by Kevin Wattles

• We’re going to note for whom the Beatitudes of Jesus are intended

• We’re going to note what the Beatitudes are about

• And then we’re going to take a look at the overall “flow” of the Beatitudes

by Prof. P.G. Mathew

by The Rev. Dr. William K. Quick

"The way to Heaven is through poverty . . . the way to consolation is through genuine sorrow . . . the way to earthly possessions is through a gentle spirit that is neither stingy nor possessive . . . the way to satisfaction is through a hungering and thirsting for justice . . . the way to mercy is through mercy . . . the way to God is through the open, unobstructed, pure heart . . . the way to a full relationship with God is through the active practice of peace . . . the way to God's realm or Kingdom is through the struggle for right that leads through conflict, pain, and even death itself."

by C. H. Spurgeon

“His hand no thunder bears,
No terror clothes his brow
No bolts to drive our guilty souls
To fiercer flames below.”

by Alexander Maclaren

Gospel: Matthew 5:1-16

An unnamed mountain somewhere on the Sea of Galilee is the Sinai of the new covenant. The contrast between the savage desolation of the wilderness and the smiling beauty of the sunny slope near the haunts of men symbolises the contrast in the genius of the two codes, given from each. There God came down in majesty, and the cloud hid Him from the people’s gaze; here Jesus sits amidst His followers, God with us. The King proclaims the fundamental laws of His kingdom, and reveals much of its nature by the fact that He begins by describing the characteristics of its subjects, as well as by the fact that the description is cast in the form of beatitudes.

We must leave unsettled the question as to the relation between the Sermon on the Mount and the shorter edition of part of it given by Luke, only pointing out that in this first part of Matthew’s Gospel we are evidently presented with general summaries; as, for example, the summary of the Galilean ministry in the previous verses, and the grand procession of miracles which follows in chapters viii. and ix. It is therefore no violent supposition that here too the evangelist has brought together, as specimens of our Lord’s preaching, words which were not all spoken at the same time. His description of the Galilean ministry in ch. 4:23, as ‘teaching’ and ‘healing,’ governs the arrangement of his materials from chapter 45. to the end of chapter 9. First comes the sermon, then the miracles follow.

The Beatitudes, as a whole, are a set of paradoxes to the ‘mind of the flesh.’ They were meant to tear away the foolish illusions of the multitude as to the nature of the kingdom; and they must have disgusted and turned back many would-be sharers in it. They are like a dash of cold water on the fiery, impure enthusiasms which were eager for a kingdom of gross delights and vulgar conquest. And, no doubt, Jesus intended them to act like Gideon’s test, and to sift out those whose appetite for carnal good was uppermost. But they were tests simply because they embodied everlasting truths as to the characters of His subjects. Our narrow space allows of only the most superficial treatment of these deep words.

I. The foundation of all is laid in poverty of spirit.

The word rendered ‘poor’ does not only signify one in a condition of want, but rather one who is aware of the condition, and seeks relief. If we may refer to Latin words here, it is mendicus rather than pauper, a beggar rather than a poor man, who is meant. So that to be poor in spirit is to be in inmost reality conscious of need, of emptiness, of dependence on God, of demerit; the true estimate of self, as blind, evil, weak, is intended; the characteristic tone of feeling pointed to is self-abnegation, like that of the publican smiting his breast, or that of the disease-weakened, hunger-tortured prodigal, or that of the once self-righteous Paul, ‘O wretched man that I am!’ People who do not like evangelical teaching sometimes say, ‘ Give me the Sermon on the Mount.’ So say I. Only let us take all of it; and if we do, we shall come, as we shall have frequent occasion to point out, in subsequent passages, to something uncommonly like the evangelical theology to which it is sometimes set up as antithetic. For Christ begins His portraiture of a citizen of the kingdom with the consciousness of want and sin. All the rest of the morality of the Sermon is founded on this. It is the root of all that is heavenly and divine in character. So this teaching is dead against the modern pagan doctrine of self-reliance, and really embodies the very principle for the supposed omission of which some folk like this Sermon; namely, that our proud self-confidence must be broken down before God can do any good with us, or we can enter His kingdom.

The promises attached to the Beatitudes are in each case the results which flow from the quality, rather than the rewards arbitrarily given for it. So here, the possession of the kingdom comes by consequence from poverty of spirit. Of course, such a kingdom as could be so inherited was the opposite of that which the narrow and fleshly nationalism of the Jews wanted, and these first words must have cooled many incipient disciples. The ‘kingdom of heaven’ is the rule of God through Christ. It is present wherever wills bow to Him; it is future, as to complete realisation, in the heaven from which it comes, and to which, like its King, it belongs even while on earth. Obviously, its subjects can only be those who feel their dependence, and in poverty of spirit have cast off self-will and self-reliance. ‘Theirs is the kingdom’ does not mean ‘they shall rule,’ but ‘of them shall be its subjects.’ True, they shall rule in the perfected form of it; but the first, and in a real sense the only, blessedness is to obey God; and that blessedness can only come when we have learned poverty of spirit, because we see ourselves as in need of all things.

II. Each Beatitude springs from the preceding, and all twined together make an ornament of grace upon the neck, a chain of jewels.

The second sounds a more violent paradox than even the first. Sorrowing is blessed. This, of course, cannot mean mere sorrow as such. That may or may not be a blessing. Grief makes men worse quite as often as it makes them better. Its waves often flow over us like the sea over marshes, leaving them as salt and barren as it found them. Nor is sorrow always sure of comfort. We must necessarily understand the word here so as to bring it into harmony with the context, and link it with the former Beatitude as flowing from it, as well as with the succeeding. The only intelligible explanation is that this sorrow arises from the contemplation of the same facts concerning self as lead to poverty of spirit, and is, in fact, the emotional side of the same disposition. He who takes the true measure of himself cannot but sorrow over the frightful gulf between what he should and might be and what he is, for he knows that there is more than misfortune or unavoidable creatural weakness at work. The grim reality of sin has to be reckoned in. Personal responsibility and guilt are facts. The soul that has once seen its own past as it is, and looked steadily down into the depths of its own being, cannot choose but ‘mourn.’ Such contrition underlies all moral progress. The ethical teaching of the Sermon on the Mount puts these two, poverty of spirit and tears for sin, at the foundation. Do its admirers lay that fact to heart? This is Christ’s account of discipleship. We have to creep through a narrow gate, which we shall not pass but on our knees and leaving all our treasures outside. But once through, we are in a great temple with far reaching aisles and lofty roof. Such sorrow is sure of comfort. Other sorrow is not. The comfort it needs is the assurance of forgiveness and cleansing, and that assurance has never been sought from the King in vain. The comfort is filtered to us in drops here; it pours in a flood hereafter. Blessed the sorrow which leads to experience of the tender touch of the hand that wipes away tears from the face, and plucks evil from the heart! Blessed the mourning, which prepares for the festal garland and the oil of gladness and the robe of praise, instead of ashes on the head and sackcloth on the spirit!

III. Meekness here seems to be considered principally as exercised to men, and it thus constitutes the first of the social virtues, which henceforward alternate with those having exclusive reference to God.

It is the grace which opposes patient gentleness to hatred, injury, or antagonism. The prominence given to it in Christ’s teaching is one of the peculiarities of Christian morals, and is a standing condemnation of much so-called Christianity. Pride and anger and self-assertion and retaliation flaunt in fine names, and are called manly virtues. Meekness is smiled at, or trampled on, and the men who exercise it are called ‘Quakers’ and ‘poor-spirited’ and ‘chicken-hearted’ and the like. Social life among us is in flagrant contradiction of this Beatitude; and as for national life, all ‘ Christian nations’ agree that to apply Christ’s precept to it would be absurd and suicidal. He said that the meek should inherit the earth; statesmen say that the only way to keep a country is to be armed to the teeth, and let no man insult its flag with impunity. There does not seem much room for ‘ a spirited foreign policy’ or for ‘proper regard to one’s own dignity’ inside this Beatitude, does there? But notice that this meekness naturally follows the preceding dispositions. He who knows himself and has learned the depth of his own evil will not be swift to blaze up at slights or wrongs. The true meekness is not mere natural disposition, but the direct outcome of poverty of spirit and the consequent sorrow. So, it is a test of their reality. Many a man will indulge in confessions of sin, and crackle up in sputtering heat of indignation at some slight or offence. If he does, his lowly words have had little meaning, and the benediction of these promises will come scantily to his heart.

Does Christ mean merely to say that meek men will acquire landed property? Is there not a present inheritance of the earth by them, though they may not own a foot of it? They have the world who enjoy it, whom it helps nearer God, who see Him in it, to whom it is the field for service and the means for growing character. But in the future the kingdom of heaven will be a kingdom of the earth, and the meek saints shall reign with the King who is meek and lowly of heart,

IV. Righteousness is conformity to the will of God, or moral perfection.

Hunger and thirst are energetic metaphors for passionate desire, and imply that righteousness is the true nourishment of the Spirit. Every longing of a noble spirit is blessed. Aspiration after the unreached is the salt of all lofty life. It is better to be conscious of want than to be content. There are hungers which are all unblessed, greedy appetites for the swine’s husks, which are misery when unsatisfied, and disgust when satiated. But we are meant to be righteous, and shall not in vain desire to be so. God never sends mouths but He sends meat to fill them. Such longings prophesy their fruition.

