Matthew 5,1-12.
Matthew, for the most part, gathers the teaching of Jesus into five great sermons, the first of which we call the Sermon on the Mount. (Mt Chs. 5-7).
Jesus went up a mountain, sat down – the posture of an ancient teacher – and joined by his disciples, he began to teach them. Giving his teaching on a mountain may be an allusion to the giving of the Law to Moses on Mt Sinai.
The beatitudes are at the start of the Sermon on the Mount as the 10 Commandments head the Torah (Ex 20,1-17), like an overture at the beginning of an opera. The beatitudes capture the essence of Jesus’ teaching and vision of the kingdom. They are his charter, his mission statement.
Beatitudes are sayings expressing the blessedness/happiness of groups or individuals because of their goodness, virtue, or example etc. They occur 26 times in the psalms and 21 times elsewhere in the Old Testament; e.g Psalm 1,1 – Blessed is the person who follows not the counsel of the wicked but delights in the law of the Lord etc. In the New Testament beatitude is most common for people’s faith. “Blessed art thou among women. “Blessed is she who believed the promises of the Lord.” (Lk 1,4). In the Bible, God Himself is the only one who can bless.
Here in Matthew, we find 8 beatitudes. The 1st and 8th beatitudes speak of a blessing in the present (tense) – the blessing exists already. The other 6 beatitudes speak about blessings yet to come. Luke’s beatitudes (only 4), speak in the second person plural and speak about actual existing conditions, (poverty, hunger, weeping, and hatred). They speak directly to those who are hungry etc. “Blessed are you who are hungry.”
Matthew generalises (3rd person plural –the poor- theirs is the kingdom etc) and spiritualises what we find in Luke, e.g. Luke’s” poor” become “the poor in spirit” in Matthew. “You who are hungry,” in Luke, become “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness”in Mt. Luke’s beatitudes are thought to be the more original, but for us, instead of prioritising one over the other, we should rejoice that we are spiritually the richer for having both sets of beatitudes, with their different perspectives.
Poverty of spirit means knowing our need of God. Mourning is primarily sorrow for our sins. Meekness, Mercy, and Peace- making, are essential spiritual qualities, and kingdom and community virtues. Purity of heart is integrity and singleness of heart – seeking the Lord with one’s whole heart. The opposite of pure of heart is a divided heart. Hunger and thirst for righteousness, and suffering for its sake, are pining for the time when everyone in the world will follow and love God’s will and ways. When that time comes, the kingdom, too, will have come.
The beatitudes offer a vision of the kingdom consisting of attitudes and actions that promote ithe kingdom, e.g being poor in spirit, suffering persecution for the cause of right; being gentle – showing mercy; mourning/repenting – being pure of heart; hungry for justice – working for peace.
Living out the beatitude values in our dealing with others is the way to promote the kingdom in our time. They offer us a new way of relating to God, to others and to ourselves, a way that blesses all because it is God’s way.
Father Geoff O’Grady