Psalm 112:1-9; 1 Corinthians 2:1-12; Matthew 5:13-20

A midrash in Judaism is a commentary or interpretation, perhaps even a short sermon where a rabbi takes a passage from scripture and offers an interpretation or expansion upon it for his or her disciples. Maybe Psalm 112 is a midrash of Psalm 111:10 which reads [t]he fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice them have a good understanding; whereafter we read in Psalm 112:1, [h]appy is [the one] who fears the LORD, the one who delights in his commandments. What is so happy about these peoples, what are the blessings that come upon such as these? Descendants who are victorious, happy, and glorious for starters: in other words, these are people of good reputation. The one who fears the LORD is gracious and compassionate in the way that God is, even in darkness light dawns according to Psalm 112:4; therefore, it goes well with those who act with the character of God. As we heard last week from Psalm 15:5 so we hear again in Psalm 112:6-8 the righteous are steadfast and will not be shaken nor moved, and neither shall their children who follow in their example be. They are generous and their good reputation is everlasting because of their generosity and godliness in grace.

But what, exactly, is this meritorious behaviour of the woman or man of God with regard to the commandments? I think it’s not necessarily in obeying them, but in knowing them to be statements of wise action. This isn’t so much a regime of demands to be followed, but a description of what such people’s lives look like from the outside. The commandments are reminders of what you already do as a Christian or Jew, not rules that you must learn before you join the congregation. It’s fine to say “thou shalt not bully” and for people to obey that; but it’s much better to say, “the reputation of that man (or woman) of God is kindness, and it will go well with you if you seek to emulate him or her.” It’s this second understanding that I am trying to get across, without neglecting the requirement that the commandment be heeded. The point is, if you act with kindness then you won’t ever be a bully anyway, and to follow this Psalm’s example if you act with generosity and good humour you’ll never be covetous, or adulterous, or murderous, or disrespectful to your neighbour or your parents, and you’ll not go seeking gods other than the LORD. You just won’t do those things. So, it’s not that evil is forbidden for you, it’s more that you just won’t be in a place to disobey God if you are always living in the reflection of God’s own character

Again, following last week, we read Paul’s instruction for Christians to act like the humble Christ and less like snobby self-righteous religious people or puffed-up academics. Look at 1 Corinthians 2:1-3 where Paul is saying “you all know that I am actually quite clever, but I tried not to act like a smart-alec when I visited you. My whole message to you was Christ as the living likeness of God, and Christlikeness as the best model for Christian discipleship; and that’s it.” I am the same, and my message is never going to be the years I spent at university; rather my message is always the simple truth of Christianity that Jesus is kind, God is like Jesus, and God wants us to act like Jesus in the world. Be kind; that is a midrash for you upon the entire Bible. It’s not the only message of course, it says nothing about salvation, but it says all you need to know about discipleship. Act like Jesus because what you see in Jesus is actually what God is like.

We pick it up at 1 Corinthians 2:6 where Paul begins to use the wisdom he has to speak to the academically minded people on their level. The message of the gospel is amazingly simple; God loves you, so you should love each other; yet, in that uncomplicated statement is more wisdom than all of pages and ages of ramblings from each and every Wisey McWiseface who ever lived. “Clever as they are,” says Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:8, “they don’t get it.” The living image of the only true God comes to the world preaching love and generosity and the world’s key leaders execute him for treason and blasphemy. There is a word for that sort of behaviour and “wise” is its opposite, says Paul.

Yet love is the answer, and the exercise of love is the truth of all truths; 1 Corinthians 2:9-10. God has such brilliance in store for the generous and the righteous woman or man that it absolutely defies human wisdom. And Paul goes on in his defiance of human wisdom in 1 Corinthians 2:11 to question its very root. Human beings are incapable of understanding what human wisdom actually is, because of the limitations of our humanity, so in 1 Corinthians 2:11b-12 God the Holy Spirit says through Paul “let me tell you who you really are. Let me, the spirit of God, tell you from beyond what humanity really means and what your deepest, strongest sense of rightness is.” At the end of 1 Corinthians 2: 12, which is the end of today’s set reading, the Spirit hasn’t said what that deep rightness is, but it does display more of the nature of God. “You can’t possibly know”, says the Spirit, “but I can and do know and I shall tell you.” God is wise, kind, and generous; doing for us what we could never do for ourselves. That is what salvation is, isn’t it?

Greater in wisdom than Paul, who for all of his insight and guiding by the Spirit, is as human as the rest of us, let’s turn to what Jesus says about God and about the life of a disciple. In Matthew 5:1-20 Jesus speaks to his disciples about what life in the reign of God looks like. This morning, I summoned you to worship with the words of the beatitudes. In eleven verses Jesus describes eight groups of people that he defines as “blessed”. In one church I used to belong to our pastor used to define “blessed” as “happy and to be envied”, and I think that fits both the sense of what Jesus was saying in his sermon. Such people as the ones who follow Christ and act with God’s nature are happy, and they are to be envied. From Matthew 5:13-16 we read where Jesus spoke of his disciples as being salt and light to the earth, in other words a visible example of God’s reign rolling forth, and from Matthew 5:17-20 we read of Jesus’ reiteration of the story of the Jewish gospel. Jesus says quite clearly that he has not come to denounce Judaism nor the commandments: the testimony of the prophets, the scriptures, and the legal authorities of the People of God still stand. Even in our day they stand since the conditions listed by Jesus in Matthew 5:18 are yet to be met. So, what is Jesus saying? Publicly live a godly life.

Think of the beatitudes, of each group of people who are acting in generous response to God by:

Matthew 5:3 declaring their need for spiritual insight.

Matthew 5:4 declaring their need for spiritual comfort.

Matthew 5:5 declaring their need for spiritual strength.

Matthew 5:6 declaring their desire to see the way of God become universal in the world.

Matthew 5:7-11 declaring their love for God and the ways of God even when they are actively and viciously opposed.

Jesus offers each of these the promise of a reward in Heaven based on the assurance that if you are being treated like the prophets of old then you’re probably doing what they did, which is to say modelling the life of God and thereby calling the world to account for its lack of godliness. In today’s reading we read the same: keep bringing God-colours and God-flavours to the attention of the world. Point to the commandments as promises of God’s upholding of your good character and the evidence of your life’s consistency with the divine will.

Jesus is offering a midrash on all Jewish tradition here; “it’s all valid,” he says, “so long as you take the right interpretation from it.” Live with the character of God; you were created in the image and likeness of God so return to your natural being, reflect God’s image and likeness in your behaviour and your attitude. Specifically, be generous, says the Psalmist. Specifically, be wise in the things of God, says Paul. Specifically, model righteousness and know that if you’re facing attack, it’s only because your example is convicting the wicked of their own wickedness. The ways of the world are not normal, says the scriptures, it’s not normal to the stingy, conceited, or self-interested. No, only be yourself, the self whom God made you to be. Amen.