Are these accessible within the Episcopal Church of the U.S.A.?
The Rev’d Dr. Peter Toon
The Common Lectionary for February 15 provides us with St Luke 6:20ff. as the Gospel. Here it is proclaimed that Jesus looked at his disciples and speaking specifically to them, and not to the crowd, told them of four circumstances, which would bring them true everlasting happiness/blessedness, and of four parallel circumstances which would bring them temporal gain but everlasting loss.
Though economic, political, social and cultural surroundings change through space and time, the principles of the kingdom of God and his righteousness and peace remain constant. What was true of eternal happiness in A.D.30 is true also in A.D. 2004. And it is true of membership within the Episcopal Church in 2004.
The first Beatitude is:
Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God (KJV).
Blessed are you who are poor, for your is the kingdom of God (ESV).
This is not to be confused with the Beatitude on poverty of spirit in Matthew 5:3. Here Jesus speaks of the blessedness of the poor – and especially those who have become poor because of their commitment to him. The poor have to trust in the Lord’s providence and grace in order graciously to survive by having food, clothing and lodging in this life. It is their absolute need to trust in the Father that brings them into closer union with the Lord Jesus and causes them thereby to experience the reality of the kingly reign of God in their lives.
The opposite of the blessedness of poverty is the material happiness & security of riches, communicated through the “Woe”:
Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your consolation (KJV).
Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation (ESV).
The second Beatitude is:
Blessed are ye that hunger now, for ye shall be filled (KJV).
Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied (ESV).
Here Jesus speaks again about real bodily hunger of the poor, a condition which causes the godly poor to look unto the Lord. They claim the promise that in the life of the age to come the righteous will be filled with all the excellent things that belong to the kingdom of God. Thus they shall hunger and want no more.
In contrast, those who make their belly and bodily needs their “god” in this life will hunger and thirst in the age to come for that which they cannot have.
Woe unto you that are full, for ye shall hunger (KJV).
Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry (ESV).
The third Beatitude is:
Blessed are ye that weep now for ye shall laugh (KJV).
Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh (ESV).
Those who priorities are those of the Kingdom of God experience much pain in this life where there is sin and evil, and thus they weep in anguish. However, in the age to come in the fullness of the same Kingdom they shall be filled with joy unspeakable.
In contrast, those who laugh now as they share in the sinfulness and evil of the present age, will be without any joy at all and experience much pain in the life after death.
Woe unto you that laugh now, for ye shall mourn and weep (KJV).
Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep (ESV).
The fourth Beatitude is longer than the previous three:
Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy, for behold, you reward is great in heaven; for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets (KJV).
Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets (ESV).
The key words here are “for the sake of the Son of Man.” True disciples of Jesus, the Son of Man, were pushed out of the Temple and the Synagogue of the old Israel; likewise, it is to be expected that when the Church of God is descending into apostasy and error that true disciples of the Son of Man will be pushed out and reviled. Of course, there is a world of difference between being excluded because of a clear commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ and because of other matters be they of a racial, ethnic, cultural, sexual or personality type. The Blessedness now and in the age to come belongs only to those who are pushed out because they are clearly perceived as standing with and for Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
The final Woe makes the position clear:
Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets (KJV).
Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets (ESV).
One thing that disciples should not seek in this life and that is the praise & congratulations of their fellow human beings. Being “God-centered” and “Christ-centered” they seek to glorify the Father who is in heaven by lives which adorn the Gospel of Christ.
Conclusion
Turning to the Episcopal Church and its current crisis wherein it has taken its apostasy to new depths/heights, and then applying this Gospel to this Church, we can learn much, but here only one point is made for consideration. Those of us who are protesting against the ECUSA from the inside or the outside, and thinking in so doing that we are on God’s side, need to be sure (for our own salvation’s sake) that it is not merely primarily but solely and only because of our commitment to the Son of Man, the Word of God Incarnate, and to his infallible teaching that we are protesting vigorously and loudly. If the protest is more informed by dislike of sexual innovation or by so-called homophobia, for example, than by passionate desire for the glorifying of the Name of Jesus, then we need to take stock of where we are in relation to the Father through the Son and by the Holy Ghost and to His Kingdom.
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