Notice that this hunger follows the experience of the former Beatitudes. It is the issue of poverty of spirit and of that blessed sorrow. Observe, too, that the desire after, and not the possession or achievement of, righteousness is blessed. Is not this the first hint of the Christian teaching that we do not work out or win but receive it ? God gives it. Our attitude towards that gift should be earnest longing. Such a blessed hungerer shall ‘receive… righteousness from the God of his salvation.’ The certainty that he will do so rests at last on the faithfulness of God, who cannot but respond to all desires which He inspires. They are premonitions of His purposes, like rosy clouds that run before the chariot of the sunrise. The desire to be righteous is already righteousness in heart and will, and reveals the true bent of the soul. Its realisation in life is a question of time. The progressive fulfilment here points to completeness in heaven, when we shall behold His face in righteousness, and be satisfied when we awake in His likeness.

V. Again we have a grace which is exercised to men.

Mercy is more than meekness. That implied opposition, and was largely negative. This does not regard the conduct of others at all, and is really love in exercise to the needy, especially the unworthy. It embraces pity, charitable forbearance, beneficence, and is revealed in acts, in words, in tears. It is blessed in itself. A life of selfishness is hell; a life of mercy is sweet with some savour of heaven. It is the consequence of mercy received from God. Poverty of spirit, sorrow, hunger after righteousness bring deep experiences of God’s gentle forbearance and bestowing love, and will make us like Him in proportion as they are real. Our mercifulness, then, is a reflection from His. His ought to be the measure and pattern of ours in depth, scope, extent of self-sacrifice, and freeness of its gifts. A stringent requirement!

Our exercise of mercy is the condition of our receiving it. On the whole, the world gives us back, as a mirror does, the reflection of our own faces; and merciful men generally get what they give. But that is a law with many exceptions, and Jesus means more than that. Merciful men get mercy from God — not, of course, that we deserve mercy by being merciful. That is a contradiction in terms; for mercy is precisely that which we do not deserve. The place of mercy in this series shows that Jesus regarded it as the consequence, not the cause, of our experience of God’s mercy. But He teaches over and over again that a hard, unmerciful heart forfeits the divine mercy. It does so, because such a disposition tends to obscure the very state of mind to which alone God’s mercy can he given- Such a man must have forgotten his poverty and sorrow, his longings and their rich reward, and so must have, for the time, passed from the place where he can take in God’s gift. A life inconsistent with Christian motives will rob a Christian of Christian privileges. The hand on his brother’s throat destroys the servant’s own forgiveness. He cannot be at once a rapacious creditor and a discharged bankrupt.

VI. If detached from its connection, there is little blessedness in the next Beatitude.

What is the use of telling us how happy purity of heart will make us? It only provokes the despairing question, ‘And how am I to he pure?’ But when we set this word in its place here, it does bring hope. For it teaches that purity is the result of all that has gone before, and comes from that purifying which is the sure answer of God to our poverty, mourning, and longing. Such purity is plainly progressive, and as it increases, so does the vision of God grow. The more the glasses of the telescope are cleansed, the brighter does the great star shine to the gazer. ‘No man hath seen God,’ nor can see Him, either amid the mists of earth or in the cloudless sky of heaven, if by seeing we mean perceiving by sense, or full, direct comprehension by spirit. But seeing Him is possible even now, if by it we understand the knowledge of His character, the assurance of His presence, the sense of communion with Him. Our earthly consciousness of God may become so clear, direct, real, and certain, that it deserves the name of vision. Such blessed intuition of Him is the prerogative of those whose hearts Christ has cleansed, and whose inward eye is therefore able to behold God, because it is like Him. ‘Unless the eye were sunlike, how could it see the sun?’ We can blind ourselves to Him, by wallowing in filth. Impurity unfits for seeing purity. Swedenborg profoundly said that the wicked see only blackness where the sun is.

Like all these Beatitudes, this has a double fulfilment, as the kingdom has two stages of here and hereafter. Purity of heart is the condition of the vision of God in heaven. Without holiness, ‘no man shall see the Lord.’ The sight makes us pure, and purity makes us see. Thus heaven will be a state of ever-increasing, reciprocally acting sight and holiness, Like Him because we see Him, we shall see Him more because we have assimilated what we see, as the sunshine opens the petals, and tints the flower with its own colours the more deeply, the wider it opens.

VII. Once more we have the alternation of a grace exercised to men.

If we give due weight to the order of these Beatitudes, we shall feel that Christ’s peacemaker must be something more than a mere composer of men’s quarrels. For he has to be trained by all the preceding experiences, and has to be emptied of self, penitent, hungering for and filled with righteousness, and therefore pure in heart as well as, in regard to men, meek and merciful, ere he can hope to fill this part. That apprenticeship deepens the conception of the peace which Christ’s subjects are to diffuse. It is, first and chiefly, the peace which enters the soul that has traversed all these stages; that is to say, the Christian peacemaker is first to seek to bring about peace between men and God, by beseeching them to be reconciled to Him, and then afterwards, as a consequence of this, is to seek to diffuse through all human relations the blessed unity and amity which flow most surely from the common possession of the peace of God. Of course, the relation which the subjects of the true King bear to all wars and fightings, to all discord and strife, is not excluded, but is grounded on this deeper meaning. The centuries that have passed since the words were spoken, have not yet brought up the Christian conscience to the full perception of their meaning and obligation. Too many of us still believe that ‘great doors and effectual’ can be blown open with gunpowder, and regard this Beatitude as a counsel of perfection, rather than as one of the fundamental laws of the kingdom.

The Christian who moves thus among men seeking to diffuse everywhere the peace with God which fills his own soul, and the peace with all men which they only who have the higher peace can preserve unbroken in their quiet, meek hearts, will be more or less recognised as God-like by men, and will have in his own heart the witness that he is called by God His child. He will bear visibly the image of his Father, and will hear the voice that speaks to him too as unto a son.

VIII. The last Beatitude crowns all the paradoxes of the series with what sounds to flesh as a stark contradiction.

by John Piper

Scripture: Matthew 5:1–12

We begin today an eight-week series on the Beatitudes of Matthew 5:3–12. We will devote almost a week to each one. But our focus today has to be on the group as a whole in the wider context of Jesus’s ministry. We have to answer the questions, What are these beatitudes? Do they spell out conditions we must meet in order to inherit eternal life? Do they celebrate the power of God in the life of the disciples? Could it be both? How do we know?

Let’s begin today with our lens open more widely than just the Beatitudes. Then we will narrow it down to the Beatitudes themselves.

The Structure of Matthew

Notice Matthew 4:23. It is a summary statement of Jesus’s earthly ministry, “And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.” One way to restate that verse would be to say that Jesus made it his ministry to preach the coming of the kingdom, teach the way of the kingdom, and demonstrate the purpose and power of the kingdom by healing the sick. Preaching, teaching, and healing.

Now turn to Matthew 9:35. Almost verbatim we find the same summary, “And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.”

Then, when we look to see what is sandwiched between these two summary descriptions of Jesus’ ministry, what we see are two major sections: chapters 5–7 are a collection of Jesus’s teaching called the Sermon on the Mount; and chapters 8–9 are a collection of stories mainly about his healing ministry. So, what it appears we have is a five-chapter unit designed by Matthew to present us first with some typical teaching of the Lord concerning the way of the kingdom, and second with some typical healings and miracles to demonstrate the power of the kingdom.

The value of seeing this is that it warns us against treating any little piece of this section in isolation. Matthew is the writer here, and he is putting his material together in a particular way. He is the inspired apostle, and we should care about how he chose to put things together. That is the way he gets across his meaning.

The Jesus Who Teaches and Heals

For example, one thing we can say right off the bat is that you can’t have the Jesus of the Sermon of the Mount without the Jesus who cleansed the leper, and healed the centurion’s servant, and stilled the storm, and cast out demons. The writer who gives us the one, gives us the other, and it is arbitrary to do what some modern folk try to do; namely, say that they admire the ethical teacher of the Sermon on the Mount but they don’t want to get involved with the spooky supernatural Person who stills storms and casts out demons.

Or, for some, the opposite temptation may overcome them. They may have a charismatic fascination with the miracles of Jesus, but when it comes to reckoning with the One who said, “Don’t call your brother a fool, don’t lust, don’t get divorced, don’t swear, don’t return evil for evil, love your enemy” — well, they like the miracle worker who heals their diseases, but this radical intruder into their personal lifestyle, they are not so interested in him.

Matthew’s point is that the Lord who teaches like this in the Sermon on the Mount is the same Lord who calls us to follow him through life and depend upon his power. His personal work and power are inseparable from his teaching. In fact, we will see right away that this is clear even in the Beatitudes.

The Crowds and the Disciples

So, let’s go to Matthew 5:1ff.

