1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds...
The Sermon on the Mount is the first of five blocks of teaching in Matthew’s gospel. Jesus, seeing the crowds, takes his disciples apart onto a mountainside to speak to them. What we read here, then, is teaching for disciples not just for anyone. And Jesus begins this famous sermon with a group of pithy sayings, the Beatitudes.
The Beatitudes are all about life in the Kingdom of God. Each one begins with an attitude a disciple ought to have and ends with a benefit or reward usually, but not always, in the future.
Here are the first two:
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
For they will be comforted. Matthew 5: 3 – 4 [NIV]
The Greek word makarios (‘blessed’) is hard to translate. ‘Happy’ or ‘fortunate’ might be better than ‘blessed’.
True disciples, Jesus says, are poor in spirit – not materially poor, but poor in the sense that they have rejected the ways of the world and have put their trust in God. True disciples are those who mourn – not in the sense that they are bereaved, but in the sense that they miss out or suffer because of their loyalty to God.
Being a disciple of Jesus means making some tough decisions about what is important in life and where our ultimate security lies. Some people might think that Christians are missing out in life, but Jesus promises blessing both now and in the future. We live under God’s loving authority now; we look forward to greater joy when his Kingdom comes in all of its fullness.
“The trinkets that make winners of their owners in this world will have no currency in the new kingdom. It is those the world has laughed at as losers who will find themselves winning beyond their wildest dreams.” [Gerard Kelly]
Heavenly Father, help me to put my trust in you for you are my only security. Amen.
David Long
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