Attracted to Beauty-Matthew 5:3-12

Why are beauty products a multi-billion $ industry? Who doesn’t appreciate the beauty and majesty of nature? Who doesn’t like to look at an attractive person, or just imagine the image of that person’s beauty in one’s mind’s eye? Who doesn’t desire to be regarded by others as beautiful (or cool and cute)? Who isn’t critical and sensitive to what they personally perceive to be blemishes to their own beauty? Why are we so attracted to or even obsessed with beauty? It’s because God created us so (Gen 2:9). We don’t usually associate God with beauty, even though He’s the source of all beauty and glory as Creator of all things (Ps 19:1; Rom 1:20), for all things–including beauty–reflect Him. Thus, Scripture exhorts us to gaze, behold and delight in “the beauty of the Lord” (Ps 27:4) and to “see the King in his beauty” (Isa 33:17).

The Beatitudes (Mt 5:3-12), at the beginning of TSOM (The Sermon on the Mount), are attributes that everyone in the world–both theists and atheists–finds attractive and beautiful. Let’s be captured by the beauty of the Beatitudes–which as we’ll see is exemplified beautifully by Christ.

• Luke has four pairs of blessings and woes (Lk 6:20-26). Matthew has nine blessings (5:3-12). Persecution is prominent in both.
• Bless-ed refers to a spiritual condition of divinely gifted joy already present, not a requirement to be fulfilled in order to receive a reward.
• (Mt 5:3) To Isaiah, the “poor in spirit” are the humble and pious who seek God (Isa 66:2). The kingdom of God is theirs.
• (Mt 5:4) God will comfort the bless-ed who mourn. To deny suffering or to find it darkly entertaining are both wrong. Suffering can lead to profound wisdom. The house of mourning can make the heart glad (Eccl 7:2-4). The righteous mourn over injustice and don’t succumb to compassion fatigue. The righteous mourn over their own sin and are comforted.
• (Mt 5:5) For Jesus, “the land” meant the land of Israel, and only the meek had rights of inheritance, not the violent or the members of a particular clan. In the later church the land included the whole earth (Rom 4:13; 8:22). The meek are those who humbly seek God. They are neither too bold nor too timid. Being meek is in harmony with being angry over injustice inflicted on others.
• (Mt 5:6) Hunger and thirst powerfully describe the strong urge in the hearts of the bless-ed for righteousness. They are bless-ed like the merchant who searches for a pearl of great price (Mt 13:45-46). Righteousness doesn’t refer to an abstract ethical ideal but to a relationship. [1] The righteousness of God refers to his saving acts in history (Mic 6:3-5). [2] Israel is declared righteous by God (Isa 54:10, 14, 17). Israel’s righteousness is the free gift of a verdict about Israel given by God. [3] Israel’s response to this gift is to act justly (Mic 6:8), which includes compassion for the needy, as was exhibited by Job (Job 29:14-16) and the suffering servant of Isaiah (Isa 42:3). Israel’s model for their response is shown in God’s dealings with them in the exodus. They are to treat others with the same compassion they received from God. [4] Righteousness creates peace (Isa 32:17-18, 20). God, not the community, satisfies the yearning for righteousness.
• (Mt 5:7) To be merciful is to respond to the needs of others with compassion and action. Showing mercy is related to forgiveness. God’s forgiveness of us is related to our forgiveness of others in 3 ways in the NT. God grants mercy to the bless-ed.
• (Mt 5:8) Purity of heart has to do with transparency and singleness of motive that can will one thing. The heart refers to the entire internal life of the person and includes feelings, mind and will. Jesus focuses on the heart, not the hands.
• (Mt 5:9) Peacemakers are different from peacekeepers and pacifists. Peacemakers work for healed relationships on all levels and will be called “children of God.”
• (Mt 5:10-12) Jesus is the model for all the Beatitudes, and he “walks on stage” for the first time in the final Beatitude—on persecution for his sake. Those so persecuted can rejoice in having joined the prophetic fellowship of suffering.

