Most of us think we know the story of Joan of
Arc. The teenage peasant girl who hears voices,
puts on armor, and leads an army, saves France,
and gets burned at the stake. Tragic, dramatic,
but tidy enough, she shows up in textbooks and
paintings and statues, and Bill and Ted's excellent
adventure. We think we know her, but the familiarity...
actually makes it easy to miss what really happened.
See, Joan of Arc was not having these vague spiritual
feelings. She claimed to have specific visions
from Saint Michael and other saints telling her
that France had been wrongfully invaded, that
the English needed to be driven out, and that
she was to help Charles the Dauphin to be crowned
king. Dauphin, not dolphin, that would be confusing.
Against every social expectation, a teenage girl
with no rank, no education, and no power convinced
military leaders to give her an army. And she
was right. She helped break the siege of Orleans,
a turning point in the war. She escorted Charles
to Reims where he was finally crowned king, securing
his claim to the throne. She didn't just inspire
people, she changed the course of history. And
that's when she became inconvenient. She embarrassed
the powerful men as she was just a teenage girl
with no noble lineage telling the generals what
to do and being right. She disrupted the political
alliances by church leaders who were far too
comfortable cooperating with the corruption and
foreign powers and revealed their compromises.
She claimed direct guidance from God even though
the church tightly controlled who could speak
on behalf of God. When she was captured, she
begged for a fair trial, for church counsel,
for the protections she was entitled under church
law, and she was denied all of it. Her trial
was a performance. The verdict was decided before
the questions were even asked. The church leaders
saw the evidence right in front of them and accused
her anyway. She wasn't condemned because she
was proven to be false. She was condemned because
she no longer served the interests of those in
power. So at the age of 19, Joan of Arc was burned
alive as a heretic. Justice was not found that
day. But 25 years later, the church reopened
the case. The trial was declared corrupt. The
verdict was overturned. The truth hadn't changed.
Only time had revealed it. Joan of Arc's life
reminds us of something very uncomfortable. Sometimes
faithfulness is punished long before it is honored.
And sometimes justice is delayed so long that
it looks like it never came at all. Joan of Arc
is easy to honor now because time has done the
hard work for us. History named the corruption.
Distance from those events made the verdict safe
to explain. We can look back and be honest without
being offended. We can condemn what happened
to her without risk to our egos But the harder
question is this what corruption looks obvious
to God now, but feels normal to us Not what corruption
looks obvious to us What corruption looks obvious
to God? Joan didn't fight for chaos She fought
because something was wrong. A people had been
invaded, a crown had been stolen, yet there was
a longing beneath it all for order, for truth,
for something that would last. That longing was
not the problem. What the church did to get it
was. That's where Micah begins. Not with the
villains that we all agree on, but with God standing
in court against his own people. Micah opens
with God calling the mountains as witnesses because
this is not a petty argument. It's about foundations.
What endures? Everyone wants something that lasts.
In people's eyes, what lasts longer than power,
reputation, success going down in the history
books? Israel had been worshipping other gods
and playing the games of other nations, but God
saw the corruption that they would not admit.
For all that they kept justifying themselves.
They were never the victims Jones judges thought
they were preserving stability, but God made
the indictment Just because there's no earthly
conviction at the time does not mean that there
is no corruption Micah reminds us that God sees
beyond outcomes. He sees processes He sees our
motives the trade -offs that we justify in the
name of the greater good You see, Christians
don't usually abandon God outright. We get impatient
with Him. Christians watch the world advance
by methods that feel ruthless, efficient, and
effective, and we get frustrated. We tell ourselves,
if we don't play the same games, we're going
to lose. Power tolerates an authentic faith only
until that faith refuses to be managed for winning
the games. And when power justifies itself as
fighting the powers of darkness, then suddenly
everyone somehow has a demon. Micah 6 .3, oh
my people, what have I done to you? How have
I wearied you? Answer me. God is not thundering
at us. He's wounded by us. He's saying, when
did I become the obstacle in your life? When
did my expectations as your God start feeling
unreasonable to my people? When did obedience
start sounding naive and stupid? God is not confused
about what he wants from us and he is not impressed
by what we offer instead. He had always wanted
the same thing. He always has and he has never
been served by our great ideas. or scheming to
get our ways. He has always been able to do things
on our behalf without our compromises, without
our corruption, without our selling out, without
our lying to ourselves. He never needed us to
be anything but faithful, and He would be glorified.
He has always been able to do far more with our
faithfulness alone than we could ever imagine.
And yet, What do we bring instead? Thousands
of sacrifices, rivers of oil, even our firstborn?
You see, when we sense that something is off,
we don't usually repent first. We negotiate.
We bargain. We argue. We're good Western capitalists.
The people in Micah escalate comically, almost
desperately. Your firstborn? More offerings,
bigger sacrifices, louder religion, costlier
displays. In trying to secure what we think we
need to be good, godly people, we often sacrifice
what God has actually asked of us. So then what
has God actually asked of us? Micah 6, 8, He
has told you, O man, what is good? And what does
the Lord require of you but to do justly? and
to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
That's it! No escalation, no spectacle, no bargaining.
