At my ordination, we marked the occasion in a way that has been done probably at hundreds or thousands of ordinations before and since. After the laying on of hands, when I was blessed and accepted by family, friends, and colleagues, the congregation joined together to sing the hymn, “Here I Am, Lord.” Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. That bit, “I have heard you calling in the night,” is likely a reference to the prophet Samuel, who, while trying to sleep one night heard his name called in the temple three times. “Here I am” on the other hand, is also spoken by Moses. Moses hears his name called and responds, saying “Here I am.” He stands before the burning bush and the messenger of God, ready and willing. “Here I am.” So begins one of the Bible’s most famous call stories, that is a story in which God calls someone, usually someone unexpected, to come and serve God’s people. Some who are called become ordained as ministers, and part of that process is standing before God and saying “Here I am.”

Along the way, though, there will be people whose response to you will be, “and who are you exactly?” The “Here I am” has to be backed up. There is a name behind the statement, and a story, and people want to know. So, the called may have to come before us and explain themselves. Not to be put on trial, or to justify anything. The questioning is just an acknowledgment that to claim your identity as one who is called by God carries the weight of responsibility. I know this, and many pastors today know this, because as I have experienced a few times, the scam artists out there like to use the identity of trusted individuals like clergy. They put on the identity of someone who trusted and ask for money, or gift cards, or your data. To claim an identity is a powerful thing.

To ask and to know someone’s name represented a very personal thing in ancient Hebrew writing, like the book of Exodus. To know someone’s name and identity opened the door for manipulation of that person or manipulation of others in that person’s name. We remember in the Gospels as well, Jesus casting the spirit out of the possessed man. The spirit called itself Legion, because they were many. But first, at the beginning of the confrontation, this unclean spirit declared that it knew Jesus’s name as well. It knew who Jesus was as the son of God. It was a way of letting Jesus know, “I know you, so I can be a threat to you.” That is the threat any of us experience when we stand before others and say, “Here I am.”

As an introvert, one of the more uncomfortable parts of any conference, or class, or gathering is the beginning of that time together with new people. When the group leader or teacher instructs us to go around the room and introduce ourselves. To tell people our name. We will no longer be able to blend into the background; we will be identifiable and knowable. Beyond that, we may be asked to include in our introduction where we are from or some “fun fact” about ourselves. It becomes even more uncomfortable at that point, because now I’m not just declaring myself present, but I’m fleshing out and claiming an identity. I’m from someplace, I have a story. Worse yet if the fun fact portion is open ended. Now I have to try and find a story or a fact that will make me seem interesting to people, or relatable. It can be a very vulnerable feeling, letting someone know you are there and who you are.

So, Moses is made vulnerable by responding to God in the affirmative, “Here I am. That burning bush doesn’t scare me.” And though that burning bush tends to be remembered and get in the imagination of the readers and hearers and tellers of this story, because its so out-there and fantastic, it’s mainly there to get Moses’s (and our) attention. Then we just sort of leave it here. God’s true act of power here is in the introduction to Moses. In God telling Moses who God they are. God is now open and vulnerable to Moses. Now that the name of God is known it can possibly be used and manipulated. Probably this is why later, when Moses brings the people the Ten Commandments, one of them is “Do not use the Lord’s name in vain.” You have been trusted with the name, the identity, of God. Do not abuse that power and do not belittle that relationship. By revealing this God is declaring a very personal relationship with Moses and, eventually, with the people Moses is called to lead out of oppression in Egypt.

In identifying Godself, God acknowledges that they also know the identity of Israel as a people facing oppression. God names also the suffering and pain being experienced by the people in slavery. God knows us as well. God knows what it means to be us, or one of us. That closeness, that presence, and that understanding is part of how we come to know God, and also how we come to know ourselves. As one who is loved and supported by God. “Here I am God, I am standing with you. Just as you are present with me.”

However, as the call becomes more specific is when doubt can creep in. When the candidate for ordination sees the papers that have to be written, and the meetings and interviews they have to attend. When the student doctor sees their courseload and years of clinical work and training. When an eager student is faced with an unpaid internship. The doubt creeps in. “Am I really called to do this? Is this really who I am?” When God gets specific with Moses and tells him what is needed things get dicey. God says to Moses, “Now Go, I am sending you to Pharoah to bring my people…out of Egypt.” When confronted with this task, Moses changes his tune. The assertive “Here I am” becomes a questioning “Who am I?” Suddenly he becomes insecure in his identity, and unsure of himself.

