"Blessed are You!" (Understanding Matthew 5:1-12)
Greetings in the Name above all names, our revealed Lord, Jesus the Anointed One!
I don't intend to start a debate. I am, however, endeavoring an evangelical understanding of Jesus' words given to us by St. Matthew in the text for this coming Sunday.
To "briefly" summarize my question for consideration: Aside from our fallen nature which doesn't 'hear' the Gospel even when it is clearly preached, and aside from "tradition" and our own rehearsed thinking, (being informed as it is by the latinization of the Western tradition - and the European grammatical structures that use word order and punctuation to convey meaning [neither of which Greek does]) -- what --- TEXTUALLY and EXEGETICALLY --- leads us to understand the construction of the beatitudes as "Law"?
Typically when people hear, for instance, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit, because theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." They gravitate to the conceptualization of the sentence as, "If I want to be blessed and inherit the kingdom of heaven, I need to be poor in Spirit." --- which is an untenable situation since the ultimate result of such effort at being "poor in Spirit" is to make ones-self haughty -- and enable them to say, "See how poor in Spirit I was, now I certainly MUST inherit the kingdom of heaven!"
What I'm curious about is whether, perhaps, we might consider understanding the beatitudes thus:
- Blessed are those who, because theirs [now] is the Kingdom of Heaven (because of Jesus), are [now also] poor in Spirit.
- Blessed are those who, because they shall [in the future] be comforted (because of Jesus), mourn [now].
- Blessed are those who, because they shall [in the future] inherit the earth (because of Jesus), are meek [now].
- Blessed are those who, because they shall [in the future] be filled (because of Jesus), hunger and thirst for righteousness [now].
- Blessed are those who, because they shall [in the future] obtain mercy (because of Jesus), are merciful [now].
- Blessed are those who, because they shall [in the future] see God (because of Jesus), are pure in heart [now].
- Blessed are those who, because they shall [in the future] be called sons of God (because of Jesus), are peacemakers [now].
- Blessed are those who [have now received] the Kingdom of heaven (because of Jesus), are persecuted for the sake of righteousness.
- Blessed are you [now] when they revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake, (Rejoice and be glad!), because your reward in heaven is great [in the future], for likewise they persecuted the prophets who were ahead of you.
Basically, I think I'm advocating the concept: Blessed are those who have appropriated for themselves the promises of the Gospel (the Kingdom of Heaven, future comfort, future inheritance of the earth, future satiation, the revealing of God's mercy, the beatific vision, the recognition as sons of God) here in time (when they remain promises - and a future hope) and who, because they have appropriated these promises for themselves live in the reality of those promises and show forth the light of Christ that has come into the world to dispel the darkness, adding seasoning the world flavor - like salt.
This seems to make a tidy package of this first part of Jesus discourse here, does no violence to the text that I see, and applies a hopeful, evangelical tone that prompts and supports a proper understanding that our good works flow from the Gospel and the fact that we have applied it to ourselves.
Am I missing something? Is there something else I should be considering?
Seeking some fraternal discussion,
Rev. Matthew Dent
P.S. Yes - I have (and have read) DPScaer's "Discourses," "Sermon on the Mount", and "James"
Views: 9
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Comment by Seth on January 25, 2011 at 11:34pm
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Comment by Suzee on January 26, 2011 at 8:36am -
As you say, we can look no where else but the Word and promises of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
You can earn none of the blessings He gives, for they are eternal and priceless. If you are merciful, it is only because the mercy of Christ has worked in you. If you are pure of heart, it is only because the spotless Lamb has cleansed you thoroughly from every blemish. If you make peace, it is only through the royal proclamation of the Prince of Peace. To Him alone is all the glory, because He alone is the source of all good things.
http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=1476
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Comment by Dr. George C. Adams on January 26, 2011 at 7:12pm -
For a very deep and critical understanding of the Beatitudes, I suggest you read Dr. Scaer's book on the Gospel of St. Matthew. All of the blessings you enumerate in your ad futurum statements are actually blessings we now enjoy, within the context of this sin filled world. In the future, we shall enjoy them in God's perfect new creation. As St. Paul says, we are joint heirs of Christ, to whom God the Father has given dominion over all things.
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Comment by Matthew Dent on January 26, 2011 at 9:09pm -
@DrAdams - I've read (and am re-reading portions of) Dr. Scaer's book. And I did not intend to convey that we do not already possess those blessings. But, at the same time, I don't think we can ignore the future tense of the Greek in Jesus' statements. Yes, there is a sense in which these realities exist here and now because Christ has already inaugurated the Kingdom of which we are heirs. Therefore, ours IS the Kingdom. The first beatitude is a statement of "now" - present tense of eimi is used here - an emphatic statement of reality. But the remainder of the statements use the future tense -- "will be comforted", "will inherit the earth", "will be filled", "will obtain mercy", "will be called sons of God.", etc.
We can jump to quickly to the "realized" eschatological situation - simply because we are and remain in the context of this sin filled world, as you say. While we receive a measure of comfort through Word and Sacrament, these are by no means "complete" as evidenced by the fact that we must needs constantly to return to these means of comfort. The triumphalistic image of Christian's inheriting the earth isn't one we see in Scripture until Christ returns and sets everything straight. Likewise, while Christ's righteousness makes us complete and perfect and acceptable to God, we continue to hunger and thirst after it here and now. The divine mercy which God so richly lavishes upon me in Christ won't be evidenced (i.e., it hasn't been "shown" (the Greek is a future passive) to me) until it is contrasted in a very real sense with the punishment I deserve for my sin, which will not occur until the day of judgment - when God's declaration of "Not Guilty" is publicly declared as applying to me specifically and I "inherit the earth" while the devil, his angels, and unbelievers are cast into the lake of fire. We remain in a world where Christians are just as often (if not more) considered sons of the devil and not children of God by the world.
Yet, the true reality of our situation is assured -- as Christ Himself points out by repeating that the Kingdom of Heaven "is" a present reality that is to be appropriated by the Christian. We simply don't EXPERIENCE/SEE these things here and now - they remain future promises based upon the fact that we are already heirs with Christ. To be sure, promises that are truly ours and can be relied upon because the one who promised them is true and does not decieve. But they none-the-less remain promises of things yet unseen by us and others. We see something similar in Christ Himself who as the Lord of the Universe "endured the cross, scorning it's shame" for a future "joy" which was "set before Him."
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