* The word “blessed” [makarios] (Mt 5:3a) recognize an existing state of happiness or good fortune. They affirm a quality of spirituality that’s already present. When saying that someone is a “bless-ed person in our church,” one is simply affirming a quality in the person that already exists. The third Beatitude doesn’t mean, “If you’re meek, you’ll inherit the earth.” The Beatitudes don’t mean “Blessed are the people who do X because they will receive Y.” The point is not exhortation for a certain type of behavior, but rather, “Look at the authentic spirituality and joy of these people who have or will be given X.” It’s like, “Bless-ed is the happy daughter of Mr. Jones because she’ll inherit the Jones’s farm.” She’s already the happy daughter of Mr. Jones. She’s not working to earn the farm. The key element in her happy and secure life is that she and the community know that the farm will one day be hers. “Blessed” affirms a happy state that already exists, as well as affirms a future that allows her even now to live a happy life. With this definition clearly in mind let’s turn to the Beatitudes themselves.

I. What does Jesus mean by “the poor in spirit” (Mt 5:3)? Luke merely says, “Blessed are the poor” (Lk 6:20). For some years there’s a debate over these two phrases in Western Christianity. One side says the authentic voice of Jesus is found in Luke: The poor are blessed by God, while Matthew spiritualized this simple and powerful statement. A way to understand the difference is to see Jesus as part of the prophetic tradition. Like Isaiah, “the poor” are the humble and pious who seek God: “But this is the man to whom I will look, he that is poor and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word” (Isa 66:2) Matthew brings out the original meaning already present in Luke. On rare occasions the word poor in Isaiah does refer to people without enough to eat (Is 58:7). But in the majority of cases it describes the humble and pious who know that they need God’s grace and “tremble” at his word. If the reader is familiar with Isaiah and Psalms, they don’t need the additional phrase “in spirit.” If that background in Isaiah isn’t known, then the phrase poor “in spirit” is critical for comprehension.

Jesus affirms that these bless-ed ones make up the membership of the kingdom of heaven, which is already theirs. But what precisely is the kingdom of God? There’s no simple answer. Everything Jesus says and does is in some way related to the kingdom of God. It has to do with the rule of God in the lives of individuals and societies. The Lord’s Prayer includes the words “Thy kingdom come,” which looks to a future that’s unfolding. Yet the kingdom has already come in Jesus Christ who said, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Lk 11:20).

We live in the interim between the inauguration of the rule (kingdom) of God in the coming of Christ and its completion at the end of history. Our struggle for peace and justice is part of our discipleship as we work for and await the coming of that kingdom on earth as a gift of God.

Jesus declares that the poor in spirit already possess the kingdom (Mt 5:3). Many in Jesus’ time use the phrase the kingdom of God to describe a Jewish state where God alone was King. But Jesus declared that the kingdom was already present in the poor in spirit (not among the Zealots). As mentioned, the second line is not a reward for the first line. Rather, the poor in spirit already possess the kingdom.

II. “Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Mt 5:4). This is a “divine passive.” God will comfort the bless-ed who mourn. About what should we mourn? Why are “those who mourn” called bless-ed? There’s a horrible side of people who enjoy watching others suffer. Movies makes billions every year exploiting it. This twisted fascination in the heart is a despicable evil. At the other extreme, billions of dollars are made cushioning the public and protecting them from any form of suffering or unpleasantness. There’s no need for self-discipline in eating, no need to exercise, no need to endure pain. Eat all you like, buy our pills and you’ll lose weight without discomfort. This Beatitude has nothing to do with either of these attitudes. If there’s mourning, some form of suffering lies behind it. How do we understand this?

Christians are never urged to seek suffering; they are, however, encouraged to recognize that suffering is an extraordinary teacher. We rarely know the great depths of the human spirit until we’ve endured suffering. Pain rearranges our priorities. To become a refugee is horrible, and the forces that drive people from their homes must be opposed. Yet anyone who flees their home quickly learns that what really matters is life itself, and that all possessions are—at the end of the day—worthless. Mourners endure suffering and the bless-ed ones among them experience the comfort of God.