Consider this. When we hear ourselves called by God, as Moses was called, does it cause us to doubt ourselves? God tries to show us who we are, and what can be with God by our side, and yet we respond, “No, no, no. It can’t be me. I’m not capable. No one would believe that I’m that person.” Moses says, “Who am I?” Moses doubts that he is worthy or up for the challenge that God has called him to. God’s response is, “I am with you.” So, who are we? We are people in the presence of God. We are people that God is with. Does knowing that make you want to stand before a burning bush and say, “Here I am.”

Hopefully it does. It was not quite enough for Moses, however. When denying himself proves to be ineffective he changes tack. Next, he tries claiming that he doesn’t know God well enough to convince the Israelites that he was sent to them by God. By asking God, “Who shall I tell them sent me?” He asks God, “what is your name?” Moses begins to doubt who God is, but only because he first doubts himself. “Well God, maybe you are who you say you are, but how can I know for sure? Am I even worthy of knowing that for sure. These others will see right through me.” Some would call thoughts like that imposter syndrome, and it can be a pesky issue for the called. A “Here I am” can too often be followed by a “but should I be?”

God’s response is to give Moses the name, “I Am.” As in, “I am who I am.” This is what Moses is to tell the Israelites, “I am sent me.” Now, this feels like a set up to a joke, doesn’t it? Specifically, an Abbot and Costello routine. Moses stands before the Israelites and they question him, “What gives you the right and the authority to speak for us? Who sent you?” being obedient Moses responds as God told him. “I am sent me.”

“Okay, and who sent you?” “I am.”

“And you are?” “Moses. Didn’t I say that?”

“Yes, but who sent you?” “I am sent me.”

“Who’s I am?” “I don’t know, whose are you?”

And that’s the thing. To know whose we are, is also to know to know who we are, to know our identity. This isn’t just true of the called, but of the created, as well. Which is all of us. God’s name that is given to Moses, translates to the familiar Hebrew, Yahweh. As the name of God, “Yahweh” itself originates from the verb meaning “to be.” So, “I am who I am” can also be “I will be what I will be.” If we consider God’s name as “to be” then God is identifying as the one that makes things possible, makes things happen, and creates things. God also identifies as the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This points to the past as a way of knowing God in the present and anticipating the hopeful future God promises to the people. Who God has been is who God is and who God will be.

I find comfort in knowing God’s name in this way. That when I say “Here I am” I’m not only stating my presence, but I’m also invoking the name of God. The I am. Yahweh. I will be what I will be. When we come before God and say, “Here I am,” it can be not just a response to a call, but a statement of faith. Have you been called? Here I am. Then you may have said “I am with God and have faith in what has been done, and faith in what will be.” Here I am. I have faith and find encouragement in what God has done, and who God is. I want to be a part of co-creating with God what will be. Let us have a heart of celebration for all the ways God calls us and all the ways God has for us to serve this creation. Here I am.

Amen.

Those of us who read the Gospel often think of these nine sayings, The Beatitudes, as if they are singular, but a beatitude is not something that was unique to Jesus and this sermon. A beatitude was a type of blessing used often in early Hebrew writings of the wisdom traditions. A linguistic, literary device used in the teachings of other rabbis. For instance, there are beatitudes found in the book of Proverbs, one of the wisdom books of the Hebrew Bible. So, once again, as we have seen throughout, the writer of Matthew is using a template to make his points. This time he takes the template of beatitudes, blessings, and uses it to allow Jesus to lay out for his followers a vision of living in a blessed world.

Some interpreters of the Bible, have looked at the Greek word that begins each Beatitude, the word our reading today translated as blessed, and instead of ‘Blessed’ they have translated it as ‘happy.’ As in, “happy are the poor in spirit.” The difference there is that the word ‘happy’ is a subjective word, whereas we are meant to take the word ‘blessed’ as a more objective reality. After all, Jesus is calling us to believe in the kindom of God as a place of objective blessedness and not subjective happiness. What makes one person happy doesn’t necessarily make another person happy. No one can or should be expected to be happy in every situation. After all, these states of being that God blesses do not seem as if they naturally would lead to happiness. And it is certainly not the case that our ability to make ourselves happy is blessing enough. Making ourselves or making someone else happy is good, but that desire can also be manipulated.

