Those Jesus Blesses (Matthew 5:1–12)

Sermon for MHBC (10 July 2022). You can watch on our website or on Facebook or YouTube. Live at 11:00am on Sundays.

The Beatitudes are probably familiar to many of us, but what they mean is typically another question. The word beatitude is from a Latin word meaning blessed or more loosely happy.

What does it mean to be called “blessed”? We may initially think it means to have good health, adequate money, a happy family. And that’s certainly how we use it today. But that’s not what Jesus says here. To be blessed, according to Jesus, is to embrace a life seeking the virtues listed here. To be blessed is to live life under God’s rule and standards.

In our passage, Jesus gives us eight virtues or character traits, that should describe those who follow him. I love the way one writer summarizes the beatitudes. He says, “All of them, taken together, describe a fully integrated spirituality that characterizes life under the reign of God.”[1] We have a summary, then, of the character of those who desire to live under God’s rule, in the kingdom of God.

The Core Virtue

Look at v. 3 with me: Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This is the beatitude that governs all the rest. The other seven continually bring us back to this one. The Baptist pastor Clarence Jordan called this beatitude the “first step.”[2]

Think about how shocking this pronouncement is. Blessed are the poor in spirit. It is not the religious people who are blessed. It’s not the ones who do all the right things or say all the right things. It’s the poor in spirit. Why? Because the poor in spirit recognize their own inadequacy before God. They have nothing to offer him. They are aware that their righteousness is nothing but filthy rags. Martin Lloyd-Jones wrote: “It is just this tremendous awareness of our utter nothingness as we come face-to-face with God.”[3] It stands in contrast to the secular mindset that praises arrogance and self-confidence, that treats God as irrelevant.

The ones who rely on nothing but God are the ones who are called blessed. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven means, not that they are royalty, but that they experience the rule of God in their lives. They have a foretaste of heaven now. In other words, they have learned the secret.

Now this really is the core virtue of the Christian life. Poor in spirit is essentially equivalent to the idea of humility or to the idea of repentance. It is a recognition of our neediness. This runs against the grain of our human nature. Admissions of our own bankruptcy and failures aren’t particularly common. Instead, we are usually eager to paint ourselves in the best possible light. I know that for me this is part of the reason I judge and criticize. My own poverty makes me uncomfortable, so I want to point out all the flaws I see. But Jesus invites us to recognize our own shortcomings and trust him.

Virtues of Emptiness

The next three beatitudes might be summarized as the virtues of emptiness. Look at vv. 4–6:

Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.

Blessed are those who mourn. These are those who are empty of the carefree spirit characteristic of the world. This is not to say that they aren’t happy or joyful. Rather, they see reality. They see the brokenness of the world. They see their own shortcomings. They see their sinfulness. They see the suffering. They see the pain and the hurt. They are aware that they live in a world of murder and abuse, war and revenge, greed and corruption. They do not see life through rose-colored glasses. They wrestle with reality. This is the unique thing about Christianity. Many faiths are so concerned with personal fulfillment and happiness. They say things like “Look inside yourself for power.” Christianity worships a God who became flesh in order to suffer in this broken world. The comfort we have is that in his suffering, Jesus is victorious. In his death, he defeats death. There is good reason to weep now, but the story isn’t finished.

Blessed are the meek. These are those who are empty of power. They don’t have weight to throw around. And even if they did, they wouldn’t use it. This is how Jesus calls us to respond to the broken world around us—not with revenge, not repaying evil for evil, but with meekness. Listen to how one writer explains this, “The meek person is one who truly believes that evil can be overcome with good. It calls us to reject the temptation to avenge ourselves with any form of violence or retaliation … this is, in fact, the strategy of the cross, uniquely and powerfully incarnated by Jesus of Nazareth.”[4] Our world champions the motto: an eye for an eye. But as we will see in a few weeks, Jesus says, “Give them both eyes if you must.”

Taylor University is a Christian college in Indiana. Years ago, they were pleased to learn that an African student, Sam, was going to be enrolling in their school. This was before it was commonplace for international students to come to the U.S. to study. He was a bright young man with great promise, and the school felt honored to have him. When he arrived on campus, the President of the University took him on a tour, showing him all the dorms. When the tour was over, the President asked Sam where he would like to live. The young man replied, “If there is a room that no one wants, give that room to me.” The President turned away in tears. Over the years he had welcomed thousands of Christian men and women to the campus, and none had ever made such a request. “If there is a room that no one wants, give that room to me.” That’s the kind of meekness Jesus talks about in the Beatitudes. If there is a job that no one wants to do, I’ll do that job. If there’s a kid that no one wants to eat lunch with, I’ll eat with that kid. If there’s a piece of toast that’s burnt, I’ll take that piece. If there’s a sacrifice someone needs to make, I’ll make that sacrifice. What a difference from the world we live in!

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. These are the ones who understand their spiritual poverty and are eager to be filled.

