Taking a look at what’s inside

The beatitudes are at the core of the teachings of Jesus from Nazareth. This special group of sayings from Jesus is words he surely repeated over and over again to audiences small and large. They were spoken to challenge the way sincerely religious people live their lives.

The beatitudes are short, simple statements that send the message of live your life this way and you will be whole, healthy, satisfied and complete. Each beatitude is difficult. Each one is counter-culture and challenges popular religious practice. Each one asks us to walk a difficult path.

The sixth beatitude says, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”

The search for purity in our Jewish/Christian tradition is unrelenting. The codes for living that are found in the Old Testament book of Leviticus are dominated by purity codes. The codes lay down the specifics of what a person must do to be pure. They lay down rules about eating, clothing, sexual practice and worship ritual. The purity codes make the promise that if a person keeps all the rules, purity will be obtained.

In the Mark gospel, some religious types complain to Jesus that his disciples did not properly wash their hands before eating. The disciples were obviously impure because they did not obey the purity rules.

Jesus responded that it is not what goes into the body that makes us impure, it is what comes out of our bodies that make us unclean. “Blessed are the pure in heart” is Jesus’ counterproposal to the keeping of purity rules.

After the critics left, Jesus turned to his disciples and asked, in essence, “Do you understand what I am saying? The problem is not what you eat or the way you eat it. The problem is what comes out of your mouth. What comes out of your mouth is straight from your heart. The root problem is what is in your heart!”

Heart is a part of the jargon we religious types use. When we speak of the heart, we are not talking physiology. We are talking about the intangible inner core of our being. Sometimes we call it our soul. In our experience, forces that are lodged deep inside of us drive our speech and behavior.

How many times has each of us asked ourselves why we did or said something?

The Jesus disciple, Paul from Tarsus, put into words this central problem of behavior. He wrote, “I do not do the good that I want, but I do the very things I hate.” He comes to the conclusion that only God can deliver him from his bent toward fouling life.

It is this experience of the misdirected soul that makes so many open to the born again experience of us Evangelical Christians. It is this experience that drives the faithful Roman Catholic believer to confession and then to participation in the Eucharist. People go to spiritual retreats and enroll in spiritual formation classes to deal with that experience of the heart and soul that are not right.

With each of the beatitudes, Jesus gives us a challenge. He is not issuing a command to do the impossible, but he is encouraging us to work on being a full participant in the Kingdom of God on earth. With the sixth beatitude, he asks us to work on what is in our hearts and souls.

My complaint about Evangelicals is that they have put together a one-formula cure. Everyone needs to be born again.

My complaint about Pentecostals is that they also have one answer that meets the needs of all. Everyone needs to be baptized by the Holy Spirit. My complaint about Roman Catholics is that they, too, have a formula that fits everyone. Everyone must participate in the sacraments administered by an empowered priesthood.

I could go on, but I am sure the point has been made. Every time we set up a formula and expect everyone to comply, we have set up a new legalism that can be as deadly to our souls as those that Jesus challenged.

For me the bottom line is that I want the blessed experience of life. The sixth beatitude says to me that in order to achieve a bit of that experience, I must take an introspective look at what is in my heart and soul.

I must ask what motivates me. I must ask about the intensions of my life. When I find things I do not like, I must abandon them to a God who is kind and gracious. I ponder the content of sincere good intentions.

I do not believe I will ever fully succeed, but I can make progress. I will know, by the grace of God, when I have made progress. I will know when I see the face of God, not just in the face of a newborn baby, but in the face of a mentally ill, alcoholic, homeless person on Fourth Avenue in Anchorage.

The Rev. Howard Bess is pastor of Church of the Covenant, an American Baptist church in Palmer. His e-mail address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.