The Beatitudes
Jesus Christ gave us the eight Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, recorded for all posterity in the Gospel of Matthew, the first Book of the New Testament of the Bible. Jesus offers us a way of life that promises eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven. The Ten Commandments, given to Moses on Mount Sinai in the Old Testament Book of Exodus, relates a series of “Thou shalt nots,” evils one must avoid in daily life on earth.
In contrast, the message of Jesus was one of humility, charity, and brotherly love. He taught transformation of the inner person. Jesus presents the Beatitudes in a positive sense, virtues in life which will ultimately lead to reward. Love becomes the motivation for the Christian. All of the Beatitudes have an eschatological meaning, that is, they promise us salvation – not in this world, but in the next. The Beatitudes initiate one of the main themes of Matthew’s Gospel, that the Kingdom so long awaited in the Old Testament is not of this world, but of the next, the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The first beatitude from Matthew does not indicate that simply the only way to get into the kingdom of heaven is to sell all your personal belongings and take a life of poverty. It means do not place high value on material items. Be humble before the Lord for those who are humble in spirit are blessed by God. The poor who are arrogant, deceitful and full of envy have no access to the kingdom of heaven even though they are poor.
Everyday Actions: Be humble before the Lord. Do not be arrogant; rather be thankful for what the Lord has provided. Give thanks every day from the bottom of your heart for the cries of the poor are heard in heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
The easiest way to understand this Beatitude is that Jesus wants you to mourn for your sins. In other words, be sorry for the sins you have committed and ask forgiveness. According to St. John Chrysostom’s Homilies on Matthew, XV, he says: “And again, in this Beatitude, Christ doesn’t speak of those who weep for any kind of causes, but of those who weep for their sins. Any other weep is strictly forbidden, like crying for earthly goods”.
Everyday Actions: Be sorry for your sins. There is not a man born from woman alive that is without sin. Be truly sorry for the sins you have committed and ask for forgiveness every day. Do not mourn because someone else has a nicer car or better job; mourn because you have sinned in the eyes of the Lord and be comforted by the knowledge that by asking for his forgiveness, you will find your place in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
The third Beatitude is a paraphrase of Psalm 37:11. “But the meek shall inherit the earth…”and has no connotation of poverty, meaning a person who is humble and gentle despite his wealth. Moses, for example, was not the poorest of all men, but was the meekest. In fact, the Third Beatitude is a promise for everyone who rightfully serves God and has little to do with amounts of money or quantities of land. Everyone who rightfully serves the Lord must be meek, despite any possible wealth. From the Christian perspective of salvation, the earth inherited by the meek is the “new earth” of salvation described in Revelation 21:1.
Everyday Actions: In essence, don’t be a jerk. Be humble and gentle before the Lord. Look for the good in things rather than always looking for the worst. Cutting someone off while in the store parking lot so you get the closer parking space in not considered being meek! Don’t flaunt what you have and look down upon your brother because he does not have what you do.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
The righteousness described in this Beatitude is a moral attribute of God. The thirsty and the hungry are the oppressed; and their desire for salvation, their yearning for the refuge of Lord, is well described as thirst and hunger after righteousness. In order to make very clear the meaning of this Beatitude, Jesus put it twice in work, as shown in Matthew 14:13-21 and Matthew 15:29-39. The feeding of the masses is associated with their quest for religious and moral perfection. And it was not a reward, but a result: the result of their hunger and thirst for the words of God.
Everyday Actions: Seek out righteousness in the eyes of the Lord. Put your faith in Jesus and he will provide all you need. This does not mean he will provide what you WANT, but what you need. Do not think that because you believe yourself to be a righteous man that you will win the lottery or money will drop from the sky, rather take solace in the fact that your righteousness before the Lord will ensure your needs here on Earth shall be meet. Have faith in the Lord and the Lord will provide.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy
In Jesus’ time on earth, Jews considered mercy as one of the acts of righteousness (together with fasting and praying), and Jesus Himself places “judgment, mercy and faith” among “the weightier matters of the Law” (Matthew 23:23). In order to understand the importance of the Fifth Beatitude, we must understand what mercy is. To put it in few words, mercy is love expressed towards a needy person.
Everyday Actions: Show mercy and love to those in need. Do not look at the homeless man walking down the street with disdain or contempt, but rather show him love and mercy in the eyes of the Lord.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
A sermon preached by J. Stuart Taylor III
St. Mark’s Presbyterian
March 6, 2005
… How do I claim the blessing of the pure in heart when my life might feel splintered into thousands of details and fragments that hardly seem god-like? How do I claim the blessing of the pure in heart when my heart may be filled with double-minded confusion and ambivalence? How do I practice this beatitude in my daily life so that I can experience the blessing of the pure in heart that see God? A wise Christian thinker by the name of Soren Kierkegaard once wrote that purity of heart is to will one thing. To will one thing is not to search through all the big and important things that could be the goals of life and then to decide on one. It is not simply to set one’s priorities and to stay focused. It is not to make anything the one thing. No, wherever a person is in world, whatever road he or she travels, when she wills one thing, she is on the road to God. All ways lead to God if one wills only one thing. What is that one thing? St. Paul said it was to seek the Kingdom of God. Let me say it a different way. Purity of heart is found in the person who seeks to respond to God in all things. Purity of heart is found in the person who seeks to respond to God in all things. If gradually in all things, we begin to will this one thing of responding in love to God, our eyes will be opened, and we will see God. And we will be blessed.
Everyday Actions: Everything you do, do it for God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Purification through vengeance and punishment is, in fact, the final work of peacemaking. Jesus is the Son of God, and through Him every disciple of His shall be called a son of God. This procedure is very well described by Paul:
…because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba,]Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Everyday Actions: As sons of God, led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14 above), we declare who we really are when we avoid quarrels, mend our relationships, care for the sick, free the captives and reconcile people to each other. It is our ability to bless others and to love our enemies that set us apart from the world and all who live according to the flesh.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
There are some encouraging words about persecution in I Peter chapter 4, verses 12-19. If we are living as we should, we should expect to be persecuted, (verse 12). We are even instructed to rejoice that we participate in the sufferings of Christ. We should count it an honor to suffer, even as Christ suffered. Verse 14 says that if you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
Peter warns us not to confuse persecution for righteousness with persecution for other reasons. He specifically mentions three sinful conditions that would cause us persecution: being a murderer, thief, or a meddler. His point? We are not blessed when we are persecuted for sinful actions.
Next Peter tells us that if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. Lastly, if you suffer according to God’s will, commit yourself to your faithful Creator and continue to do good. Don’t be dissuaded by your friends or by the world. Never give up.
Everyday Actions: Rejoice in the fact that you are a Christian and do not be ashamed to spread the word of the Lord for fear of being persecuted. Are you afraid of being labeled a derogatory subject because you have faith in Jesus Christ?
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
This text proved itself extremely important for Christian mentality and life and it was quickly underlined by the Apostles. Peter, for example, says: “If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” (1 Peter 4:14).
The ground of the Ninth Beatitude is an older one, expressed by the king and the prophet David, Psalm 119:2: Blessed are they that keep His testimonies and that seek Him with the whole heart.
That is, actually, what the Beatitudes are about: to keep the testimonies of God and to seek Him with the whole heart.
Everyday Actions: Be not ashamed of who you are or your belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let those who will persecute you for being a Christian do so in the knowledge that your reward lies in the Kingdom of Heaven.