God has shown you what is good. Nothing is hidden,
nothing complicated, nothing reserved for experts
who tell us not to believe our own eyes when
we see what is wrong. What does God want? Justice
to shape how we treat others. Mercy to shape
how we respond when others fail. Humility to
shape how we understand ourselves before God.
Micah reminds us that God isn't asking for us
to make large shows or grandiose arguments or
supposed victories by our own power. He's asking
for our alignment with the Kingdom of God. The
church itself is the place where we keep convincing
ourselves though we can find the Kingdom of God,
right? But in both Scripture and history itself,
we see time and time again when those who are
on the inside are the very ones undermining justice,
mercy, and humility. The question that lingers
is not whether we objectively admire justice,
mercy, and humility. Of course, those are great
ideas. The question is whether we will ever truly
practice them even when they cost us something.
And frankly, the youth are watching, and they're
doubting whether God is real based on our corruption.
We're already losing some of them, even now.
But then along comes Jesus. Matthew 5, 1 through
2. Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain.
He taught them so once again the mountains are
bearing witness, but this time the rock does
not hear merely an indictment He hears a revelation
Because the cornerstone himself is standing on
that mountain But before we start reading the
Beatitudes we must remember that the Beatitudes
are not a recipe for getting things from God
It's not that once we believe we have arrived
at each of these descriptions, that we can believe
that God is going to give us everything we want
now. They're a description of what it looks like
to live in God's kingdom. They're not transactions.
They reveal the kingdom that God desires. And
before we misunderstand them, we need to say
this part clearly. Jesus is not glorifying suffering.
He's not making suffering into something that
we should be happy about. He does not say, start
making yourselves miserable so that I will finally
be happy with you. This is not eat your vegetables
because misery is somehow holy. I still remember
as a child going on a fifth grade class trip.
and we sat there for dinner and they served us
salads and I remember looking so confused at
what this was in front of me and looking at all
the other kids in my class around me eating them
without complaint and all I could think in my
mind was traitors. But you see what I hadn't
learned yet was that this would nourish me even
if I did not trust it just yet. You see, the
beatitudes show us how the kingdom of God will
actually exist. And anything that we do to avoid
them, especially when we know that we may be
doing what God does not desire, that is what
we're supposed to avoid. You see, the things
we try to avoid, Jesus begins the beatitudes
with words that we don't want anywhere near our
lives. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed
are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. These
are not goals. These are not aspirations in life.
Who wants to go out and mourn and be meek? These
are places where we find ourselves when life
does not cooperate. No one prays for a spirit
of poverty. No one asks for grief. No one hopes
to feel powerless. And yet sometimes that's just
where we are. I was talking recently with someone
that has been struggling with her daughter for
years. Even before graduation there was tension,
there were arguments, a sense that nothing she
said would ever be heard. And now after graduation
that distance felt even sharper. And you pause
and you wonder, isn't that just what teenagers
are supposed to do? But she kept saying, almost
like a warning and a defense at the same time.
These plans are going to blow up in her face.
I know it. All of this will blow up eventually.
And maybe it will. But the quiet shift came when
she finally paused and said, but that will still
be okay. Because not that pain is not going to
matter, and not because the consequences are
not going to exist, but because she realized
something deeper, is that if and when everything
does fall apart, her daughter will know exactly
where to turn. She will know that there is a
place where she's safe, where she's welcomed,
where her failures will not be weaponized against
her. And that's what the kingdom looks like when
things don't go the way that we planned. Because
when we find ourselves in broken situations,
how often do we panic, trying to escape them,
or to lose ourselves in the process? When we're
poor in spirit we scramble because we're afraid
of losing control. When we're mourning and the
sorrow threatens to hollow us out so we stay
busy to avoid it. When we're meek we become convinced
that we're going to be taken advantage of sometimes
even by people who claim to share our values.
Meekness frankly gets a bad reputation. Being
weak, passive, being trampled on. We live in
a world where only the strong seem to matter,
only the ones who are aggressive get respect.
But Jesus says something entirely different because
to be poor in spirit does not mean you're empty.
It means you finally recognize where your true
riches are. To mourn is not to be broken beyond
repair. It is to acknowledge that you loved.
That you hoped that something, someone mattered
enough to grieve. And to be meek is not to be
erased. It is to refuse to build your life on
taking advantage of others. Even when the world
tells you that's the only way to make it. Jesus
begins here because these are the people that
the kingdom refuses to abandon. More than that,
these are often the people through whom the kingdom
becomes the most visible, because when someone
is poor or grieving or worn down, it creates
space for the rest of the kingdom to show up,
for mercy to take shape, for justice to be practiced,
for humility to be lived out. Blessed are the
poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn,
blessed are the meek, not because these things
are great and fun in themselves. but because
even here the kingdom of God is not absent. And
sometimes this is when we finally learn how real
the kingdom is. And then Jesus keeps going. Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
The question presses in on us immediately. Do
we actually hunger and thirst for righteousness?
