Great Crowds and Unbidden Blessings
Matthew 5: 1-12
A Homily by Colleen D. Hartung
January 29, 2017
And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. When Jesus saw the crowds he went up the mountain and he sat down (Matthew 4:25-5:1)
In today’s scripture, the author of The Gospel According to Matthew tells us that a great crowd of people gather at the foot of a mountain somewhere in Galilee. This gathering of people is the first in a series of gatherings in this gospel including the feeding of the 5000 by the sea and 4000 in the desert. Then, as today, the fact that there are great crowds is significant. The author of this Gospel knows, just like our current executive branch of the government knows, and just like those who participated in the women’s marches a week ago Saturday know, that it is significant that people, in large numbers, take time out of their complicated lives to make a difficult journey with family, food and paraphernalia in tow. As well, the author knows that the public nature of such a gathering includes political and social risks. It cost the people in the crowd something – socially, politically and economically – to follow Jesus to the mountain. Then as now, the fact that there is a great crowd is an important indicator. In this case, if we listen closely to the Gospel telling, it indicates a powerful resonance between people’s needs and passions and Jesus work as teacher and healer. There is, of course, the power of Jesus’ ministry but there is also a power associated with the people and their assembly as a crowd. This scene takes place at the beginning of Jesus’ teaching and ministry. When Jesus sees the great crowd, he stops his forward motion, he goes up the mountain and sits so he can see them and they can see him. It is almost as if the individual and collective energy of those who have followed Jesus and assembled around him create this moment in time that calls him to rise up into his mission and his destiny as teacher, healer and proclaimer of the reign of God.
Hearing this story in ordinary times, it might be easy to miss the power that these every day people have in their act of assembling at the foot of a nameless mountain in Galilee. But these are not ordinary times. A week ago yesterday, I stood with my husband and my daughters in the midst of a great crowd, gathered in the shadow of the Washington Monument for the Women’s March on Washington DC. I know there were members of the Sunday Assembly that were there in the crowd with us (not that we would ever been able to find them). I also know that many of you marched with the 100,000 that gathered in Madison. And many others of you were glued to the news coverage and in that way bore witness as the enormity of this gathering became apparent throughout the day. It was indeed a global gathering, in a sense a great, global crowd. And so the events of the last week give us the opportunity and the privilege of hearing today’s Gospel from the perspective of our own immediate experience.
From my place in the crowd at the march in Washington DC, I could not see a beginning or an end to the multitude that was assembled. And I kept thinking what it must look like and feel like from the vantage point of the podium. Gloria Steinem described it as an unending sea of people and you could see in her face on the jumbotron that the impact of this visage was profound. I know because even from my own vantage point, at ground level, surrounded by the constant motion of this multitude carrying signs and wearing pussy hats, I could not help but think, over and over again, blessed are you, holy are you.
And so I imagine Jesus looking out over the unexpectedly large crowd at the base of some nameless mountain in Galilee; people tattered and worn from the journey, expectant, excited, weeping, sick, lame. And unbidden a blessing springs from his lips. “Blessed are the poor in spirit…. Blessed are those who mourn…. Blessed are the meek… [and] those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…. Blessed are the merciful…the pure in heart…, the peacemakers… [and] those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” In other words, blessed were the people assembled before him.
I imagine that because that what it was like to be in those spaces of assembly last Saturday…. I know it from my own experience, from hearing the reactions of my family and from hearing the stories of people who marched in Madison, New York, Loup City Nebraska and other places across the globe. And so some blessings born of that day.
Blessed are the mothers and fathers who carried signs that read “Black Lives Matter” in honor of their children slain within the context of a civil rights crisis where black children are twice as likely to be killed by guns as by cars.
Blessed are the women who had the courage to carry signs that explicitly rejected sexual assault. They gave voice to the rage that lives in all women.
Blessed are all the sign makers – funny, witty, profound and raunchy – who challenged us to move beyond the boundaries of polite language to an examination of how that polite language can be a tool that marginalizes.
Blessed are the women who tended to other women at the march with great care like Rachel Hill. Rachel who is retired military stood beside me at the march. I watched her boost one middle aged women after another up the 4 ½ foot ledge behind her so they could take in a better view of the march. I was annoyed. She was joyful.
Blessed are the children who fear they will be taken from the only country they have ever known, like Sophie Cruz, 6 years old and one of the speakers at the march. Here is quote. “There are still many people that have their hearts filled with love and tenders to snuggle in this path of life. Let’s keep together and fight for the right. God is with us!” And the people chanted, “Sophie! Sophie! Sophie! Sophie!” Her unjaded vision of the reality of love in our world calls us powerfully beyond hopelessness.
And finally, blessed are the pussy hat makers for their loving hand work made sure that women and girls were counted. Because of their craftivism there was no mistaking that this was a women’s march. All were welcome but it was a women’s march.
In closing I want to remind us that the beatitudes in today’s Gospel are an introduction to Jesus’ proclamation of the Reign of God in his Sermon on the Mount. From his vantage point on the mountain he looks out onto the crowd and the blessing he speaks proclaims the Reign of God in our midst. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the reign of heaven. The people gather and in the power of their assembly the reign of God is made present. It is true that crowds disperse, the euphoria of the moment dissipates and when faced with the practicalities of daily life that follow such an experience it is almost always three steps forward and 2 steps back. But still the blessing of a moment when the reign of God washes over us remain as does the call of the moment to rise up. May we hold on to those blessings and heed the call in the days ahead.