the one about vulnerability and super powers

"When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

 ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

 ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

 ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

 ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

 ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 ‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Gospel of Matthew chapter 5.  

The Beatitudes.  The God bless you’s.  The first of Jesus’ five sermons in the gospel of Matthew is a recruitment and training sermon.  Jesus is launching a new way of living in relationship with God and one's fellow humanity.  And he starts out identifying characteristics of the people in the crowd who have come to listen to him speak.  Who are the people that naturally connect with Jesus and his new social program?  He names them.  The spiritually poor.  The mourner.  The humble.  Those who hunger and thirst for what is right.  The merciful.  The pure in heart. The peacemaker.  Those who are persecuted, maligned, hated, oppressed, and verbally assaulted because they are seeking to live the right way.  He blesses them with corresponding promises or maybe just acknowledges the truth:  That if you are this kind of a person, then this is the result in your life, this is what God is doing for you.  Not least of which is the promise of the entire KINGDOM! 

So, with whom do you identify? 

The Spiritually poor?  Are you someone struggling to connect with God? Feeling uncentered?  Chaotic?   Do you have a hard time praying adult prayers? Does it seem that others are more faithful than you? You’d like to read the bible everyday, but it just doesn’t happen? Or deeper.You are struggling to trust anyone. At times, the weight of world pressing on you make sit feel like you can't breathe.  This is spiritual poverty.  

The Mourner. Have you experienced a loss?  Do other people’s losses cause you grief?  Are you stuck in the grief of a loss of someone you can’t let go? Do you weep with those who are weeping? Do you have to express empathy for those who are dying and their loved ones? Some times depression is a symptom of a grief-stricken heart.   

Meek.  Humble.  Humiliated.  Ashamed. Do you lack pride? Do you think more highly of others than you do of yourself? Are you willing to clean the toilets?

Hungry and thirsty for justice.  Are you affected by unfair treatment of others? Are you concerned for the way our nation incarcerates nonviolent offenders, the vast majority of whom are people of color?  Does man’s inhumanity to man bother you?  Are you passionate about addressing an issue that negatively impacts others? Do you call out, "That's just not right," when you see it?  

The merciful.  Are you forgiving?  Kind?  Willing to overlook faults, foibles and failures.  Are you eager to relieve the suffering of others? 

The pure in heart.  Do you trust people easily?  Do you look at others with open eyes of friendship? Do people disclose things to you, talk to you, without much prompting?  Do you see goodness in others, even when they have done wrong?

Peacemaker.  Are you someone who appreciates the possibility that necessary conflict leads to constructive change? Are you willing to get in the middle of a fight?  Willing to help others fight fairly with an eye toward resolution, restoration, and reconciliation?

The persecuted. Are you willing to be insulted because of your beliefs and corresponding actions?  Do you recognize that doing the right thing may be unpopular, even dangerous sometimes? 

Who are you in Jesus’ crowd?  If Jesus is recruiting, he's picking an interesting group to start a social movement, isn't he?  He picks people whose best characteristics make them vulnerable.  He's not pulling together a national army or an olympic team.  He's gathering people who are considered weak and powerless. He suggests that vulnerable people are close to God. Funny how it doesn't feel that way, does it?  Researcher and author Brene Brown has studied vulnerability.  If you haven't watcher her Ted Talk, you're one of a handful left.  Watch it.  It turns out that the things about us that make us vulnerable are, in fact, our super powers! Sort of like Kryptonite and Superman.  Did you ever wonder why the material from his destroyed home planet, the very ground from which he came, was also the source of his greatest weakness?  What did it represent?  That he was alone in the universe, the last remaining son of Krypton?  Super heroes always have weak spots.  So do we. So, how do we understand Jesus' message about vulnerability?   

Vulnerability is not weakness.  For Christians, it is the source of our identity with Jesus, the crucified son of God.  The cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to those who believe it is the power of God. The cross meant that the powers-that-be won. And yet, Christians see it as the source of our salvation. Why? I believe that Jesus invites us to see, in our vulnerability, the way to live a full and good life; a life that is filled with the presence of God. God becomes vulnerable in the person of Jesus, so that we might realize that the things that make us vulnerable are the things that make us real, human, good, close to God.  

In the Velveteen Rabbit, one of my favorite childhood books, there is an exchange between two stuffed toys; the skin horse and the rabbit.  

What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?" 

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but Really loves you, then you become Real." 
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit. 
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt." 
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?" 
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get all loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

The people who identified with Jesus in the gospel stories, the people who followed him, understood vulnerability, shame, and pain. And they saw with him the one thing that all of us need. Compassion. Love. Worthiness.  Jesus values our humanity, our flaws. They are a gift from God. 

We are living in an age of deep division, skepticism, and fear. Since 9/11, we feel more vulnerable. Reality TV numbs us from the reality of hardship, poverty, and danger around us.  We take prescriptions because we are more anxious than ever before, about things we cannot control or change or avoid. We know vulnerability.  And we're afraid of it.  But, what if it is the thing about us that God loves the most? Because it seems that the God of the bible loves vulnerable people, hears them, rescues them, and promises them peace. Amen.