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying . . . ”

The audience is probably two concentric circles: the inner circle of the disciples, and the outer circle of the “crowds.” It says in verse 1 that he taught his disciples. But look at the end of the sermon in Matthew 7:28–29,

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

So, it is clear that the crowds were listening and that Jesus wanted them to listen even though the sermon is primarily addressed to professing disciples. Let me mention here that this is the way our Sunday services at Bethlehem are conceived. Primarily, the word is prepared to feed and strengthen and inspire the worship and life of God’s people. But we pray that more and more there will be the curious, the onlookers, the skeptical, the searchers, the doubters who come to Bethlehem the way the crowds gathered in behind the disciples on the mount.

We believe that the Spirit-anointed, authoritative preaching of the word of God has a peculiar power to awaken unbelievers to the truth and beauty of Christ — even when it is addressed primarily to disciples. So, I would urge you to feel free to invite anyone and everyone to our Sunday services at Bethlehem. It is precisely the things our Lord has to say to us that can awaken desire in others to come to Christ.

The Sermon Begins

So, the sermon begins with the disciples gathered at the feet of Jesus and with the crowds listening in.

How will the Lord begin? He begins by pronouncing a certain kind of person fortunate. We call these pronouncements “beatitudes,” from the Latin word for happiness or blessedness. Let’s see how the whole group is put together.

Eight Beatitudes, One Unit

There are eight beatitudes worded in the same way. Verse 11 could be viewed as a ninth one, but it is really an expansion of verse 10 and is worded differently from the others. It says, “Blessed are you when others revile you.” None of the others say, “Blessed are you.” It is probably an expansion of verse 10, which says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” The reviling in verse 11 is a specific instance of the persecution in verse 10.

You can see that the eight beatitudes of verses 3–10 are a unit when you look at the first and the eighth. Notice the promise of the first beatitude in verse 3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” And notice the promise of the eighth beatitude in verse 10, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Both of them have the identical promise, “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

But the other six beatitudes sandwiched between these two are all different. Verse 4: “For they shall be comforted.” Verse 5: “For they shall inherit the earth.” Verse 6: “For they shall be satisfied.” Verse 7: “For they shall receive mercy.” Verse 8: “For they shall see God.” Verse 9: “For they shall be called sons of God.”

Future Promises Sandwiched by Present Assurance

Notice that all of these are promises for the future. “They shall be comforted. . . . They shall inherit the earth. . . . They shall be satisfied” and so on. But the promise of the first and last beatitude in verses 3 and 10 seems to relate to the present: the disciples are assured that “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Now, what is the meaning of this pattern? I think there are at least two implications.

The Blessings of the Kingdom

First, by sandwiching six promises in between two assurances that such people have the kingdom of heaven, I think Jesus means to tell us that these six promises are blessings of the kingdom. In other words, these six things are what you can count on when you are a part of God’s kingdom. This is what the kingdom brings: comfort, earth ownership, satisfied righteousness, mercy, a vision of God, and the awesome title, son of God. You don’t have to pick and choose among these promises. They all belong to the kingdom.

That is the first implication I see in the fact that Jesus begins with the assurance, “Theirs is the kingdom of heaven” and ends with the assurance, “Theirs is the kingdom of heaven” with six promises sandwiched in between.

A Present Yet Future Kingdom

The other implication of this pattern comes from the fact that the first and last assurances are present tense, and the six in the middle are future. “Theirs is the kingdom of heaven” in verses 3 and 10 — but, “They shall be comforted. . . . They shall inherit the earth” and so on in verses 4–9. I think this is Jesus’s way of saying that, in some sense, the kingdom of heaven is present with the disciples now (“Theirs is the kingdom of heaven”), but that the full blessings of the kingdom will have to wait for the age to come (“They shall inherit the earth”).

Another way to put it is that Jesus has brought the kingdom of heaven to earth in his own kingly power and fellowship, and we can enjoy foretastes of it here and now; but the full experience of the life of the kingdom will have to wait for the age to come.

You can see exactly what this means right here in the Beatitudes.

Being Comforted

Take several examples. Verse 4 says that those who mourn will one day be comforted. As Revelation 21:4 says, “[God] will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore.” But look at verses 11–12, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.” In other words, even though the final reward of comfort is kept for us in heaven, we can now rejoice even in the midst of suffering. And is not this joy a foretaste of the promised comfort? There is no joy without some element of comfort.

Obtaining Mercy

Or consider verse 7. It promises, “They shall receive mercy.” But in the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23–35, the king says to the wicked servant, “And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” (Matthew 18:33). In other words, Jesus teaches that we do not merely wait for the age to come to receive mercy. It has come in Jesus. We taste it here and now in forgiveness of sins and innumerable blessings of this life.

Being Called Sons of God

Or consider verse 9. It promises, “They shall be called sons of God.” As Romans 8:23 says, “We . . . groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” So, the full benefits of being sons of God await the resurrection. But look at Matthew 5:16: “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” God is already our Father! We are already sons! That is, we have a foretaste of sonship now.

The point of these three examples is that the kingdom of heaven is both present and future. We have foretastes of the reign of God now, but we will experience vastly more in the future. I think this is why verses 3 and 10 assure us that “theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” but verses 4–9 promise that the kingdom blessings are still in the future. It is both.

One of the Most Important Lessons

And this is one of the most important things you can learn about the Christian faith. Without this insight, the Sermon on the Mount simply cannot be understood. For example, what will you make of Matthew 5:7 without this insight that the kingdom blessings of God’s mercy are both present and future? It says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” Does this mean that God withholds his mercy until the future day of reckoning and waits to see if we will be merciful enough to earn his mercy? That is what it looks like it says.

But if you know the gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 4:23; 24:14), that is, if you know the good news that the kingdom has already come and is now at work like a dragnet gathering in a people for the kingdom (13:47–50) — if you know that the power of the kingdom is already present as well as future, then you will know that our becoming merciful is (right now!) a work of God’s kingly mercy.

That is the point of Matthew 18:33. The king said, “And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” God’s prior mercy enables us to be merciful. The powerful mercy of the kingdom has already come in Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

God is not just waiting like a Judge at the end of the age to see whether or not we will be able to earn his mercy then by showing mercy now. God is not merely waiting; he is casting the net of mercy into the sea of the world and dragging people to life and hope and joy and mercy (Matthew 13:47–50). “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him,” Jesus said (John 6:44). “No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father” (John 6:65).

The Mercy of the Kingdom Already in the World

The mercy of the kingdom is in the world drawing people to Christ. The mercy of the kingdom is in the world opening people’s eyes to Christ. Do you remember what Jesus said to Peter when Peter confessed him to be the Messiah? “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). God is not waiting to see if Peter will recognize Jesus as the Messiah. He opened his eyes. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, Simon! God has!

You did not choose him first; he chose you (John 15:16). You did not come to him first; he drew you (John 6:44). You did not recognize Christ first; God opened your eyes (Matthew 16:17). And all this is mercy, mercy, mercy! “It depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy” (Romans 9:16).

Try to grasp this and make it part of your very being. Many passages of Scripture teach that God will show mercy on us in the future if we live a certain way now. Many other passages of Scripture teach that God has already shown us mercy, enabling us to live in a certain way now. These are not inconsistent. This is the very fabric of biblical life.

We are born anew by the mercy of God. We are sanctified by the mercy of God. And when we get to the judgment seat of God, he will say, “You are still a sinner. But I see in your life the distinguishing fruit of my Son’s mercy. Your mercy on others is the evidence of his mercy in you. And for his sake, I now show you mercy again. Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Seeing the Beatitudes for What They Are

Unless you see the Beatitudes as part of this biblical fabric, you will not be able to understand them for what they are. They are an announcement of how fortunate people are who already possess, as it were, the power of the kingdom. You might say, “Blessed! Blessed! And fortunate are you who have the kingdom power at work within you, for you will inherit the kingdom with all its infinite pleasures forever and ever.” The Beatitudes are announcements that people like this are very blessed — very fortunate.

But that is not all. The Beatitudes also contain an implicit invitation to become this kind of person. The disciples sit at Jesus’ feet and hear his words as congratulations. “Oh, how fortunate you are, my dear brothers! Oh, how fortunate you are to be chosen of God, to have your eyes opened, to be drawn to the Savior, to be poor and mourning and meek and hungry and merciful and pure and peaceable! Rejoice! Rejoice and give thanks, my beloved disciples, that you are this kind of person, for it is not your own doing! It is the reign of God in your life.” So, the disciples hear the Beatitudes as words of celebration about the work of God in their lives.

But what about the crowds standing behind the disciples? How do they hear these words of congratulations? How should they hear them, if they are not poor in spirit, if they are not mourning or meek or hungry for righteousness or merciful or pure or peaceable? What do these words mean for them? They are certainly not congratulations. You can’t congratulate a guest on his wedding garment if he doesn’t have it on (Matthew 22:11–14).

What then? If you see people being welcomed to a feast with a certain garment on, don’t the words of welcome stir you up to go get a garment like that? And if you see people being promised the blessings of eternal life because they are poor in spirit and mourning and meek and hungry for righteousness and merciful and pure and peaceable, don’t those words of promise beckon you to become that kind of person? Indeed, don’t they beget in you the seeds of those very flowers? Perhaps not. But for some, they do. And if they don’t in you, oh, how you should pray that God would not leave you in such a hard and impenitent condition.

