The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, February 11th: Jeremiah 17:5-8; 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20; Luke 6: 17, 20-26)

BEATITUDES BEAUTIFUL ONLY IF THE RESURRECTION IS TRUE

In this week’s gospel reading, Jesus presented the Beatitudes, a series of important and insightful “Blessed are…” statements. The reading this week is from Luke’s gospel, and is know as the Sermon on the Plain. In Matthew’s gospel, chapters 5 through 7 offer additional Beatitude statements from Jesus, know as the Sermon on the Mount.

Taken together, the two accounts, Luke’s and Matthew’s, give a complete explanation of Jesus’ teaching on the subject of the Beatitudes.

Many people today think the Beatitudes are the heart of Christianity. Certainly they are very important. The Beatitudes have been called the “be attitudes,” the attitudes of how we should BE. And there’s no doubt if everyone were truly humble, merciful, meek, pure of heart, etc., the world would be a much more loving and peaceful place, and each person would live a much more fulfilling, serene, and joyful life.

So the Beatitudes are a very key aspect of Christianity—no doubt about that. But some people focus on the Beatitudes as the ONLY important aspect of the faith, as if Christianity were nothing more than a self-help, conflict-resolution system, something, say, a psychologist would discuss on Oprah or the U.N. would try to implement in the Middle East. 

This came to mind a few years ago when I read about a man named Marcus Borg, who is a distinguished professor of religion at Oregon State University. Professor Borg is a member of the Episcopalian church and claims to be a faithful Christian, but he does not believe in the Virgin Birth nor the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. He says, “There are a growing number of Christians who understand the story of Jesus’ birth and resurrection as metaphoric and symbolic. There are millions of Christians…who simply can’t be biblical literalists or absolutists.”

I don’t doubt that there are millions of Christians who can’t be biblical literalists or absolutists. I’m one of them. But there is a big difference between my view of a biblical literalist—believing, for example, the “days” of creation in Genesis 1 are literally 24-hour time periods rather than geological eras of indeterminate length—and Professor Borg’s apparent view of a biblical literalist—believing that any reference in Scripture to a supernatural, miraculous occurrence mean you mistakenly believe in a silly myth.

The Beatitudes tell us how best to go through life—this natural life on earth. But without the Resurrection, without the supernatural, miraculous components of Christianity, it will be a brief and ultimately fruitless journey.

I suspect that Professor Borg might be the type of person who focuses on the touchy-feely, compassionate aspects of Christianity—namely, the Beatitudes—and if everyone just hugged each other a lot and voted for enlightened people like Hillary Clinton and worked hard to dismantle the U.S. military and emptied all of our prisons and stopped being so judgmental about archaic concepts such as sin and morality, then everything would be peachy keen in our society.

Well, I’m slowly coming to understand that hugging is good, but I’m afraid that Professor Borg and his enlightened friends are completely missing the most important aspect of Christianity: the Resurrection.

It’s not just my opinion that the Resurrection is the heart of our faith; St. Paul said the same thing in this week’s second reading. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul bluntly declared, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain….(and) we are the most pitiable people of all.”

At the very beginning of the passage this week, Paul asked a question that should be directed to Professor Borg: “How can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?”

This is a rhetorical question. Paul was not looking for a detailed answer and explanation. He was saying basically, “Duh!! What’s your problem?!”

Don’t forget, Paul previously had done some major missionary work in the city of Corinth. In the letter known as 1st Corinthians, Paul  was writing to people who had heard from his own lips the glorious good news about Jesus. And everything Paul taught them centered around the reality of the Resurrection. A resurrection that was real and physical, not, as Borg describes, metaphoric and symbolic.

When Paul heard reports that the people in Corinth were questioning whether a resurrection really can happen, he quickly communicated the message: Duh!! That’s the heart of the Gospel I preached to you! If the Resurrection is not true, then EVERYTHING about our faith falls apart, including (take note, Professor Borg) the Beatitudes.

It’s kind of like buying a $5,000 big-screen plasma TV and not plugging it into the electrical outlet. Then standing there staring at a blank screen and saying, “I can still enjoy this TV without electricity. I can still get something useful out of owning it.”

Christianity without the Resurrection, that is, Professor Borg’s version of Christianity, is like an expensive TV without electricity. It’s a big waste of time and effort.

Jesus Himself made the point this week that the Resurrection is very important. In the middle of the Sermon on the Plain, speaking to people He had just called “blessed” a number of times, Jesus said, “Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.”

Did you catch that? He said “Heaven.” If there is no Resurrection, how do we get to Heaven and receive this great reward? Without the Resurrection, no one can receive this great reward, and the Beatitudes become empty, hollow unfulfilled promises.

Only by the Resurrection do we have hope of eternal life in Heaven. Without the Resurrection, no matter how perfectly we live our natural lives based on the principles of the Beatitudes, in two or five or eight brief decades our time will be over, and we will go the way of all flesh: dead and buried in a grave.

Only in view of the reality of the Resurrection do the Beatitudes become meaningful. Then we can have the best of both worlds: a much more fulfilling, serene, and joyful life now; and eternal life in the presence of God Almighty later. Let’s pray that Professor Borg and his friends someday come to understand this.

©2007