Jesus Looks into Our Hearts, Wants to be Our Top PriorityFebruary 13, 2019 • Deacon Kay Mueller  • BISHOP'S SERMONS • DIOCESAN FAMILY • REACHING OUT

 

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
Sunday, February 17, 2019
Lectionary C

In reflecting on this week’s Gospel, Jesus looks directly into our hearts, just as He looked into the hearts of His disciples on the plain after healing the multitudes. He knew their strengths, He knew their weaknesses, He knew their priorities, He knew their stumbling blocks – just as He knows yours and mine. His desire was no different than in addressing the disciples than it is today in addressing you and me. He wants to be our top priority, our number one focus, the center of our life and universe, and He wants our lives to reflect that priority.

What is our priority – our number one goal? Is it physical or spiritual? Does God, His word, His sacrifice for our sins even make the top 5 things we care most about in this life? Are our hearts enlarged to encompass and embrace the poor, those in mourning, the meek, those hungry for righteousness, the merciful, the pure, the peacemakers and the persecuted in such a way that our witness will positively influence them experiencing the second aspect of the beatitude (kingdom of Heaven, comfort, inherit the earth, filled, mercy, see God, called sons of God, inherit the kingdom of Heaven)? Does your life paint a picture of a true disciple of God? Blessed? Happy? Balanced?

Perhaps you recall as a child memorizing the Ten Commandments as part of your religious instruction. Possibly you can still recite those commandments, but can you recite the Beatitudes – the blessings that really proclaim the way of Jesus? Those attitudes of Jesus, which cause a profound change in our value system, our relationship with Him and one another, and our witness of His love.

Mueller

Luke focuses only on four of the Beatitudes: the poor, the hungry, those who weep, and those who are despised, excluded and reviled, through both blessings and woes, speaking to the heart as well as the mind. What is the foundation for all of the Beatitudes and for the entire value system of Jesus? Possibly within the very first one – “Blessed are the poor” – an acknowledgement of one’s need for God … a disposition of the heart and not simply economic deprivation – a realization that it is ONLY God’s love that sustains all of creation as it continues to evolve and develop in each one of us.

– Rev. Kay Mueller is Deacon of Church of Our Saviour in Okeechobee.