Blessed in Poverty and Mourning
Reflecting on "Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount - Discourse the First"
I am continuing my series on Methodist Essentials, but generating one article per week is a bit taxing for me. I need to write on other things and space out the series a bit so that I don’t get burned out. The next installment should come out next week, so subscribe if you haven’t already.
All quotations in this piece are from the same John Wesley sermon: “Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse the First”
I am currently preaching through the Gospel of Matthew. We have been covering one chapter per week. We have now reached Chapter 5, which is, of course, where Jesus preaches his “Sermon on the Mount.”
I decided it would be a good idea for me to read John Wesley’s offerings on the subject material. I don’t know why I thought that. It is already so hard for me to condense my remarks garnered from the Keener and France commentaries I have been consulting, and that has been over pretty basic chapters. The Sermon on the Mount is dense. It was very stupid of me to consult Wesley and hope to cover all of Chapter 5 in one go. I don’t think I have a prayer of doing that, now. Rather, I think I’m going to just preach each of JW’s sermons on the Sermon on the Mount (there are 13) over the coming weeks. The subject material is so rich!
In “Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse the First,” John Wesley only covers the first four verses of Chapter 5. This is just the setup to getting Jesus and his initial followers to that mountain, and then the first two macarisms (statements ascribing blessedness to someone). That’s it.
I have honestly never liked the Beatitudes (the opening section of the Sermon on the Mount, marked by several macarisms). I don’t like vague language. He begins with it: “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Who are the poor in spirit? What does that mean? Who is this blessing? Same questions with the second macarism: “Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.” I always read this as a sort of blanket statement along the lines of, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted” (Ps. 34:18). Is it really just a general blessing on those who are going through a hard time? The questions raised by these simple lines I have found to be taxing and generally unfruitful. Wesley leans into them and I am better for reading his thoughts, some of which I will offer here. You’ll benefit, too, if you read on:
Wesley on the Exclusivity of Christ and Damnation
The first striking thing that Wesley says is only the exclusivity of Christ for salvation:
“He is teaching us the true way to life everlasting; the royal way which leads to the kingdom; and the only true way, -- for there is none besides; all other paths lead to destruction.”
Wesley was quite clear, not at all reticent to note, that Christ is the only way to the Father. Moreover, he is not ashamed to speak of damnation and sin. More on that below. If you haven’t already seen it, though, you might consider my article on these topics: “Methodist Nature: Justice and Jesus.” I believe sharing these doctrinal convictions is a nonnegotiable of the Methodist heritage. I would urge you to agree with me. Here is another fun gem from this sermon, when he issues a call to repentance:
“Sinner, awake! Know thyself! Know and feel, that thou wert "shapen in wickedness," and that "in sin did thy mother conceive thee;" and that thou thyself hast been heaping up sin upon sin, ever since thou couldst discern good from evil! Sink under the mighty hand of God, as guilty of death eternal; and cast off, renounce, abhor, all imagination of ever being able to help thyself!”
Wesley’s anthropology (understanding of human nature) was decidedly low. As evidenced more below, the man was a firm believer in the doctrine of absolute depravity.
Wesley on Infallibility of Scripture
The second salient statement from the respected parson might be considered an assertion of what might be called the ‘plenary inspiration’ of scripture, or ‘inerrancy,’ or ‘infallibility.’ It isn’t as broad as in other places, but in this sermon he says,
“He hath uttered not one tittle too much, -- nothing more than he had received of the Father; nor too little, -- he hath not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God; much less hath he uttered anything wrong, anything contrary to the will of him that sent him. All his words are true and right concerning all things, and shall stand fast for ever and ever.”
While these words to do not expand out to all of scripture in this particular section, the language is strong enough to stand as a rebuke of those who might find fault in Jesus’ own words, whether he be accused of bigotry or any other insufficiency. One has only to understand after this that, as Jesus is the Word made flesh, so the rest of his Word (the Christian canon) is likewise perfect. I will give a proper treatment of this subject in the eighth segment on my ‘Methodist Essentials’ series when I speak on the words I have already published: “Methodists take scripture more seriously than experience, reason, or even tradition.” I should have that out in a couple of months.
Wesley on “The Poor”
What about the class implications of the “poor in spirit”? In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says only “the poor” and leaves out “in spirit” in his ‘Sermon on the Plain’ (Luke 6:20). I always thought the Sermon on the Mount was basically the same thing, so the poor in spirit are just the poor. Well, no. John Wesley would not agree with modern neoMarxists trying to appropriate Jesus and his gospel, convincing people to give up all their worldly goods, eat bugs, deindustrialize, own nothing and be happy. I assumed he would be more amenable to the ‘voluntary poverty’ perspective, but instead over the course of a page he associates it with the “Romish Church” and makes fun of scriptural interpretation that would universalize material poverty, eventually just calling it a ‘tautology’ before moving on.
