Text for the Week: The Beatitudes part 1

Scripture: Matthew 5:1-12

¹ When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. ² And he began to speak 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 will be comforted.

⁵ “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

⁶ “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

⁷ “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

⁸ “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

⁹ “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

¹⁰ “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ “Blessed are you when people 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 in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Questions

1. Why does Matthew mention the crowds when Jesus is speaking to his disciples in this passage?
2. What does it mean to be blessed as Jesus is using the word here?
3. Why does Jesus select these characteristics and not others and is there any significance to the order he lists them?
4. Are the beatitudes related to one another and if so how?
5. What does “theirs is the kingdom of heaven” mean when Jesus has already said “the kingdom of heaven is here”?

Background

Related Scriptures: Deuteronomy 28; Psalm 1,Luke 6,

The Beatitudes appear to be divided into three groups of three.

Jesus going up on the mountain is meant to be an allusion to Moses who is known for ascending the mountain and for giving instruction. Matthew’s use of “the” is meant to draw a parallel to Sinai.

Throughout the Bible the Mountain is connected with the place of God where people connect to God.

Μακάριοι (blessed) “denotes the transcendent happiness of a life beyond care, labour and death^[1]…”; definitions like “happy” and “rich” can be helpful, in contrast to the pain and suffering of life.

The “blessed” life Jesus is describing is clearly rooted in and dependent on the concept that he is bringing a new reality “The Kingdom of Heaven” to our society without this concept there is no reason to believe that anyone whose life is marked by these characteristics is “blessed”.

Reflection

This week my mind was arrested by the realization that the more I thought about the first of the beatitudes the less I seemed to understand it. Who exactly are the “poor in spirit” and what does it mean that they are living a blessed life? After a few hours of spinning my wheels I decided to crowd source this question and threw it out to my friends and followers on social media. And the general consensus was that Jesus was speaking about a spiritual longing that was unmet, or a recognition that my spirit on its own is completely lacking. It seems like the popular understanding is similar to what is expressed in Augustine’s words: “There is a God-shaped vacuum in every man that only Christ can fill.”[2]

The problem I had with this idea is that everyone is in a state of this spiritual longing and what separates people is the degree to which a person recognizes this fact. Jesus though seems to indicate that people in this state are blessed and while he could mean “blessings on the world for the kingdom of heaven has arrived”, I do not think that is accurate. So when I think about the poor in spirit I have to acknowledge that Jesus is speaking of persisting in that state not simply recognizing a need that others miss.

I have some difficulty with this interpretation but it did help me think a little more clearly about what the phrase “poor in spirit” could mean. I began to think that if poor in spirit referred to a spiritual lack then the only thing that would fill the lack is God (as Augustine said). But that is not what Jesus says will come to those who are poor in spirit, instead they are given “the kingdom of heaven”. I began to ask what hole would be filled by the kingdom of heaven? And as I pursued this question I was led to consider Psalm 33:19 in the Greek Old Testament: “ The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and he will save the humble in spirit”.[3] Not only does this verse seem to echo the first of the Beatitudes, it seems to echo the first three.

As I thought about that I came to the idea that what Jesus is trying to do is link these first three beatitudes and set them within the context of the Old Testament and the time when God would bring justice to earth. In the Old Testament the prophets saw this as “the day of the LORD” but Jesus has identified it as the coming of the kingdom of heaven. It is the third of the beatitudes that provides me with the understanding of the first two. Even though we often use the translation “meek” the term means- “those who are ostracized from society or oppressed by society” (see Job 24:4). Jesus is opening the door to the kingdom to those who society has forgotten or willingly abused. These are the people who most need God and so the crowdsourced definition is not entirely wrong, but I think it is important to understand that their struggles are caused by human mistreatment. In the same way those who mourn are not doing so simply because mourning is part of the universal human experience (though that is partially true) but specifically because of the suffering and mistreatment that others cause. And so to be poor in spirit is to be in a position where one’s spirit has been made destitute by society, someone who is in a complete state of lack. This may include a person being taken advantage of and made a beggar, but it may also include people who have other needs. The point is that God is reversing their situation, the community has failed to include this person in desperate need and now Jesus is saying they will not simply have an inheritance in God’s kingdom but that God’s kingdom is theirs, and in it they will be given the resources of the land and be brought comfort. Jesus wants us to understand that God’s blessing is on those who have been wronged by sinful society and God will right that wrong.

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^[1] Friedrich Hauck and Georg Bertram, “Μακάριος, Μακαρίζω, Μακαρισμός,” TDNT 362.

[2] This is version of what Augustine said in Confessions 1.1

[3] See John Nolland Matthew NIGTC.