The Beatitudes: The Intro
Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Pastor Bob Henry
January 12, 2025
Matthew 5:1-12 (NRSV)
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:
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
Today, I am beginning a series on what we in the church have traditionally labeled, The Beatitudes found in Matthew 5:1-12. One person described The Beatitudes as a Christian’s eight-fold path to happiness, much like that of Buddhism. Others have labeled The Beatitudes as the Sermon on the Mount, and others, Jesus’ stump speech.
Sadly, too often the focus these days for Christians is not on what to do but what NOT to do. This leaves us constantly being on the defense and often lacking peace in our lives. Yet, the Beatitudes are different. They offer us an opportunity to look at what we are to do and in a more positive approach.
Over the next several weeks we will break down each of the Beatitudes, and what Jesus is asking of us in these important words.
Whether a beatitude, a sermon, or a stump speech, Jesus’ words are a charge for us to recognize how the bottom of society will have an opportunity to rise to the top. It becomes a path to how we see and treat people. Please note, The Beatitudes are way more than a social justice plea. Rather these Beatitudes are a spiritual path which culminates in a beatific way of life.
If you look up the word “beatitude” in a dictionary, it means a state of utmost bliss, supreme blessedness, or complete happiness.
This makes sense, due to the fact that the Greek word used in Matthew 5 is "markarios,” which properly translated is happy, blessed, fortunate, or even well.
Scholars agree that the happiness that Jesus is speaking of here is happiness that is at a different level than the emotional happiness that we would probably normally associate with the word “happy.”
In this context, what we are talking about is more of a blissfulness. This then means that The Beatitudes are a path to utmost bliss, supreme blessedness, or a complete happiness. I will probably return to this as a reminder in this series, because this is not always how we see these words of Jesus.
Now, I believe I can confidently say that what Jesus was laying out for us in these words was a path to our and the world’s ultimate happiness. Which seems almost ironic as studies from a recent Gallop study on people’s emotions show the world in 2022 hit an all-time low of happiness and has not regained much in the last 2 years. I wonder how 2025 will fair.
Yet, Jesus says this beatific life is within our reach within the Kingdom of God. Jesus himself said the Kingdom was at hand (in the present) specifically through this path of understanding. Thus, we need to see the Beatitudes as a relationship between virtues and blessings for us. As one person said,
“In our virtue, God will bless us. And in our blessing, we will become virtuous.”
A few years ago, when I started researching Gandhi’s influence on Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement for my doctoral dissertation, I spent a lot of time reading the Autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi – what Gandhi titled: The Story of My Experiments with Truth.
Until my research, I only knew what I had experienced in watching the academy award winning movie, Gandhi, and some brief conversations in a high school history class.
What I learned was surprising. The devout Hindu and Civil Rights champion, Gandhi, was given a Christian Bible by a friend in London while at law school. At first, like many people, he was turned off and considered the Old Testament very boring and way too violent.
However, the second part of the Bible, the New Testament, and specifically the Sermon on the Mount part of the Mathew's Gospel attracted him, which he described in his autobiography. He said:
"But the New Testament produced a different impression, especially the Sermon on the Mount which went straight to my heart."
The New Testament and especially the Sermon on the Mount overjoyed him. He said:
"it delighted me beyond measure" and "gave me comfort and boundless joy."
As a result, Gandhi revered the Bible as a sacred book and approached it like a devout Christian. He said:
"I consider it as part of my scriptures."
Mahatma Gandhi would go on to proclaim,
“Christ’s Sermon on the Mount fills me with bliss even today. Its sweet verses have even today the power to quench my agony of soul.”
That is what I hope our time looking at The Beatitudes will have you saying.
Because just as impactful as it was for Gandhi in his day, I believe it is speaking prophetically and directly to us, today.
I hope the next couple of weeks we will consider these words of Jesus part of the scriptures and spiritual texts that are speaking to our condition. That they will delight, comfort, bring us newfound joy, happiness, even fill us with bliss, and ultimately quench the agony of our souls.
I think it is important at this point to explore some context and background to The Beatitudes.
One of the ways Matthew presents Jesus is as a new kind of “Moses.” And this may come from a similar action of Moses by Jesus when he decides to ascend a near mountain to address those that had gathered. This is also why so many call The Beatitudes by the title, “The Sermon on the Mount.”
More likely, to speak to a large crowd of his day without microphones or speakers, Jesus would have had to ascend a local hill and allow the acoustics of the land to do their thing. There are many instances where this method is used for important speeches to take place in Jesus’ time. As well, some theologians believe Jesus began teaching at the bottom of the mountain and worked his way up to the top to make his point and give these important truths.
When Jesus finally gets to the top of the mountain he turns and shares his Beatitudes for all to hear. And interestingly, he seems to intentionally use a structure and form for his words. Again, this was popular in speeches of his day. We find this on numerous occasions throughout the rest of the Bible. It is much like when speakers today summarize with bullet points on a PowerPoint.
Each Beatitude or bullet point he was making had 3 components to make it easier for his listeners to remember. Some even consider it created some cadence in his delivery, which also makes speeches more engaging.
First, there’s was a blessing – “Blessed are the….” Each group is blessed first.
Second, there’s the reason for the blessing based on a particular attitude (for example - “because they are poor in spirit”).
Finally, there is an incentive for displaying such an attitude (“for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”).
This is the central theme of the Beatitudes: experiencing the blessings, bliss and happiness of the “kingdom of heaven”—both now and in all fulness in the future. This theme comes from the phrase: “theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” “Theirs is” indicates a present possession. Thus, this is not just for a future time, but it is specifically for how we live in the present moment, NOW!
I know for many of us the phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” (or God) seems archaic. The idea of Kings and Queens who sit at the top of a hierarchy and who “reign” seems highly romantic, or if you know any history, highly sketchy. We must remember that the tyrannical self-centered nasty Kings far outnumber the benevolent ones.
However, this is not a bad starting point. The way Jesus and the gospel writers use the “Kingdom of Heaven” challenges expected ideas of Kingship (and Empire, the Greek translation of Kingdom) and opens up new possibilities.
The new possibilities are literally lived realities. Jesus describes them this way - the gentle, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for uprightness (or justice), those who are merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness.
Folks, I believe wholeheartedly these people Jesus describes are who we are to be. And this could be seen as Jesus’s action plan for the new community of the Kingdom that is unfolding in our lives and communities.
So, let’s end there this week before delving deeper into the first beatitude, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” next week.
I encourage you to take some time this morning and throughout this week, dust off your bible, and maybe once a day read through Matthew 5:1-12. Then ask yourself:
· How are The Beatitudes speaking to my current condition?
· What questions do they raise in me?
· What do I notice that I have missed in the past?