The text for this meditation is written in the 5th
Chapter of the Gospel according to St Matthew; Verses 1 – 12:
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and
when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
The Beatitudes
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they
shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall
inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they
shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they
shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted
for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when
others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you
falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice
and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the
prophets who were before you.
There are many Biblical texts that
we have heard so often that it is very tempting to sort of go through them on
autopilot. If we were to make a list of
those texts, I am fairly sure the beatitudes from today’s Gospel would be in
the top ten. The words kind of grab us …
‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth’. We’ve heard this before. There is a nice pattern in the words and it
all sound very noble, but do we actually, seriously think about the meaning? When we hear the sound of those words,
do we actually pay attention?
Similarly, when we do stop to study
the beatitudes, we often convert them into a list of things we have to get
right before God will bless us. We go on
a quest to become poor in spirit, sorrowful, meek, and so forth.
To add to this, there is an
unfortunate linguistic twist. The word
beatitude sounds like two English words: “be” and “attitude.” It is very easy for us to start thinking that
these are the attitudes that I must have in order to get these
blessings from God. There are many
publications out there that play around with this unfortunate linguistic twist
and have titles such as the “Be Happy Attitudes.”
It is our natural attitude as
fallen human beings to find these things attractive. We like it when someone says, “You can take
control of your life. If you follow
these guidelines, principles, or steps, you can achieve your
goal.” This kind of thinking is very
attractive and appealing to our old, sinful nature, but it is all a lie.
I find it quite distressing to talk
with people who have heard this false teaching all their lives and don’t
understand why it hasn’t worked. They say
such things as “I have really hungered and thirsted for righteousness and I
don’t feel satisfied’. ‘I have mourned
and I don’t feel comforted’. ‘I have
tried to be pure in heart and I just can’t get it right’. What can I do?” It seems Satan influences people to take the marvellous
Gospel blessings of Jesus Christ and twisted them into law. The weight of that perverted law crushes
people and drives them into despair. It’s
heartbreaking to see such despair because there is such great Gospel in the
beatitudes.
There are many ways to study the
beatitudes. One Good way is to begin
with the bookends – the first and the eighth beatitude. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed
are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.
These beatitudes promise us the
kingdom of heaven. We heard about the kingdom
of heaven last week. In the Greek
language, a kingdom is not just a place, but it is the ruling activity of the
king. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven
is the ruling presence of God. The kingdom
of heaven is the deeds of God, performed in and through Jesus Christ,
God’s only Son. The kingdom of
heaven includes everything that Jesus did and still does to bring us to
life eternal with Him. Basically, the kingdom
of heaven is Jesus Christ Himself.
The phrase poor in spirit
simply describes the way we are. We have
no spiritual resources. There is nothing
we can do to earn salvation for ourselves.
We are born into the debt of sin and we only go deeper into debt as we
live. All people are poor in spirit –
everyone, everywhere. They can’t help
it.
The first beatitude “Blessed are
the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” teaches us that
the presence of God in human flesh in the person of Jesus is a blessing for all
sinners. The people who heard Jesus
teach this the first time didn’t have the whole story, but we do. We know that Jesus is a blessing for all
sinners because He took the sin debt of the world to the cross and there He
paid it all. We who were deep in the
debt of sin are now rich in Jesus Christ who is the kingdom of heaven. Our wealth in Christ was made sure when Jesus
rose from the dead. The beatitude, “Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” means that
sinners are blessed because Jesus has earned salvation for them.
The bookend of the eighth beatitude
also describes the way we are. Jesus
describes us as “persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” The righteousness in this phrase is not our
good deeds. Instead, it is the
righteousness of Christ that He has earned for us with His perfect life and
innocent suffering and death. The world
hates Jesus and so it hates those who have His righteousness. As a result, the world persecutes those who
believe. When this happens, Jesus
promises us His blessings. The One who
reigns in heaven already belongs to believers in such difficult times.