Great natural disasters strike our world. If there’s warning, a few choose to remain in their homes. The vast majority flee the coming devastation. After the storm, those able to do so return home. Often there’s a striking contrast between those who stay and those who leave. The survivors are often full of gratitude that they’re still alive. The returnees often see only devastation and feel anguish. The one lashed by the storm is often the one who’s grateful. It doesn’t follow that we seek to stand in the path of destructive storms in order to learn gratitude. But the bless-ed who suffer and mourn deep loss can be blessed by God in that suffering and mourning.

Ecclesiastes 7:2-4 reads: “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting; … Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of countenance the heart is made glad. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.” Ponder what this means. The author attended a dear Christian friend’s funeral. People who knew the departed saint told stories of how he encouraged and influenced them. Remembering his life, the atmosphere among the mourners began to soar majestically. With an open mike friends remembered his courage, faith, loyalty, love and vision. There’re tears and some laughter, but all heard the great bells of the faith ringing in their minds and hearts, and in a strange, indescribable way, there “the heart was made glad … in the house of mourning.”

The righteous also mourn when they see people treated unjustly. It’s easy to develop armor to protect ourselves from feeling the pain of others; and we cease to mourn for or with them. The bless-ed continue to mourn in the face of injustice. In a book of recollections of Anne Frank compiled by her friends, a witness who was with her in the death camp noted “her tears never ran dry.” Her body gave out, but her spirit never surrendered to compassion fatigue. To the end she was able to mourn, and she was a bless-ed presence for all who knew her.

Mt 5:4 also calls on the faithful to mourn over evil in their own lives as they realize their inability to conquer it unaided. Failure to love God and our neighbors should produce grief. The bless-ed are those who experience this mourning.

What about people who mourn for their own pain but are insensitive to the pain of others? There’s no hint that such people are among the bless-ed. Rather those who are aware of their failures to meet God’s royal law to love God and neighbor will experience the comfort of God. From the depths of their souls will come the quiet peace of God in the midst of their mourning. Such people are a bless-ed presence among God’s people.

III. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the land” (Mt 5:5). Jesus identified himself as a prophet. Any prophet of Israel who discusses “the land” has one primary meaning in mind: the Holy Land of Israel/Palestine. In biblical literature gē (Gk for land) is used to refer to: land in general, the land of promise, the inhabited earth, the earth as the theater of history.

In the mouth of Jesus the word ʾereṣ (Hebrew for land) in this text refers to “the land of promise.” Jesus is here quoting and slightly revising 3 verses from Psalm 37: “But those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land… But the meek shall inherit the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity… The righteous shall inherit the land, and live in it forever” (Ps 37:9, 11, 29 NRSV). The above psalm is set in Israel, and the “land” and the “inheritance” are the Promised Land. This background is significant for the text before us.

The sequence of the first 2 Beatitudes is important. 1st, Jesus told the disciples that the kingdom was composed of the poor in spirit (Mt 5:3), not the arrogant and aggressive. 2nd, he declared that the blessed are those who mourn (Mt 5:4). In the first century the area that encompassed Galilee, Samaria and Judea was torn with wars and rumors of wars, and such an affirmation would have resonated deeply with the powerless in Jesus’ audience. Here Jesus is promising that the meek will inherit the land (of Israel) rather than the powerful. Rome and the Zealots would soon be engaged in all-out war to win political and military control over that same land. Jesus had a different idea about who had rights to it. Being the racial descendants of a particular patriarch was not the point. Joining the Herodians, who were willing to compromise anything to stay in power was not part of the equation. Joining the Zealots was not recommended. What a strange claim—the meek were declared to have already won the jackpot of the inheritance of the land promised to Abraham.

These profound sayings of Jesus were repeated beyond the confines of the original audience, and they took on wider meanings. By the time Jews and Gentiles read the Gospel of Matthew in Greek, some decades later, they no doubt saw “the land” as “the earth” and thought of the entire created world. Paul’s mind turns in the same direction when he discusses the promise of the land to Abraham and universalizes that promise to include the entire earth. He talks of “the promise to Abraham and his descendants, that they should inherit the world” (Rom 4:13). Paul also affirms that “The whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now;” waiting for humankind to be adopted as children of God (Rom 8:22). In both texts all nature is involved and has become the inheritance of God’s family.

