God's blessings

Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matthew 5:1-12).

In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus speaks to His disciples about people. Specifically, our Lord speaks of the kinds of people that His heavenly Father has promised to bless. But why is Jesus telling the disciples all this? What is Jesus trying to teach about the blessings of God? Let us look at the Beatitudes of Jesus and see if we can discover the common teaching that holds them all together.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This first Beatitude seems strange to us—how can Jesus promise the kingdom of heaven to those who are poor in the spirit of God? Isn’t heaven reserved for those who are strong in the spirit? First of all, we must remember that Jesus treasures any person’s faith in Him, no matter how small or weak that faith may be. Through the prophet Isaiah, God said of Jesus, "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations…A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out" (Isaiah 42:1-3). Jesus treats each of us with the utmost delicacy and care. If life has made us damaged goods, a bruised reed, He will be careful not to break us. If our faith is only a weak flicker, a smoldering wick, He will be certain not to snuff it out. Such is Jesus’ love for the weak and hurting.

On the other hand, those who regard themselves as the best of those who serve God are at risk. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day thought that they had God in their pocket—they knew the teachings of the church, they were careful to act holy at all times, and they were proud of it. They weren’t interested in listening to Jesus. because as far as they were concerned there was nothing else that He could teach them. But these people angered God; Jesus said to them, "on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness" (Matthew 23:28). The hypocrisy was that they thought themselves to be holy, when Ecclesiastes 7:20 clearly teaches, "There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins." People who think that they have God’s favor because they are leading good Christian lives are much farther away from God than those who, in the weakness of their faith, cry out, "Lord, I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. We must be careful with this Beatitude; many people do mourn, but not all of them will be comforted. Hell is described as a place of unending torment; certainly everyone who is sent to hell when they die will not be comforted. Only heaven is described as a place free from mourning; in Revelation 21:4 the angel tells John: "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." The mourners who will be comforted are those who believe in Jesus as their savior. When a non-Christian attends a funeral, he cries tears of despair, because he cannot know for sure if he will ever see his dear departed friend or relative again. When a Christian mourns at a funeral, he does not shed tears of despair because he has faith that Jesus, who rose from the dead, will cause all believers to rise and join Him in eternal bliss. The tears that a Christian sheds are in response, not to the pain of eternal death, but to the pain of temporary separation from our loved ones.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Who thinks that they are in control of earthly affairs? Politicians, military leaders, terrorists. Who seeks to control the earth through their influence or their popularity? Hollywood stars, university faculty, news reporters, and activist organizations. These people assert their power or influence to lead others because they believe that their opinions, their morals, their ways of doing things are superior to everyone else’s. They desire the reigns of power because they are arrogant.

The meek do not seek power over others. The meek realize that they are flawed human beings, tainted by sin from the moment that they were conceived in the womb. Such people do not try to lead others because they know that, being sinners, any decision they make will be made imperfect by sin. They know that they are not fit to lead others.

God promises possession of the earth to the meek. God does not make this promise to those who are arrogant, because God hates arrogance; Scripture says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6). God promises leadership to the meek because the meek do not make decisions based on their own flawed wisdom; the meek turn to God for leadership in their lives. When the meek lead, it is actually God who leads through them.

