January 29, 2023: The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

“Faithful to Live the Kingdom”

Micah 6: 1-8

Psalm 15

1 Corinthians 1: 2-5

Matthew 5: 1-12

Bishop Ariel P. Santos

Jesus, in the gospel, was giving a sermon on the Mount. He starts with the Beatitudes, the things that He calls blessings. It is not the crowd that followed Jesus up the mountain and heard Him. It was His disciples. The crowd was there because there was the unlimited fish and loaves. The disciples were after what Jesus would say because His words are words of true blessings.

One thing we will notice about the Beatitudes is that they are countercultural and counterintuitive. We have been conformed to the ways and the systems of the world that the message of the Kingdom doesn’t make sense to us; but we are challenged to listen to Him because we are His followers. Jesus gave us His life and from Him all things were made, so God knows what is valuable for us.

In the Old Testament, they only had glimpse of who God is. Of old, God spoke in portions; not in fullness. They did not understand God and they were influenced by the world they were in before. They were pagans and their gods were mostly violent. The greatness of their gods was equivalent to how many people they can conquer and kill. It was all about who was militarily mighty.

In the New Testament, Jesus was the exact opposite for He was the exact representation of God. He displayed meekness. In John 1:6, John was from God, not to be the Light but He came to testify about the Light. What the prophets and John did is to point to Jesus, the fullness of Him. John 1:17 in the Amplified Bible says, “While the Law was given through Moses, grace (unearned, undeserved favor and spiritual blessing) and truth came through Jesus Christ.” In the Living Bible translation, it says, “For Moses gave us only the Law with its rigid demands and merciless justice, while Jesus Christ brought us loving forgiveness as well.” Verse 18 says, "No one but Jesus Christ is an explanation of who the Father is.”

It is not John or Moses or Abraham or the prophets who fully reveals God; it is Jesus who does. In the mount of Transfiguration, God said, “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him. Don’t make equal tabernacles for Him.” Jesus said, “You have heard from of old: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth; but I say to you a higher law, love your enemy. Pray for those who persecute you. Blessed those who persecute you.” If in the Old Testament, Saul killed his thousands and David killed his ten thousand, so there was the thinking that Jesus would kill millions. But Jesus taught the opposite: love the Romans. If they are asked to carry their heavy arms, don’t just walk with them one mile; walk two miles. If they slander and persecute, bless and pray for them. It was very counterculture. Jesus’ teaching demonstrated Divine Omnipotence by washing the feet of His disciples whom He knew that in a few hours would betray and crucify Him. As He was crucified, He forgave His offenders. After Jesus’ resurrection, He did not blame or condemn anyone, but spoke peace and forgiveness to His disciples.

This is who our God is; Jesus was the exact representation of who God is. There is a view of the atonement of Jesus that is called Christus Victor. It is not Christus victim. Jesus’ victory on the cross is seen because by dying, He wins; by dying, He overcomes. He defeats evil not by playing its violent game but by the cross, giving of Himself for us. 1Corinthians 1:18 says that in the world, to those who are lost, the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us (the citizens of His kingdom and His followers) who are being saved, it is the power of God.

Divine power and His omnipotence are demonstrated in the giving of one’s life. The Cross is the clearest revelation of who the Father is – a God who would rather die for His executioners than kill them. A pastor said and I quote, “The Cross is not what God inflicts upon Jesus Christ in order to forgive; the Cross is what God, in Christ, endures as He forgives.” The Cross is a picture of divine love, not wrath. It is a twisted idea that God allowed Christ to die because He was angry at His people for their sins.

We formerly sang, “On the cross as Jesus died, the Father’s wrath was satisfied.” We changed it to “On the cross Jesus died, the Father’s love was magnified.” The Cross, as ugly as it is, paradoxically is the clearest revelation of God who would lay down His life rather than take revenge. And we are partakers of this divine nature of God. It is a tall order, but the grace of God in us will help us fulfill it. This is the reason we are called to repent and to change our minds because of the world’s violent ways and its taking advantage of the weak. God doesn’t exercise power over the weak, but exercises power to support, to undergird, and to lift up those who are weak. This is what His strength is for.

As we sing the song during the Lenten Season, “So daily dying to the way of self; so daily living to Your way of love.” Love is desiring the good of others even if it leads to our own hurt. We are to repent in order for us to prepare for the kingdom of God which is already here in its fullness. It has already started and it is ongoing. St. Paul says in 1Corinthhians 13, “If I speak with tongues, I prophesy, I know everything and have knowledge, if I have high social/business position, and even if I have $150B being the richest man in the world or I have 10millions of followers in Facebook or Instagram, but I do not have love, all of these things amount to nothing.” One day, in the life of the world to come, in the fullness of the kingdom of God, there will be nothing but love, meekness, mercy, and peace. All other things will be useless.

In the meantime, we are called to go against the flow and to turn the tide toward the Kingdom where what will be left is kindness, truth, love and justice. We have a calling and as we fulfill it, we will suffer for following Jesus. We will be persecuted. We will be fools to people. It will be unpleasant, painful, and it may seem like we are losing; but the truth is we are advancing in the Kingdom. If these things happen to us, as it is said in the Beatitudes, it is a blessing. This is true blessing! If we follow Christ’s ways, in the life of the world to come, we will fit right in. Ours is the kingdom of heaven.

In the song “Upon This Rock”, it says, “If in a simple carpenter, you see the Son of God; if you would choose to lose when you could win; if you would give your life away for nothing in return, then, you are where My kingdom will begin.” True blessing is humbling ourselves, setting aside our inconveniences and finding fulfillment. If we would choose to give our lives away without anything in return, we are where God’s kingdom will begin.

In the Book of Revelations, Jesus overcame Satan who is a personification of an accuser and a slanderer. This was overcome by the blood of the Lamb. In the world, people fight accusers through cryptic posts in social media. Jesus says to offer the other cheek. If people ask for a tunic, give them a coat; if they require us to walk one mile with them carrying their weapons, walk with them two miles.

The wrong view of Revelation is: at the end of the world, Jesus will exact vengeance using might and violence. Jesus offered His life and died on the cross and forgave the sins of those who persecuted Him. If He was like this during His ministry, He will also be like this in our lives today. He is immutable. He will not take vengeance but He will be forgiving; He will not tolerate our wrong ways but He will correct and be forgiving. In Revelations, we are given an image of a meek Lamb who defeats formidable beasts through meekness, mercy and self-sacrifice. This is how Jesus overcame, and this is how we overcome too.

In Revelations 14:4, there were 144 thousand disciples who followed the Lamb wherever He went and did whatever He did. My question is: are you a disciple? If we are, then believe the things of Jesus. Live the Beatitudes because this is the way it is in the kingdom of our God.