Who could claim “the land” as an inheritance? “The meek” rather than the racial descendants of anyone or the men of violence. Matthew’s readers identifies the whole earth as a precious inheritance for the children of God. Who are the meek? The Hebrew/Aramaic word probably used by Jesus, and the Greek word that appears in our NT, have different emphases. Each offers nuances that enrich the text.

The Hebrew word, ʿānî, (poor/humble) has to do with obedience in accepting God’s guidance. The Greek term, praÿs (“meek”), refers not to a person in the presence of God but rather describes relations between people. Aristotle, in his 5th-century B.C. Nicomachean Ethics, defines praÿs as the virtue of acting halfway between recklessness on one side and cowardice on the other. For Aristotle, the path of virtue was always the “golden mean” between two extremes. The one who is truly praÿs (meek) is the one who becomes angry on the right grounds against the right person in the right manner at the right moment and for the right length of time. The Hebrew meaning of the word behind the text tells us to accept the guidance of God and to obediently follow God’s will. The Greek word in this text advises an ethical median way that will assist in working out problems, disputes and disagreements. Both shades of meaning can surely be affirmed as part of the treasures in the text. In the Babylonian Talmud, early Palestinian rabbis discuss the reasons for the destruction of the two temples. Rabbi Johanan said: “What was the cause of the first destruction of Jerusalem? Idolatry. And of the second destruction? Causeless hatred.” He continues by explaining that causeless hatred “is more grievous than idolatry.” That same causeless anger is the exact opposite of the meekness discussed in our text. But what about righteous anger?

Habakkuk describes the terrible power of the Chaldeans: “Their justice and dignity proceed from themselves” (Hab 1:7). The Chaldeans created their own definitions of justice. For the prophet, this was horrible. God defines justice and gives it objective authenticity. When the faithful use the measuring stick of the justice of God and with that standard identify injustice, it is surely right to be angry. Those who use that divine standard of justice are the meek (before God) who struggle for God’s justice and thereby inherit the land/earth. Pondering such things, one feels like Paul, who tried to penetrate the wisdom of God and burst out with, “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Rom 11:33). A cautious beginning of a summary is as follows.

IV. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Mt 5:6). As a good Middle Easterner, Jesus makes astute use of metaphorical language. To “hunger and thirst for righteousness” is to use words rooted in physical needs to describe spiritual realities. The developed world have more than enough food and water to satisfy their bodies. Among the poor, hunger and food security is ever present. In the developed world, serious sustained thirst is almost nonexistent. This has been true for so long that both of these precious gifts of God are wasted. By contrast, many in Jesus’ world would have personally known both unrelenting hunger and life-threatening thirst.

Jesus doesn’t say, “Blessed are those who live righteously and maintain a righteous lifestyle.” Rather he affirms, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.” The statement presupposes that righteousness is something the faithful continuously strive after. The blessed are not those who arrive but those who continue, at whatever cost, in their pilgrimage toward a more perfect righteousness. The constant, relentless drive toward righteousness characterizes the blessed. Matthew 13:44-46 illuminate this. The first one likens the kingdom of heaven to a man who finds a treasure in a field and sells everything and buys that field (Mt 13:44). The second parable compares that same kingdom to a merchant searching for a pearl of great price (Mt 13:45-46). Contrary to popular perceptions, in this latter case the kingdom is not compared to the pearl but to the merchant, who is searching for it. The Beatitude we are now examining is like the second of these two parables. The believers who hunger and thirst after righteousness are called blessed in that striving. But what exactly is righteousness?

