By Pastor Tee, Pastor of Outreach

“The Father’s claim on Jesus helped him resist Satan in the wilderness, preach that the kingdom is not for the shameless, endure the shame of the cross and sit on the right hand of God.”

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is ultimately saying blessed are those whose outlook and actions sacrificially honors others because there will be a divine return on it. This way of thinking is normal in an honor and shame culture. Ascribed honor (one’s worth and value) is bestowed on a person by others through family, ethnic/culture, business and/or religious ties. It is a claim on the person and it is expected that one will return the honor in the form of respect, flattery and favors. It is not given because of personality like modern celebrities. Shame is when honor is lost or taken which means losing social standing in the community. Men are known to naturally compete with each other for honor, including if it means being violent. (Jesus challenged the honor code connected to violence. As Christians, we need to also continue challenging this in males. For example, what do we say to young African American males whose response to losing honor is gun violence?)

Read Matthew 5:1-16

In the Beatitudes, Jesus is introducing a radical new code of honor. Because Jesus moved in honor cultures, some scholars say that the word ‘blessed’ can also be translated ‘honored’. So with this in view, when Jesus says the last will be first, he is saying the shamed will be honored. Isn’t this good news? Since I grew up poor, I always saw myself as a shamed outsider so I understood this verse in horizontal terms (physical world). I thought, God does not want me to be poor. But this verse should be understood in horizontal and vertical terms (spiritual world) just like the rest of the Beatitudes: Divine honor only comes through Jesus Christ atoning for our souls (mind, body, spirit) when we don’t deserve it. Because of God’s claim on us, we come alive so that others may see our good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven.

But what do we need to live this new code of honor? Jesus had what Psalm 86:11 calls an undivided heart trusting in the Father’s faithfulness and name. He trusted the claim the Father made on him in Matthew 3:17. I call this a focused heart…a brave heart. The Father’s claim on Jesus helped him resist Satan in the wilderness, preach that the kingdom is not for the shameless, endure the shame of the cross and sit on the right hand of God. As a father and husband, I lay claim to my wife, our children and grandson. I also lay claim to every child, teen and adult that I am shepherding in the name of Christ. You know what? These people arent all Christian and they dont all attend OCMC. Why? Because i know what it is like to experience the shame of fatherlessness, racism and poverty.

I am grateful for Jayson Georges and Mark Baker’s book, Ministering in Honor-Shame Cultures that is giving me a deeper understanding of the Scriptures. Here are the first three beatitudes from his book on p. 93-94:

• Honored by God are those shamed for being socially dispossessed and underprivileged because the kingdom belongs to them. (Matthew 5:3)

• Honored by God are those shamed because they grieve the complete loss of social standing and identity from losing their family because God will comfort them. (Matthew 5:4)

• Honored by God are the meek who are shamed because they disengage from false honor games for they will have influence on the earth. (Matthew 5:5)

Doesnt that sound different from what I read in the Bible? This is why we have other translations so we can find other ways to communicate the potency of the Scriptures. Who do you know needs to hear that Jesus says they are the light of the world in Matthew 5:14? The truth is, our hearts often miss the honor that is dripping from this passage for the shamed. But glory to God, he works through his beloved community (the church), prunes us, crown us with his honor and glory and prepares us to claim others. This was my experience as a teen. It took me a while to recognize that I am not an outsider anymore. Being a pastor with a certain level of honor and authority does help. But even still, Satan likes to sow doubt and expose our undivided heart to earthly power and comforts like he tried with Jesus in Matthew 4 in the wilderness. Once our heart becomes conflicted, we don’t fully experience God’s faithfulness and power which does not prepare me, you, OCMC or The Church of the Good Samaritans for difficult challenges that are coming.

Let me share a story: Seventeen years ago, OCMC was a growing diverse church attracting the middle class. I was content with my friendship cliques, teaching Sunday School and Bible study at the church. But when the pastor stepped down seven years ago, disagreements over the authority of scripture and its application came to the surface. This caught OCMC off guard because as you know, Mennonites don’t do conflict well. After some prayer and a prophetic word from a friend, I stepped out on faith and was voted as Chair of our Church Council but I was feeling very uncertain. You know, the prophet Jeremiah was experiencing uncertainty from conflict between him and his people. He bravely lodged a complaint with God in Jeremiah 12 asking why does the wicked prosper. God’s answer did not bring him comfort. Instead, in verse 5 God says, if you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses?

In other words, if I am not brave enough to deal with this conflict, how will I be ready for what else is coming?

So, the Council started spending significant amounts of time praying, asking God for an undivided heart and listening to the Holy Spirit. Do you know that God has often already prepared your soul for conflict from past difficulties? OCMC endured and because we allowed God to strengthen us with an undivided heart and fresh vision, He is shifting us even more from an attractional church model to a proactive model that pursues our neighbors to tell them about the Kingdom.

The Beatitudes show that God does not have an undivided heart about those he seeks and claims. God wants to animate our soul so that when our light shines, we won’t be mistaken for bastions of secular power like a political party, a corporation or the entertainment industry. We can proudly proclaim we are the family of God powered by the Holy Spirit who bestows honor on the least of these. A brave heart fears the name of God first and tells the shamed, Jesus wants to bestow his honor on you. Will you receive it? Will you tell them?