MATTHEW 5: 1 – 12: “BLESSED ATTITUDES”

INTRODUCTION

William James, Harvard-trained physician and professor, discovered in his medical practice, that a patient’s attitude profoundly affected his or her health. So James took up the study of psychology and later wrote a great book entitled “The Principles of Psychology.”  In this book Psychologist William James wrote, “The greatest discovery in our generation is that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change all the outer aspects of their lives.”

No one understood this better than Jesus, who speaks of the “be-attitudes” in life.

The “beatitudes” are the right “attitudes” that we need to have for a “blessed” life.

BACKGROUND

In Matthew’s Gospel, there are five major sermons or sections of Jesus’ teaching. This is the first of five sermons, commonly known as the “Sermon on the Mount.”

This “sermon” (chapters 5 - 7) is more like a collection of great sayings by Jesus.

The “Beatitudes” are the keynote introduction to Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount.”

They describe the best attitude to have for a meaningful life, in contrast to the external things that most people consider important to have in order to enjoy life.

GOSPEL

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain,…

In Sacred Scripture, the mountain is often the sacred place for divine revelation.

Remember how Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive God’s law and teaching.

Matthew portrays Jesus as a new Moses, ascending the mountain to give a new law.

Jesus’ teaching goes far beyond the minimal law of Moses (Ten Commandments).

…and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.

In Jewish schools the teacher sat on a bench and his students sat on the ground before him.  This seat was a sign of their teaching authority.  Likewise, laypersons who led the synagogue services sat when they expounded on the word of God.

Thus Jesus sat down, as a teacher with divine authority, to give a new teaching.

[Today we speak of the “chair” of a department or committee as a sign of authority.]

Jesus addressed his message to his disciples, that is, to all of his followers.

He began to teach them, saying...

The imperfect tense of the verb “to teach” indicates a repeated action.

In other words, this is what Jesus would repeatedly teach his disciples.

BEATITUDES

This section is called Beatitudes, deriving its name from the opening word Blessed.

The Greek word for “blessed” (makarios) has two kinds of meanings in Scripture.

The “blessed” one is the recipient of divine favor, and also is one who is “happy.”

In the beatitudes, Jesus combined these two meanings, giving us a road map to help us find not only happiness, but the blessing of God in our lives.

Beatitudes are common in OT wisdom books, but they assume that the reward is in the present time.  The NT beatitudes however refer to a future reward in heaven, though there may be some anticipation of the reward in the present.

Matthew divides these beatitudes into two sets: 1) inner attitudes 2) outer actions.

The First Four Blessings (Inner Attitudes)

 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Poor in spirit does not mean economic destitution, which is an evil to be corrected.

The Greek word for “poor” denotes a “beggar” who desperately needs some help.

The “poor in spirit” are the needy who know their complete dependence on God.

Jesus promises them God’s blessing, for God’s first priority is to care for the poor.

“Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Those who mourn are those who grieve the evil in the world and in their own lives.

Jesus was probably referring to those who “lament” the evil and sins of the nation.

Jesus promises those who are saddened by such evil that God will comfort them.

“Blessed are the meek; for they will inherit the land.”

The meek are those who have no power or status in society, and own no land.

The land they shall inherit is the “promised land” (“new heaven and new earth”).

Jesus is a model for being “meek and humble of heart” and not overbearing.

“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”

These are people who have a real inner desire or hunger for the food of God.

They have a hunger for righteousness, and a thirst for justice among all people.

The satisfaction and fulfillment promised them will come on the day of judgment.

The Final Five Blessings (Outer Activities)

 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

Mercy is first an attribute of God, who in turn desires mercy from his people.

To show mercy is to have a heart of compassion, and a spirit of forgiveness to all.

The mercy God gives to the merciful, will come to them on their judgment day.

“Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.”

The “clean of heart” (single-hearted) do what they do for unselfish motives.

The only thing they desire is to have a heart of pure love for God and others.

It carries a notion of Jewish ritual cleanliness necessary to offer temple sacrifice.

“They shall see God” means that they will come into God’s presence in heaven.

“Blessed are the peacemakers; for they will be called children of God.”

“Shalom,” the Hebrew word for peace, means more than an absence of hostility.  Shalom expresses wholeness and oneness with God and with all of God’s people.

“Children of God” is an allusion to joining the angels and saints in heaven.

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

“Righteousness” implies a complete conformity of one’s will to God.

The persecuted ones are like the prophets, who suffered for doing God’s will.

The faithful disciple of the Lord must expect to be persecuted or suffer at times.

Their reward, like the first beatitude states, will be “the kingdom of heaven.”

“Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”

[In this last beatitude, the language shifts from third person to second person plural.]

Jesus says that those who are devoted to him will be treated unkindly as he was.

The rejoicing is obviously not from a sense of masochistic love of suffering, but is rooted in the realization that this is the cost of bringing Christ’s message to others.

REFLECTION

How jarring the beatitudes must have seemed to those who heard Jesus speak them. These beatitudes express the very opposite of what people would naturally assume.

We consider ourselves blessed if we are not poor, are not mourning, are not meek, and are not insulted and persecuted.  How in the world can these be a blessing?

The blessings Jesus promised are in the future tense (except the first and eighth).

They will be comforted, they will inherit the land, they will be satisfied etc.

Therefore the beatitudes require a complete conversion and reorientation from living for this earthly life, to living for the kingdom that Jesus came to inaugurate. 

Jesus invites his disciples to become like himself: poor in spirit, sorrowful, meek, merciful, hungering for holiness, pure in heart, peaceful, insulted and persecuted. 

Thus our life in Christ will bring blessings on earth to others as well as ourselves; and more importantly, our life in Christ will bring us all great blessings in heaven.

VICTOR FRANKL

Victor Frankl was a Jewish psychologist who lived and worked in Vienna, Austria.  During WWII Frankl was arrested by the Gestapo and taken prisoner to Auschwitz, one of the worst “death camps” in Poland.  When he arrived there, he made three goals for himself. 

1.      Survive.

2.      Use his medical skills to help others.

3.      Try to learn something.

During that time he would often imagine himself teaching some day at a university, sharing the lessons that he had learned in life and in the death camp.  One of the lessons he learned was that those who survived the hunger and torture of Auschwitz were most often those who believed that they had something significant yet to do or achieve in life.  This vision and conviction sustained them.

Victor Frankl later wrote “Man’s Search for Meaning” to share what he learned.

“A thought transfixed me: For the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, and proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers.  The truth – that Love is the ultimate and highest goal to which people can aspire.  Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart – The salvation of each of us is through love and in love.”