The Nature of Righteousness. The great words ṣĕdāqâ (Hebrew) and dikaiousynē (Greek) are both theologically freighted throughout the Bible. The Theological Dictionary of the NT article on this family of words extends for 51 densely packed pages. The key to it all is that ṣĕdāqâ does not refer to an “absolute ideal ethical norm” but is “out and out a term denoting a relationship.” Every relationship makes claims on conduct and “the satisfaction of these claims, which issue from the relationship and in which alone the relationship can persist, is described by our term tsadaq.” With these fundamental concepts righteousness is like a diamond with many facets. Let’s briefly examine 4 of them.

1) In biblical literature righteousness often refers to mighty acts of God in history to save. von Rad writes, “from the earliest times onwards Israel celebrated Jahweh as the one who bestowed on his people the all-embracing gift of his righteousness. And this tsdqh bestowed on Israel is always a saving gift.” Micah 6:3-5 reads: “O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me! For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of bondage; And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the [righteousnesses] of the LORD.”

God reviews his past mighty acts in history to save Israel and calls on them to remember all that he has done for them. The declared purpose of this recollection is “that you may know the ṣĕdāqôt (“righteousnesses”) of the Lord.” The RSV correctly here translates ṣĕdāqôt as “saving acts,” which is exactly what ṣĕdāqôt means in this text. God’s great saving acts not only deliver Israel, but also grant her a new status.

2) Righteousness has to do with being “declared righteous.” Rudolf Bultmann writes: Mt. 5:6 obviously does not mean those who “ever striving, endeavor” to attain ethical perfection, but those who long to have God pronounce the verdict “righteous” as His decision over them in the judgment. This understanding of righteous as “affirmed to be righteous” (i.e., vindicated) appears in selected lines from Isaiah 54:10-17: “But my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed … In righteousness [ṣĕdāqâ] you shall be established. … This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication [ṣĕdāqâ] from me, says the LORD” (Isa 54:10, 14, 17).

If God acts in righteousness to grant his people a new status, how must they respond? As noted, every relationship has claims upon conduct. If God’s righteousness is God’s saving acts, what is the nature of the claims upon conduct that are required from God’s people?

3) Righteousness is also a human response to the verdict of “innocent/righteous,” which is received as a gift of God. The unspeakable gracious gift of acceptance in the presence of God requires the faithful to respond. Regarding the overlap in meaning between justice and righteousness, it’s clear that the righteous person is the one who acts justly. Justice/righteousness is not simply “giving every man his due” but includes showing mercy and compassion to the outcast, the oppressed, the weak, the orphan and the widow. Job is a classical example of a righteous man. When under attack Job defends himself by saying: “I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and turban. I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know” (Job 29:14-16). Here, as elsewhere, righteousness and justice overlap, and at times are synonyms. And the righteousness that Job claims for himself is compassionate acts for the weak and vulnerable, not objective application of law. Isaiah describes the suffering servant by saying: “A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice” (Is 42:3).

The nature of the justice that this unique servant of God will demonstrate is compassionate acts on behalf of the broken and exhausted. Micah continues to clarify this definition of righteousness by recalling God’s “righteousnesses” in deliverance of his people during the exodus. How then should the people respond? the prophet asks: “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high?” (Mic 6:6)

Israel personified muses as to whether God wants burned offerings, thousands of rams, ten thousands of rivers of oil or even the offering of his firstborn. The implied answer is no! The prophet then addresses Israel and says, “He has showed you, O man, what is good” (Mic 6:8).

Where did God demonstrate the pattern of response that he expects from Israel? Where did he show them “what is good”? The answer is obvious—Israel was given the expected pattern of response in the saving acts of God toward the nation (which had just been reviewed in the previous verses). God’s great mercy to them in the exodus and its aftermath was the pattern of the kinds of compassionate acts that he expected from them toward others. A distillation of these expectations then appears in the final lines of this passage which read: “And what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God? (Mic 6:8) How God treated them in their need is the model for how they are to treat others.

4) Finally righteousness is also connected to peace. Isaiah 32 reads: “And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust for ever. My people will live in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places… Happy [ʾašrêkem/blessed] are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the ass range free” (Isa 32:17-18, 20). Where righteousness and peace are maintained, even the domestic animals are free. To summarize, blessed are those who strive for righteousness with the same earnestness with which the hungry and thirsty seek food and drink (Mt 5:6).

