So far in our Epiphany sermon series, as we engage with scripture on a human, bodily level through our
senses, we have explored touch through Jesus’ baptism, the sense of sight as John the Baptist helps the
disciples to see Jesus as the Lamb of God, and hearing our own call as Peter, Andrew, James and John
heard Jesus calling them to political action. Today we are imbued with the aroma of bread as we come
to Christ’s table, and as we are emersed within the beatitudes. Each one of these stories help us to see
Jesus as God’s revelation to the world, God’s light shining forth in Jesus. I have enjoyed really focusing
on Epiphany as a season, one that our whole body engages with through our senses. Yet I learned
something this week. The PCUSA does not celebrate the Season of Epiphany. Oh sure, we mark the
day of Epiphany, on January 6 th , but we fail to recognize the five weeks between the Baptism of our
Lord and the Transfiguration as our time to really get to know Jesus. Who he is, what he does, and dare
I say, how he smells. Because kingdom work is sweaty work, hard work, and Jesus worked tirelessly
every day to communicate God’s love to the least of these, as well as to us, as broken sinners.
In today’s gospel message, Jesus defines and lays out the ethos of the kingdom of heaven. You recall
last week, Jesus proclaimed, “the kingdom of heaven is near” and now he is helping his four new
disciples, to understand what that looks like, sounds like, smells like. READ Matthew 5:1-12
“Have you ever been near a big bakery early in the morning and smelled the aroma of newly-baked
bread? It’s got to be the greatest perfume that has ever been made! And have you walked into a bakery
and had to choose between all the delectable goodies spread out to view? It’s often a difficult choice!
They all look and (smell) so good!” (Sermons.com, Stephen Stewart).
Jesus just blessed us with nine beatitudes, nine blessings. These are meant as communal blessings not
individual, asking society to right the wrongs. The first four are for those who need a blessing most: the
poor in spirit who are materially poor and whose spirits are crushed by economic injustice and
deprivation of resources. Think of those who came to this country for a better life to only be snatched off the street, separated from their children and deported without word to their family. This is not a personal call to humility but a recognition of the oppressed. The second blessing offers compassion for those
who mourn, and this applies to all but was particularly true for those who lost a loved one who was their economic support. Blessed are the meek is not encouraging us to be small or humble but rather refers to Psalm 37 where four times we hear the meek will inherit the land. The meek are the literal powerless and poor who lack the life-giving resource of land and through this blessing God assures that divine action is coming. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are everyone who has tasted the bitterness of oppressive power and smelled societal greed. They long to be filled, to smell the aroma of God’s mercy.
Ephesians speaks of Jesus’ sacrifice as a fragrant offering, so pervasive that it fills the room with mercy,
love and compassion. We are reminded that we are to be kind and forgiving because Jesus has forgiven
us. We are to walk in love and show God’s love to those who are poor in spirit, grieving, meek and who
long for righteousness. Jesus blesses them first, spends his life lifting them up and fighting for them,
even working up a sweat to help heal these individuals while speaking truth to power about what has
caused these societal ills. Then in the next five beatitudes, Jesus invites those who are not crushed by
poverty, grief or oppression, and that means US, to join in blessing the community by being agents of
change, working for the kingdom of heaven, for God’s reign here are earth.
Most of us are good with being merciful and we strive to be pure in heart, right before God, that’s why
we confess every week. Fortunately, we are not persecuted for our belief in God and Christ in this
country. But the one that can be tricky is being a peacemaker. Within the family, at work, or among our
friends we are often asked to be peacemakers. But let’s remember these are societal blessings not
individual ones. So how can we bring peace to our community? “Blessed are the peacemakers for they
will be called children of God.” The irony is that Rome was called PAX Romana, meaning roman peace,
but their peace was through oppression and domination. Sound familiar? So, we as “peacemakers enact
not government’s will but God’s merciful reign, living toward wholeness and well-being and against any
power that hinders or resists it” (Working Preacher, Jillian Nelson).
First Jesus’ sacrifice is a fragrant offering and then Paul tells the Corinthians that “through us (God)
spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing Jesus. For we are the aroma of Christ to
God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from
death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life” (2 Corinthians 2:14–16). When we work for
those who are being oppressed or deported, when we protest a government who is inflicting senseless
pain, when we help to change lives then these actions, these sacrifices, are “a pleasing aroma to the
Lord” (Num. 15:3).
The first four beatitudes proclaim divine favor on situations and practices of exploitation. The next five
beatitudes name human actions that express God’s transforming and challenging work for a just world.
We are to do mercy, we are to be pure in heart, to make peace, even allow being persecuted and reviled
in order to further God’s justice (Working Preacher, Warren Carter). That’s why we work at the
showers for the homeless, why we rally on the overpass at 1:00 today to protest ICE, why we house the
homeless here in Hubler Hall because our actions of working for the least of these creates a pleasing
aroma for the Lord. It is when we are expressing Christ in this way that we too become a fragrant
offering to God.
Do you remember the TV show M*A*S*H, with Hawkeye, Radar, BJ and Hot Lips Hulihan? Major
Winchester arrived later in the series and was arrogant and stuffy. In one episode he was almost killed
by a sniper and that shattered the sophisticated shell that protected him from the horror of the suffering
and death with which he constantly dealt, leaving him defenseless. “He goes into a type of depression in
which he struggles to find some answers to life's most perplexing problem – answers to understanding death. Finally, in utter desperation, he leaves the base hospital and goes up to the battalion aid station where the wounded are first taken. Colonel Potter discovers where he is and calls him, ordering him to return to the M*A*S*H hospital. A medical corpsman interrupts the conversation and calls the surgeon over to a man who is dying. Winchester confirms the impending death with a glance. The soldier says, ‘I can't see anything. Hold my hand.’ The major replies, ‘I am.’ ‘I'm dying,’ the soldier moans, and this causes the surgeon's unarticulated questions to surface: ‘Can you see anything? Can you feel anything? I have to know.’ But the dying soldier doesn't answer. Instead, he says, ‘I smell bread.’
You cannot miss the significance of the symbol. Bread is the symbol for Christ. It is a symbol for going
home. It is at the table that we are brought face to face with the person and mission of Jesus Christ. In
that meal, we celebrate our death and our life in Christ” (Sermons.com, George Bass).
I hope that as you smell bread too, you will have a more visceral experience of sharing the body of
Christ, the body broken for you and for your sins. You see breaking bread together is a vital way that
Jesus gave us to be spiritually nourished for the work of kingdom making. To be fed for the task of
being the hands and feet of Christ in this world. For being peacemakers and merciful, for caring for the
poor and oppressed, for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
“For those of us living comfortable lives in the wealthiest nation the world has ever known, I ask you,
how can we embody the beatitudes? How can we pursue justice, righteousness, and peace? How can we embody God’s promises to those that are poor, mourn, and oppressed? When the beatitudes are rooted in embodiment, rather than spiritualized, we can more clearly see the ways we could act to bring God’s kingdom into people’s lives” (Working Preacher, Jillian Nelson). Amen.