But when will the meek lead? In Isaiah chapter 65, God tells us what will follow the Final Judgment: "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind." This new earth will be only for the meek, those who look to God for wisdom and leadership. Those who trusted in their own frail human wisdom will have no place in God’s new creation.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Righteousness comes only from God. Righteousness is God’s gift of mercy, of our being "made right" with the God who hates sins but loves sinners. Righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God, who died under the weight of our sins so that we could escape the punishment of God that He accepted in our place. People who know that they need God’s mercy hunger for it, thirst for it. And Jesus promises that those who seek God’s mercy through Him will have it—have it to the full.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. To be merciful to others is to forgive them when they commit a sin. Being merciful is hard—Jesus’ mercy towards us took Him to the cross and nailed Him there, so that our sins against God and each other could be forgiven. Showing mercy is not easy, but Jesus has forgiven us and sends His Spirit into our hearts to help us be forgiving. Jesus promises, "if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you" (Matthew 6:14). The merciful are blessed because the Spirit of Christ already dwells within them, and their sins are remembered by God no more.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. This is astounding. If it is true as Scripture says--that we are all sinful and unclean in God’s eyes--how can Jesus suggest that there is anyone who is pure in heart? But pureness of heart is something that we all have access to on a daily basis. Saint John writes, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). We Christians know that we sin constantly, and we confess our sins to God in prayer every day. When we ask for forgiveness and a new start, Jesus purifies us from all unrighteousness; He removes the guilt of our evil deeds and restores us to a perfect relationship of love with our heavenly Father. This is how we can all be pure in heart. And the joyous promise is that the pure in heart will be admitted to heaven and will get to see God face to face!

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Why is peacemaking of such importance? Because that is what Jesus came to earth to do. God hates sin, and the people of the world have joyously embraced sin. There was no relationship between God and man; sin made us enemies of God. But Jesus died to reunite us with God; with our sins forgiven, God no longer has reason to look on us in anger. Jesus has made peace between His Father and us.

Being a peacemaker is like being a "little Christ". But as important as diplomats and ambassadors are, the truly blessed peacemakers are those who try to bring peace between God and one of His lost children. In Jesus’ eyes, the blessed peacemaker is the one who involves himself in another person’s life in order to tell that person about God’s mercy, God’s love, and God’s wisdom for living—all offered through faith in his Son. The person who brings the words of Jesus into the heart of conflict is a true peacemaker.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Our own weak, sinful nature is not our only enemy in this life. We also must contend with the temptation to do wrong that comes from our friends, neighbors, and co-workers who don’t know Jesus, and don’t realize that many of the activities that they enjoy are evil in God’s eyes. When we refuse invitations to abandon God and enjoy the dark pleasures of sin, some people begin to resent us. They try to make sure that we can’t spoil their fun by awakening their conscience. Some might make fun of our beliefs; others might try to intimidate us into keeping God’s word to ourselves. People who try to stop us from speaking of Christ are persecutors, and whether they know it or not, they are doing the bidding of God’s enemy the devil.

Jesus tells us that being persecuted for being a Christian is a good thing. This is because the devil sees our Christian witness as a threat to his followers. If we say nothing about Jesus, those who ignorantly live in sin will be condemned to the devil’s prison when they die. But when we speak of Jesus to others, the devil worries that they might repent and trust in Jesus to take them to heaven. When we speak of our faith, we are a threat to the devil’s plans, and he tries to shut us up. Those who are persecuted by the devil’s followers are blessed because the persecution is proof that they are living their Christian faith for all to see; they are members of Christ’s holy kingdom.

This is what Jesus taught His disciples in the Beatitudes. They all revolve around one recurring theme: reliance on God and His Son Jesus Christ. The poor in spirit are blessed because they know that they need God. The mourners know that only God can end their time of sorrow. The meek realize that only God has the wisdom to lead them through life. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are aware that only God can fill their need. The merciful are only able to forgive because Jesus first forgave them. The pure in heart depend on Jesus’ forgiveness to take away their impurities. The peacemakers merely reflect Christ’s ultimate act of making peace between man and God. The persecuted stand on the wall of God’s kingdom, holding out the light of His love to invite those lost in the darkness of sin; the world tries to shoot them down and extinguish the light, but God’s walls protect them as they bravely display the light that He has given them.

Jesus shared these teachings with His disciples to make a very important point: those who desire blessings must rely on God. The arrogant and proud do not receive blessings. Those who have no need or time for God are not promised blessings. Those who are blessed are those who know that they need God, who beg Him for mercy, who entrust themselves to His leadership and His work. Jesus wanted His disciples to know that they needed Him, and that by needing they were not weak because God would bless them through their need. That is Jesus’ message to you as well. Paul wrote, "when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10). When you are weak, that is the time that God can act strongly in you. When you are weak, that is when you will be truly blessed.