Not control. Not the power to make things right
in our own eyes. Not to win the argument, to
shape the narrative, or to secure our position,
do we hunger and thirst for what is actually
right? Do we hunger and thirst for what is ethical?
Do we hunger and thirst for what is good? For
what is faithful? For what is going to actually
cost us something? Because righteousness is slower
than power. It's quieter. It's rarely efficient.
And yet Jesus says those are the ones who are
going to be filled. He says blessed are the merciful.
Because let's be honest, mercy feels like it
has no place in today's world. Mercy doesn't
trend well on Instagram. Mercy does not protect
your brand. Mercy doesn't guarantee that you
won't be taken advantage of. But mercy has everything
to do with the kingdom of God. Mercy is what
refuses to reduce people to their worst moment.
Mercy is what leaves room for repentance, for
growth, for mercy, for return. Mercy is what
remembers that God did not deal with us according
to what we deserve either. And Jesus says, blessed
are the pure in heart, not the flawless, not
the self -righteous, not the ones who pretend
that they never struggle, but the ones who genuinely
desire what is good. The ones who want to show
kindness just because it's right. The ones who
want to act with compassion even when no one
is watching. Who want to do good not to be seen
or to be praised, but simply because it reflects
the heart of God. And none of us are that. Not
really. But how many of us are at least trying
to pursue it? How many of us are still aiming
our lives in that direction? Jesus says, blessed
are the peacemakers. This is not about peace
because we want to get credit. It's not peace
so that we look reasonable It's not peace because
then we want to say we're the bigger person and
hope everybody notices This is about peace because
we actually want it It's peace where people wake
up without fear Peace where someone doesn't feel
like they're always in the crosshairs or about
to be taken advantage of Peace where sharing
an idea doesn't mean wondering who's going to
undermine you as soon as you open your mouth.
Peace where the person you should be able to
trust is not quietly working against you. Peacemaking
is not passive. It is not naive. It is not cheap.
It's choosing to make room for the Kingdom of
God to become visible in relationships. institutions,
communities. And when people do this, it's not
because they get something out of it. It's because
they see something. They see the Kingdom of God
as it has been revealed in Jesus, and they're
willing to spend their lives helping to make
it real. That's why they are called blessed.
Because true blessing is not comfort. It's not
success. It's not even security. True blessing
is being caught up in what God has been doing
all along Being part of what's real being part
of what matters and as hard as that is That part
doesn't surprise us At least not about the world
you see we expect the world to resist righteousness
We expect those who do not know Christ to misunderstand
and oppose his ways But what's harder to face
is what happens when the people who claim God's
name? do the same thing. Because that's where
the weight of this really lands. Because when
Micah speaks, he's not speaking to the pagans.
He's speaking to the people of God. We're the
ones who should know better. We're the ones who
have been given the law. We're the ones who are
supposed to embody what God desires in the world.
And what happens when we lose sight of that?
What happens when righteousness becomes inconvenient
for us? when mercy feels like weakness, when
humility gets in the way of our control. I cannot
promise you that things are going to get easier.
I cannot promise you that doing the right thing
will protect your reputation. I cannot promise
you that suffering will stop before Christ's
return. I can't even promise you that the church
is always going to get it right. But what I can
promise you is this. You will not be outside
of the kingdom of God. Your faithfulness is not
wasted. Your obedience is not forgotten. Your
suffering is not meaningless. The kingdom of
God does not belong to the powerful. It belongs
to those who can see it by faith and who are
willing to live as if it's real already. Even
when it costs them everything. Because the world
understands corruption. What it doesn't understand
is why people who claim to follow Christ would
need it too. When we live no differently than
the world, we don't just harm our witness. We
make people wonder whether the kingdom of God
is even real. I cannot offer you a reward today.
I can't hand you something tangible or a victory
that the world will respect. I can't even give
you the peace of knowing that the church is always
going to get it right. So what can I give you?
I give you Jesus. I give you the Son of God.
I give you the one who did not merely talk about
the kingdom, but brought it to existence by suffering.
I give you the one who gave himself for you.
I give you the one who truly loves you. The one
who is not just claiming to save, but who actually
does. I give you the one who makes a real difference.
And as you follow Him, as you serve Him, as you
live as part of the Kingdom, I give you that
Kingdom too. Not success, not dominance, not
control, but the Kingdom of God. And everything
you do in His Name, not what you decide to baptize
with His Name, but what you do because He has
asked you to do justice, to love mercy, to walk
humbly with your God, all of that matters for
eternity. Joan of Arc did not live to hear her
name cleared. The disciples, almost all of them,
were martyred, and even Jesus himself was nailed
to a cross as a criminal. It's not the end of
the story though, because there is a resurrection.
So whatever it is that you are living through
right now, this is not about trying to overpower
the things that make life difficult. It's not
about forcing the world to bend. It's about learning
to see the kingdom. To live with justice, mercy,
and righteousness. To walk humbly before God.
Because when we do, then we discover our reward.
Not someday. Now. Because now is when we have
the Kingdom as our reward. Christ himself proclaims
justice, mercy, and humility. Because the Kingdom
doesn't always look like winning. But it is the
only thing that will always last. Thanks be to
God.