Matthew 5a

 5: 1-2.  When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he began to speak and taught them, saying: ….

What crowds? With good Bible Study methods, we should ask: “What came before this?” The previous verse (4: 25) summarized Jesus’ early ministry this way: “And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.” Just before that, Jesus called some of his disciples to follow him. So Jesus has two categories of followers.

Being in ministry to both groups sets up a challenge: How can Jesus divide his time between healing and preaching to the crowds, on the one hand, and teaching and training his disciples, on the other? Those are two quite different tasks. Matthew presents us here with one solution; This time, Jesus walked away from the crowds and found a place to speak directly to his disciples. Jesus walked up a mountain and took the posture of a teacher (“he sat down”). His disciples recognize what’s happening and they gather around as he begins to teach.

This new section on teaching goes how far in Matthew? Chapter 8 begins, “When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him…”. We have ‘bookends’; Jesus going up the mountain away from the crowds, then Jesus coming down the mountain to the crowds.

Matthew’s style is to put together all of one kind of material, and then move on to another kind. Most scholars believe that this was not all one teaching session since it is quite long and covers a multitude of topics. Rather, it is probable that Matthew has put together a summary of Jesus’ disciple training that occurred over time. That is especially true if each point involved questions and explanations.

5: 3-5.  Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

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

What does ‘blessed’ mean? The Greek word, makarios, could be translated  as “(1) blessed, (2) fortunate, or (3) congratulations.”[1] The second phrase gives us a hint; it is ‘for’ or ‘because’. So, Jesus’ sayings here are forward-looking to when the Kingdom of Heaven will have fully arrived. The context for all the Beatitudes is the future Kingdom of Heaven.

Second, notice that the type of people mentioned here are not normally thought of as being ‘blessed’. The ethics of the time, and even our ethics today, do not agree with what Jesus teaches here. This is not folk wisdom that comes from observation of what normally happens. An example of folk wisdom is: ‘He who hesitates is lost’. But, here Jesus says things that are not easily observed in society.

The people thought that Jesus’ teachings were fresh, but the Pharisees and Sadducees thought the teachings were novel to the point of being heresy. There are ideas throughout the Old Testament that support what Jesus teaches. For example, several of the Beatitudes resonate with Psalm 34. “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit (34: 18).

Even though these are teachings for the disciples, they are not cast in the form of: “Do this as my disciple.” No one strives to be “poor in spirit” or tries purposely to “mourn” or to be “meek.” Rather Jesus is preparing the disciples to live a life that imitates Jesus himself, and that may lead to some of these conditions. Jesus is saying: If you find yourself there, take heart because that does not mean that God has abandoned you.

A similar collection of teachings in the Gospel According to Luke simply says, “Blessed are you who are poor” (6: 20). Matthew has not so much spiritualized this Beatitude as recognized that the poor do get down in spirit, depressed because of the everyday pain of their condition. Further, they know, better than the rich, that their daily life is dependent on God. So, it is not the rich, the happy, or the bold who will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, but those who “humble themselves before God because they acknowledge their utter dependence upon Him. In consequence, they are gentle in their dealings with others.”[2]

5: 6-9.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

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

Scripture (the Old Testament) emphasizes that God is righteous and just, and that those who follow God must themselves work for righteousness and justice. One example, “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream” (Amos 5: 24).

However, as with the rest of the Beatitudes, when you look around, you do not see this happening. Instead, injustice flourishes and evil seems to fill the news. If that bothers you, as it bothers God, and you try to do something about it, then you are hungering and thirsting for a better day; and that day will come.

Psalm 34: 15-17.           The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,

                                                         and his ears are open to their cry.

The face of the Lord is against evildoers,

                                                         to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears

                                                         and rescues them from all their troubles.

Regarding ‘mercy’, there is a chicken and egg problem here. In the prayer Jesus gave us, we say, “Forgive us our trespasses (or sins) as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Also, the ‘Golden Rule’ says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Think about it; this is a two-sided coin. One side looks good, ‘Forgive others as you would like others to forgive you’. But, the other side says, ‘Don’t forgive others as you would like them not to forgive you’. Which do we do?