Our society -our world- tries to sell us on different pathways to happiness. Mostly involving the acquisition of more and better or becoming richer and stronger. In other words, making ourselves happy. However, in the realm of God we are blessed because God has blessed us, not made us happy. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us we are already blessed. Even in conditions in which we wouldn’t think so. Advertisers try to tell you who you are and what you need through targeted advertising, by knowing what will grab your attention, what worries preoccupy you. Jesus tells us who we are by telling us that we are blessed the way we are. We are blessed in all the ways the world does not value or understand.

In Jesus’s time, the time of the Roman Empire, as in our time, it was the people with power and privilege and wealth who were considered happy and blessed. To be blessed meant to have wealth and social status and control over others. To be happy in our society means to be able to purchase or acquire that thing that we think will make us happy. For some people that might mean power and control over other people. And for some that might just mean having the resources to get the newest iPhone. To follow Jesus, though, means to walk toward the kindom of God. Which means to turn away from that need of control and making ourselves happy through the acquisition of things and instead to let God bless us, in all our meekness, hunger, poverty, longing for justice, or seeking of peace.

Disciples of Christ preacher Fred Craddock, in his well-known text about the craft of preaching, As One Without Authority, wrote these words, “to offer up one’s own words in the service of the Word is an act of full trust in God, whose power is made perfect in weakness.” He was writing these words about preaching and sharing the word of God with a congregation. However, I found this phrase to also hit upon something important when we think about what Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount. To live into the kindom of God is to live in a way that shows full trust in God. And we must do this because God is not known through our own strength and ability, and God cannot be made stronger by our strength. God’s power is made perfect in weakness, and that includes our weakness.

Consider that the Kingdom of Heaven, as it is referred to in the Gospel of Matthew, is specifically promised to two groups: the poor in spirit, which Jesus says in verse 3, and those persecuted for the sake of righteousness, which it says in verse 10. What does the fact that these two qualities are mentioned specifically tell us about the kingdom of heaven, or what Jesus is trying to say about the kingdom? Perhaps it is that the kingdom of Heaven or the kindom of God, is not achieved through power and control over others, the way we understand it in this world. Jesus is telling his disciples that to follow him, to live in his ways, will look very different from the life they know, so prepare to look at things differently. And not just look at things differently, but be treated differently. In verses 5:11-12 Jesus tells the disciples that to follow him and live in this way may lead to persecution from those in the world that do not understand and who continue to look at the world through the old lens of power and control and possessions.

Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount in that way, telling them they must turn to God and away from worldly things (in other words, be poor in spirit). They must do this because the kindom of God is a different kind of place, and we know this because of who is mentioned as blessed. Not the rich, but the poor in spirit. Not the strong, but the meek.

These blessings are the materials that we bring to building on the solid rock foundation of the Sermon on the Mount’s teachings. Not our riches, but our poor spirit, not our strength but our meekness. And the list goes on. We are called to identify with the Beatitudes. For instance, the word meek is another way to say poor in spirit. So, Jesus is not speaking to separate groups here. This helps us remember that Jesus is also speaking to us. There are nine beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-11, but we can’t assume that he is talking to 9 separate groups. We can’t just say “Oh, I’m not meek, he isn’t talking to me.” Or, “I’m not hungry, I’m not poor in spirit. It can’t be me.” Or, “I’m not a peacemaker, I’ve failed to be merciful. This blessing isn’t for me.” It is. He is talking to all who hear him. We possess these qualities as well. They are of the kindom of God and if we ignore them for the blessing that they are, then we disconnect and cannot live in God’s realm, as it exists or as it is promised.

The Beatitudes remind us who we are as one who approaches Christ and is with him in the realm of God. They are also a reminder of those we are to reach out to help in this world. Christians seeking to live as disciples in anticipation of God’s realm will possess these nine qualities of blessedness. All those who are listening to his teaching are called to live together in such a way that shows the world what the Realm of God looks like. And according to the Beatitudes, it doesn’t look like the world the Roman’s had created and were trying to impose on Israel. That template did not accommodate the people who were gathering to listen to Jesus. That imperial template promoted strength through domination, and security through control, and power by economic and military superiority. Within that template for creating and organizing life, there was no room for the meek, the peaceful, the poor, the hungry, or the merciful. And if we organize our lives that way, it leaves little room for God’s power to be made perfect and visible in weakness. If we build our faith on the shifting, unstable sand of human power and strength and desire, Jesus would tell us we are we being foolish.

