Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 2/1/2026
Lessons:
Matthew 5:1-12
Beloved Brothers and sisters in Christ...
I'd like us to begin by considering a 336-year-old newspaper clipping from Boston... yes, you never know how sermons around here are going to start....
This newspaper clipping is from what some believe to be America's first newspaper.
And the sentence I'd like you to hear is one in which the authors set out to describe the purpose of their newspaper.
Put on your Olde English ears - Here it is: “It is designed, that the Country shall be furnished once a month (or if any Glut of Occurrences happen, oftener,) with an Account of such considerable things as have arrived unto our Notice."
Did you get that mission statement - let's try it again: “It is designed, that the Country shall be furnished once a month (or if any Glut of Occurrences happen, oftener,) with an Account of such considerable things as have arrived unto our Notice."
That's their mission. Short and sweet - at least to them...
Write it today and you might get something different - how about this: “This newspaper will publish monthly— more if needed—summarizing major events we’ve learned about.”
Right? “This newspaper will publish monthly— more if needed—summarizing major events we’ve learned about.”
The 336-year-old version is clunky and awkward, but we kind of get it - though we might try to find an easier way to express what we're trying to say - to be better understood and absorbed by modern readers.
I want to start here as you and I unpack the best known sermon Jesus ever gave - keeping in mind that the Sermon on the Mount is not 336 years old - it's 2,000 years old. And it was not meant only for English speakers - but for all people, of all languages down through every age.
So, if you have had a bit of trouble understanding what The Sermon on the Mount is and where it's going, you're not alone nor are you without good reason.
And I want to spend our precious time unpacking this because of the power it contains, it hasn't reached its apex of western literature for no reason, it has earned a reputation for so much more:
The liberation it offers, the imagination it seeks to unleash, the honor and esteem it holds encapsulating what Christians have treasured for centuries as 'The Good News.'
The subject is this abstract concept called the Kingdom of God.
Think of it this way....
The Kingdom of God is like the eye of a storm, where everything around it is chaotically spinning out of control - while inside the eye, things are calm and chill.
The Kingdom of God is like that slow moving eddy of water alongside a powerful, raging river.
The Kingdom of God is like a chapel at the airport - that worried people hustle and bustle right past, but inside offers calm and comfort.
Jesus' sermon is an invitation for you and me to enter the eye, to paddle into the eddy, to duck into the chapel - and to see that Jesus is offering us a whole new way of being - we're still in the storm, river, and airport - but we've found that place of respite and peace - in God.
And that's what being born again is all about - the blind, seeing - this Epiphany or Awakening of this season - to a new way of being.
I remember the first time I was awakened to this, actually the spiritual life is a series of awakenings, isn't it? But I remember that first time I realized that this kingdom is here - and how this question struck me - maybe it has struck you:
What was I thinking before I was thinking?
Kingdom living is this awareness, this awakening to this new way of being - to help us thrive - to help us cope with the craziness over ICE, Greenland, Gaza, interest rates, making ends meet, and the hassles and discomforts of this relentless, frigid weather.
Jesus words are not just inspirational memes meant for Hallmark posters and funeral cards - but to bring about massive societal change, to bring lasting peace to the world, to change desperate lives - to lay out a new way of living that puts everything into perspective.
So come - let us enter into this Kingdom.
Many years ago I went to a U2 concert - I love live music. And to prepare for the show I got online and looked up the song list from recent concerts - I wanted to know which songs I could expect - what would they open with - what would they close with - so that I could hold up my phone and wave it back and forth before texting money to a hunger relief organization... if you've been to one of their concerts, you get it...
But the idea is that U2 has a substantial catalog of hits. And, while you won't hear every song at every concert - there are some songs that you will hear every time - because they are fan favorites. These songs I look forward to hearing 'live' not because I want to hear it played exactly the same - but because I want to hear it with a twist - a longer guitar solo, lyrics that emphasize different words - you get it. And depending on the crowd and the mood, the musicians happily oblige.
It's the same with preachers.
