Blessed to be in That Number
Matthew 5:1-12
November 2, 2025 anno Domini
There’s something to the numbers in the Bible. In today’s first reading you have 12 tribes of 12,000. There were 12 tribes in the Old Testament and Jesus called 12 apostles in the New Testament. 10 is the number of completeness and there are three persons in the Trinity. You put all that together – 12x12x10x10x10 – and you get a number that represents all of God’s people in the Old and New Testament – the whole rank and file of fighting saints and resting victors outlined in Revelation.
Today’s Gospel reading also contains some interesting numbers they are harder to see for English eyes. In Matthew 5 Jesus begins preaching the Sermon on the Mount – a very creative name since Jesus climbed up a mountain, sat down and preached. Jesus begins the sermon with 12 verses that form the text and these are called the Beatitudes – a fancy word that means a declaration of blessing.
Here are the numbers that you can’t see. The first four beatitudes take 36 words in Greek. The last four beatitudes also take 36 words in Greek. Now that’s 12×3 plus 12×3 – once again 12 tribes for the OT and 12 apostles in the New Testament times the persons of the Trinity. A symbolic number for the communion of saints, all those who through faith are with God.
It’s not important that you can do the math. What is important, on this All Saints Day, is that you rejoice in the Holy Christian Church — that you are in that number of people united to the Triune God. You are holy. You are blessed. That is not because of your work. It is not an emotion or feeling. It is your place, your situation, because the Holy Trinity has worked Your salvation in Christ and the Holy Spirit has called you into the Church, into this holy Christian people, by giving you faith in God’s Son
Jesus is declaring a situation, a place, when He uses the word “blessed” nine times to begin His sermon. If you hear something nine times at the beginning of the sermon it is probably a good indication what the sermon is going to be about.
What does it mean to be “blessed”? It doesn’t mean what you think it means. You use the word like this– I’ve been blessed with good health. I’ve been blessed with great kids. God has blessed me with wealth. You judge your blessings on the things that your heart desires. You consider yourself blessed if you feel good about something or if things go your way.
That is not what Jesus means by blessed. When God created Adam and Eve He blessed them. He blessed them in this way. He put them in His garden, gave them all His gifts, and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
This is what it is to be blessed. It is to be in the place God has put you doing the work He has given you to do. The Holy Spirit has called you into the Holy Christian Church. You have been baptized into the body of Christ, born again as a child of God. This is your blessedness. Your sins are forgiven by the death of Christ. Your death is dead and buried in Christ’s tomb. You not only believe, but you have, as the creed confesses, “the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.” There is no more blessed place than to be in the Church – the place where all those gifts are delivered to sinners.
The Church’s blessed work is to multiply. The other week someone said to me, “Redeemer is dying one member at a time.” To our eyes and according to our math that appears to be true, but in the reality of the Holy Christian Church that is the Devil’s lie. Redeemer’s part in the Holy Christian Church has been growing since her first service in 1945. Every soul that is baptized, that continues the life of repentance and faith, is added to that great church seen by John in Revelation. In truth Redeemer has never shrunk, but always grown. The people who are no longer in the pews, but who remained faithful to death, are still in our number, or better we are in theirs. They still join us at the communion railing as the whole company of heaven. The Holy Christian Church was multiplying before Redeemer was built in 1945 and will continue to multiply should Redeemer someday be no more.
Big numbers might be an earthly blessing, but the real blessing, even in a congregation of 15, is that wherever the Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached in purity, and the Sacraments are administered according to Christ’s institution – the Holy Christian Church is growing. The angels in heaven rejoice over a single sinner who repents. Shame on us, if we don’t do the same, and work and sacrifice so that the Gospel of Jesus Christ continues to be preached wherever we are – for now that happens to be 2719 3rd Street North.
That truth will help you understand how the blessings Jesus preaches seem paradoxical or counterintuitive. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Who wants to be poor in anything? Who wants to admit that their righteousness before God looks like a tattered rag in the bottom of the stinking garbage can? But is that not the truth that your eyes see and your heart feels when you recognize your own sin? And yet what does Christ say of you by His death and resurrection – yours is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn. Your life is filled with sadness as the people and gifts of God that you love die. You mourn that loss of the people and pleasures God has put in your life – but you will be comforted. This is what Christ promises. In the resurrection you won’t miss anything, but will rejoice in all you have gained in Christ. You’ll consider everything you lost as rubbish, because Christ holds you. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. What does the world say of faithful Christians who hold to the truth of God’s Word? The world thinks it would be better if there were no Christians, yet the very freedoms to say such things, came because of Christianity.
Finally, like the blessedness of Adam and Eve, you are blessed (and that’s both the singular and plural you – you as an individual and you as God’s people) when you are having dominion over the world, when you’re ruling over the world. Is that what your eyes are seeing? Is the Church winning? Are we gaining ground? Are we having success at every turn? Yes, we are and it’s been that way ever since Christ rose from the dead and sent His twelve out. Two thousand years ago there wasn’t a single Christian in North America. Two thousand years ago, your Germanic and Scandinavian ancestors were pagan barbarians of the first order. Now those lands are filled with Christians and Christians made those the best countries to live in. When you confess your sins, you are beating Satan. He loves sin, hates confession, and despises forgiveness. But when you confess, when you forgive, you rule in Christ. Wherever Christ and Him crucified is preached the Gospel wins. Wherever infants are baptized in the name of the Triune God, wherever Christ’s body and blood is given under the bread and wine to sinners, there you will find victory and dominion over sin, death, and hell.
This is your Lord’s sermon – blessed are you, because you are in the number of those justified by Christ, called by the Spirit to faith, and given the Kingdom of God. Blessed are you to be in that place – the Holy Christian Church, where the fruit of the Gospel is being multiplied, filling the earth, and ruling over sin, death, and hell. Blessed are you in the name of Jesus.