So, the Beatitudes are words of celebration for disciples — people who have been awakened by the present power of the age to come. And they are words of invitation for the crowds — the people who come to worship out of tradition or curiosity or skepticism. And for some, they are words of transformation — by the power and mercy of God.

by Edward F. Markquart

Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12

Happiness. Happiness is different things to different people; that’s what happiness is.

I have some questions for you. “What are some of the happiest moments in your life?” When you think back, when were those times when you were enormously happy? Can you think of such moments? I can. So can you. I can remember those times of wonderful happiness.

It is definitely silly but I can still remember my high school basketball game against Fairmont. Fairmont was the local rival against the Jackson Blue Jays. I was a junior in high school. My cousins were there in the crowd with their girl friends. I hit six long shots that night, the only night I ever did that. The ball didn’t touch the rim. Pure net. Later that night, I joined all my friends downtown at the local café, The Thompson Café, and I was very happy.

There were other times when you or I were enormously happy. On our wedding day. With all our friends and family to celebrate. Some of the greatest people in the world were there that day, our grandparents, parents, family, and friends. Many of these fine people are now gone, but they were there for one of the happiest moments in our lives.

And our daughter’s wedding day to Steve. With her asking me to dance the Father’s dance? What memories.

For some of you, it may be the time that your daughter or son was adopted or born. How fond I am of the picture of Jan and infant daughter, Anne, standing by the pine tree, as we get ready to walk into our apartment for the first time. What happiness for us all. How can one measure the happiness of that day and the pleasures that she was going to bring to our lives in the future.

I have another question for you: “What places make you the happiest?” Not the people but the places. What are places that create an inner smile inside of you? For some of you, it is when you are out in the woods, hiking, hunting, walking. For others of you, it has to do with water such as fishing, swimming or boating. For others of you, it is when you are in your garden, having your fingers in the soil, planting seeds and watching flowers grow. For some of you it is being in the mountains: climbing, skiing, and seeing the views. For others of you, the place is your family room and you are watching TV, the fire in the fireplace or a movie. For many of you, it is where your grandchildren are. Many people have told me it is wherever the grandkids are. For others it is the kitchen, preparing meal, sitting around a table with family, the smell of freshly baked bread in the air. … For me, what is my favorite place under heaven? It is Paradise Park on Mount Rainier. At least, I have told my family that I would like some of the ashes from my body scattered there, right under Panoramic Point, looking out at the Tatoosh Range.

I have another question: “What are those ingredients that help you to be a happy person?” What are those things or qualities that enable you to be happier and not sadder? Food? Family? Friends? Health? Clothing? Good relationships? Roof over your head? Money in the bank? Knowing that you are loved? All of these? Some of these? What are the ingredients that create a recipe of happiness for you?

It is with this mood and theme of happiness that we approach the New Testament gospel lesson for today. The gospel lesson for today is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says, “Blessed are the….

In the translation, Today’s English Version, the Bible says, “Happy are the peacemakers; happy are those who mourn; happy are the… and then are listed nine qualities that make for happiness.

The situation was this. In the Gospel of Luke, it is called the Sermon on the Plain because the people are gathered on a plain. But today I am going to use the Gospel of Mathew and that setting. In the Gospel of Matthew, the large crowd had gathered together down by the shore, down by the shores of Lake Galilee. Then Jesus took twelve disciples and left the crowds behind on the shore, down on the level seashore of Lake Galilee. He took his twelve disciples up onto a mountain or a hillside above Lake Galilee. These hills above Lake Galilee are more like the hills of the Palouse Range than mountains like Mount Rainier, Mount Shasta or Mount Baker. They are rolling large hills up above the lake, not mountains the way we think of mountains. I have been blessed to visit there, on the hills above Lake Galilee, at a chapel called the Mount of Beatitudes.

On these remote hills above Lake Galilee, Jesus was going to teach his newly called twelve disciples his fundamental lessons about life with God. What does Jesus teach his newly called twelve? What does Jesus teach his inner core of beliefs? Does he teach them about prayer? About Bible reading? About love and justice? No. Jesus began with something much more basic and simple. Jesus began by teaching his newly called disciples about…happiness, the simplicities of happiness. All people are interested in happiness. Everyone in this room wants to know about happiness. Everyone in this room, rich and poor, young and old, male and female, we all want to experience happiness. We all want it, look for it, and try to find it. Jesus begins his teachings by giving us a blue print for happiness.

Jesus talked about nine different steams that flow into the lake of happiness. Jesus and his disciples were sitting above the Lake Galilee, and Jesus talked about nine streams that flow into a lake that make for happiness. Or about nine different roads that flow into a city called Happiness.

But…it is interesting to me that Jesus didn’t use the word for happiness. The Bible translation, Today’s English Version, uses the word, “happiness,” but the Greek text would be better served if the word, “joy,” was used. This word comes from the Greek word, makarios.

If anyone is a Latin scholar, you realize that the word, “happiness,” is derived from the Latin word, “hap.” Hap means hap-hazard. It refers to circumstances that are happy. I am happy today because it is Christmas. I am happy today because it is my birthday and I receive presents. I am happy today because I have enough food on the table for me, and someone else made it and prepared it. I am happy today because I got to sleep in. I am happy today because of happy circumstances that have made me happy. How does the song go, from the KING AND I? “Happy happy happy talk. Talking about things you do.” The word happy is derived from the Latin, hap.

Whereas the Biblical concept of joy comes from the Greek word, makarious. You can be joyful and unhappy at the same time. You can be joyful even in the midst of unhappy circumstances. Joy has to do with the Spirit of God living inside of you. It has to do with that smile of God living in your heart. Joy is the assurance that God is with you and in you in all circumstances. It is knowing that in all circumstances of life, good and bad, that God is in control and will take care of you. It is knowing that God has a plan, a purpose and a prayer for you, even when the circumstances are unhappy. The net result is that you can be joyful during unhappy circumstances.

Jesus took his newly called disciples, his inner core, and took them up onto a hillside to teach them about his core values, and Jesus began his teachings with that which was most dear to his heart: joy. Today we talk about the beatitudes and we talk about joy, not happiness that is dependent on happy circumstances.

We won’t talk about all of the beatitudes today, all nine streams, but three of them.

Jesus said, “Joyful are the peace makers. Joyful are those people who work for peace.” Have you ever had the experience where you have walked into a very intense conflict, where you were drawn into a very unpleasant situation and people were not happy at all? In fact, you may have been at the very heart of the conflict. Let’s put it this way; has anyone here not been involved in a hostile conflict? It takes great courage, raw guts, be to be peacemaker, to live in such situations.

It takes great courage to get caught in a war between two fighting parents. I remember it vividly, like it was yesterday, when I was caught between Mom and Dad as a young junior high boy. … I takes courage to be in the middle when two friends are fighting and wanting you the peacemaker to take sides. … It takes great courage to step into a conflict when two races are fighting, when the prejudices run deep and hot. … It takes courage to step in when two members of the same family are fighting and even hating each other, and you step in to try to make it better. … It takes courage to step into a conflict when two nations are fighting and killing each others sons and daughters. Have you ever been in the middle between warring parents, warring friends, warring races, warring siblings, warring nations? It is very hot in the middle and not a nice place to be.

Most of us run away from such conflicts, when our stomachs turn inside out. When you try to be a peacemaker, you can get cut up, you can get hurt, you can get people mad at you. Jesus said, “Joyful are the peacemakers who are in very unhappy circumstances and still work for peace. I will give you my courage and compassion to work to resolve the conflict.” Most of us run away from such conflict. We back away from it, avoid it, hope it will dissolve over time.

But instead of running away from nasty conflict, Jesus sends his disciples right into the middle of the conflict with new energy, new courage and a clear goal to work for reconciliation. Jesus says to us his disciples today, “Go into these very unhappy situations. I will be with you. I will give you courage. I will give you the words. I will give you wisdom to deal with this. Joyful are those who work for peace, in very unhappy circumstances.”

Yes, conflicts are not happy places to be, but that is where Jesus sends us his disciples.

In a second beatitude, Jesus said, “Joyful are those who mourn.” Isn’t that a strange thing to say, “Joyful are those who mourn?” Doesn’t this sound like an oxymoron, like a contradiction in terms?

It is not at all, if one understands God and the gospel. Let me give you an illustration of being joyful in the midst of mourning. I see it all the time, during death and funerals. It is a story told hundreds of times in my life where I experience the faith of the deeply believing people of God. They know for sure that their loved one is with Christ, even while they are crying and grieving at a memorial service or funeral.

This is one story I would like to tell but it could have been hundreds of other stories. Earl Sheppard was getting ready to die. “Earl the Pearl” is what I always called him. He was a tenor in the history of this church and other organizations. “Earl the Pearl” sang at many a wedding, many a funeral, many a patriotic program during WWII and after WWII. “Earl the Pearl” traveled and sang and sang and traveled. He was also our church electrician, working out the bugs of our sound system. If the sound system didn’t work, call “Earl the Pearl” and he would fix it. As Earl came closer and closer to his death, he began to plan his funeral and decided he would sing at his own funeral…in his fabulous tenor voice, of course. He told me the recordings we were to use, the special Christian anthems that were part of his repertoire. The day came. The memorial service was held. “Earl the Pearl” sang. And we were all smiling and happy in the craziest funeral I had been at. After the funeral, the family gathered in the Fellowship Hall and danced to their father’s music, as he also played the clarinet in a dance band in the forties. They cried tears of joy as the danced the afternoon away.

