The Sermon on the Mount - The Beatitudes Part 1

What is the Sermon on the Mount?

The Gospel of Matthew is an account of Jesus’ life and teachings. Its kind of like a biography of the things that Jesus said and did.

The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of Jesus’ teachings and is found in Matthew 5-7

The sermon on the mount is introduced in Matthew 4:23

Matthew 4:23 ESV

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.

The sermon on the mount speaks about what Jesus means when he says that the Kingdom of Heaven has come upon the earth.

Jesus also explains what it looks like to participate in His Kingdom

Structure of the Sermon on the Mount?

The Sermon on the mount has a very interesting structure and is divided into 3 parts which are further divided into 3 parts and even in those smaller parts, you’ll find more triads and divisions into three parts

The structure is as follows:

Introduction (Matt 5:3-16)

This sections speaks about Kingdom identity as well as who is welcome in God’s Kingdom.

Main Body (Matt 5:17-7:12)

The main body explains what Jesus means when He calls His followers to live in a greater righteousness.

Conclusion (Matt 7:13-27)

The conclusion of the sermon has Jesus presenting a choice to the people, i.e. to choose life or death.

What are the Beatitudes?

The beatitudes presents a surprising announcement to the people. Jesus invites the people to experience “The Good Life” of God’s Kingdom.

The Greek word is Makarios and the Hebrew word is Ashrey

Tim Mackie of the bible project suggests that the word “Blessed” in the beatitudes can more accurately be translated as “The Good Life”

Jesus presents a group of people who are low and outcasts in society who suffer for the sake of righteousness and strive for peace. But surprisingly Jesus makes special mention of them first being invited into the “good life” of the Kingdom of God.

How should we understand the beatitudes

The beatitudes present nine sayings of who experiences the good life. The types of people Jesus mentions are the following:

the poor in spirit

the grievers

the unimportant

the hungerers

the merciful

the pure in heart

the peacemakers

the persecuted

the misunderstood

Application

We must remember that the poor, sick, needy, oprressed and those that are seen as the lowest in society are actually very important to God. He invites them too into His Kingdom. In fact, he makes special mention of them throughout scripure, especially here in the beatitudes.

God calls us to rightouessness which means living in right relationship before others. This means loving on others, serving others and being compassionate on others. I also means confronting sin and evil as well as standing for justice. This is what rightoessness is. There is a three way righeousness:

To God

To Others

To Creation

God calls us to live in purity and holiness!