The Holy Space In Between
The Holy Space In Between
These are the other Beatitudes, from the Sermon on the Plain, not Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, because in today’s Gospel from Luke we’re told that Jesus “looked up at his disciples,” as opposed to Matthew’s version, where Jesus went up a mountain and his disciples came up to him. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus’s beatitudes are more spiritualized — Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of Heaven is theirs — in contrast to Luke’s — Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God — And if that isn’t enough — Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.
In Matthew, Jesus looks down from his high and holy place to dispense divine wisdom. In Luke, Jesus looks up, not just at his disciples, but at “a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon,” Gentile territory. Here, Jesus is within the people, including the poor and hungry. And he doesn’t just assure them of a heavenly reward, but that their empty stomachs will be filled, as Mary praised God in her song — He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.
That’s another contrast with Matthew — 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. I’m pretty sure that at least some in that “great multitude of people” might have been made to feel uncomfortable. This is a Jesus who seems fully aware that some people need to be filled with justice now, not at the end of this life.
But there do still seem to be some caveats — 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 — That seems pretty directed at his disciples, then and now. Most of us modern western Christians have not suffered anything of real consequence for following Jesus. Most of the claims of persecution I’ve heard are more resentment that we now have to share the public square rather then dominating it. Perhaps this will change as those who worship power seek to co-opt the name of Jesus to favor wealth and power against the Gospel.
So, somewhere between — Blessed are you who are poor — and — for surely your reward is great in heaven — that’s where we disciples are. And somewhere in that between, there will be weeping and there will be defamation, and somewhere in that between there will be leaping and there will be rejoicing. But where exactly is that somewhere in between?
One place might be pages 585–808 in the Book of Common Prayer, the Psalter, the entire Book of Psalms, the largest single section of our Prayer Book by far. Before the 1979 American Prayer Book, there were lectionaries that prescribed psalms to be read in Holy Communion or the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer, but you needed a separate book to find those psalms. What was included in previous prayer books, English and American, were the readings (Epistle and Gospel) from a one year cycle only. Well now we have a three year cycle of Bible readings, far too much to publish in one Book of Common Prayer. So instead we have the entire book of Psalms, or Songs to God as close to us as our prayer book.
It’s not every Sunday that the Old Testament writer is so obviously cribbing the psalm that we sing in response to the Old Testament reading that’s cribbing the psalm that we sing in response to … The prophet Jeremiah had to have known this particular psalm of David, in which both prophet and psalmist speak of those who trust God as well rooted plants who will be given the rain and soil they need to flourish, while those who scorn their Creator will find themselves no more than chaff blowing in the wind.
It was some inspired editors who later made this psalm number one in the Book of Songs to God, reminding us to start our spiritual life with learning God’s revelation of how to live with each other in justice, peace, and love. And those same inspired editors closed out the Book of Songs to God with number 150 — Hallelujah! Praise God in his holy Temple; praise him in the firmament of his power … Let everything that has breath praise the LORD, Hallelujah — Cerebral study and unrestrained praise are the bookends of our life with God. And in between are all the emotional ups and downs in that relationship with God and each other.
It’s all in a book that we call the Word of God. So, we have divine permission to give voice to all of those up and down emotions: sadness, even despair, righteous anger, conviction and resolve, joy, peace, contentment, trust. And we are reminded also to “listen to what the LORD God is saying, for he is speaking peace to his faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to him,” as we recited last Thursday in our Evening Prayer service from Psalm 85. As you return to that place between pages 585 and 808, the more you will find certain verses just coming to you when you most need to remember them.
In this time and place in between weeping and defamation, leaping and joy, find your place in the psalms, where you will find the holy space to weep, to plead, to protest, to rejoice, to celebrate, and sometimes to wait and trust.
Sixth Sunday After Epiphany
The Rev. David Kendrick
Feb 16 2025