I understand those words, “joyful are those who mourn.”

There is an Arabic proverb that says, “All sunshine and no rain makes for a desert.” I have found that to be true: All sunshine in life and no rain in life makes for a desert.

As one poet has said, “If you do not drink from the streams of sorrow, the streams of sympathy will soon dry up. You will no longer be capable of the finest gift of God: sympathy.”

Sympathy is the gift from God to feel another person’s pain; it is also called, empathy, that is the capacity of knowing another person’s pain. That is joy; to feel another person’s pain and it may not be under the happiest of circumstances. It is truly a great gift to have the capacity to grieve and feel sorrow. If you don’t have this quality, you are a sad person.

If you truly have drunk from the cup of sorrow, you will agonize over the hurts of others. If you have been wounded in life, you will become the wounded healer.

Karl Barth, the famous theologian, said, “A generation that has no great anguish in its heart will have no great music on its lips.” It is true. Great music and great art are born in times of anguish and adversity. Great hearts are only born in times of adversity and anguish.

I would like to share an illustration with you. Pretend you are driving down the freeway, perhaps on I-5. As you are driving down the freeway, you come up behind a large mobile home and the sign says, “Wide Load, Danger” and so you have to pass it carefully. Sometimes you come up behind a person who wears an invisible sign on them that reads, “Wide Load.” And you know that you have to be careful, gentle, with a soft touch in the way you address that person.

If you are an empathetic, sympathetic person, you have the gift of joy. That is, Jesus taught his disciples the fundamental lessons of life, and one fundamental lesson was, “Joyful are those who mourn and feel empathy with others.”

St. Francis prayed, “O Divine Master, grant that I would not seek so much as to be consoled as to console… for it is in giving that we receive.” It is in giving love that we give and receive the gift of consolation.

Jesus also taught a third beatitude to his newly called disciples up on that mountain. “Joyful are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness.” The Greek word is, diokosynos, that in the New Testament is translated, righteousness. In the Old Testament, this word is translated, “justice.” So I will use both words, justice and righteousness.

Joyful are those who hunger and thirst for justice and righteousness; joyful are those who crave for justice and righteousness.

This is a story from the Buddhist tradition. There was a young man who wanted to discover the way to truth, goodness and salvation. The young man came to Buddha and asked him to show him the way to salvation. Buddha took the young man down to the river and out into the middle of the river where it was waist deep. Buddha took the young man by the back of the neck and put his head under water. The young man thought, “I am being baptized and Buddha will up my head shortly.” But Buddha held his head under the water longer and longer. The young man struggled and pushed his head up, but Buddha used his second arm and hand and pushed on the men’s head harder and harder. Buddha’s arms and hands were enormously powerful and strong. The young man tried to force his neck and head up above water, but the Buddha wouldn’t let him. The young man was coughing under water and Buddha finally let him up and the young man grasped for air. The young man coughed out his words, “Buddha, why did you do that?” Buddha replied, “When you thought that you were drowning, what did you desire most?” The young man said, “Air.” Buddha said, “When you crave God’s goodness and wholeness as much as you craved air, you will find it.”

Jesus said, “He who hungers and thirsts and craves for justice and righteousness and wholeness, like a person craves for air when they are drowning, that person will find it.”

Where there is a craving inside of you for justice, for the organization of law and life where the little people and the little countries of the world will be fed; where you have a craving for this, you will find joy inside your soul. A joyful person is a person who craves for justice, who craves for the little people and the little countries of the world that they would live within societies where their essential are met.

Joyful are those people who crave for righteousness, who crave for people around you to live a right life. There are parents in this congregation who crave that their children will walk in the paths of righteousness, in the paths of God’s goodness. How we crave for people to love those things that are right and good, and our hearts break when we see our loved ones doing those things that are not good and wholesome for them. We Christians crave for good and healthy and wholesome relationships with other human beings.

There is joy that comes from craving for justice and righteousness in the world.

I like Sister Mother Winters song. “I saw raindrops on my window, joy is like the rain. Laughter runs across my pane, slips away and is here again, joy is like the rain. … I saw clouds upon a mountain, joy is like the clouds. Sometimes silver, sometimes gray, always sun not far away, joy is like the clouds. … I saw Christ in wind and thunder, joy is tried by storm, Christ asleep within my boat, whipped by wind and still afloat, joy is tried by storm. … I saw raindrops on my window, joy is like the rain.” … Mother Winters understood joy and took pleasure in drinking from the waters of joy.

Happiness. Most of the world is concerned about happiness. The crowd at the bottom of the mountain that day were concerned about happiness. They thought that happiness had to do with circumstances such as receiving Christmas presents, birthday presents, and food, houses, and heat. A lot of people spend a whole lifetime of trying to find happiness that is so circumstantial. A goal for many people is to find happiness. The word, happiness, is derived from the Latin word, hap.

by Fr John Hardon

Now, there are, as you know, two versions of the beatitudes. Who knows who are the two evangelists that give us the beatitudes? Matthew and Luke. Right? I thought to myself, I am sure they have heard and read the eight beatitudes so often that it might be a good idea to talk about the four beatitudes of Saint Luke. How is that?

Let me first read then, because they are not as commonly known, although they are certainly in the bible. The text, you may be a little surprised as I read them, because in Luke they come in two stages. Stage one: “ Fixing His eyes on His disciples, Jesus said, ‘ How happy are you who are poor, yours is the kingdom of God. Happy you who hunger now, you shall be satisfied. Happy you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Happy are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name as criminal on the account of the Son of Man. Rejoice when that day comes and dance with joy, for then your reward will be great in heaven. This is how their ancestors treated the prophets.’” Part One.

Part two: “But alas for you who are rich, you are having your consolation now. Alas for you have your fill now, you shall go hungry, alas for you who laugh now, you shall mourn and weep, alas for you when the world speaks well of you, for this is the way their ancestors treated the false prophets.”

I can tell you how much Saint Luke’s version called, “the beatitudes” have meant to me. Great! Give me more Lord! More!

So now our prayerful reflection: Matthew as we know gives us eight beatitudes. I am not quite sure what Luke would think when we so casually talk about the eight beatitudes. He might well say to himself, “Well don’t I count? What about my four?” Well, the fathers of the Church and the theologians have struggled with the two numbers and they assure us if you really know the four in Luke you have got the eight in Matthew.

Luke however, which we have read, records (and this is well to hear) four beatitudes and four curses, because the word alas is a poetic term that the translators of Luke put in front of those curses. The translation strictly speaking should read, “Cursed are you who are rich.” But, we would be a little uncomfortable with the vocabulary.

Luke then records four beatitudes and for curses. Well to know the two sets should be seen side by side. What I will do is for a few minutes talk about both sets of beatitudes, and with Luke also with an eye to the curses. Then we will look at the four beatitudes of Luke in sequence. And if you wish we will analyze all of them in detail.

Both Luke and Matthew quote Christ as saying that there is a promise of happiness, namely the promise of true joy an *on exterious counterfeit. So that if we want to know how to be truly happy, this is the formula for true happiness. Now the beatitudes besides the formula for happiness are also (whether eight in Matthew or four in Luke) are to say the least, paradoxes. A paradox as you know is an apparent contradiction. The gospels by the way are full of paradoxes. Can you think of some besides the beatitudes?

“We will not grow, we will not bear fruit unless the grain of wheat be buried (die first), we won’t bear fruit.” “If you wish to save your life, you must loose it.” Throughout the gospels the apparent contradiction between the denial of self, right? The giving up, and then, well, you get *forgiving. In fact, one of the finest expressions of the paradox is Christ’s own statement, “That it is more blessed to give than to receive.” You can’t run a single business enterprise on that principle. If Proctor and Gamble decided it was better to “give rather than receive” it would be just a matter of hours and days at most, before they would cease to be Proctor and Gamble.

Practices as the Condition for Happiness Now these beatitudes are paradoxes and we are going to concentrate on Luke’s because they refer to four kinds of things (this is Luke now) which Christ tells His followers they are to practice or sustain as the condition for happiness to ** poverty, want, sorrow and persecution or opposition.

The last thing we do (rationally speaking) is associate joy with poverty, want, sorrow and persecution. Yet (and what a “yet” this is!) this is the heart of Christianity. And one of the privileges we have in religious life, rare privileges, is that we have been given enough insights (and I hope to help the cause) to see that this paradox is not a contradiction to of actually taken Christ at His word. And as I trust you agree with me, a religious life whether we are recent recruits, or long standing veterans, is a struggle with these beatitudes. And we are sort of bargaining with God, “Now Lord you said I would be happy. I have given up this and I have given up that.” And of course the Lord keeps commanding. And then sometimes we are not quite sure what this happiness means, so He has to remind us.

But, absolutely speaking we believe that the mystery of our faith is in giving ourselves to God, God gives Himself to us. The “our giving ourselves to God” is this “poverty, want, sorrow and persecution” business. The God giving Himself to us is what He calls joy. It takes us a lifetime to learn God’s vocabulary, and by that time we are ready for heaven to speak the language.

