Part 1 - The First Four Beatitudes

Today we will officially begin our 20-week Sermon on the Mount series. We will be taking a quick deep dive each week into all the sections of Matthew 5 through 7.

This week we will be going over the first four Beatitudes from 5:1-6, but before we do we should try to establish the big picture purpose that Jesus was communicating to us in the entire sermon. It is important to understand that Jesus was speaking to a very large crowd, that crowd did not just include all of the righteous people in society that had good standing in the church, but it also included sinners, the poor, those that may have never set foot in a church, and those that were oppressed by the church. The church of the time really held on to the belief that Gods blessing was only given to Jews, that that blessing included material, social/political, and spiritual power in this world. If you did not seem to possess these “blessings”, it likely means that you were a sinner and that God was punishing you.

Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount to all people. In the first Beatitudes, he shows that those considered least likely to be blessed by the culture of the time are truly blessed by God. The Beatitudes also reveal the kind of heart Jesus describes throughout the sermon—a heart God wants us to cultivate within us with his help as we increasingly surrender and serve him. The farther we walk down this difficult and narrow path, the more we are blessed by God and live joyfully in the kingdom of heaven in this world. This heart shapes every part of our lives, including how we relate to God, others, and ourselves. Jesus teaches what our inner and outward motivations should be, and this kingdom heart enables us to live in a way that reflects the kingdom of heaven now, bearing fruit for God’s kingdom as the goal. We can tie each beatitude to multiple passages from the rest of the sermon, and many passages are connected to multiple beatitudes.

Lastly before we go over the beatitudes, we must understand what blessed means. Translations describe the word as happy, fortunate, favored, or an enviable condition. Commentaries from Dallas Willard the Bible Project describe blessed as living the good life.

5:3 - “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.”

Being poor in spirit means that we recognize that we need God. It invites those to the kingdom that think they are worthless and those that they think God would never forgive them. Even those on the path that live very righteous lives need to always come back to this one, because it will help to avoid being prideful of the kingdom heart that they have developed. In John 15:5, Jesus tells us “I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.”

5:4 - “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

This one confuses a lot of people, they ask how they can be living the good life or seen favorably by God when they are experiencing loss of tragedy. It goes so far beyond the act of mourning, to the kind of heart that would mourn. If you can mourn, it means that you have compassion and love for that person that was lost or is going through hard times. It also includes those that mourn for the brokenness of the world and the brokenness of themselves. A morning heart cares about the wrongs that occur in the world with loving compassion.

5:5 - “Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth.”

This one is also translated as meek in many translations, which seems like a very different word in today’s culture. Someone who is humble or meek is gentle, lacks aggression, and does not try to assert or control others. They lack social or political power because they simply tell the truth, they do not do things differently just so that they will gain power with the person they are with, they do things Gods way. They lack significant material power because they live in a way that does not store up treasures in this world, because we cannot serve both God and money. This should not be translated as those that are weak or those with low self-esteem. We have all the strength and internal security we need when we are walking with Jesus in the kingdom of heaven in this world, no matter what our situation is.

5:6 - “Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

This now transitions to a much more active role with ownership of the individual. We must want what God thinks is right. We must seek out transformation with diligence and determination, and God will then help us in a way that will be in line with his will and what is right in his eyes. This might not mean that it will be the same thing that we want, but he will send us something good when we constantly pray for what is right in both our lives and others.  

Next week we will go over the last four beatitudes!