I would be wrong to move along without reminding myself that Mr. Wesley did indeed care for the poor greatly, and he inextricably tied good care of the poor to a saving faith in Christ Jesus. Consider my article from last week, in which I made the case much more clearly: “Methodist Nature: Holy First, Compassionate Second.” We are called to minister to and benefit the poor, but not to normalize or fetishize them.
Who are the “poor in spirit,” then?
Here is the first real surprise to me: John Wesley paints a very clear portrait of who this refers to. It is not vague or open to a broad category. Rather,
“Who then are "the poor in spirit" Without question, the humble; they who know themselves; who are convinced of sin; those to whom God hath given that first repentance, which is previous to faith in Christ.
One of these can no longer say, "I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing;" as now knowing, that he is "wretched, and poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked." He is convinced that he is spiritually poor indeed; having no spiritual good abiding in him. "In me," saith he, "dwelleth no good thing," but whatsoever is evil and abominable. He has a deep sense of the loathsome leprosy of sin, which be brought with him from his mother's womb, which overspreads his whole soul, and totally corrupts every power and faculty thereof. He sees more and more of the evil tempers which spring from that evil root; the pride and haughtiness of spirit, the constant bias to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; the vanity, the thirst after the esteem or honour that cometh from men, the hatred or envy, the jealousy or revenge, the anger, malice, or bitterness; the inbred enmity both against God and man, which appears in ten thousand shapes; the love of the world, the self-will, the foolish and hurtful desires, which cleave to his inmost soul. He is conscious how deeply he has offended by his tongue; if not by profane, immodest, untrue, or unkind words, yet by discourse which was not "good to the use of edifying," not "meet to minister grace to the hearers." which, consequently, was all corrupt in God's account, and grievous to his Holy Spirit. His evil works are now likewise ever in his sight: If he tells them, they are more than he is able to express. He may as well think to number the drops of rain, the sands of the sea, or the days of eternity.”
Wesley is clear: The poor in spirit are those who have been convicted of their sin by the Holy Spirit, and who have a holy hatred of self. This is a wholehearted affirmation of the doctrine of the fall, of the absolute depravity of all humanity. It can mean no one else. The poor in spirit are not the materially poor. They are those who understand themselves to be evil. He continues by validating a strict understanding of damnation and hell:
“His guilt is now also before his face: He knows the punishment he has deserved, were it only on account of his carnal mind, the entire, universal corruption of his nature; how much more, on account of all his evil desires and thoughts, of all his sinful words and actions! He cannot doubt for a moment, but the least of these deserves the damnation of hell, -- "the worm that dieth not, and the fire that never shall be quenched." Above all, the guilt of "not believing on the name of the only-begotten Son of God" lies heavy upon him. How, saith he, shall I escape, who "neglect so great salvation!" "He that believeth not is condemned already," and "the wrath of God abideth on him.""
Anyone who wants to argue that Wesley’s sole motivating reasoning was all love and no fear, all carrot and no stick, hasn’t read his sermons. This is par for the course.
Who are “those that mourn”?
He comes back to hell later, in the context of those who mourn:
“They are grieved for the dishonour continually done to the Majesty of heaven and earth. At all times they have an awful sense of this, which brings a deep seriousness upon their spirit; a seriousness which is not a little increased, since the eyes of their understanding were opened, by their continually seeing the vast ocean of eternity, without a bottom or a shore, which has already swallowed up millions of millions of men, and is gaping to devour them that yet remain. They see here the house of God eternal in the heavens; there, hell and destruction without a covering; and thence feel the importance of every moment, which just appears, and is gone for ever!”
He actually provides a few different senses that we should understand those that mourn. The one listed just above dovetails nicely with a biblical portrait of damnation and sin. Even so, mourning is not limited only to those who sympathize with the plight of those outside of Christ. Rather, the first and greatest sense in which Christ is addressing those who mourn is with respect to the justified.
It was here that I encountered something really new to me. I had been aware that John Wesley had his ‘Aldersgate experience’ in which his “heart was strangely warmed.” I knew that his preaching at the start of his ministry was very influenced by the pietists, insisting on the personal emotional experience of salvation at a specific point in time. I was aware that, later in life, he indicated some more reservation about the importance of such an experience, or how much it corresponded with salvation objectively. Perhaps I am misstating things. Anyway, I always found this insistence on a subjective experience of justification to be somewhat fictitious, as the subjective is so fleeting and ephemeral. I always wondered if Mr. Wesley could admit how unstable and unreliable feelings are, and how much they can actually cause much harm and sorrow in the lives of believers.
