Matthew 5.3-10

THE BEATITUDES

Our theme this Sunday is Jesus the Teacher. Nowhere do we see this better displayed than in the Sermon on the Mount, and particularly in the opening verses, commonly called "The Beatitudes".

In a nutshell of only eight verses, the whole essence of the Christian life is summed up. In it, we are presented with a picture of the inner attitude which we need to cultivate, if we wish to find that inner contentment, which is a foretaste of the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.

So let us look briefly at these eight verses.

Firstly: "How blest are those who know their need of God; the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs".

I must admit, I prefer the usual translation of "Blessed are the poor", because it is the poor people, who do not have two pence to rub together, who have no alternative but to look to God for help in this life. As the Psalmist in the Old Testament records: "The poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles".

Now this is not to say that the wealthy have no need for God, or that we should give up our material possessions, but rather that our wealth and material possessions can lead us into a false sense of security and blind us to our real need for God.

Quite simply, Jesus is encouraging us to cultivate an inner attitude of detachment in order that we may become attached to God. So the first beatitude is about learning to trust God and not ourselves.

The second beatitude is, "How blest are the sorrowful: they shall find consolation".

It is when we turn to God in trust, that we become acutely aware of how far short we have fallen from being the person God created us to be. This automatically leads to sorrow.

But the pain and anguish of sorrow need not be the end of the story. It can be the source of consolation because God offers us his forgiveness, strength and, above all, the opportunity to make a new beginning. All this is summed up in that one word "Repentance".

And this leads us automatically to the third beatitude, namely: "How blest are those of a gentle spirit; they shall have the earth for their possession".

At first sight, this may appear to be a contradiction. After all, it is the wealthy, the powerful, the aggressive and the ambitious who appear to have the earth for their possession. The gentle people appear to be the downtrodden and exploited.

However, it is one of the great paradoxes of Christianity, that God reveals his power through weakness, rather than through strength. It is when we turn to God in our poverty; it is when we acknowledge our nothingness in sorrow, that he is able to enter our lives and empower us in our weakness. Thus in gentleness we become powerful.

If you doubt me, ask yourself: Who has found true contentment in life? Saddam Hussein, who uses his armed forces to destroy any personal threat to his security, or Mother Teresa who walks fearlessly through the corridors of power, as much as through the streets of Calcutta?

The next four beatitudes consider our response to our trust in God, our sorrow for sin and our new found strength in weakness.

The fourth beatitude is "How blest are those who hunger and thirst to see right prevail; they shall be satisfied".

The early Christians would have known all about the experience of hunger. After all, most of them came from either the poorly paid artisan class of society or the slaves of the Roman Empire. They were lucky to be able to afford one good meal a day. They were permanently hungry for food.

Likewise, they would have known all about the experience of thirst. They lived in a hot climate where there was a permanent shortage of water.

Just as they hungered for food and thirsted for water, so they should hunger and thirst to see right prevail. In other words they should permanently show a determination to do right.

Doing right is not an optional extra to be pursued when it is personally convenient to us. It should be a permanent feature of our life, in response to what God has done for us, whether or not it is convenient.

The fifth beatitude concerns our attitude towards other people: "How blest are those who show mercy; mercy shall be shown to them".

We only 'reap what we sow' is a constant theme in the teaching of Jesus. If we expect God to show mercy towards us, we must be prepared to show mercy towards others. This is not a question of earning a reward, or of

bargaining with God, but rather of fully appreciating the value of his free gift to us.

The Hebrew word for mercy means much more than just showing sympathy to those in need. It is about getting right inside the person: to see things through their eyes; to think things through their minds and to feel things through their feelings. It is about complete identification. It is about ceasing to stand on the outside and looking in. It is

about looking at the outside from within.

It is not enough for us to keep a safe distance or to "keep our yardarm clear" for in doing this, we are only showing mercy to ourselves, and not towards those in need.

After all, when God became man in Jesus, he did not stand off and pretend to be a man. He completely identified himself with us to the extent that he became one of us. If that is how God shows mercy, can we do anything less?

The sixth beatitude is about single mindedness of purpose. "How blest are those whose hearts are pure; they shall see God".

Purity is about cleanliness. It is about being unadulterated. It is about purity of intent.

Jesus was not just concerned about the outward appearance of religion, as were the Scribes and Pharisees. He was primarily concerned about the inner attitude, or disposition, which lay behind the outward appearance. He had no time for those who pretended to be what they were not. If you like, he was concerned about integrity.

The seventh beatitude is "How blest are the peace makers: God shall call them his sons".

The Hebrew word for peace is 'Shalom' which means 'wholeness' or 'harmony'.

Peace is achieved not by sitting back and avoiding trouble. Nor is it achieved by not upsetting people. After all, Jesus did not say we should be peaceful, but peace makers.

In other words, we are called to be active and not passive in our pursuit of 'wholeness' or 'harmony'. It does not just happen. It requires effort on our part if true and lasting peace is to be established. It is as we become involved in the pursuit of wholeness and harmony, that we become fellow workers with God and therefore become his sons and

daughters.

So far we have noted that the first three beatitudes are concerned with the cultivation of our inner attitude towards God, namely, that of complete trust; sorrow for our sin and an acceptance of our new-found strength in weakness.

The following four beatitudes concerned cultivation of our inner attitude towards others, namely, a determination to always do what is right; a willingness to show mercy, a purity of intent and an active participation in the pursuit of harmony or wholeness.

The final beatitude concerns our inner attitude of being prepared to accept cheerfully the price of following Christ, namely "How blest are those who suffer persecution for the cause of right; the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs".

This does not mean that we should deliberately go out of our way to encounter suffering in order that we may experience the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. Rather that we should be prepared, if necessary, to embrace suffering and endure it, as did Jesus upon the Cross, in the sure and certain knowledge that it is not an end in itself.

After all, Jesus never promised us that the Christian life would be easy and therefore it must also involve a willingness to pay the necessary price. To seek deliberately to evade suffering, can lead only to inner dissatisfaction.

Well there we have it. The whole of the Christian life summed up in eight short verses. Eight verses, which, if lived to the full, can bring you and me lasting inner contentment which is a foretaste of the Kingdom of Heaven, here on earth.