The persecution of the church is
part of the now, but not yet of the Christian faith. The present reign of Christ in this world is
a hidden reality. He rules, not from
power, but from the apparent weakness of the cross. He shows His true power only to those who
believe in Him. It is only on the last
day that all people will see Jesus and know that He is both Lord and Christ. Until then, He will bless His church even as
she suffers persecution for His name’s sake.
The bookend beatitudes teach us that
the true blessings of these beatitudes depend entirely on Jesus. There is nothing that we can do to earn these
blessings for we are spiritually poor.
As we remember the blessing that Jesus gives us in these bookends, we
see that all the beatitudes depend on Jesus.
Those who have Christ who is the
Kingdom of Heaven look out at the world around them. As they look, they see many who reject the
kingdom of Heaven. They see the sin and
evil of the world and it breaks their hearts.
They mourn over the sin they see in themselves and the sin they see
around them. Jesus tells us that these
mourners are blessed because when the Last Day comes, He will comfort all their
tears and take away all their sorrows.
Even as he lives with them now in a way that they cannot see, they will
see Him and live with Him forever.
Those who have Christ who is the
Kingdom of Heaven look at themselves and see that they are meek. They are not
meek because they seek meekness. They
have not set out on a quest to become meek.
They are meek because, as sinners, meek is all that they can be. Meek describes the helpless
sinner. Never the less, because of the work
that Jesus has done for them on the cross, they will rule with Jesus on a new
earth – the earth that replaces this sinful world on the Last Day.
Those who have Christ who is the
Kingdom of Heaven know that Jesus Christ is their righteousness. They know that they are helpless and only the
righteousness given to them by Christ saves them. Once they have tasted the righteousness of
Christ, they want as much as they can get.
They always hunger and thirst for more of the righteousness that is
Jesus. Jesus says that these people are
already blessed because on the Last Day, He will satisfy their desire for
righteous and they will be filled.
Those who have Christ who is the
Kingdom of Heaven continuously receive Christ’s mercy. Not only does Christ’s mercy work in them,
but it also works through them. This
beatitude describes the Church of Jesus Christ as a community of people who
freely forgive those who sin against them.
This beatitude parallels the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive
those who trespass against us. This mercy is not something that we work in
ourselves, but something that Christ works in us through the power of the Holy
Spirit.
Those who have Christ who is the
Kingdom of Heaven have a pure heart. We
receive the forgiveness of sins when the Holy Spirit works faith in us so that
we believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. When the Holy Spirit does that He performs a
heart transplant. He removes our dead,
unbelieving heart and creates a new heart in us. That is exactly what King David begged of God
in Psalm 51: ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God’. When the Holy Spirit works that faith in us,
He gives us a pure heart. Those who have
such a pure heart will see God face-to-face for the day will come when God will
call us out of this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.
Those who have Christ who is the
Kingdom of Heaven are peacemakers. Even
though they are spiritually impoverished, God has generously made peace with
them through His Son Jesus Christ. By
virtue of our Saviour’s holy precious blood and innocent suffering and death,
we have peace with God. Those who have
that peace readily share it with others.
They proclaim the message, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at
hand!”
The summary blessing doesn’t seem
like much of a blessing at first. “Blessed
are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil
against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they
persecuted the prophets who were before you. No one enjoys being an outcast, but how else
can we expect the sinful world to treat those whose sins have been
forgiven. When people in this world make
us miserable because we trust in Christ, we have the promise of blessing from
Jesus Himself.
It is not our job to earn the
blessings of the beatitudes. Instead,
Jesus has taken it on Himself to give us these blessings in His love. In order to give us His gifts, He endured our
punishment and carried our shame. These
blessings come to us freely by God’s grace and not by anything we do in
ourselves.
The world in its wisdom would
look at these beatitudes and say, “These are the symptoms of those who have
that disease known as Christianity.”
Those who know they are poor in spirit look at these beatitudes
and see the signs of Jesus Christ and His Church. They see the gifts God has already given to
us. Rejoice
and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. Amen
The love and peace of our Great
Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds
in Christ Jesus. Amen
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