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

 

 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.  Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,

For they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

For they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

For they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,

For they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,

For they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

For they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

 

- Matthew 5:1-10 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets.  He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.  And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.  Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.  Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

 

"And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.  Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: . . ."   My study Bible explains to us that in the Old Testament, only a select few were chosen to hear God directly (see Exodus 19:3-13).  Here, in the Sermon on the Mount, God Incarnate speaks to the multitudes face to face.  The mountain, it says, is a place where divine action enters human history, the place where God reveals God to man (Matthew 17:1; Genesis 22:2; Exodus 3:1, 19:2; 1 Kings 18:20).  To be seated is the traditional Jewish position for teaching with authority.  Some of the early Christian preachers, such as St. John Chrysostom, sat while the people stood.  Matthew writing that Jesus opened his mouth emphasizes this teaching is "one-way" -- Jesus has come to speak with authority (Matthew 7:29), and the disciples are not there to discuss or to debate, but to listen.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  To be blessed in the context of the Sermon on the Mount is an indication of heavenly, spiritual exaltation, as my study Bible explains it, rather than earthly happiness or prosperity.  In Hebrew, it says, "poor" means both the materially poor, and also the faithful among God's people.  The poor in spirit are those with the heart of the poor -- that is, the same attitude as the poor, and are totally dependent upon God.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."  Those who mourn, my study Bible says, are those who sorrow over the sufferings of this life (Matthew 9:23), the sufferings of others (John 11:35), the state of the world (Luke 19:41), and their own sins (Luke 7:36-38).  All of these are comforted by the power of God both in this world and in the age to come.  Holy sorrow is a part of repentance, conversion, and virtuous action, and is the firstfruit of infinite joy, as my study Bible explains.  It is to be distinguished from ungodly sorrow, which is a sadness that leads to despair (see 2 Corinthians 7:10).  

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."  Meekness is an attitude of being content with both honor and dishonor.  My study Bible characterizes it as an imitation of Christ, who said to us, "Learn from Me, for I am gentle [meek] and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29).   The meek, my study Bible says, are God-controlled and have mastery over their passions; in particular this applies to anger.  Meekness, therefore, is not passive weakness.  It is rather strength directed and under control.  The earth that the meek will inherit is neither power nor possession in this world, but rather the new earth, which is everlasting (Revelation 21:1).  

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled."  My study Bible says that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness see the presence of God and God's Kingdom as the most important thing in life.  They have a desperate craving for what is right before God, comparable to a starving person's craving for food (see Matthew 6:33).  

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."  Mercy, says my study Bible, is love set in motion, expressed in action.  God's mercy in taking our sufferings on Himself in order to grant us His Kingdom sets us free from captivity to the evil one.  In view of God's mercy to all, we in turn are to be merciful to all.  

 

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."  To be "pure" is to be unmixed with anything else.  It's also a concept connected to what it means to be "unstained."  The pure in heart, according to my study Bible, are completely devoted to the worship and service of God and accept no compromises.  With the help of the Holy Spirit, those who achieve purity practice all virtue, and have no conscious evil in themselves, living in temperance.  This is a level of spirituality attained by very few, but everyone may strive for it.  When the soul's only desire is God, my study Bible notes, and a person's will holds to this desire, then that person will see God everywhere.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."  As Christ is the source of peace, He found no price sufficient for peace other than shedding His own blood.  My study Bible explains that in doing so, Christ reveals Himself to us as the Reconciler, the Prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6, Ephesians 2:14-16).  The Holy Spirit gives peace to those who imitate Christ.  Therefore, peacemakers share God's peace with those around them, in imitation of Christ's sacrificial love and participation in His work.  By God's grace, peacemakers become "like God"; that is, sons of God themselves.

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  Children of God are those who uphold truth, who refuse to compromise with the ways of the world, and give themselves in loyalty to no other (Matthew 6:24, 33; see 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  Like Jesus, these will be persecuted for righteousness sake (see John 15:18-20).  My study Bible explains that Christ's kingdom is the crown which awaits the righteous.

 

What does it mean to be righteous?  I have heard righteousness described as "right-relatedness."  That means, in a broad continuation of themes discussed in yesterday's reading and commentary, an understanding of what it means to be in community.  It is quite similar, and vividly illustrated, through Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan, found in Luke's Gospel (Luke 10:25-37).  In that parable, it was the person who took initiative to care for another, to exercise love in action (as my study Bible puts it), to enact mercy, who is the neighbor himself -- who becomes the neighbor.  This is an illustration of Christ's active idea of mercy and righteousness.  We might not be responsible for what ails the world, but it nevertheless falls to us as responsibility to express our loyalty to God by how we respond to those ailments, the wrong or evil we might find around ourselves.  Let us consider the virtues of righteousness.  Mercy, my study Bible says, is love in action, and Jesus tells us, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."   Mercy, as expressed by Jesus in the Gospels, is like the currency of the Kingdom.  It is the quality expressed by the Good Samaritan, thus "being" a neighbor, a part of this Kingdom.  In chapter 6, as Jesus continues the Sermon on the Mount, He will speak of doing charitable deeds not to be seen by others, but hidden, so that "your Father who sees in secret will reward you."  He says the same of other acts of mercy and faith such as prayer and fasting.  He culminates by saying, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).  He says to the rich young ruler who is so attached to his riches, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me" (see Matthew 19:16-30).  He also taught that one should invite as guests those who cannot repay, for this also would reap reward in heaven (Luke 14:12-14).  These repeated teachings do not tell us about some cosmic scoreboard of tit for tat, but quite the opposite:  that mercy itself becomes a kind of currency or exchange of the Kingdom, it is its very fiber.  It makes neighbors, it makes us friends with God, it stores up treasures and rewards in mysterious ways that are unseen in a worldly sense.  It makes us more "like God" so we might become "sons of God."  Mercy is linked to forgiveness, but in a very particular way as participation in this Kingdom -- as in forgiving we seek God's way through a difficult circumstance, and God's judgment rather than our own.  Indeed, all of the teachings of the Beatitudes are linked:  in the practice of peace we honor mercy; those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake practice acts of mercy in their righteousness; the poor in spirit understand dependence upon God and the power of mercy, as do those who mourn and find comfort, those who are meek rather than acting upon rage, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and seek to live a life of purity in heart -- in which our first love is to please God.   Mercy and grace become the hallmarks of this Kingdom and its Ruler, for the gospel message itself is one that seeks to heal on all levels, to turn us into instruments of healing in a profound way.  The blessings that Christ teaches in today's reading in this beginning of the Sermon on the Mount are blessings that underpin the Kingdom and our participation in it.  As my study Bible explains, they are the spiritual reality we may live even in this world, the blessedness of the kingdom of heaven.