1. God’s righteousness is his acts in history to save.
2. That salvation grants to his people the gift of acceptance before him.
3. They in turn tirelessly seek a lifestyle appropriate to the relationship granted to them as a gift. They will model their response after how God has dealt with them in his mighty acts on their behalf. That response will include justice and compassion for the weak.

Mt 5:6 concludes, “For they shall be satisfied.” This is another case of the “divine passive.” God is the one who will satisfy them. Righteousness is popularly understood as the adherence to an ethical norm. A person keeps the law, follows the accepted standards of the community and has an admirable personal life. They will be respected and satisfied by the community. But righteousness is a relationship granted as a gift of God that brings peace. Thus, only God can satisfy the longing for that righteousness and the approval or disapproval of the community is irrelevant. We’re not righteous to please our peers but to show gratitude to God and maintain our relationship with him.

Each day, prompted by hunger and thirst, all people seek food and water, hoping to be satisfied. But for how long? A few hours later the cravings return. Mt 5:6 makes clear that the bless-ed are those whose drive for righteousness is as pervasive, all-consuming and recurring as the daily yearning to satisfy hunger and thirst. Hungering and thirsting for that righteousness can only be satisfied by God. Everyone who wants to lose weight struggles to curb urges for food and drink. Pills, mind games, exercise, self-control, group peer pressure and the like are all enlisted in the battle against those urges. Among the bless-ed, urges for righteousness are equally as powerful but need not be restricted, rather they can be indulged—and they are satisfied by a gracious God. You can pig-out on righteousness with no negative side effects.

V. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Mt 5:7). “Showing mercy” is compassion composed of feelings and actions. The father of the prodigal son “had compassion” and “ran.” His merciful feelings translated into dramatic actions. Jesus is described repeatedly as having compassion for the needy around him (Mt 9:36; 14:14; 18:27; Mk 1:41; 6:34; Lk 7:13; 10:33). At times the feelings aren’t mentioned but only the compassionate action. The blind beggar beside the road cried out “Son of David, have mercy on me” (Lk 18:38). Jesus responds with healing. To respond to human need with compassion and action is at the core of what being merciful is all about.

But to be merciful and to obtain mercy are profoundly related to forgiving and being forgiven. Here again we face a paradox that’s like a diamond. Any attempt to force a diamond to shed all its light in one direction would destroy it. In like manner the paradox of giving and receiving mercy/forgiveness has to do with 3 questions:

1. Do we forgive others as God forgives us?
2. Or do we forgive others first so that God will then forgive us?
3. Or does God forgive us and then we are able to forgive others?

All three of these ideas are available in the NT.

1. The Lord’s Prayer (Mt 6:9-13) asks that God “forgive us” our sins (our trespasses and debts) “as we forgive” the sins of others against us. It sounds as if the two forms of forgiveness happen in parallel.
2. But the Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11:4 reads, “Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive every one who is indebted to us.” This reading of the Lord’s Prayer affirms that we must forgive others before we can approach God seeking forgiveness for ourselves.
3. Finally there is the story of the unforgiving servant (Mt 18:23-35) who was first forgiven by his master but then refused to forgive another servant. For his failure he was condemned; as 1 John 4:19 affirms, “We love, because he first loved us.”

Which of these 3 patterns of forgiveness best explain Mt 5:7? Or should we choose all 3? In the ever-changing challenges of striving to be faithful, all 3 mysteriously make sense. They don’t fit together logically, but who ever claimed that mercy and forgiveness are logical? All 3 are important for Christian faith and life.

To show mercy or to forgive is extremely difficult for those who have been deeply wronged. But the alternative is self-destruction through nursing grudges or seeking revenge. Such grievances are often passed on from generation to generation and become a destructive force in the lives of individuals and societies. The bless-ed escape these self-crippling cycles, for they are merciful. But there’s more. Mt 5:7 claims that the merciful “shall obtain mercy.” From whom will they obtain mercy? Again Jesus uses a “divine passive.” That is, the merciful will obtain the mercy of God. The mercy of their fellow human beings may be in short supply but the mercy of God will never fail them.