And if we go back a two thousand years to Jesus' day and time of itinerant Jewish rabbis we can see how, when going from place to place to preach, they will make sure to pull out the fan favorites at every stop. Not always the same words, cadence, or script - but the same song.
This is how scholars say we got the Beatitudes - and why Jesus' renditions are a bit different when they show up in Luke's gospel versus Matthew's gospel: same fan favorite, just a little twist here and there.
Scholars say Jesus likely preached it on many occasions - and here, distilled for us by St. Matthew, we have 9 angles Jesus takes to open up God's kingdom for you and me:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
If you are unsettled, anxious, worried, distressed, poor in spirit - Jesus has a place for you. It's his kingdom, where he is, and where things are better.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."
Your worry, anxiety, distress, and sadness have all arrived at a place of comfort.
In God's kingdom - the distraught find peace, consolation, and comfort!
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."
Are you self-promoting, boastful, and always looking out for number one? Then God's kingdom is not for you. it is for those who understand and practice the power of humility.
When we put others first, choose not to hoard, seek only self-promotion, or act selfishly - you will find a good home - you will inherit - that place where all the other people who act like you are dwelling. Remember, name our children, Matthew and Peter. We name our dogs Napoleon and Caesar.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
All those good things you do - your acts of generosity and care for others - the prayers you say, the faith community you build, the desire you have to serve God by serving others - God's kingdom is where you will feel right at home, you are with others who thirst for the same thing.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy."
I have a friend, who shall remain nameless, don't all good stories start that way? But this friend got into legal trouble. He needed money, he needed to be bailed out. I had the means and the wherewithal, and I did it. He ended up getting through that period of his life, getting a job, moving on and I thought that he would pay me back. I expected that all those years of friendship, and being there in his hour of need, would have made him eager to pay his debts.
But guess what? I couldn't have been more wrong. He never returned a call, a text, or made any attempt at paying back what was owed. Vanished like a ghost.
You have had somebody do the same thing.
You know that person who spoke badly about you.
And you know the times that you let it go, and you wrote it off.
This is that merciful part of you that will be right at home in God's kingdom. Because this is who God is, this is a place where all that mercy you've given other people, comes right back at you for all those things you and I have done that need forgiveness.
If you are under the errant belief that revenge is the way to live in the Kingdom, that even-ing the score, never having mercy, or forgiving anybody is how we lead our best lives...
Then you probably know by experience, that it's better to choose God's kingdom.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."
I was walking down Maple with my friend Mark one day when we passed a panhandler. About three steps past him, Mark turned around and put a $5 bill in the man's hat. As we continued our walk my friend said, “I try very hard never to resist a generous urge."
You know that part of you, that conscience, that spiritual self of yours, that gives us pure motives, generous thoughts, and honest intentions? It's from that part of us that is connected to God - so that when we act out of that part of us, we act like God - and will be very comfortable in God's kingdom because that's how everybody acts.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."
There's a reason Trump wants that Nobel prize...
There are few higher honors, few more envied accomplishments than to make peace.
When we seek to unite divides, settle scores, reconcile opposites, and heal ruptures, we are doing God's work. This is what goes on in God's kingdom, and these are the people we find there.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Have many of you checked out our Google reviews?
If you go on the Internet, type in St. David Southfield, and we come up, and you can find Google reviews, you will note that there are some one-star reviews from people who just don't like the rector. They are from people who see differently on the issues of gun safety that our Parish has lifted up.
They are people who have picketed our church, disparaged, and insulted us - because we prayerfully claim that this is the right thing to do - When we do the good thing, the right thing, the just thing, it's not always popular in fact it can get you in trouble - good trouble - but that good trouble has a reward - both here and there - in God's kingdom.
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Our biggest mistake is thinking that this is all there is.
But it's not - you know it, I know it, and Jesus knew it - which is why he gave us this counter-cultural ethical treatise - to take seriously the crazy lives we lead and the amazing life we can lead - above the fray - in it, but not, of it -
Yes, there is more, yes, there is much more, yes, there is so much more!
Amen.