Beatitudes Baptism

Micah 6:1-8

Hear what the LORD says: Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel. “O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me! For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised, what Baalam son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shiitic to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of the LORD.”

“With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Psalm 15

LORD, who may dwell in your tabernacle? Who may abide upon your holy hill? Those who lead a blameless life and do what is right, who speak the truth from their heart; they do not slander with the tongue, they do no evil to their friends; they do not cast discredit upon a neighbor. In their sight the wicked are rejected, but they honor those who fear the LORD. They have sworn upon their health and do not take back their word. They do not give their money in hope of gain, nor do they take bribes against the innocent. Those who do these things shall never be overthrown.

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom rom God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Matthew 5:1-12

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

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Preaching for a Baptism feels a bit like being one of those fairies at the birth of princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. Here is the story to bless your life and faith journey that begins today, young Brady. Of course, it’s not like a horoscope or fortune-telling, and it’s not magic, but in some ways it can feel that way. There will be days when today’s reading of the Beatitudes will come up in Brady’s life as instructive, or as a blessing for his own choices, grounding for his values. Will he choose to embrace or reject them? That is something only time will tell. One thing is for sure, Brady is being baptized into a world that needs these blessings of Jesus, this reminder of Paul from his letter to the Corinthians. Let’s hear them again:

“Consider your own call, kindred: Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are…” Pretty powerful stuff. And Paul knew of which he spoke: his is one of the most influential voices in the formation of Christianity, and he wrote from places of persecution, on the run, incarcerated. Of course, he was still a man in a man’s world, so he had some social advantages, to be sure, and the baggage of his day elevated him above women and slaves in a way human rights advocates today would outright reject. Knowing his power, though, was part and parcel in how he was able to use that power for as much good as his imagination would allow. 

Now, I’m not thinking we are here to send Brady off to a life where we hope he will end up in prison like Paul, but we certainly are here to remind Brady, and one another, of our positions of power in this world, even when the world might seem otherwise to deny that power. I don’t mean  only race and class and citizenship and gender privilege. I mean the power of knowing yourself, the power of recognizing your character, of accepting your wholeness and owning the compassion to likewise accept others in their wholeness.

Because here’s the thing: too many Christian preachers are telling us that we know God is on our side when we win the lottery or can afford a second car or just narrowly miss some disaster or tragedy. Which of course means that God is against anyone who can’t make ends meet, that the poor somehow deserve to be poor because God would make them rich if they were righteous enough. I would say those preachers are missing the point of the Beatitudes and probably have chosen to ignore Paul’s letter to the Corinthians which was read today. Then again, we all tend to pick and choose which Bible passages support ideas and values we already hold, don’t we? So it’s not so much that we’re promising today to teach Brady to read the Bible in the ‘right’ way, or come to be the ‘right’ kind of Christian, as it is that we’re promising today to remind Brady and his family day after day that they are loved no matter what, that they belong no matter what, and that God will never reject them. Which is also something that can be argued both ways, depending on which scriptures we decide have the most importance.

As Lutheran Christians, we hold that the love of God shown in the cross of Christ is our defining value. That God would rather die beside us than live separated from us, that’s the promise we cling to, the central story that informs how we read and interpret the rest. We do not baptize Brady today to save him from the fear and fires of hell, or to simply check the box of what ‘good traditional family values’ require - no. We gather to witness this washing, to support these promises and affirm this commitment to love, as a reminder to us all that we are born good enough. God requires nothing of Brady, neither understanding nor assent nor even potty training, to love this child. God requires none of these things from us to love us, either.

I think the Beatitudes are a beautiful reminder to us of how far-reaching is the love of God, how deeply embedded in the grit and struggle of daily living is the compassion and acceptance of divinity. Jesus does not tell his disciples to pity the poor or the grieving, he tells them that they are blessed. Jesus does not tell his disciples to save the meek and the merciful, he tells them that they are blessed. Protect the pure in heart? Sure, but don’t underestimate their power. And the peacemakers - not peacekeepers, peacemakers - reflect the divine so much they will be called God’s own children. Especially in a day and age when so many are chomping at the bit for the rush of adrenaline and glory that come from war, the peacemakers are the ones who reflect God’s nature to us.

So, Brady, consider your own call. You may not seem powerful, but your very existence has already changed the world. There are people now whose entire lives revolve around caring for you and preparing you to set out into the world independently. You are becoming your own person, and our freedom is wrapped up in your freedom, your thriving is planted now in our thriving, whatever that might look like in the years to come. But know this: whatever your circumstance, whatever your choices, you are to be celebrated, never pitied, you are to celebrate others, not pity them, because you are human like the rest of us, human like God became human in Jesus, human like the blessed ones, blessed like the human ones. May you dwell deeply in that blessing, root firmly in the compassion of a God who forever loves and accepts you, and grow strong in the power of that inherent goodness, as you learn about who you are, and teach us more about who we are, too. We will make many mistakes together, and we will learn over and over again together just how deep that well of compassion and acceptance runs, because we are blessed. And blessed are you.