In part one of Blessed and Confronted by the Beatitudes, I suggested that the blessings found in these opening verses to the Sermon on the Mount were based on Jesus’ announcement that through him and his ministry, the Kingdom of God was coming into common space and time. That advent signaled an end to the distorted, evil, and unjust ways of a world alienated from God and the beginning of a Divine alternative based on love, justice, peace, joy, and community.
At the end of that article, I bracketed the following comment: The perceptive reader of this article may raise a critical question about the above interpretation of the Beatitudes: “If these blessings are based on the assumption that God is coming into history to reverse the ways and expectations of the world, then why are there still human beings who are poor, grieving, hungry, and persecuted? The world seems little changed since the time of Jesus when Caesar, Herod Antipas, Pilate, the High Priest, and other scoundrels perpetuated greed, violence, and oppression. Are these words of Jesus just a pipedream? Was he naïve or mistaken?” This article attempts to deal with this question.
Biblical scholars and theologians often refer to the “now and the not yet” of the Reign and Rule of God which Jesus came to proclaim and incarnate. The “now” refers to the difference Jesus was making in the world in his own time and space. The “not yet” refers to the realization that the way of Jesus takes time and great effort before a final and complete experience of God’s Kingdom becomes a reality. It’s partially here now but is not yet universal in its emancipating, redeeming, and transforming shalom. Within the Gospels, there is evidence that Jesus himself understood “the now and the not yet” of the new kind of existence God was bringing through him. That new kind of existence included self-giving, unconditional, indiscriminate love, liberating truth, deep compassion, lavish forgiveness, profound trust, and costly discipleship. Such a radical transformation takes time. And if “God so loves the world” (and not just a small minority She can rescue from the fires of hell), patience, endurance, and sacrifice are required. Jesus’ short ministry in Galilee and Judea marked the beginning of a transition which was ambitious in its designs to bring universal justice, peace, and love. Here are some examples from the Gospels which point to the “not yet” quality of the Kingdom of God:
- Jesus compared the Kingdom of God to a seed growing invisible in the ground and to leaven rising unseen in dough. Such a comparison implies a process which takes time, often is at work behind the scenes, and does not always enjoy immediate results.
- He called his disciples to take up their cross and follow him (The cross we are to take up is the price we pay in a world alienated to God and hostile to the ways of Jesus. The call to follow Jesus implies a pilgrimage where we emulate his life and share in the vulnerability that comes with nonviolent love and a dedication to truth.)
- The last two Beatitudes in Matthew’s Gospel assume that those who dare to trust Jesus’ message and share in his life will face persecution, misunderstanding, and slander.
- The Jesus of John’s Gospel warns his followers that the world will hate, misunderstand, and persecute them (John 15:18-16:4).
- The Great Commission of Matthew 28:16-20 certainly reflects the long-term nature of this God movement begun by Jesus.
- The Apostle Paul in Romans 8, I Corinthians 15, Colossians 1, and Ephesians reveals that the early church also appreciated this dual nature of God’s Reign as already being present and yet not present in every part of the world.
- The entire book of Revelation also reveals with profound insight “the now and the not yet” of God’s Kingdom as it clashes with Caesar’s Kingdom.
However, in this article I want to focus on “the now” of God’s presence and rule in Jesus’ ministry. Jesus went from village to village with his message, miracles of healing, and call to discipleship. Eighty-seven times in the Gospels Jesus called people to follow him. I believe he created “Kingdom of God” communities in every village where there were people who were willing to trust him and this Abba God who loved them and gave them a profound sense of identity as children of God. Clarence Jordan referred to these communities within the larger communities as “demonstration plots of the God movement.” (“The God Movement” was Jordan’s interpretation of “the Kingdom of God.”) As I have mentioned in other places on this blog, during the Great Depression FDR’s efforts to provide relief and dignity to people included a program which taught citizens how to plant food which could feed them and their families. My maternal grandmother was one of the teachers and organizers of this program in and around her hometown. People could come, observe, and learn how to grow gardens which provided proliferate vegetables and fruits.
Jordan maintained that Jesus was creating demonstration plots of God’s Rule in the villages open to his message and alternative way of life. Groups of people, always open to expansion and inclusion, lived lives of sharing, compassion, peace, forgiveness, joy, and trust. Right dab in the middle of Caesar’s empire, humble and poor followers of Jesus embraced and pursued a radically alternative lifestyle based on their being loved extravagantly by this God Jesus called Abba. Through their trust in Jesus and their following his way, they became an open family where all belonged and all were cherished. If they were God’s children, they were also sisters and brothers to one another. Jesus was calling them to trust such an identity and to live accordingly.
Within such communities, there would be no hunger, arrogance, violence, greed, hatred, distrust, lies, coveting, or nurtured grudges. There would be joy, compassion, forgiveness, and assurance on a scale that those villagers had never known. And their witness would provide visual proof that God’s Kingdom was dawning through their faithfulness to the way of Jesus. I am convinced that these demonstration plots of the God movement which came through Jesus help explain how quickly the church spread after Jesus’ death and resurrection. There already were Jesus communities all through Galilee and Judea. Jesus’ death and resurrection gave a special impetus to that expansion, but the “seeds” for such an abundant harvest were already growing imperceptibly (to the powers that be) in these small peasant villages.
These demonstrations plots of the Kingdom of God explain in part how the poor, those who mourn, those who are hungry, the humble, and even the persecuted could be blessed in their “now.” They were supported and loved by communities dedicated to the way of Jesus. No one was allowed to fall through the cracks of the subsistence living so prevalent in Jesus’ time.
Jesus’ message and way of life were intended to be lived in community.
Jesus’ message and way of life were intended to be lived in community. Perhaps that’s part of the meaning of that enigmatic statement of Jesus, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I will also be.” And perhaps if today’s churches could become contemporary “demonstration plots” of God’s presence and reign in this world, we could experience a true revival and expansion of Jesus’ alternative way. And like those disciples of the first century CE, we would be doing so in a world as broken, unjust, and lost as the one our Lord came to bless with astonishing beatitudes.
Matthew 5:1-12 (NRSV)
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely[b] on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
