Discovering a
Beatitude Filled Life
“Blessed are the
pure in heart…”
By Rev Steven R
Mitchell
Mountain View
United Church, Aurora, CO 3/23/2014
Based on Matthew
5:8 & 25:31-46
Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. The heart is so central to our well
being. It is the one muscle that pumps life
giving nourishment throughout our body.
Health professionals are always concerned about the levels of
cholesterol in our body because too much can clog our arteries and put too much
stress on our hearts. When we develop a
blood clot, again Doctors are very concerned that the clot does not travel into
the heart, which would cause a heart attack.
So it’s pretty evident that having impurities in ones heart is not a
good thing.
The
heart is purely a muscle, yet poets and romance writers consistently refer to
the heart as if it somehow is able to produce emotions. Yet it is the brain that developed the
ability to process thoughts and emotions.
It is the brain that allows for reasoning, it is the brain that is the home
of our consciousness, and it is the brain where feelings originate. When our brain senses danger, signals go out
into our body which can cause physiological changes in our breathing, our legs may
become momentarily immobile, we can lose our ability to make sound, and our
heart beat can increase.
Yet we attribute
all of our feelings as centered in the heart.
Phrases such as: Have a heart, He is heartless, I’m half
heartedly working, She will steal your heart, My heart isn’t in it! All these indicate emotion. In the story of The Wizard of Oz, the Tin-man
was seeking a heart. As the Wizard gives
him a mechanical clock in the shape of a heart, the Tin-man is told, “the heart
will never be practical until it is made not to be broken.” A short time later as Dorothy is getting
ready to leave, you see the Tin-man crying as he says, “I must truly have a
heart, because I feel it breaking.”
What
is it about our heart, this non-thinking, non-feeling muscle, whose only
purpose in life is to pump our blood yet we attribute it with having the capable
for emotion? Every one of us has had
some occasion to feel emotions that we say come from the heart. We would never say things like: I have a broken brain, my brain is sad, I
have joy in my brain. Rather, we
know for a fact that emotions like: love, greed, hate, fear, revenge, care, and
compassion are felt in our heart.
Last
Sunday I went and saw the new movie: Son
of God. As I sat through this movie
watching with a critical eye (as I am always suspicious about Hollywood doing
any portrayal of Jesus’ life), I found myself tearing up a great deal,
especially when Jesus was saying, “I am the truth, and the way, and the life.” It wasn’t my brain being touched by these
words, but my heart. My heart was being
touched because I have experienced the spirit of Jesus and these words were
penetrating my heart as if words of love were coming from my spouse.
So
how does “purity” enter into this equation of the Beatitudes? Do we have to roto-router out all the
cholesterol to make a pure heart, or have a blood transfusion in order to have
a pure heart? The word pure is often
translated into “clean”. Psalm 51:10 : Create
in me a clean heart, O God. And renew a
right spirit within me. Cast me not away
from thy presences. The Psalmist
makes it very clear that having a clean heart is important in order to be in the
presence of God. Wouldn’t it be marvelous
if we just had a machine washable and perma pressed heart, to where all we would
have to do when it becomes soiled is just throw it into the washing machine to make
it clean!
Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they will see God. What does it mean “to see God?” Is this not the
goal of our faith journey, to see God?
For if we see God, are we not then in the presence of God? So again, I ask you what does it mean “to see God?”
Rev
James Howell in his book, The Beatitudes For Today, suggests that: It may be helpful to think of purity in two
ways. There is a purity that looks like
simplicity, focus, single-mindedness; and there is a purity that looks like
goodness, cleanness, holiness – and the two are not unrelated. The human predicament is that we let
ourselves get frittered away in multiple directions. Trying to be and do
everything, when we were made for just one thing, for the one thing that
finally matters: God. If purity of heart
is “to will one thing,” then focus is everything. The pure, like a race horse, need blinders to
block out their peripheral vision, so they keep their eyes on the one goal,
the presence of God within the heart.
Think
about the story of Mary and Martha, when Jesus came to visit. Martha was busy doing the hostess thing,
cooking, trying to get things set up so Jesus’ stay would be a pleasant one,
all the time being busy and missing out on the interaction with her guest. While Mary was not bothered by all the
“things” that should and could be done and chose to sit at Jesus’ feet,
listening to what he had to say. Private
prayer time or the discipline of meditation are several forms of taking the
needed time to clear one’s mind so one can be like Mary and sit and focus on
the truly important thing needed to make us whole. When we are able to discard all the
distractions that keep us from focusing on God, then we have achieved a “pure”
heart, that single-mindedness.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Part of our Christian family say’s that we will not see God until we die and enter into heaven. Another part of our Christian family say’s that we can see God right at this very moment. In the parable found in Matthew 25, Jesus talks about finding God where we live life. 34 “…’Come, you who are blessed by God; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the [pure in heart] will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The [Jesus] will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
What does it mean to see God? Jesus tells us we see God when we show compassion and mercy on our fellow brothers and sisters. I remember a story told by Rev Dr Tony Campolo, sociology profession at Eastern College in Philadelphia, PA some years ago when he was visiting a very poor village in South America. When he was boarding the small plane at the airstrip located next to the village, a woman came up to him trying to hand him her baby boy, asking him to take her son back to the States with him, where her son would have a chance for a better life. Tony says, as he looked into her eyes, for the first time he was able to see Jesus in human form. From that point on in his life, he realized that as a follower of Christ, if he could see Jesus in the face of the person he was dealing with, the way that he would treat that person would be completely different than if he didn’t see Jesus in that face. What a powerful and sacred experience and revelation Dr Campolo had.
Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is at hand. He also pointed out that when we are doing acts of compassion to the least, then we are interacting with him. I think a pure heart goes beyond just showing compassion to the least, for we can show compassion all day long and never see God. I think the pure in heart, comes when we like Tony Campolo can begin to live life seeing Christ in each person that we meet. It is at that point that we have the single mindedness that allows us to treat one another at the level we would if Jesus were asking us for a cup of water. It is at that point that we can then truly see God. Amen
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