Once upon a time, we had chickens, but we didn’t raise them from chicks, so they didn’t like people to get too close. They never let me touch them. But one summer night I got home late and realized that my chickens didn’t have any water. I couldn’t even fill up the jug because they kept pecking me and getting in the way. I would push them back and they would come right back. They wanted water and they were going to keep pursuing it. They were thirsty.

I wonder if you’ve ever had that experience in your pursuit of God’s righteousness? Not his physical blessings on you, his righteousness. Biblical righteousness comprises two things. First, personal holiness before God. We ought to hunger and thirst for relationship with God. Yet, we leave our Bibles untouched. We know little about what Jesus actually teaches. Instead, we rely on what we’ve been taught, which is often not what Jesus actually said.

Second, biblical righteousness concerns proper conduct toward our neighbors. Love your neighbor as yourself. This is what God desires from us. Rather than rejoicing when we get the upper hand or feel like we’ve gotten the last word, rather than rejoicing in gossip, rather than being constantly cynical and suspicious and uncharitably attributing bad motives to people, we are to hunger and thirst for righteousness. Jesus says we are blessed when this is what we are hungry for.

Virtues of Fullness

The next three beatitudes don’t concern emptiness, but fullness. Look at vv. 7–9:

Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are the merciful. Our world, as we have noted, does not celebrate mercy. It seems we subscribe to the motto: “Act first, ask questions later.” Writing people off and grudges are common. I’m afraid that is only getting worse by the day. Being heavy-handed and saying things like, “They deserved it” or “That’s what you get,” come out of our mouths so easily. But Jesus was a friend of the worst in his society. He protects the woman caught in adultery. He rebukes Peter for fighting the soldiers who had come to take Jesus away. Jesus is full of mercy and his followers are called to the same. When we show mercy, we are acting like our God.

Blessed are the pure in heart. The pure heart is a heart centered on God. In the world of Jesus, the heart represented the very core of a person, the center of who they were. Jesus is blessing those who are centered upon God. Jesus’s opponents often focused exclusively on religious actions, on the outward appearance. Jesus here shows us that even our private life must be devoted to the Lord. You have seen the results of this I’m sure. I have been in the presence of some people who are absolutely pure. They are not legalistic or prudes. But they have seen God and in being in their presence you feel as though you have seen God as well. I’ve sat with people who have walked with Jesus for so long that they radiate peace and grace. They are mellow and gentle.

Blessed are the peacemakers. I’ve said very much on this point already. Let me just ask a question: Where can you bring peace? With your family? Friends? Community? Congregation? Are you in the habit of severing relationships or are you in the habit of reconciling relationships? Of burning bridges or building bridges? Perhaps next time you find yourself in a difficult situation you might ask this question: Is my goal to make peace?

Often the peacemakers are hurt because they are the ones who are willing to go into to the fray to bring peace. That’s tough work. Peacemaking is not passive. It calls for active work. Jesus blesses such.

The Virtue of Suffering

But we can certainly expect to be misunderstood. There’s one more beatitude. Look at v. 10: Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. To be misunderstood and maligned is painful. People will attribute false motives to us. They will disagree with our pursuit of righteousness. This is part of bearing witness to Jesus. In fact, it’s worth noting that the Greek word for witness is the word from which we get the word martyr.

Now I said this was the final beatitude. There is some debate about this since v. 11 also talks about being blessed. But notice at the end of v. 10 Jesus says the same thing he said when he began the beatitudes in v. 3: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. These are bookends. Those who are poor in spirit will likewise be those who are attacked for their pursuit of righteousness. The reality of living under the rule of God is coming into conflict with the rule of the world. The kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world are at odds.[5]

But in all of this we are following our teacher. This is what they did to him, so what can we expect if we follow Jesus closely and sincerely?[6] Look at vv. 11–12: Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Jesus teaches a message and a lifestyle that rejects the status quo of the world. Jesus’ message is countercultural. It runs against the grain of what we value in our society. Religious people and powerful people rejected Jesus. If we take Jesus seriously, we will likely be rejected by religious people and powerful people. Why? Because what Jesus teaches here runs contrary to the values of self-righteousness and power. The lot of the prophets, who themselves lived these virtues, was to be reviled, hated, misunderstood. This was also Jesus’s lot. It is also true for us who bear his name. But if we suffer with him, we will likewise reign with him.[7]

In all of this, Jesus blesses those who are ultimately lacking and inadequate. The Kingdom of God turns the kingdoms of this world upside down.

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[1] John Driver, “A Spirituality of Following Jesus” available at https://www.plough.com/en/topics/faith/anabaptists/a-spirituality-of-following-jesus

[2] Sermon on the Mount, p. 9.

[3] Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, p. 40.

[4] Driver, “A Spirituality of Following Jesus.”

[5] See especially Psalm 2 and the way it is used in Acts 4. Jesus’s dialogue with Pilate in John 18 also expounds this point.

[6] See esp. Matt 10:24–39.

[7] 2 Tim 2:12.