Simon the Pharisee thought that the woman who intruded on their exclusive dinner party was too far gone to forgive. Jesus showed her mercy, and she was so thankful that she braved scorn to anoint Jesus. Jesus explained to Simon, “Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little” (Luke 7: 47). Then Jesus says to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7: 50). The one who knows that they need mercy, and is forgiven, then turns around and gives mercy, so that in the Kingdom, she receives mercy again.

The “pure in heart” are those who are single-minded, dedicated to God and God’s ways, and in the Kingdom, they will see God. God is holy, and only those who have cultivated personal holiness will see God. Here Jesus is affirming a strand of Old Testament thought. For example, Psalm 24: 3-6 says:

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?

                             And who shall stand in his holy place?

Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,

                            who do not lift up their souls to what is false

                            and do not swear deceitfully.

They will receive blessing from the Lord

                            and vindication from the God of their salvation.

Such is the company of those who seek him,

                            who seek the face of the God of Jacob.   Selah.

5: 9-11. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

 Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the

  kingdom of heaven.

These Beatitudes seem to close the first unit of teaching since the first beatitude and this last beatitude both include, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” These first eight teaching points all speak of certain people in the third person, that is, “those who” or just the category that the people are in: “the poor in spirit, the meek, the peacemakers.” It is almost as if Jesus is saying, ‘Let me tell you about people whom the world would degrade, but whom God values highly’.

First Century Jews tended to think that the Messiah would lead them to victory in war; and so Jesus’ blessing here is counter-cultural. It is not the war-makers but the peacemakers who will be called the children of God. Twenty-first American Christians tend to think that they can bring about the Kingdom of Heaven through war; but Jesus’ message is also counter-cultural for them. Jesus follows Old Testament calls to seek peace and pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Psalm 34: 14.  “Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.”

Psalm 85:10. “Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.”

Psalm 122:6. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.”

The eighth and last in this series identifies “those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness.” Notice that the phrase is not just ‘persecuted’. A lot of people are persecuted for a lot of reasons, not all are “for the sake of righteousness,” that is, so that God’s sense of ethical behavior and justice are practiced in our lives and in society.

In sum, the Kingdom of Heaven is not entered, nor is it populated, by the kind of people that we think might be there. Only the phrase “the pure in heart” sounds like it fits the bill, our bill, that is. The rest we would relegate to the edges of society: people who are dispirited, who are crybabies,[3] who are humble, who are too ‘goody-two-shoes’, people who are ‘patsies’ (I mean, forgive someone 77 times, really?). But Jesus surprises us with his choices.     

5: 12.    Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil

against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in

heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Now that Jesus has stated 8 holy principles that describe who is worthy of being blessed in the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus gets to the point. Notice the shift from “those who” to “you when.” Jesus takes it from generic to personal by making the 8 Beatitudes his own rule[4] for living a righteous life as a prophet. That is the meaning of “on my account.”  

The reward for righteous and persecuted disciples is not heaven, but rather our reward is “in heaven.”[5] The storm of hatred that will descend on Jesus by the end of Matthew will move on to the disciples when Jesus is no longer on the scene.

This brings up a large issue of whether or not Christianity is or should be counter-cultural, or supportive of society as it is. If we call this nation a Christian nation, and if the nation acts like a Christian nation, then it sounds like Christians should be on its side. On the other hand, if we see both historically (think wars against Indians who were practicing Homeland Security, or about 250 years of African slavery [1619-1865]) and currently (think of the many kinds of hatred we still exhibit) that we have not been entirely righteous in our behavior, then we should be making a prophetic critique of American society. Which is it? Who is being persecuted “for his sake”?   

[1] Ben Witherington, Matthew, (2006), page 120.

[2] R. V. G. Tasker, The Gospel According to Matthew, (1961), page 62.

[3] Remember that is what President Truman called Edward Teller when he showed some concern for those in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, at least that is what he said in the current movie ‘Oppenheimer’.

[4] This term is used here in a theological sense. Through the ages, when a person founded a religious order or a established a monastery, the set of guidelines for living for that group is called a ‘rule’. Thus, St. Benedict founded his order based on the Benedictine Rule. You can Google ‘the Benedictine Rule’ to see what the major tenets are.

[5] As Witherington notes, page 123.