So now we pick up each one of the four:

Poverty. We want to be very practical. We need to reexamine our spirit and practice of poverty. The two are not the same, although they are closely related. Essentially poverty of spirit is detachment from earthly goods. Actual poverty is not having material goods. Now you explain human nature, it always baffles me. You know that there are people who do not have material goods and are not detached. Do you know that? And there are people who have material goods and are detached. Believe it? Just for the record. But, the love is not strictly speaking of guarantee of the other, though clearly actual poverty helps the poverty of spirit.

We then profess both poverties, and I don’t hesitate using the plural. Because we can be so spiritually schizophrenic sisters, it is remarkable! We can go hungry. You can hear the stomach, it is so hungry. Pardon me. And yet, we can be attached.

External mortification therefore, is per se, no guarantee that I am fully detached in my heart. On the other hand if I am truly detached in spirit, well, I am going to show it. It is like wives telling me, “He keeps telling me he loves me, but frankly I am not so sure.” I spend three hours over a meal and if only he, says nothing but glosses over the soup, he doesn’t like the salad. The meat is too well done. Doesn’t he know, doesn’t he appreciate.” So if we are truly detached interiorly we are going to show it. Like what? By giving up the things that we claim to be detached from. That is easy. But we have got to look at both. The question then for us religious is, we profess poverty, and do we live it?

Now I think in societies like ours, in a country like ours, which is the most affluent society in all-human history, you know that? We are the best fed, the best medicated, the most cared for in our bodily needs, we work the least, we sleep the most, and you will pardon my saying this, we are the most deodorized nation in the annals of humanity. So that for us in this society we have got to watch ourselves, that the poor Christ whom we are following, we are following in spite of all the affluence around us. So that consequently, let me just put four words, thought, display as some signs of true poverty.

A person who practices true poverty lacks, if you got everything you cannot hide behind pious aphorisms and say that you are poor. You have got to lack something. You name it, but you have got to lack it. Secondly- there must be some inconvenience, which is so contrary to our culture. You know they have electric toothbrushes. You know that of course? Oh yes! Electric toothbrushes and well, you don’t have to cook at all anymore, you just open cans as I have discovered. So inconvenience. Thirdly- dependence, and for us religious this is of its essence. It’s not all there is to poverty, but belongs to religious poverty. Fourthly- labor. Poor people over the centuries have worked. Rich people, pardon me, the non-detached rich people, they loaf. So a person who is poor works. We are supposed to labor. In religious life we are should not have a forty hour week, and then double or time and a half, or overtime. We are supposed to go to bed tired. All right? This is our witness to the world. Where most of the world is a “poor world” that labors with the sweat of its brow to earn a mere pittance from a reluctant soil. Want - hunger symbolizes unsatisfied desire. You name the desire and we have got it. Good, bad and indifferent. Fortunately, people don’t know what desires we have got. We would loose our friends. The hunger we are talking about is the kind of desire that Christ promises us will be satisfying. What then do we need? We need for this beatitude to distinguish our desires. The beatitude reads, “Happy you who hunger now, you shall be satisfied.” Matthew helps to understand Luke. Remember what Matthew says? “Thirst for justice, for what is right, for the correct things, you will be satisfied.” I hope I will be clear in analyzing the notion of desire.

We all have desires; it is almost the definition of man. However, we have desires and we have desires. We know from infancy on that we have got to check and qualify our desires. Mothers, you know how sensitive they are when the baby is going out after- you name it. It wants it, clearly the desire is there. There are some desires that must simply be strained. That cannot be given expression to. And you no matter how advanced we may be in the spiritual life, you know sometimes we can have mad desires? Don’t shake your heads sisters, I know! Absolutely crazy. Where the desire must be recognized as crazy, even though it is my desire and I am kind of embarrassed. And don’t ask how the thing comes to rise in our consciousness- face up to it. There are some desires that we simply must say no to.

Secondly, there are desires that must be restrained in the sense of modified, disciplined. Where the desire is, or whatever it is, in general for the creatures in our life that by themselves are indifferent but which we must use only insofar as they help us and stop whatever it is: sleeping, eating, talking or keeping silent. You know there are times when we are to stop keeping silent. And people here differ. Some on the level of talking like to talk some on the other hand like to listen, and when the two get together, a) - who likes to talk and b) - who likes to listen they make the perfect pair. But, neither will have learned to restrain his/her desires. The one should learn to once in a while keep silent. The other should, at least once in awhile, to speak. And so all kinds of other desires which need balance, the word is control.

There again desires for very good things which are legitimate and which having chose another state of life or have been in another community or been other persons than we are, we might have legitimately have satisfied, but for us we are to sacrifice. I like to distinguish among those three types of desires. A desire that must be denied – simple, a desire that must be controlled, and a desire which though I recognize, and from God, which I am willing to sacrifice.

However, that is only the (you might say) the negative side of desiring. The beatitude promises joy that we shall be satisfied, and sisters, not only in the life to come but already in this life. And it is at this point that the whole panorama of our spiritual life opens up to find out what are the things that we should desire. Comprehensively sanctity, or justice, or holiness. Or as I prefer, and I think the Greek warrants it, in Matthew’s gospel the “right things”. But we cannot only desire, but seek to satisfy the desire. Am I clear?

See the first three types of desire somehow require a holding back, right? Either a positive denial, or a least a control or a sacrifice because we know we may be enjoying the thing now, but sure as God is God He is going to take it away. In fact, I can see Him taking it away already. But, there are desires born of the spirit in general for God and the things of God.

Now clearly prudence is a virtue, even in the spiritual life. But can we believe too much? Can we trust too much? Can we love God too much? No! Meaning, that these desires born of grace can be nourished and we shall experience that joy which only those are promised who have learned that there are desires which are not born of flesh, but of spirit. Not of man, but of God. Not of earth, but of heaven. Not of time, but of eternity. And they carry with them their own profound satisfaction compared with which, earthly satisfaction of the desires that are not of grace, can never give.

Sorrow - surely if there is anything that we would not expect to bring joy it is sorrow. It is as though Christ said, “Happy are the unhappy.” We are tempted to say, “Lord, what do you mean?” But we know this is one place where experience is not only the best, but it is about the only teacher. Truly this symbolizes the cross. It is the trials that God sends us. But I wish to distinguish because, remember we are talking about joy, and we are stuck with our vocabulary. What else can we do? We can wave our arms or shake our heads in communicating ideas. We found a convenient method on making strange sounds through the orifice called the mouth. And people hear it, and they get ideas. So making strange sounds.

The sorrow which Christ gives us, accept and patiently endured is not sadness. What is the difference? In both cases of course there is pain, but though I am sorrowful the reason (it is always objective) that in effect it means psychologically or subjectively between a sad person and a person weighed down with sorrow, well I might not be able to tell the difference. They both seem to be, well, under a heavy burden. But there is a big difference. It all depends on what we are morning about. Which is legitimate sorrow and it is not (to coin a word) illegitimate sadness.

Our best paradigm for this is Christ Himself. What are the two occasions, which our Savior wept? He wept over Jerusalem; he wept at the grave of Lazareth. Was that it? As far as I can tell that was it. Now as we know the gospels are revelatory not only in what Christ taught, but also in what He did. In this case, His tears are a revelation. Not that He wept, which showed that He was human, but the reasons why He wept.

Authentic sorrow therefore, which is one of the conditions for happiness, is sorrow over sin and sorrow over loss of those we love, which is a sign of love. Let’s take the second first. It is not wrong, and you should not consider it weakness, either in ourselves or in others, and to develop a sensitivity (I don’t want you to anticipate what I am going to talk about yet) but to recognize there is a genuine beauty about weeping over the loss of a loved one. I don’t mean unrestrained sorrow. But the sorrow, which means bereavement, may indeed be tinged with some self-interest because the loved one I will no longer have. But it can also be deeply self-less.

In other words I have come to love someone very dearly and that person is gone. A sensitivity to other people’s sorrow over their loss of loved ones is of God. But secondly, the sorrow that is born of sorrow for sins, this is Christ. Christ wept over Jerusalem because Jerusalem had as we know rejected Him and with Him its promise of salvation. He also sorrowed as we know, over both the sin of Jerusalem and the sufferings. The fall of Jerusalem as a consequence of sin.

So you might say there are three kinds of authentic sorrow blessed by God. The sorrow of bereavement, the sorrow over sin, the sorrow over the sufferings of others knowing that not all people profit from their sufferings, and my compassion goes out to those who are in pain. What a sentence! Sadness is every other kind of mourning. It is essentially selfish, sadness. Sadness is the sorrow (to use that word) over things that don’t deserve to be mourned over. And while we may and should indeed sorrow, we are forbidden to be sad. Sadness when yielded to is a sin. Sorrow within the limits we have described is a virtue.

Finally - Opposition. Now I am using this word opposition, both in Luke and in Mathew, Christ went out of His way to expand on the beatitude. He saved it for last. In speaking to various people I have found if you want to have them to remember something, save it for the end. The longer you talk, the less they remember. Present company excepted, I hope. So Christ saved the most important, because it is the most difficult beatitude for last.

