He came down with them and stood on a level place,
with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all
Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon.
18They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who
were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19And all in the crowd were
trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be
filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude
you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward
is great in heaven;
for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your
consolation.
“Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.
“Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and
weep.
“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what
their ancestors did to the false prophets.
“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to
those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse
you.
If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also;
and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give
to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask
for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
****
Its getting harder, these funerals. Each one means I know
you a little better and love you more deeply, having counted more days with you
and those who love you. I no longer have to ask as many questions to glean the
essence of a congregant. Instead, I feel it, and you provide the details and
memories of the years before I came. I have been here long enough to ask you
for what you would like to be remembered, and I know who, with deep grieving,
will have a quote that ties the service all together - because you were close
as sisters.
Knowing you this way makes your dying harder but I would
want no other role than to tell your story and to lift it up to God. I like
that being the pastor lets me do something. When providing care for loved ones
after a death the best advice is just to listen, to ask questions, but really,
to be present. But I get to do something. I get to channel my own grief into
something beautiful, and then I get to cathartically express it, but it’s a
balance, and the pendulum edges of sadness and duty are getting deeper, because
it’s getting harder; I love you more.
On the drive from home to Pat’s service, I was already
teary, but shutting the car door, I moved from personal space to pastoral space
with a calling to fulfill. Jim Kauth, as a preacher and a congregant, described
the pendulum well, saying there was one moment where the corner of my mouth
turned downward, a face he knew was the beginning of breaking, but with a
breath and focus I pushed through with renewed fervor. He said he was proud of
me, but more than anything I felt so known, and to feel known is to feel loved.
That’s where we are in this little church, and it’s only been five years.
So I am thankful I get do something when you pass away. I
imagine you relate to the feeling of needing to do when you make and deliver
more food than a person can eat, or check in randomly with someone because it’s
a Tuesday and they might just be feeling down, or you write more cards than can
be counted.
You too know the feeling of needing to do after death but
there is way this scripture is traditionally read that implies that everything
is already done. “That blessed are the poor because theirs is the kingdom of
God,… and woe to the rich for they have already received their consolation,”
but I don’t think this scripture is about a pie in the sky mentality - that all
will be righted in heaven and therefore what is wrong on earth need not be
addressed. Instead, I think this scripture is about doing now and I think
heaven is about life on earth as much as it is about life after death.
What precedes the Beatitudes is a multitude of people coming
to hear Jesus and be healed, to be cured of diseases, of troubles, and of
unclean spirits. “All in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out
from him and healed, all of them.” In this passage the people are doing,
they have travel far, they are listening and they are reaching out to Jesus and
Jesus healed them. If Jesus believed heaven is for those who wait, why would he
have healed on earth?
When he says “Blessed are you who are hungry now for you
will be filled,” Jesus is telling the disciples and the crowd that the kingdom of God is when the hungry are fed. When he
says, “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.” Jesus is telling
them that equality will come not when they are dead but now when the hungry are
fed.
Jesus believes heaven is present in those who do. When he
says, “Blessed are you when people hate you,” and, “Woe to you when all speak
well of you,” He is reminding us that until we all are loved our words carry
little praise for those we do already. When he says, “Blessed are you who weep
now, for you will laugh,” he knows that we will smile and shake our heads with
the love of knowing Louise Trapp and remembering her saying, even in her last
weeks, “I feel like dancing.” He knows these two emotions are coupled.
Likewise, when Jesus says, “Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn
and weep,” He is reminding us that after awhile, these funerals will get
harder, but their sadness means we will have loved another more with each day.
Jesus tells us that Blessed is something that happens on earth when people do.
He ends the Beatitudes with the Golden Rule, “Do to others
as you would have them do to you,” and I think this is what this scripture has
to do with death. When a beloved dies we ask ourselves why, and part of why’s
answer comes in the way they lived, the things they did for others. So, we ask,
“What about their life will we carry with us into ours? What did they do for us
that we want to carry for others.” It gives death meaning to say, “Do to others
as I have done to you.” I loved Pat’s honesty, and Louise’s optimism and Nola
Whitley’s Alzheimer's subsiding when she would sing Jesus Loves Me as she did
to her Sunday School classes with her kindergarten teacher background. When I
see the ceramic Roosters on my porch from Kim Berry’s funeral I smile
remembering her well-meaning love you to pieces sass. I am sure, likewise when
you remember other loved ones you take the things they did and hold them in
your heart. Molly posted a photo of a sunrise the other day reminding her of
the vivacity a teacher friend who passed away. Molly was celebrating in life
and sharing it in the same way her friend had taught her. It is as if her
friend was saying, “Do to others as I have done to you.” and Molly was
responding, how we live today honors the dead of yesterday.
This scripture is reminding us not to wait, but to do. To
live as the saints before us have taught. To live in a way that creates balance
between the poor and the rich, the hungry and the full, the outcast and the
admired, and those who weep and those who laugh. That even if the weeping is
getting harder, it’s because we knew and loved someone more and in that doing,
death gives life its meaning.
