The Beatitudes – Matthew 5:1-11
Jesus' Sermon on the Mount begins with the discourse commonly known as "the Beatitudes"; a list of eight types of people who are blessed by God, and it isn't those we expected.
As we prepare to explore Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, here are a few things to keep in mind –
The Sermon on the Mount is not an isolated speech.
“[Jesus’] life is but a commentary on the sermon, and the sermon is the exemplification of his life.”
– Stanley HauerwasThe whole sermon is Christ describing what life in the kingdom and allegiance to him looks like.
Jesus’ definition of the Kingdom of Heaven; “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Obedience to the Sermon on the Mount is a practice in imagination.
THE FORM OF JESUS’ BLESSINGS WAS NOT UNIQUE – IT WAS THE CONTENT.
7 I can think of nine whom I would call blessed,
and a tenth my tongue proclaims:
a man who can rejoice in his children;
a man who lives to see the downfall of his foes.
8 Happy the man who lives with a sensible wife,
and the one who does not plow with ox and donkey together.
Happy is the one who does not sin with the tongue,
and the one who has not served an inferior.
9 Happy is the one who finds a friend,
and the one who speaks to attentive listeners.
10 How great is the one who finds wisdom!
But none is superior to the one who fears the Lord.
11 Fear of the Lord surpasses everything;
to whom can we compare the one who has it?
–Sirach 25.:7-11
The Beatitudes can be grouped into two categories–
Blessings on those who have been crushed by the world.
Blessing on those who work on behalf of the broken.
The beatitudes are not a list of virtues, they are a roll call for those whom God calls blessed.
#1. BLESSINGS ON THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN CRUSHED BY THE WORLD.
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
The poor in spirit will cover those who are spiritually, emotionally, psychically, and economically poor.
4“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
David Brunner translates the main verb as “brokenhearted”; This is not those with a long face or those that enjoy a sad movie, it is a blessing on those who have experienced the worse the world has to offer.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are the little people or the powerless. The third beatitude holds on hope for a renewed earth by which they will be inheritors. The powerful are often willing to give the meek heaven while retaining earth for themselves. Jesus gives them that renewed earth.
“Thus for a third time in three Beatitudes, it appears that Jesus simply picks up the pieces. First to the dependent poor, then to the grief-stricken, and now to the unaggressive, Jesus gives everything: God’s kingdom, God’s comfort, and now God’s green earth. Yet everyone else knows that it is the psychically and spiritually self-confident, the positive- and possibility thinkers, and the dynamically assertive who really get things and who get things done on earth. The meek may inherit heaven—both the entrepreneur and the revolutionary will give the meek heaven—but not earth. Yet Jesus gives them earth.”
– Dave Brunner
The situations in which the world judges as disastrous and hopeless are the very ones in which Christ calls blessed.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
The Jewish theology that would have soaked Jesus’ own imagination has no category for righteousness before God disconnected from human charity or social justice. The prophet Amos has a particularly harsh warning for any who separate their conduct towards their neighbor from their worship.
#2. BLESSING ON THOSE THAT WORK ON BEHALF OF THE BROKEN.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
It is a statement of becoming understanding, warm, empowering. It is defending the potential in all people.
“[F]or the Lord you God desires mercy not sacrifice.” – Hosea 6:6
The proof of Gospel understanding makes one more merciful not more severe.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed is the person-centered on God at their core. Blessed is the person who clearly identifies Christ as their “true-north”.
“Because they will see God”– those centered on Christ will have the gift of being able to identify God at work. Those living in the world, know how difficult the purity of heart is. Thus the challenge to live in this beatitude is rewarded with knowledge of God.
“36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
– Matthew 22:36-40 (ESV)
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Peacemaker could be translated “wholemaker” (brunner). For we are in the work of comprehensive welfare. (Jer. 29:7)
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The life of Jesus embodies this beatitude with tragic potency; those working to see justice, goodness, and beauty in the world will be crushed by the world.
For those who are really walking as disciples of Christ, bitter unpopularity is what should be expected.
REDEFINING WHO WE CALL BLESSED.
“The Beatitudes of Jesus are nothing short of a revolution of evaluation. We see in those whom Jesus blesses those who truly are the Jesus people of this world, and what he calls to our attention about them are not the sort of elements that often go into our evaluation methods.”
–Scot McKnight
Jesus blesses two kinds of people–
Those who have been broken by the world.
Those who are working on behalf of the broken.