What does it mean? It means that the true follower of Christ will experience opposition. That we are not to be surprised if we are opposed. The nature of the opposition can take all kinds of subtle forms. And we in the religious life, sisters, I think you know something of the opposition. I don’t hesitate saying it is armed opposition from people who call themselves religious.

I got a long distance call yesterday informing me that I have been publicly in print, not really opposed but criticized (and in high places). I have not yet seen what has been published. So we are to expect it. How the opposition may be to us as persons, it may be to us as institutions; it may be to us as communities. But it is going to be there. Over what will we be opposed? Over what are we opposed? Do you know that you have sworn enemies among people who call themselves really religious? Do you know that? Do you know that there are sisters in the United States who would want nothing better than to see cloisters like your closed? Do you know that? That is right, and they are scheming to do it. Honest.

Last year I received while I was teaching in Canada, a letter from a sister from a community who’s superior general is one of the highlights in the Renewal of Secularization of Religious Life. This sister wrote to me and she said, “I am a registered nurse, I have just finished my college training. I am now in nursing. I am ready for my last vows. Twenty-nine years old, I am due this coming August to pronounce my final vows. I was just called in by my mother general whom, I know well. She told me, ‘ Sister, you are up for your final vows. I will permit you to take your final vows if you promise me, in writing that you will remove the religious habit that you have and never wear it after your final profession.

Well I probably went to the nearest Xerox machine and made a copy of the two-page letter, with a little note to Archbishop Myer, the Secretary for Religious Propagation in Rome. Xeroxed Bishop Myer, “This is for your edification. Sincerely yours in Christ.” So the opposition is not make-believe it is here.

Over what are we opposed? Over our loyalty to the Church. Some time ago I gave some lectures at a Catholic university. I came back to Chicago. I got a call from a newspaper reporter. He said, “I heard you were defending the pope.”

“Well, I try to whenever I can.” I said, “What do you mean?”

“Well you gave some lectures at the university and you said some nice things about the pope. Could you tell me what you said, because now for a public theologian to be defending the pope is news.”

For our practice of poverty, our way of life, the habit we wear, signifies many things. It witnesses to our life of poverty. There are those who don’t believe in poverty in the religious life. That is one reason for wearing secular clothes. I was in Rome as I mentioned last month and among the many people that I spoke with was with a priest from Orlando, Florida who told me that (and he works with the sisters in the diocese there) “We budget our sisters. At ten thousand dollars a year, that is what they cost the diocese.” That is not poverty!

Our moral code, what we teach, what we write, what we say. Consequently, this beatitude - the last one in Luke the last one in Matthew - ought to make us (Do you know what Luke said?) “We should dance for Joy.” Of course he is speaking symbolically. Great joy that we are privileged to profess our faith as Catholics and as religious as we know the Church wants us to, not in spite of, as though somehow we are going to survive. Forget it! Survive? It is we who are going to survive, and they are not! The numbers are in God’s hands.

Sisters, what great joy we ought to have (and I am speaking to the right people) that whether you realize it or not what you stand for, your way of life is not accepted by many. And as a matter of fact so far from being sad, over not being accepted, you should be glad and indeed ought to begin to worry if your way of life was accepted by “the world” which by prior definition we’re suppose to have left. With this I close.

Let’s ask our Savior to teach us, teach us the meaning of true joy. Not in some theoretical way, but how that is to be acquired. We have to work at it, and we work at it by living out the beatitudes. Among the definitions of the religious life, which I like, is that “A religious life is a life time commitment to living out the beatitudes.”

Great! So we are to be just (I was going to say “excruciatingly happy”) you know what I want to say. Just terrifically happy! It will mean poverty, but that is the price. It will mean sorrow. It will mean want, in the sense that we will not satisfy the desires that we are told not to satisfy. It will mean opposition. But, not in spite of it, but because of these conditions. Already in this life we should be very happy because this is what gives us the assurance of the happiness that will never end.

But, it’s not my last chance, but it is in context now. Sisters, before I leave I want to sell you something. I want to sell you a sense of mission. You are not religious for yourselves. You are to be apostolic. That does not mean gallivanting all over the country. But in ways that somehow the Holy Spirit will enlighten you (and I hope somebody has talked to you this way before) that you will share with as many people as possible your experiences. How? That is up to the Lord. How many of you is also up to the Him. And I don’t mean, I repeat traveling across the country giving speeches. But ask the Lord how you can convince the people in the world, people in the Church- religious, priests and laity. Something of the secret that I am confident you are learning. Does this make sense? So that you will be truly witnesses, not only by what you are, which is a witness already, but also I would like to think somehow, somewhere in God’s providence by what you say. Let’s ask our Lord to help us live out the beatitudes, and help other to do the same.

by St. Leo the Great

Gospel: St. Matthew 5:1-9

I. Introduction of the subject

When our Lord Jesus Christ, beloved, was preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, and was healing various sicknesses through the whole of Galilee, the fame of His mighty works had spread into all Syria: large crowds too from all parts of Judæa were flocking to the heavenly Physician. Matthew 4:23-24 For as human ignorance is slow in believing what it does not see, and in hoping for what it does not know, those who were to be instructed in the divine lore, needed to be aroused by bodily benefits and visible miracles: so that they might have no doubt as to the wholesomeness of His teaching when they actually experienced His benignant power. And therefore that the Lord might use outward healings as an introduction to inward remedies, and after healing bodies might work cures in the soul, He separated Himself from the surrounding crowd, ascended into the retirement of a neighbouring mountain, and called His apostles to Him there, that from the height of that mystic seat He might instruct them in the loftier doctrines, signifying from the very nature of the place and act that He it was who had once honoured Moses by speaking to him: then indeed with a more terrifying justice, but now with a holier mercifulness, that what had been promised might be fulfilled when the Prophet Jeremiah says: “behold the days come when I will complete a new covenant for the house of Israel and for the house of Judah. After those days, says the Lord, I will put My laws in their minds, and in their heart will I write them. ”He therefore who had spoken to Moses, spoke also to the apostles, and the swift hand of the Word wrote and deposited the secrets of the new covenant in the disciples' hearts: there were no thick clouds surrounding Him as of old, nor were the people frightened off from approaching the mountain by frightful sounds and lightning, but quietly and freely His discourse reached the ears of those who stood by: that the harshness of the law might give way before the gentleness of grace, and “the spirit of adoption” might dispel the terrors of bondage.

II. The blessedness of humility discussed

The nature then of Christ's teaching is attested by His own holy statements: that they who wish to arrive at eternal blessedness may understand the steps of ascent to that high happiness. “Blessed,” He says, “are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven Matthew 5:3. ” It would perhaps be doubtful what poor He was speaking of, if in saying “blessed are the poor” He had added nothing which would explain the sort of poor: and then that poverty by itself would appear sufficient to win the kingdom of heaven which many suffer from hard and heavy necessity. But when He says “blessed are the poor in spirit,” He shows that the kingdom of heaven must be assigned to those who are recommended by the humility of their spirits rather than by the smallness of their means. Yet it cannot be doubted that this possession of humility is more easily acquired by the poor than the rich: for submissiveness is the companion of those that want, while loftiness of mind dwells with riches. Notwithstanding, even in many of the rich is found that spirit which uses its abundance not for the increasing of its pride but on works of kindness, and counts that for the greatest gain which it expends in the relief of others' hardships. It is given to every kind and rank of men to share in this virtue, because men may be equal in will, though unequal in fortune: and it does not matter how different they are in earthly means, who are found equal in spiritual possessions. Blessed, therefore, is poverty which is not possessed with a love of temporal things, and does not seek to be increased with the riches of the world, but is eager to amass heavenly possessions.

III. Scriptural examples of humility

Of this high-souled humility the Apostles first, after the Lord, have given us example, who, leaving all that they had without difference at the voice of the heavenly Master, were turned by a ready change from the catching of fish to be fishers of men, and made many like themselves through the imitation of their faith, when with those first-begotten sons of the Church, “the heart of all was one, and the spirit one, of those that believed Acts 4:32:” for they, putting away the whole of their things and possessions, enriched themselves with eternal goods, through the most devoted poverty, and in accordance with the Apostles' preaching rejoiced to have nothing of the world and possess all things with Christ. Hence the blessed Apostle Peter, when he was going up into the temple, and was asked for alms by the lame man, said, “Silver and gold is not mine, but what I have that I give you: in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk Acts 3:6. ” What more sublime than this humility? What richer than this poverty? He has not stores of money, but he has gifts of nature. He whom his mother had brought forth lame from the womb, is made whole by Peter with a word; and he who gave not Cæsar's image in a coin, restored Christ's image on the man. And by the riches of this treasure not he only was aided whose power of walking was restored, but 5,000 men also, who then believed at the Apostle's exhortation on account of the wonder of this cure. And that poor man who had not what to give to the asker, bestowed so great a bounty of Divine Grace, that, as he had set one man straight on his feet, so he healed these many thousands of believers in their hearts, and made them “leap as an hart” in Christ whom he had found limping in Jewish unbelief.