The people gathered around Jesus that day may not have been expecting to hear what was said. They may have expected to hear a message that would only be good news for the wealthy people in their town. But instead, Jesus had good news for them. The kingdom of God was coming, and they were blessed in such a way that would allow them to experience it.

After all, The Beatitudes are written in the present tense, as in “Blessed are those…” and also in the future tense, as in “for they will…” We see who is blessed, what that looks like, and then what is come from that blessing. So, within these teachings, our focus shifts from living in the ways of blessed righteousness now and acknowledging that we do it because we believe that is the way of God’s realm that is still to come. To clarify that statement; we live in these ways of blessedness that Christ teaches, not because we think doing so will get us access to heaven, let us into the realm of God. We live out these ways of blessedness in our lives because we believe that is what the Realm of God looks like, and we believe that we can touch it, grasp it, and make it real, right here and right now. The Beatitudes reaffirm this truth for us, and then the rest of the Sermon on the Mount lays out for us the path the follows Jesus, to and through, the kindom of God.

Our blessed lives are a gift of God, given freely, but we must want it to be able to receive it. This is true of the other beatitudes as well, and the kindom of God for that matter. We must seek it, be ready to receive it, and want it above all the trappings of wealth and power that this world has to offer. We may read the Sermon on the Mount and see Jesus telling us to change our lives so that we may follow him. However, the blessings of the Beatitudes remind us that this is not a radical change. We are blessed, the kindom of God is within us, and we will live into by following Jesus on the way. Let us be who we are. Blessed children living in the kindom of God, and when we do that the world may start to look a little different.

Amen.

The decision he made was to go back and help his pursuer. He saved the man’s life. At this point, I wish I could tell you the story had a happy ending. The thief catcher was moved by this act of compassion and wanted to let him go, but he was forced to arrest Willems. After arrest, Dirk Willems went on trial. He was found guilty of being a heretic and sentenced to death. He was burned until death. He did was good, and right, and Christlike, and he still burned. Not how we would like that story to end, is it?

I think, also, if we had our way, the Sermon on the Mount might end differently than it does. This week we reach the last verses, the beginning of the closing statements of Jesus’s sermon. In these readings you might find Jesus to be somewhat more threatening than he is reassuring. In fact, he declares that some people might be burned, or thrown into fire, if they don’t follow his teachings. The same punishment that was unjustly and cruelly imposed on Dirk Willems. The Sermon on the Mount tells us might be waiting for us if we don’t live in the way that Jesus has been teaching and preaching. Which seems scary, and also unfair. I imagine many of us in this room do not seek out “fire and brimstone” preaching, and would avoid any sitting before the pulpit of someone who threatened us with being thrown into fire because we were disobedient. We do not worship a God of threats and condemnation. After all, just last week didn’t we hear Jesus say, “Do not judge”? (Although, it does also say that you might be judged for your judgement.)

This part of the Sermon on the Mount is not about Jesus condemning anyone. It is not a threat from Jesus to fall in line or else. We must remember, these words, though attributed to Christ, were placed here by the author of Matthew. So, the author is encouraging his people. This is not judgement or a warning against certain behaviors, it is guidance. Also, the people this is directed at are individuals who already claim to be followers and disciples of Christ. People who have made the commitment to making choices based on the teachings of Jesus. Matthew’s message, his particular interpretation of Jesus’s sermon, is directed at disciples, those already committed to hearing and following the way. It is not a general judgement of anyone and everyone. It cannot, and is not meant to, be used against people of a different faith or of no faith. This is for people who have heard the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount and say they want to live by them.

Specifically, Matthew is warning his community against following certain false prophets who have been preaching in the community and even, apparently, casting out demons and other supposed miracles. We don’t know exactly who these false prophets were. Maybe other itinerant preachers who were active in Matthew’s community. Likely, they were of Matthew’s time, and not of Jesus’s time. Still, they are referenced in the Sermon on the Mount. They are the ones who come to Jesus saying “Lord, Lord” but who Jesus rejects and denies knowing. It is another sign that Jesus has authority because he has the power to turn away those who say, “Lord, Lord.” Even though they seem to do all the things that Jesus does, like heal and cast out demons and speak of prophesy.

However, as we have seen in our reading of the Sermon on the Mount, our actions and the beliefs we proclaim must be aligned with the right spirit of motivation. The kindom of God can make its way into the world from the inside out. And it is not represented or reflected in our abilities or our laws.