VI. “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8). In the context of Jesus’ world, the emphasis here affirmed is striking. The psalms do indeed affirm the need for an interior purity—a purity of heart. Ps 24:3-4 says: “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.”

External purity (clean hands) isn’t enough, it must be accompanied by an internal purity (pure heart). Both these aspects of purity were in the tradition available to Jesus. But the developing rabbinic tradition placed a clear emphasis on the first. The Mishnah includes an entire division on the subject titled “Ṭohoroth” (cleannesses) that continues for nearly 200 pages and includes 11 tractates. Among the rabbis quoted in these tractates is the great Hillel, who lived one generation before Jesus. This extended discussion on cleanliness in the first century includes tractates on vessels, tents, immersion pools and hands, but not hearts. Jesus is not critical of the developing laws on ceremonial purity, but he makes the courageous decision to place his entire emphasis on purity of heart. What then is meant by the heart?

Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher-theologian of the 19th century, is well known for his argument that the pure in heart are those who will one thing. He recognized the reality that behind human behavior lies a multiplicity of motives. With the pure in heart, “what you see is what you get,” as the colloquial phrase has it. They have one motive for what they do, and they harbor no hidden agendas.

What exactly is the “heart” in biblical literature? Modern Western culture limits the word heart to the feelings. But the heart in the Hebrew mind includes the entire interior life of the person. (1) the feelings, (2) the mind and (3) the will were all part of “the heart.” The bless-ed exhibit purity in all 3 of these aspects of the interior world. That purity opens the road to a transparency that can be described as purity of heart.

But how is it that “they shall see God?” This has to do with knowledge or vision of God, and not with physical sight. Jn 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God.” But knowledge of God and a vision of him are the privileges granted to the angels—and the pure in heart.

VII. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Mt 5:9). Peace is often limited to absence of war or the cessation of violence. Ceasefires and surrenders are important as preambles to peace. But peace in the Bible includes the finest of loving relationships between individuals, within families, communities and nations. Peace also includes good health. The peace here discussed is primarily the peace of God, which includes all of the above and “passes all understanding” (Phil 4:7). The word peacemaker appears only here in the entire Bible. Semitic languages are obliged to break this unique word into two. It is neither the “peaceful” nor the “pacifists” but the peacemakers. Given this broad scope of peacemaking, it is easy to see why Jesus called such people “sons/children of God.”

VIII. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:10). People are opposed and rejected because they’re lazy or untrustworthy or self-righteous. Some are fired from their jobs because they can’t get along with others or because they show attitudes that are counterproductive to what their organization is trying to do. Such folk may claim that they’re “persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” But we’ve defined righteousness to include (1) God’s saving acts in history, (2) acceptance in the presence of God and (3) a lifestyle that maintains that relationship. Only those who find themselves despised because they promote such things can legitimately claim that they are “persecuted for righteousness’ sake” and that the kingdom is theirs.   Mt 5:11-12 has the following classical rhetorical style.

1. Blessed are you when people revile you
2. and persecute you –
3. and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely –
4. on my account. Jesus
5. Rejoice and be glad, +
6. for your reward is great in heaven, +
7. for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The style is expanded into a “theological sandwich.” If the five phrases in the middle are removed, this Beatitude would read:

1. Blessed are you when men revile you
2. For so men persecuted the prophets who were before you.

All together the text exhibits 7 phrases, which is the classical perfect number. What do these phrases mean?

First, we observe that the Beatitude can be reduced to the following:

1. opening line
2. two negative statements
3. a reference to Jesus
4. two positive statements
5. closing line

The opening and closing lines are like the bun of the sandwich. The two negative and two positive statements are like two slices of pickle. The climax comes in the center. This has been called “ring composition” or “inverted parallelism.” Other scholars refer to it as “chiasm.”

