Matthew 5:1-12
The Beatitudes
1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them saying:
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Psalm 128:1-6
Blessed Are Those Who Fear the LORD
1 Blessed are all who fear the Lord,
who walk in obedience to him.
2 You will eat the fruit of your labor;
blessings and prosperity will be yours.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
4 Yes, this will be the blessing
for the man who fears the Lord.
5 May the Lord bless you from Zion;
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
6 May you live to see your children’s children—
peace be on Israel.
I recently received a birthday card and it was about happiness...It was Psalm 128...It said "Happy are those who walk with the LORD, and he will be happy and prosperous"...I had read the Psalms a few times and did not remember the word happy in this Psalm...The birthday card had replaced the word blessed with the word happy...In fact, just a few weeks earlier I had just told a friend, that it is interesting how few times the word happy and happiness are in the Bible...Jesus does mention the word Joy, which may be a little different and more Spiritual than earthly...
So I started doing some research and found that in the ancient times and in Jesus times the word blessed is associated with our word happy and happiness...The wise in our ancient times knew happiness was from God...They knew that happiness is a long term state with contentment attached to it... This is an important thing to remember, that in the ancient days happiness is spiritual, or at least more spiritual than it is today...One needed to be righteous to be blessed...Therefore, you might think, you must be good and righteous to be happy in today's terms...We, today, may define happiness as satisfying a short term desire or pleasure...Today's happiness seems more related to material things , fame, and power, other than spiritual...To me it seems, that happiness, today, is short term and in Jesus times happiness was deep and lasting...Some, in the past looked at contentment, as a short term phenomenon and being blessed was long term, or a life time...
So I went back and reread the Sermon on the Mount...This was one of Jesus great sermons...I now replaced "blessed" with "happiness"...Was Jesus telling us that happy are those who are poor in spirit, are those who mourn, those who are meek, those who are merciful?...Blessed and happiness are a little bit different...Blessed is of a longer term than happiness...
Jesus sets my definition of blessedness upside down...Blessed is spiritual...Blessed is love...Blessed is compassion, having mercy...Blessed is wisdom, it is seeing beauty, or something beautiful, not being competitive...The Master teaches us that those blessed seek righteousness, with a hunger, a passion...If we are blessed, then we will even be further rewarded in verse ten with a place in heaven...
One might think, philosophically that Jesus might be giving us some of God's characteristics in the Sermon on the Mount, but this is only a guess...It is something for us to take pause, and think about...
Jesus talks about the peacemaker is blessed and he will be called a son of God...He is not telling us the peacemaker is a peace activist...But as He changed things in His time and forever, the peacemaker, the son of God trying to change things for the better, spiritually...We will be blessed when people talk about us when we honor Him...When we follow Him and are persecuted because of Him we will be rewarded when we die...We will be blessed in death, because this reward is heaven...Even the prophets were persecuted, and they are rewarded in this way...When we and/or others talk about Jesus, defend Him, we know He is the truth and the way...
As we read through the four Gospels and the Acts, we have to study and think about the twelve disciples...Are they happy???...The Twelve were certainly blessed...But one disciple, Judas, made a choice to betray Jesus...Was Judas happy???...Were the other eleven happy???...The eleven were certainly blessed and started the early Christian movement...
Happiness is an individual thing... I would have to ask each individual disciple, if they were happy...Some people are more intense, spontaneous, easier going, and more joking, fun loving than others...These (characteristics) or each of our individual characteristics may or may not make us happy...C. S. Lewis said the world was not created for our happiness....Lewis said, “If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction and it’s not so bad.”...
Long term happiness is not a choice...Happiness just happens to us as we do those things we like...The more and harder we try to be happy, the harder it is to be happy...Pursuing continual happiness does not get us to happiness...Happiness is a journey, and if you believe that happiness is a journey, then happiness is a process...Happiness comes and will go...Happiness just happens...Happiness is temporary...Blessed, in comparison, is more of contentment, a contented feeling...Being blessed is when we are always close (not sometimes or once a month) to the Father and Son and have their blessing with the life both spiritually and here on earth, that They have given us...