The Beatitudes in Matthew are some of the most popular phrases in the Bible. We can say some of them in casual conversation. Some of us can recite them, either in part or in their entirety. Yet taking the time to reflect on the deeper meaning of these few words is something we often neglect. I know I have in the past. However, there are profound truths packed into these 7 tiny verses. Below, I’d like to give a short snippet of the deeper meaning packed into these Beatitudes. Yesterday, I taught on the Beatitudes and explained my approach from Paul’s letter to the Romans, “First to the Jew, then to the Greek.” I took that premise as the starting point for reading the Beatitudes in an attempt to catch the meaning received by Jesus’ original audience. From there I applied it to the New Covenant believers. Below is an abbreviated snapshot.
Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit; There’s Is the Kingdom of Heaven
The Jews would have identified themselves as the poor in spirit. After 700 years of imperial oppression, they had not known freedom, except for a brief respite after the Maccabean revolts. They were the downcast, who had everything taken away from them. They were poor in spirit because they had no way of being self-sufficient.
Today we can look at Poor in Spirit as those areas of our lives where we are utterly helpless to improve upon by ourselves. It takes the hand of God to help us get to freedom. This can be toxic relationships, chemical addictions, financial difficulties, mental illness, and more.
The amazing thing is that in these states (like in the following beatitudes), we are able to experience God where we are. We are able to experience the Kingdom of Heaven in the areas where we are desperate to cry out to God, thus showing God’s power in our weaknesses.
Blessed Are the Meek; They Shall Inherit the Earth
The meek are the ones who cannot make progress in their own dreams and goals because they lack the strength, tools, and ability to overcome their difficulty. The Jewish people had repeatedly been disinherited from their land because more powerful empires easily dominated them. (There is a context of disobedience to God linked with it). They identified with the Meek Jesus taught about. So when they heard this beatitude, they were encouraged to hear the blessing of reinheriting their land.
For the church today, the meek still refers to those who are not able to make a way on their own. Just like the teaching of Jesus where “The last will be first and the first will be last,” the meek will inherit the earth (land) that they were powerless to inherit in their own strength. It takes the hand of God to fulfill the promises to His people.
Some examples of this in the Old Testament are: Abraham inheriting the land of Canaan, the Israelites trying to take the land in Exodus, and the promise of Isaiah 61, where God will return Israel to the land they had been disinherited from, when he comes to rule as king.
Blessed are the meek, because they are in a position where they must rely on God to fulfill his promises.
Blessed Are Those Who Mourn; They Will Be Comforted
Mourning is part of the human experience. The Gospel isn’t about a complete removal of mourning. It is about experiencing God through mourning. We cannot be comforted unless we experience mourning.
Israel has experienced mourning. Through their 700 years of subjugation, they mourned the loss of their land, the loss of their sovereignty, the loss of their families, the loss of 10 tribes to history. Israel mourned. That is why, in terms of prophetic and rabbinic teaching, the expected Messiah was also named a comforter. That is also the backdrop to Jesus referring to the Holy Spirit as “the Comforter.”
Through the death and resurrection of Jesus and the subsequent promise of the Holy Spirit, we are allowed to experience comfort in many ways. The amazing thing about mourning loss is that it is an opportunity to experience (in a new way), death and resurrection in our own lives. When we lose a loved one, we mourn the loss, we experience God’s comfort, and as we pass through the mourning and comfort, we experience a resurrection on the other side. When we mourn the loss of a bad habit, we experience comfort and a resurrection of better habits. Mourning is a prime opportunity to experience not only the loss of something, but an eternal resurrection to replace it.
Blessed Are Those Who Hunger And Thirst For Righteousness; They Will Be Filled
Hungering and thirsting for righteousness can be related to justice and injustice. Israel had experienced injustice for centuries. Assyrians invented impalement as a form of execution. Romans invented crucifixion. Israel had been subjected to brutal regimes over the centuries. They knew injustice. Jesus’ original audience were hungering for the wrongs to be made right. They were thirsting for a righteous rule of God. That is why they were yearning for and expecting the Messiah to free them from Roman rule.
That hunger and thrist motif denotes an appetite that will be satisfied. When we think of the feasts of heaven, it isn’t literal food, it is feasting on the goodness, love, justice and righteousness of God. Those that are crying out for righteousness will be filled to overflowing in the kingdom of heaven. This is the promise for those who follow Jesus’ words and “repent.”
Blessed Are the Pure in Heart; They Will See God
Purity is the only way to access God. He cannot be around the impure. Sin is impurity. Blessed are those who are pure in heart (this includes sexual purity, non-violence, verbal purity, etc). It is much more than simply Pure vs. impure thoughts and actions. It is the motive of the heart. The pure in heart, those who do not make decisions based on vengeance, guile, deception, etc. But those who act sincerely from their hearts. And that sincerity is rooted in their pure motives and pure attitudes.
For the Jews, this would resound something greater than their national heroes. God said to Moses, “You cannot see my face; for no man can see my face and live.” Yet the pure in heart (through Christ) will be able to see God’s face and live. They can attain to a purity greater than that of Moses.
Blessed Are the Peacemakers; They Shall Be Called Sons of God
Peacemakers are those who can help restore right relationships, esp. between God and man. Those tasked with bridging the chasm between God and man are known as priests. Originally, it was the intent that Israel as a nation would be a royal priesthood in which the Gentiles could be brought to peace with God. Israel would understand this dynamic because of all the prophetic language involving God being a Father to Israel.
In the New Covenant, Christians are called to exhibit the peace of God. in 1 Peter, they are called to be the royal priesthood, that serves as bridges to the world. Additionally, Christians are referred to as Children of God on numerous occasions throughout the new testament. Peacemakers = Sons of God = Christians.
Thus a core characteristic of Christianity is to be a peacemaker. If someone is calling themself Christian but not growing in peacemaking, it is likely they are a false Christian.
Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted for Righteousness’ Sake; Theirs Is the Kingdom of Heaven
Those persecuted for Righteousness’ sake immediately referred to the martyred heroes of Israel, namely the prophtets (Jesus expands this in the next sections). This beatitude serves as a transition point into the next part of the Sermon on the Mount. Yet even in their day, there was persecution happening for the faithful.
Those who are persecuted are the ones who remain faithful against all the social, legal, and religious pressure to compromise. Throughout history authorities have regularly persecuted the faithful of God. Whether it is familial disowning, institutional expulsion, or criminal charges, the righteous have been persecuted. Those who have remained in the faith secure their place in the kingdom of heaven.
Historical examples of those persecuted for faithfulness to God include, Prophets of old, Christians who stood against Emperor Donation’s worship laws, Those in the Donatist Controversy, Jan Huss and the Hussites, Martin Luther, Thomas Cranmer, and many others on into the present day. As it says in scripture, “Those who endure to the end shall be saved.”
The beatitudes contain a lot of unpacked material that validate the human experience, the hope of God and the promise of God enountering us where we are.
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