IV. The blessedness of mourning discussed

After the assertion of this most happy humility, the Lord has added, saying, “Blessed are they which mourn, for they shall be comforted Matthew 5:4. ” This mourning, beloved, to which eternal comforting is promised, is not the same as the affliction of this world: nor do those laments which are poured out in the sorrowings of the whole human race make any one blessed. The reason for holy groanings, the cause of blessed tears, is very different. Religious grief mourns sin either that of others' or one's own: nor does it mourn for that which is wrought by God's justice, but it laments over that which is committed by man's iniquity, where he that does wrong is more to be deplored than he who suffers it, because the unjust man's wrongdoing plunges him into punishment, but the just man's endurance leads him on to glory.

V. The blessedness of the meek

Next the Lord says: “blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth by inheritance. ”To the meek and gentle, to the humble and modest, and to those who are prepared to endure all injuries, the earth is promised for their possession. And this is not to be reckoned a small or cheap inheritance, as if it were distinct from our heavenly dwelling, since it is no other than these who are understood to enter the kingdom of heaven. The earth, then, which is promised to the meek, and is to be given to the gentle in possession, is the flesh of the saints, which in reward for their humility will be changed in a happy resurrection, and clothed with the glory of immortality, in nothing now to act contrary to the spirit, and to be in complete unity and agreement with the will of the soul. For then the outer man will be the peaceful and unblemished possession of the inner man: then the mind, engrossed in beholding God, will be hampered by no obstacles of human weakness nor will it any more have to be said “The body which is corrupted, weighs upon the soul, and its earthly house presses down the sense which thinks many things Wisdom 9:15:” for the earth will not struggle against its tenant, and will not venture on any insubordination against the rule of its governor. For the meek shall possess it in perpetual peace, and nothing shall be taken from their rights, “when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality 1 Corinthians 15:53:” that their danger may turn into reward, and what was a burden become an honour.

VI. The blessedness of desiring righteousness

After this the Lord goes on to say: “blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied Matthew 5:6. ” It is nothing bodily, nothing earthly, that this hunger, this thirst seeks for: but it desires to be satiated with the good food of righteousness, and wants to be admitted to all the deepest mysteries, and be filled with the Lord Himself. Happy the mind that craves this food and is eager for such drink: which it certainly would not seek for if it had never tasted of its sweetness. But hearing the Prophet's spirit saying to him: “taste and see that the Lord is sweet ;” it has received some portion of sweetness from on high, and blazed out into love of the purest pleasure, so that spurning all things temporal, it is seized with the utmost eagerness for eating and drinking righteousness, and grasps the truth of that first commandment which says: “You shall love the Lord your God out of all your heart, and out of all your mind, and out of all your strength :” since to love God is nothing else but to love righteousness. In fine, as in that passage the care for one's neighbour is joined to the love of God, so, too, here the virtue of mercy is linked to the desire for righteousness, and it is said:

VII. The blessedness of the merciful

“Blessed are the merciful, for God shall have mercy on them Matthew 5:7.” Recognize, Christian, the worth of your wisdom, and understand to what rewards you are called, and by what methods of discipline you must attain thereto. Mercy wishes you to be merciful, righteousness to be righteous, that the Creator may be seen in His creature, and the image of God may be reflected in the mirror of the human heart expressed by the lines of imitation. The faith of those who do good is free from anxiety: you shall have all your desires, and shall obtain without end what you love. And since through your almsgiving all things are pure to you, to that blessedness also you shall attain which is promised in consequence where the Lord says:

VIII. The blessedness of a pure heart

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God Matthew 5:8." Great is the happiness, beloved, of him for whom so great a reward is prepared. What, then, is it to have the heart pure, but to strive after those virtues which are mentioned above? And how great the blessedness of seeing God, what mind can conceive, what tongue declare? And yet this shall ensue when man's nature is transformed, so that no longer “in a mirror,” nor “in a riddle,” but “face to face 1 Corinthians 13:12 ”it sees the very Godhead “as He is 1 John 3:2,” which no man could see ; and through the unspeakable joy of eternal contemplation obtains that “which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man. ”Rightly is this blessedness promised to purity of heart. For the brightness of the true light will not be able to be seen by the unclean sight: and that which will be happiness to minds that are bright and clean, will be a punishment to those that are stained. Therefore, let the mists of earth's vanities be shunned, and your inward eyes purged from all the filth of wickedness, that the sight may be free to feed on this great manifestation of God. For to the attainment of this we understand what follows to lead.

IX. The blessedness of peace-making

“Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the sons of God Matthew 5:9.” This blessedness, beloved, belongs not to any and every kind of agreement and harmony, but to that of which the Apostle speaks: “have peace towards God ;” and of which the Prophet David speaks: “Much peace have they that love Your law, and they have no cause of offenses. ”This peace even the closest ties of friendship and the exactest likeness of mind do not really gain, if they do not agree with God's will. Similarity of bad desires, leagues in crimes, associations of vice, cannot merit this peace. The love of the world does not consort with the love of God, nor does he enter the alliance of the sons of God who will not separate himself from the children of this generation. Whereas they who are in mind always with God, “giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Ephesians 4:3,” never dissent from the eternal law, uttering that prayer of faith, “Your will be done as in heaven so on earth Matthew 6:10. ” These are “the peacemakers,” these are thoroughly of one mind, and fully harmonious, and are to be called sons “of God and joint-heirs with Christ Romans 8:17,” because this shall be the record of the love of God and the love of our neighbour, that we shall suffer no calamities, be in fear of no offense, but all the strife of trial ended, rest in God's most perfect peace, through our Lord, Who, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

by Bishop Fulton Sheen

The Sermon on the Mount is so much at variance with all that our world holds dear that the world will crucify anyone who tries to live up to its values. Because Christ preached them, He had to die. Calvary was the price He paid for the Sermon on the Mount. Only mediocrity survives. Those who call black black, and white white, are sentenced for intolerance. Only the grays live.

Let Him Who says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit," come into the world that believes in the primacy of the economic; let Him stand in the market place where some men live for collective profit, or where others say men live for individual profit, and see what happens. He will be so poor that during life He will have nowhere to lay His head; a day will come when He will die without anything of economic worth. In His last hour He will be so impoverished that they will strip Him of His garments and even give Him a stranger's grave for His burial, as He had a stranger's stable for His birth.

Let Him come into the world which proclaims the gospel of the strong, which advocates hating our enemies, which condemns Christian virtues as the "soft" virtues, and say to that world, "Blessed are the patient," and He will one day feel the scourges of the strong barbarians laid across His back; He will be struck on the cheek by a mocking fist during one of His trials; He will see men take a sickle and cut the grass from a hill on Calvary, and then use a hammer to pinion Him to a Cross to test the patience of One Who endures the worst that evil has to offer, that having exhausted itself it might eventually turn to Love.

Let him come into our world which ridicules the idea of sin as morbidity, considers reparation for past guilt as a guilt complex and preach to that world, "Blessed are they who mourn" for their sins; and He will be blindfolded and mocked as a fool. They will take His Body and scourge it, until His bones can be numbered; they will crown His head with thorns, until He begins to weep not salt tears but crimson beads of blood, as they laugh at the weakness of Him Who will not come down from the Cross.

Let Him come into the world which denies Absolute Truth, which says that right and wrong are only questions of point of view, that we must be broad- minded about virtue and vice, and let Him say to them, "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after holiness," that is, after the Absolute, after the Truth which "I am"; and they will in their broad-mindedness give the mob the choice of Him or Barabbas; they will crucify Him with thieves, and try to make the world believe that God is no different from a batch of robbers who are His bedfellows in death.

Let him come into a world which says that "my neighbor is hell," that all which is opposite me is nothing, that the ego alone matters, that my will is supreme law, that what I decide is good, that I must forget others and think only of myself, and say to them, "Blessed are the merciful." He will find that He will receive no mercy; they will open five streams of blood out of His Body; they will pour vinegar and gall into His thirsting mouth; and, even after His death, be so merciless as to plunge a spear into His Sacred Heart.

Let Him come into a world which tries to interpret man in terms of sex; which regards purity as coldness, chastity as frustrated sex, self- containment as abnormality, and the union of husband and wife until death as boredom; which says that a marriage endures only so long as the glands endure, that one may unbind what God binds and unseal what God seals. Say to them, "Blessed are the pure"; and He will find Himself hanging naked on a Cross, made a spectacle to men and angels in a last wild crazy affirmation that purity is abnormal, that the virgins are neurotics, and that carnality is right.

Let Him come into a world which believes that one must resort to every manner of chicanery and duplicity in order to conquer the world, carrying doves of peace with stomachs full of bombs, say to them, "Blessed are the peacemakers," or "Blessed are they who eradicate sin that there may be peace"; and He will find Himself surrounded by men engaged in the silliest of all wars- a war against the Son of God; making violence with steel and wood, pinions and gall and then setting a watch over His grave that He who lost the battle might not win the day.

Let Him come into a world that believes that our whole life should be geared to flattering and influencing people for the sake of utility and popularity, and say to them: "Blessed are you when men hate, persecute, and revile you"; and He will find Himself without a friend in the world, an outcast on a hill, with mobs shouting His death, and His flesh hanging from Him like purple rags.