In 1980, I met a ninety year old neighbor named Old Man Stokes at our apartment complex in Ohio.
He used to love to listen to the Lionel Richie and the Commodores and would ask me to turn up my stereo so that he could hear it from his balcony.
He often invited me to come sit on his balcony, listen to music, and tell me stories about life was like in America fifty years before I was born.
He had a passion for the Lord, his wife, and storytelling.
We would sit and listen to songs like unchained melody, sipping lemonade in the shade on a sunny day.
He was uneducated, yet one of the wisest people I had ever met.
Old Man Stokes could tell you how cold the winter was going to be by the size of the wooly worms and just by pulling the husk off fresh corn.
He said that his faith had been the one consistent factor that has brought him through difficult times.
He would tell me stories about what it was like as an African American born in the 1800’s down south and I listen intently with disbelief at times that we once treated people like he described.
He wasn’t bitter or angry. He just told me how it was.
He grew up doing the jobs that nobody else wanted to do to make a living.
My favorite story that he used to tell was when he was a well digger as a young man.
He would dig a hole about five feet in diameter and twenty five to fifty feet deep.
He would use a short handled pick and shovel to fill a bucket that was tied to a rope.
They would use boards on each side to prevent the walls from collapsing, but that was always a danger.
The worst part was when he was so deep that no light could get in and he would send the bucket of dirt out of the hole.
Sometimes, when the water was up to his waist at the bottom of the hole, he would yell to his buddy and tug on the rope so his buddy could pull him out.
Now those of us who are a little claustrophobic, ask, “How do you get out, if the walls cave in?”
His answer was that, “you are completely dependent on the person holding onto the rope.”
Since they took turns digging, they needed to have faith in each other and to pay careful attention at all times to their buddy in the hole.
If you have ever come to a situation in your life when you were looking up from the bottom of a hole, I hope you remember the beatitudes.
Jesus offers us comfort in times of need.
The translation of the beatitudes in the Message also offers hope to all who are persecuted, sick, or in trouble that we might emerge from our experience with an even greater faith.
“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.
You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.
You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.
You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family” (The Message Matthew 5).
Working together to care for the poor and the oppressed can be challenging in today’s political environment.
God sent his Son to let us know that he loves us and is there for us.
He is always at the other end of the robe waiting for a little tug.
When you are at the end of your rope there is no allusion that money or power will solve your issue.
You realize that there are things that you have no control over and all you can do is love God with all your heart, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.
When we find others that are poor in spirit, those who mourn, and the meek we realize that there is someone at the other end of the rope.
A crucial understanding of the Gospel of Matthew is that Jesus is the Messiah, the one who we have longed for to come to our aid and pull us out of the hole that we have dug ourselves into.
This grace cannot be earned or bought, but comes to us because Christ died on a cross that we might have life abundant.
When we decide to give ourselves to Christ, we start taking turns digging the well and watching the rope.
We become part of the eternal plan, part of the future kingdom of God.
Being in relationship with those in need and being ready at all times to give our love and mercy is what Jesus did and what God calls us to do.
There is no doubt that people in the world have taken their eye off the rope, but there is great hope in the world because Jesus Christ loves us enough to jump into the hole with us, suffer with us, die with us, and on the third day to rise to glory with us.
Micah said, “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
Mispat in Hebrew means justice. Justice is relationship with the One God that brings the servant to do the will of God. It is not complaining about the lack of justice, but the action of doing justice.
Kindness is translated as Hessed in Hebrew. Hessed is the key ingredient in our relationship with our God, our our spouse, or our loved ones. We are to love as God has loved us.
The messiah comes to show us the relationship we must have with God and one another.
We are to walk humbly together with God in our lives knowing that God is there for us at all times on the other end of the rope.
The word for walk is halak.
We are to walk carefully in the type of love that Jews would understand as hessed, doing the will of God by doing justice.
These terms would all be very familiar to his Jewish disciples.
Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God comes to teach and show God’s people how to find the Kingdom of Heaven. Please join me these next three weeks as we explore the Sermon on the Mount and throughout the year as Jesus teaches us how to follow the will of God through our relationship with God and our neighbors. Amen.