Beatitudes

Matthew 5:2-10
Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
[1] 3 “Blessed [are] the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
[2] 4 Blessed [are] those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.
[3] 5 Blessed [are] the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
[4] 6 Blessed [are] those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
[5] 7 Blessed [are] the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
[6] 8 Blessed [are] the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
[7] 9 Blessed [are] the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
[8] 10 Blessed [are] those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Something came to my mind today as I read and meditated on these verses. It’s something that I’m going to share with you. But first, some explaining.

Words written in italics in the Bible did not appear in the original text. They were added during translation in order to give a better understanding. Sometimes, however, we need to read past the words in italics as though they weren’t there at all. That’s why I’ve gone ahead and bracketed them off in this passage. I wanted to fully separate them from the rest of the verse. (Also ignore the bracketed 1-8 for now; we’ll get back to those later.)

In Genesis God created man. Let me be more specific: the Triune God created man. That is, Father, Son, and Spirit all had a part in the creation (Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;...). God referred to Himself in the plural form “us” when He created man. (Perhaps I’m not as crazy as you thought for talking to myself.) The point I’m getting at is that God has established a pattern from the beginning of His word of referring to Himself in a plural form. So I’ll ask the question: could it be that Jesus was referring to the Trinity when He gave these Beatitudes?

Could it be that at the beginning of His ministry Jesus spoke these words knowing full well that His fulfillment of the law and full exhaustion of God’s wrath would open the floodgates of God’s grace to be imparted on us through His blood? Some of us today are still trying to live into the Beatitudes (however good that would be) as though our goodness will bring about the blessing to follow. But who of us has really done it? Who has been truly persecuted for righteousness’ sake? Who has truly been pure in heart? Not one of us. (It’s okay, you can agree.)

But Jesus? He did all of these things. I’ll show you, in the same order as the scripture above, how Jesus met each one of these requirements.

[1-Poor in spirit] Mark 14:34 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.”
[2-Mourning] Luke 13:34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!
[3-Meek (strength under control)] Luke 10:17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.”
[4-Hunger/thirst for righteousness] John 19:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” (having surrendered His righteousness in becoming our sin)
[5-Merciful] John 8:11 ...And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
[6-Pure in Heart] John 19:6 Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.”
[7-Peacemakers] John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
[8-Persecuted for Righteousness’ sake] Luke 23:21 But they shouted, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” (Also 2 Corinthians 5:21 states that Jesus was persecuted for the sake of our righteousness, that is, to make us righteous.)

So what of it? Do the Beatitudes apply to our lives? The answer is a resounding absolutely! But perhaps not as you may have been taught or may believe. Because Jesus imparted His glory on us through His grace at the cross, and became all of our sins, curses, and shortcomings, the blessings of the Beatitudes are ours. And, just like everything else that comes with His favor and His grace, we didn’t work to earn them. His perfect fulfillment of His own teaching opened the abundance of heaven’s riches to the rest of us. Like everything that Jesus did, when He spoke these words about Himself, He was thinking about us. What an awesome and clever God we have. What a wonderful Savior He is.

(Just for fun--The word blessed in this passage literally means envied, happy beyond belief, saved, favored, covered with grace, full of life, spiritually prosperous, and fully satisfied, regardless of outward appearance. Now that’s one heck of a definition!)