This ancient Jewish pattern of writing was known both to Jesus’ listeners and Matthew’s readers. It is possible to read the opening and the closing lines as the original Beatitude that was spoken by Jesus. The extra material in the center that turns the Beatitude into a “sandwich” can be seen as an addition to the original saying of Jesus that was created by the church as it began to suffer persecution. That is, Jesus taught the disciples the two-line Beatitude. The disciples added the new material in its center. A second option would be to understand that, late in his ministry, after hostility intensified, Jesus could’ve expanded his own Beatitude. In either case, the meaning of the “sandwich” is clear. The prophets were faithful and were persecuted. When Jesus’ followers are faithful and oppressed for that faithfulness they can rejoice that they have joined the company of the classical prophets and live in the confidence of a great reward. The person of Jesus is the center climax of the seven phrases.

A critical shift has now taken place in the Beatitudes. Up to this point, all of them can be explained out of the Hebrew Scriptures. Yet something has been creeping up on the reader. These eight lofty standards have their finest expression in the life of Jesus. The reader gradually comes to this conclusion as the list lengthens. In the Mt 5:11-12 loyalty to the person of Jesus is openly introduced. That same loyalty is inevitable if the reader turns to Jesus as a model for the fulfillment of the pattern of righteousness here portrayed.

Jesus may have given his disciples explanatory comments on other Beatitudes, which Matthew did not have the space to record. This last Beatitude, with its interior expansions may have been recorded by Matthew because of the persecutions through which Matthew’s readers were passing.

With the conversion of Emperor Constantine to the Christian faith, “the age of martyrs” officially ended. But the 20th century saw far more Christians die for their faith than was known in the early centuries. In Armenia, Russia, China and the southern Sudan, millions in the modern age have died for their loyalty to Jesus Christ. This final Beatitude, with its expansions, still speaks powerfully to the global church.

Reference:

1. Bailey, Kenneth E. Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels. IVP, Downers Grove, IL, 60515, 2008. The Syro-Phoenician Woman (Mt 15:21-28), Ch. 16, pg. 217-226.
2. Hauerwas, Stanley. Matthew. Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible. Brazos Press, Grand Rapids, MI, 2006.

Once in my life I nearly died of thirst. While living in the south of Egypt, a group of friends and I traveled deep into the Sahara Desert by camel. As our trek began, the temperature soared to above 110 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, and there was no shade. On our way, one goat-skin water bag leaked all of its precious contents. With consumption high due to the heat, we ran out of water, and for a day and a half we pressed on while enduring intense thirst. The goal of the excursion was a famous well named Bir Shaytoun, deep in the desert. Our guide promised us that it was never dry—ah, but could we survive to reach its life-giving liquid silver? My mouth became completely dry, and eating was impossible because swallowing felt like the rubbing of two pieces of sandpaper together. My vision became blurred and the struggle to keep moving became harder with each step. We knew that if the well was dry, our armed guards would probably have forcibly seized our three baggage camels and ridden them back to the valley, leaving the rest of us to die. As I staggered on, my mind turned to this verse and I knew that I had never sought righteousness with the same single-minded passion that I now gave to the quest for water. Yes, we managed to stagger to the well, and it was full of “the wine of God,” as water is named by desert tribesmen in the Middle East. In the process I learned something of the power of Jesus’ language. In a world where water was scarce and travel arduous, his listeners would have known what it meant to “hunger and thirst” after food and water, and thus could understand what Jesus was saying about an all-consuming passion for righteousness.

It (righteousness) does not mean the ethical quality of a person. It does not mean any quality at all, but a relationship. That is, dikaiosyne is not something a person has as his own; rather it is something he has in the verdict of the “forum” to which he is accountable.  Regarding Isa 54 Schrenk says, “God’s righteousness as His judicial reign means that in covenant faithfulness to His people He vindicates and saves them.” Von Rad summarizes righteousness by saying, “Tsdqh can be described without more ado as the highest value in life, that upon which all life rests when it is properly ordered.”

There are three levels of uncleanness discussed, and hands are always on the second and third level.