Just Breathe

All Saints-A26
Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago

Ok take a breath. Just breathe. Blessed are you, Jesus says. Beloved, remember you are created of a loving God to be love in the world. God plants original blessing in you deeper than your sinfulness. This single insight from Jesus’ sermon on the mount overturns what many of us were taught as Christians. Finally receiving, allowing, trusting, and participating in this foundational love might even come as a shock—like children learning the details long withheld about their true origins. The facts change everything about our identity and our story. Beloved, your family of origin is of God.

That’s why “When we don’t live according to love…we’re not being real. When we love, we are acting according to our deepest being, our deepest truth. We are operating according to our dignity.” As Saint Paul famously said, ‘So faith, hope, and love remain, but the greatest of these is love’” (1 Corinthians 13:13).  (Adapted from Richard Rohr, Essential Teachings on Love, selected by Joelle Chase and Judy Traeger (Orbis Books, 2018), 12–13.)
Jesus’ sermon seems tailor made for me this week. In these fitful days of rising authoritarianism, social upheaval, and the looming mid-term elections, ‘Blessed are you,’ Jesus says. Just breathe.

Jesus’ sermon was urgent good news for the ancient people of Palestine too. Somewhere in the dusty, rolling hills of Northern Israel, near the sea of Galilee, Jesus sat down. The disciples and a great crowd gathered around him. They came from diverse regions to the north, south, east, and west. They came from Syria, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. They came on foot, lugging all their stuff, clanging and banging with each step, to see and hear Jesus. What drew them out from the comfort and safety of their hometown to go into the wilderness? As they sat at Jesus’ feet the dust of those hills clung to their clothes. It was in their hair and on their feet. Blessed are you, Jesus said. Just breathe.

The people’s lives were not their own under Roman occupation. Paying taxes to Caesar left little to live on. Religious authorities focused more on helping themselves than serving God. Jesus opened a door that Empire and religious authorities had locked shut. Opening that door revealed the indelible God-given dignity that was their birthright. Jesus made known the upside-down world that, in God’s eyes, is right side up. He called it ‘the kingdom of God,’ that is always here in, with, and under each moment. The kingdom is our divine inheritance as children of God. It is where we come from and where we go at journey’s end, along with that great multitude no one can count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages which St. John saw in a vision standing before the throne of God (Revelation 7:9).

Jesus said the kindom is revealed in those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. We see it in those who are merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and in those persecuted for righteousness’ sake. “Blessed are you,” Jesus said, “when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account” (Matthew 5:11). Just breathe. Breathe and know, you belong to the kindom of God.

The beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5 are among the very first words of Jesus’ teaching to be written down. They predate the gospels and the letters of Paul. They are, therefore, among the most real-life samples of what it was like to sit and listen to Jesus. Contemplation on the beatitudes lead us toward a disarmed heart, nonviolence, and love. Jesus’ words are strength for the weary. Our ancestors in faith gathered up Jesus words. They treasured them and pondered them. They chewed them like bread. They drank them like water.

Some of us recall these verses were called the “Be-attitudes,” — that is, postures and perspectives we should strive to adopt to earn favors from God. But Jesus’ sermon doesn’t contain a single “should,” “ought,” or “thou shalt.” “There is no transactional language in these verses at all. No commandments. No moral injunctions… Rather, what Jesus did was simply to describe reality. As in, “Here are the facts. Here is how the world works. [Here is who and what you truly are.] Here is an accurate description of life as it truly is.” In other words, here is “normal.” God’s normal.” (Debi Thomas, “The Great Reversal,” Journey with Jesus, 10/25/20)

The poor, the mournful, the meek, the hungry, the merciful, the pure-hearted, the peaceful, and the persecuted are “blessed” because they are the ones whose lives are aligned with the heart and character of God. They are the ones who have walked past the door Empire locked shut. They experience comfort, inherit the earth, are filled, receive mercy, see God, and are called the children of God.” (Thomas)

Early in Greco-Roman branded Christians as atheists for refusing to worship the traditional Roman gods and the emperor. It’s an unusual use of the word ‘atheist.’ Obviously, our Christian ancestors did believe in God, but they were repudiated because they refused to except the inherited theisms of their day. I think the same might be said about so-called atheists today who accuse the church of being too enmeshed with empire to be credible. I think they’re onto something.

Empire entangled Christianity buried the gospel message. Emperors don’t want people who are poor in spirit. They want loyalists. Jesus pronounced blessing on the peacemakers and the persecuted. Yet any talk of nonviolent resistance stayed underground in Western history until the mid-twentieth century. It finally re-emerged in the voice and witness of a small Hindu man named Mahatma Gandhi, who was inspired by Jesus, dared to believe Jesus’ teaching. In fact, Gandhi was willing to stake his life on it. His faith in the teaching of Jesus changed a nation, changed history.

Empire entangled Christianity is on the ballot again this week. South African Dutch Reformed pastor and theologian, Allan Boesak was one of the leading Christian activists in the struggle against apartheid. He also served time in solitary confinement for his activism. Last week, Boesak called out the church, especially in America, complicity in the rise of Christian nationalism.

Boesak began his speech by quoting James Waterman Wise who, in the 1930’s before the start of WWII said, “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” Wise understood that while fascism would be expressly political, its disguise, its seduction, and its power would lie in religion, in what we have now identified as Christian nationalism.

Boesak recalled that US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, recently invited his pastor, Russ Potteiger, to preach at the Pentagon. “Potteiger preached from Matthew 10 and said this: “If our Lord is sovereign even over the sparrows’ falling, you can be assured that he is sovereign over everything else that falls in this world, including Tomahawk and Minute Men missiles. Jesus has the final say over all of it.
Potteiger was talking about the elementary school destroyed in the opening hours of the US.-Israeli military campaign in which more than 150 people were killed, including at least 120 children. Boesak laments, “The blasphemy is almost too horrific to contemplate. Just think on what it means – taking the compassionate concern of God for the sparrow that falls; Jesus’ assurance that the children should not be afraid, because in God’s eyes and heart they are of so much more value than the sparrows, and twisting that into the obscene, blood-curdling jubilation of Jesus over the bombs and missiles that annihilate 120 children.”

The 13th-century German Dominican mystic Meister Eckhart famously prayed for the atheism that refuses to accept all inherited theisms. He prayed for “…God to rid me of God.” He was not rejecting the divine. Instead, he was calling for the faithful to wake up and rid themselves of the human-made mental images, concepts, and idols we project onto God.

Jesus opens the door locked shut by empire. Jesus opens the door and reveals the indelible God-given dignity that is the birthright of all people. Jesus invites us into the upside-down world that, in God’s eyes, is right side up which he called it ‘the kingdom of God.’ That invitation stands. That kingdom is here among us now. The kingdom is always here in, with, and under each moment. Just breathe. Breathe and enter. Breathe and know we belong to each other and all the saints in God.

“Go now and bless the whole world
For we are all connected.
Say yes to your life’s adventure
Noticing and cultivating Beauty as you go.
Cover one another with a friendly presence
Laugh with those who are joyful
And cry with those in sorrow
Eat with anyone and everyone
Always doing your best to ensure that those without have enough
And love with courage
For love is the only way forward
And you are loved, you are loved,
You are deeply loved
Remember there is grace and beauty in the becoming
And go in the name and peace of Christ.
Amen.” (A Celtic Blessing used by Tim Burnette, The Way Collective)