When we left off in Matthew 4, Jesus was going throughout Galilee teaching, preaching and healing. Large crowds were coming to Him from all over – not only crowds of Jews, but non-Jews from various backgrounds too. That is to be expected, because healing and solid teaching ministry are relevant to every ethnic, not just to the Jews.
As chapter five opens, we see Jesus responding to the crowds that had gathered to follow Him. “Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them…” As He usually does, Jesus begins with teaching.
Matthew five begins the Sermon on the Mount – effectively a summary of the things Jesus’ taught to the crowds that came to hear Him. This teaching begins with the Beatitudes. The beatitudes are a particular kind of teaching. As one commentator put it, “They name a situation or action in which they declare God’s blessing or favor is experienced. Implicitly they exhort others to manifest this way of life or experience this situation. For those who do not, the blessing functions as condemnation.” We can see that this is a summary and likely not a verbatim transcript because of the style of the text. The same commentators noted, “Some have argued convincingly that the Beatitudes fall into three stanzas of 5:3–6, 7–10, 11–12. Each stanza has 36 words.”
Each beatitude begins with the word, “Blessed”. The Greek (μακάριος) is makarios. It means to be fortunate or happy because of circumstances, to be favored, happy, or privileged. The idea is that one is both favored by divine grace, and happy for the state of being so favored. Yet a quick glance at what Jesus called blessed can impart some confusion. Normally we would not consider any of these things a blessing. To be poor in spirit, or mourning, or meek, or hungry for righteousness (etc), is usually seen as a sad state of mind indeed. But Jesus is not a mere poet, and He does not purpose to be simply ironic. He is teaching the way of the Kingdom of God, and the way of the Kingdom is not the way of human perception!
Each beatitude “portrays the ideal heart condition of a kingdom citizen—a condition that brings abundant spiritual blessing.” It is that spiritual blessing that Jesus is interested in imparting – for the spiritual (which lasts) is always more valuable than the physical (which is temporary). That is a truth worth remembering. Also worth remembering is that God always starts with blessing. That may be a profound truth, but it isn’t exactly rocket science. Kindness is the key that opens the door to valued relationship. Without kindness it is all but impossible to have a relationship that the other party wants.
It could even be said that the impartation of a spiritual blessing is a prerequisite to the impartation of a spiritual truth. Blessing must precede truth, or the truth will be judged according to the condition of the other’s soul apart from from the experience of kindness, and often their soul condition is anything but receptive. By starting off with the pronouncement of spiritual blessing, Jesus softens the hearts of those He is speaking to, even if they do not enjoy the path to blessing they are on.
Joy is the serious business of heaven.
C.S. Lewis
APPLICATION: Thankfulness
Think of a time when you felt truly blessed. What was it like? What blessing are you experiencing now?