Sermon – Sunday 1 February
The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12)
What does it mean to be blessed? And who is entitled to God’s blessing?
Followers of the prosperity Gospel might tell us that those who have plenty of money, those who are popular and charismatic, those who are beautiful and those who don’t suffer are blessed.
Inspirational speakers and Instagram influencers might lead us to believe that those who have their lives sorted, can buy any pleasure they desire, and who have perfect health are blessed.
I was just driving home last week and saw a large new SUV type car with the number plate faith4. It made me pause and wonder what the history was behind that plate. Did they think God had blessed them because they were faithful?
But, unsurprisingly, Jesus doesn’t follow the path of the world!
Our passage from the Gospel this morning might well be familiar to many people. The Beatitudes, as they are commonly known, form the beginning of Jesus’ first sermon in Matthew.
The gospel of Matthew can be broken up into five discourses or teachings of Jesus. The first of which is the Sermon on the Mount, which we find in Matthew chaps 5-7. Today, we will only be focusing on his introduction.
Let’s set the scene. In chapter four Jesus had been travelling around Galilee teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom and healing people (Matt 4:23).
The word is getting out about this man who teaches and heals people. Increasing numbers of people are beginning to follow him around. People are bringing those who are sick, in pain, demon possessed and paralysed to him and Jesus is healing them.
The crowds are continuing to follow Jesus so he goes up the mountain and sits down. The disciples follow Jesus up the mountain and he begins to teach them. This is a message in stereo – on one hand Jesus is teaching the disciples, on the other the crowd who has followed him are also likely to be hearing this message.
There are a couple of images that are also worth noting. Matthew’s gospel was written to a predominantly Jewish audience. By going up the mountain and sitting down to teach, Matthew is inviting them to recall the image of their forebear Moses, who went up Mt Sinai and came down with God’s ten commandments.
Sitting down to teach reflects the posture of the rabbis of the day. Teaching recognises that Jesus has divine authority to interpret the law. But rather than Jesus teaching a new law, he is interpreting the old law and drawing his listeners’ attention back to the themes which are woven through the Old Testament scriptures.
Jesus makes eight statements of who is blessed and the promises to them. The first four relate to circumstances that will be reversed in Gods Kingdom. The second four suggest the qualities needed and consequences of living this Kingdom life.
What does it mean to be blessed? This word can mean happy, fortunate, flourishing or blessed. It isn’t a pronouncement of Jesus’ blessing as much as an observation of whom God has blessed. Jesus is reordering societal values and making a new declaration of who is worthy of honour.
Each statement is followed by a promise. The kingdom Jesus is proclaiming in a different type of kingdom. It contrasts the tension between how the world works now, what it values and what will be in the new reign of God’s Kingdom.
Jesus starts his teaching by saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” From the beginning, he is turning conventional wisdom on its head. No one would think that poverty, material or spiritual, looks like being blessed. This is not a spiritual poverty but rather a poverty that is due to being constantly worn down by the realities of the physical situation. These people know their need for God because in their own strength they are unable to make things turn around for themselves.
Jesus promises “theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” It is not those who have the finances to solve their challenges who will inherit the Kingdom.
Secondly, Jesus says “blessed are those who mourn”
There are many reasons to mourn, personal loss of those we love, loss of hopes and dreams for the future, loss of a society and way of being, the deep grief of a community in mourning after yet another natural disaster. The Old Testament prophets mourned Israel’s constant turning away from God and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.
Jesus promises those who mourn “will be comforted.” Mourning is not a condition to be celebrated but a circumstance into which God brings his loving comfort to us. It is worth noting that the Holy Spirit is also referred to as the comforter and draws near to us in our mourning.
Thirdly, Jesus says “blessed are the meek” Such a tricky word! Meek, maybe gentle, sometimes the oppressed. All possible options suggest people who have very little control over the outcome of their lives. Likely to be pushed aside by the powerful and taken advantage of.
Jesus’ promise for these people is that “they will inherit the earth.” Surely these are people been trampled over by people and systems in this life. It is a reversal of fortune as the powerful have had their share of the earth during their lives. Those who have been deprived of God’s resources in life will inherit it in the next.
The final group Jesus notes are those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness.” These are the people who desire a just world, a place where people are treated fairly and with compassion. Those people who desire right relationships. Given the reversal Jesus is offering, these may be people who have been denied justice.
These people “will be filled.” This could also mean satisfied! In God’s kingdom, those who desire a just world will finally see it happen.
In the second set of blessings, we see some characteristics of those who choose to follow God’s kingdom. The merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who are persecuted for righteousness.
When Jesus says, ” Blessed are the merciful, they will receive mercy.” One of the foundations of God’s character is mercy. This is how God described himself to Moses in Exodus –
“The Lord passed before him, and proclaimed,
‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”
Those who follow God should also be merciful, especially to those who are oppressed, downtrodden, and neglected in society. This is not a new message but it echoes what we heard from the prophet Micah to love kindness (which could also be translated as love mercy). Jesus is restating what God had already told the Israelites about how they should live. God doesn’t desire sacrifices as much as holy living.
Blessed are the pure in heart might cause you to think of Psalm 24 which askes “who can ascend the hill of the Lord, those with clean hands and a pure heart.” Throughout the Old Testament no one saw God and lived to tell the tale. Yet here Jesus is affirming that those who have pure hearts will see God face to face in the New Kingdom.
Blessed are the peacemakers confronts the false peace that was touted in the Roman Empire. Pax Romana was often peace imposed by military rule and not peaceful at all for those on the margins of society. God’s kingdom brings peace to all, and it comes in love without force and coercion. These people will be children of God. Apples don’t fall far from the tree and those who love God and walk in God’s ways will be known as his children because they value the same things.
Finally, blessed are the persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Jesus acknowledges that just as the prophets had been persecuted for their calls to return to right living, and just as Jesus himself will be persecuted, those who call us to right living and justice will likely be persecuted. However, they should hold firm as they will inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus is setting out parameters for what the kingdom of heaven will look like, who will be honoured, and the qualities of those who will choose to follow him. He is turning conventional wisdom on its head and shaking up the political, cultural and religious norms.
But what does it all mean for us? When “Christian Values” are no longer a given, and the church no longer holds a significant voice in society.
I want to suggest that this Kingdom manifesto is as important today as it was when Jesus first said it. If anything, we live in a world where people are violently grabbing for power, actively avoiding discomfort, and willing to look the other way to decisions that will diminish the welling being of the poor, the weak and marginalised.
The early church grew in number because of the Beatitudes. These early communities of faith valued the poor, those who were oppressed, those who had no status. They pursued lifestyles that chose justice over comfort. They could do this because had seen it modelled in Jesus, they had seen it modelled in the disciples and many had been beneficiaries of those who were willing to lay aside the conventional wisdom of the world to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God.
Today as much as ever, the world needs glimmers of the Kingdom. Glimmers in our neighbourhoods, glimmers in our government, glimmers with our friends. So, who will we align ourselves with? The powerful and slick or Jesus when he positions himself with the vulnerable and the outcasts?
Amen.