
- some were sick or physically disabled
In the Roman culture of the time, they were the “weak” and “foolish” (c.f. the NT reading). These are the “remnant” Jesus invites to join him in embodying God’s kingdom on earth in humility, justice/righteousness, mercy, peace and non-retaliation.
Who in our culture most closely shares the social standing of those first listeners of Jesus? What does our gospel have to say to those who, in the words of Howard Thurman, “live with their backs constantly against the wall” (see Jesus and the Disinherited)?
Does our church, and the broader Church in our culture, reflect “Beatitude” living or “Roman” living? Given that, how might this text invite us to respond?
Get Real
If your congregation already embraces God’s heart for justice, explore how Matthew 5 offers encouragement to the marginalized and those who live in solidarity with them. Those who share God’s heart for justice can be tempted to despair because injustice and oppression so stubbornly persist. The Beatitudes remind us that injustice will be the way of things until the Kingdom comes in fullness, and yet those who follow Jesus truly experience God’s favor in the here and now.
Those who are poor and powerless, lament injustice, long for all things to be right, choose mercy instead of revenge, recognize their own need for forgiveness and seek the peace of all rather than power for some—they are the blessed ones of God. In the words of the Psalm for the day: “A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.”
And so: Keep going!
The Good News of the Beatitudes
The good news of the Beatitudes is that God favors NOT the rich and powerful but the “poor and needy” who place their hope in him. Jesus “comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found”—in our relationships with Him, with one another, in the systems at work in the worlds, and with all of creation.
God is renewing the world through those who follow Jesus in living Beatitude-shaped lives. As we surrender to Jesus, we get to participate in his kingdom work of “justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” His justice will prevail, not by might, not by power, but by the Holy Spirit at work in the Beatitude-shaped body of Christ.
Thanks be to God!
Resources
Bible Project videos: Justice, Beatitudes
Commentaries: Rodney Reeves (Matthew, Story of God Bible Commentary Series); The New Testament in Color: A Multiethnic Bible Commentary (Beatitude sections in Matthew & Luke), Anna Case Winters (Matthew: A Theological Commentary on the Bible, Belief Series )
Books: Dennis R. Edwards, Might from the Margins; Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited; Malcolm Foley, The Anti-Greed Gospel (especially Ch. 8); Christina Edmondson & Chad Brennan, Faithful Anti-Racism (especially Chs. 2-3)