“The mourners of whom our Lord here speaks, are those that mourn on quite another account: They that mourn after God; after Him in whom they did "rejoice with joy unspeakable," when he gave them to "taste the good," the pardoning, "word, and the powers of the world to come." But he now "hides his face, and they are troubled:" They cannot see him through the dark cloud. But they see temptation and sin, which they fondly supposed were gone never to return, arising again, following after them amain, and holding them in on every side. It is not strange if their soul is now disquieted within them, and trouble and heaviness take hold upon them. Nor will their great enemy fail to improve the occasion; to ask, "Where is now thy God Where is now the blessedness whereof thou spakest the beginning of the kingdom of heaven Yea, hath God said, 'Thy sins are forgiven thee' Surely God hath not said it. It was only a dream, a mere delusion, a creature of thy own imagination. If thy sins are forgiven, why art thou thus Can a pardoned sinner be thus unholy" -- And, if then, instead of immediately crying to God, they reason with him that is wiser than they, they will be in heaviness indeed, in sorrow of heart, in anguish not to be expressed. Nay even when God shines again upon the soul, and takes away all doubt of his past mercy, still he that is weak in faith may be tempted and troubled on account of what is to come; especially when inward sin revives, and thrusts sore at him that he may fall.”
Those who are poor in spirit are those who are convicted of sin and understand their absolute inability to help themselves. Those who mourn are those who have received Christ, who have felt his atoning blood applied to their hearts, who,
“"In his prosperity he saith, I shall never be moved; thou, Lord, hast made my hill so strong." Sin is so utterly bruised beneath his feet, that he can scarce believe it remaineth in him. Even temptation is silenced, and speaks not again: It cannot approach, but stands afar off. He is borne aloft in the chariots of joy and love: He soars, "as upon the wings of an eagle." But our Lord well knew that this triumphant state does not often continue long…”
Things That Pleased Me in This Reading
I never once imagined these categories would be so specific, nor that they would speak to such appropriate and universal conditions. In this reading, Jesus is not blessing people for where they are, but where they will be. Perhaps some of them already have the required holy hatred of self, but none have been justified yet. Wesley argues that the sermon he delivered was for the audience as they would be, and who you and I now are.
Moreover, he says that each of the macarisms describe all of us at every stage of spiritual life. While there might be directionality, starting with being poor and spirit and moving towards being persecuted, we are never done with any of these. This answers another question I have had about Wesleyan theology for some time: When we are sanctified and have received forgiveness, should we still mourn our sins and feel shame for what we have done? Or are we now a new creation, no longer remembering our former sin nature? He answers here:
“With this is joined a loving shame, a tender humiliation before God, even for the sins which we know he hath forgiven us, and for the sin which still remaineth in our hearts, although we know it is not imputed to our condemnation. Nevertheless, the conviction we feel of inbred sin is deeper and deeper every day. The more we grow in grace, the more do we see of the desperate wickedness of our heart. The more we advance in the knowledge and love of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, (as great a mystery as this may appear to those who know not the power of God unto salvation,) the more do we discern of our alienation from God, of the enmity that is in our carnal mind, and the necessity of our being entirely renewed in righteousness and true holiness.”
Closing Thoughts
Much of this corresponds with my personal experience of the faith. I have had moments of perfection and holiness, followed by seasons of what feels rather mundane, in which my daily life strives mightily to reach anything approximating the holiness of my Savior.
I don’t know if I’m going to preach this sermon from the pulpit tomorrow or not. I just know that I enjoyed reading it, and I wanted to offer some of that gift to others. I also cannot help but notice how much of what I have written about Methodist doctrine and practice is found so abundantly in each sermon crafted by John Wesley. I was afraid when I began the series on ‘Methodist Essentials’ that I would be grasping at straws. So far, what I believed to be true has a lot of substance. If you haven’t already, you might consider reading what I have written thus far.
I don’t think being a Methodist depends on mimicking every single thing John Wesley argued and believed. I think Methodism can be defined by understandings and practices that don’t have much to do with Mr. Wesley. Even so, I think we would be foolish to disregard the wealth of insight the man offered to this movement. May God bless us in the reclaiming of these doctrines insofar as they bring him glory!
Total depravity of man; all-sufficiency of Christ, Wesley # 44
I truly appreciate your bringing our reliable founder of our Methodist church to the forefront. Our tradition has been extremely diluted in recent times and our legacy will perish I feel if we do not become relevant again.
It is our collective responsibility to stay the course of truth for his grace is the blessing for our turning from our sinful ways.
God bless