Blessings for the Down & Out
January 13, 2023
Matthew 5:1-12 | Psalm 42:2-5
We could and certainly should spend much more time on this passage than a single day. The sayings you’ll read below are most often called the beatitudes and they are Jesus’ beginning characterizations of the Kingdom. They’re kind of a big deal.
We’ve twice read Jesus’ announcement that the Kingdom is coming: “Here comes the kingdom of heaven!”. John said it, too. But now Jesus is whittling it down for us. Much of the rest of Matthew will go to great lengths to describe the Kingdom. In this way, it’s a platform, a mantra, even an ethic. Don’t miss it.
Whether these statements are prescriptive or descriptive is up for your consideration. Many take them as the latter. To prescribe something is to say it is what we need to do. But to describe something is to say it is the way it is, so live into it. If it is true that these opening statements - which open the longest single portion of Jesus’ teaching anywhere - are descriptive, we must consider what it means for how we shape our lives and the perspective with which we go about our day.
Matthew 5:1-121
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the hillside, and sat down. His disciples came to him. He took a deep breath, and began his teaching:
‘Blessings on the poor in spirit! The kingdom of heaven is yours.
‘Blessings on the mourners! You’re going to be comforted.
‘Blessings on the meek! You’re going to inherit the earth.
‘Blessings on people who hunger and thirst for God’s justice! You’re going to be satisfied.
‘Blessings on the merciful! You’ll receive mercy yourselves.
‘Blessings on the pure in heart! You will see God.
‘Blessings on the peacemakers! You’ll be called God’s children.
‘Blessings on people who are persecuted because of God’s way! The kingdom of heaven belongs to you.
‘Blessings on you, when people slander you and persecute you, and say all kinds of wicked things about you falsely because of me! Celebrate and rejoice: there’s a great reward for you in heaven. That’s how they persecuted the prophets who went before you.’
Psalm 42:2-5
My whole being thirsts for God, for the living God.
When will I come and see God’s face?
My tears have been my food both day and night,
as people constantly questioned me,
“Where’s your God now?”
But I remember these things as I bare my soul:
how I made my way to the mighty one’s abode,
to God’s own house,
with joyous shouts and thanksgiving songs—
a huge crowd celebrating the festival!
Why, I ask myself, are you so depressed?
Why are you so upset inside?
Hope in God!
Because I will again give him thanks,
my saving presence and my God.
Prayer
God, the beatitudes have been around for quite a while now. And despite the fact that more people on this planet claim faith in Christ than any thing or one else, they hardly describe what people value today.
Who would call being poor a blessing - whether in spirit or in resources? Who would think that blessings fall upon those who are mourning and in grief? Who on earth would want to be persecuted?
Help me understand the nature of your Kingdom, to live into the blessed-perspective of Jesus’ teachings. When I am at the end of my rope, show me yourself. Well, not only then, but definitely especially then.
And give me eyes for those in these situations, not that I would simply seek to fix or help them, but to come up alongside them and hear their resonance with you.
By your Spirit & in Christ, Amen.
Today’s gospel reading is from N.T. Wright’s The New Testament for Everyone.