So, what are we to make of these passages for today? About the narrow gate, and the tree that does not bear good fruit being thrown into the fire, or Jesus rejecting people who recognize him and come to him saying “Lord, Lord”? Why are these the words and the warnings that Jesus uses to bring the Sermon on the Mount to a close? It is a sermon that has been about examining the motivations of our hearts and our spirits. Acting from a place of love so that we can live in the realm of God, now and in the future to come. And yet, Jesus says some may be rejected? I’m sure that is not how we would like the sermon to end.

Of course, it doesn’t end here. Not exactly anyway. We know that because I began this sermon series, this journey through the Sermon on the Mount, several weeks ago with a reflection on the actual end of the sermon, Matthew 7:24-29. There Jesus reminds us that a wise man will build his house on a foundation of rock, and a foolish man will build on a foundation of sand. I began the sermon series with those words so that we might take in everything else we would here in the Sermon on the Mount and consider them as the formation of foundation for our spiritual life and our relationship with God and each other. Even though I broke up those readings for the purpose of the sermon series, we can still see how they connect with what we read for today. We have the narrow gate and the wide gate, trees bearing good fruit or bad fruit, a house on rock or a house on sand. Here at the end of the sermon there are choices to make.

This is another way in which the sermon does not end here. The sermon goes on because of how people live, how the community reacts, after hearing it. We have heard Jesus’s words now we have some choices to make. Will we do what is taught in the Sermon on the Mount? Or will we take the wide road beyond the other gate? Having heard these words we will have choices to make, that might lead to a situation like Dirk Willems had to face. Situations that could be uncomfortable for us, or even, dangerous. But the choices are made, and the Sermon on the Mount persists because people have heard Jesus’s words, or read them, and thought about them, and their lives and their choices have been changed by them. Through these teachings people have come to know Jesus better. Which is perhaps the life-changing part of the Sermon on the Mount. Having heard it, now we do not just know what the right thing to do is or know what the right thing to say is. Now we know Jesus better. Which is what we want to do. After all, doesn’t Jesus send away the false prophets, by saying “I never knew you”? Even though they believed in him and did miracles and cast out demons and acts of power in Jesus’s name?

Jesus reminds us that choosing the way of Christ is not about doing deeds of power. Jesus says even those who prophesy and do miracles and cast out demons can be turned away for not following the narrow road, and thus, not really knowing Jesus. So, how do we know Jesus? How does Jesus know us? The Sermon on the Mount tells us that it is by producing good fruit. What does it mean to be known by our good fruit rather than deeds of power? Deeds of power are inadequate to prove ourselves and are no guarantee of good fruit. Acts of care are better for us and for our community. We will know Jesus, and he will know us, when we walk in his ways. The ways that reveal the kindom of God, and make it knowable, as best we can.

We can walk the narrow gate, doing what God asks of us, or take the wide road and do what we know is wrong. As we journey in life the choices will unfold before us. We should ask ourselves, though, which road would we expect to lead us to the realm of God. Or to put it another way, if these were ingredients or building materials, which would we expect to create the kindom of God? Would we expect it to be the wide road, full of opportunities to pursue power for ourselves, to bolster our own egos, and follow our own selfish impulses. These are all choices we could make.

You have probably heard the name or are familiar with Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a German Christian minister and theologian who made the choice to go through the narrow gate by opposing Hitler and the Nazi regime. Tragically this led to his death. In reflecting on the teaching of the narrow gate, he wrote, “The razor edge between this world and the kingdom of heaven could hardly be a broad way.” The road is not narrow because Jesus was trying to be exclusive and trying to prevent people from following his way to bring about the kindom of God. Jesus was inclusive. To be inclusive means to accept the world and let it in, not reject. It means be at that razor’s edge where the world and the realm of God surround us and leave us with a choice to make. They may not all be life and death choices like Dirk Willems or Dietrich Bonhoeffer had to make. However, they will be important choices that give us the opportunity to know God better.

Also, having heard and studied the Sermon on Mount, we know more about the kindom of God that Jesus calls us to, and what that looks like. And now that we know that, we know that the kindom of God is a promise, made to us by God about the new world, the new life, that is to come. The Sermon on the Mount does not exclude anyone from that promise. Rather, it shows us that even as we wait for the coming glory of God’s realm, it is with us, and the kindom of God is choice we can make at any time. It is a teaching in the Bible we can visit any time. The story doesn’t end there, we keep it going with the choices we make in light of the knowledge of the kindom of God.

Amen.