The Beatitudes: Finding the Good Life in Unexpected Places (2)
The Kingdom of GOD • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 42:28
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· 46 viewsIn this series, we are looking at what it means to be citizens in the Kingdom of GOD. We take a look at how we should live and how we partner with the FATHER in HIS reign. This week we take a look into the details of the Sermon on the Mount as we dig deeper into the Greek and Hebrew behind the first three beatitudes to discover the second of three unexpected places JESUS says the good life is found.
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Announce text: Matthew 5:1-16
Key Text: Matthew 5:1-16
Review
In our study on the Beatitudes from the SOTM, we learned about the different Hebrew and Greek words behind the word blessed.
We began by looking at the Hebrew word that actually means blessed, as it is used in Genesis 1.
We discovered that was not the same word used in the Beatitudes.
In fact, the Greek word, makarios, that is translated as blessed in that passage is a difficult word to translate.
However, the Hebrew word ashrey is consistently translated into the Greek word makarios in the Septuagint (Greek translation of Hebrew Bible).
From the definition and uses of the word ashrey in the Hebrew Bible, we derive the meaning in the NT Beatitudes.
Makarios, then, is a persuasive, wisdom (34/45 uses in Ps & Pr) word that an observer uses to describe someone who is experiencing blessing.
We were reminded that only GOD can bless, and HIS Blessing involves HIS favor: abundance & stability/security.
What we find in the Beatitudes then, is that JESUS is not pronouncing blessing on an individual.
Rather, HE is pointing out from HIS surprising perspective the individual who is blessed, followed by what the blessing is.
Matthew 5:3 “3 “Blessed are [How good is life for] the poor in spirit (perspective), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (blessing).”
So, JESUS is reframing what it means to live the good life in a very surprising & unexpected way.
Dr. Tim Mackie of the BibleProject has this to say about what JESUS is doing in the Beatitudes:
“The logic of these nine sayings depends on Jesus' claim that he is bringing the Kingdom of God as it is in Heaven. And the Kingdom of God brings total reversal of our value systems and our estimations of who are the fortunate ones. And that's the work that these nine sayings are doing.”
We found out the literary structure of the Beatitudes divides the nine sayings into three groups of three sayings (triads).
As we started in on the first triad, we began looking three marginalized places/states where JESUS defines the good life is found.
The first thing JESUS says is: 1. The good life is for the powerless.
We dug into the first verse of the Beatitudes, v.3, and looked more intently at the phrase, “poor in spirit.”
We discovered there are equivalent Greek and Hebrew words for spirit: pneuma (Gr.) and ruakh (He.).
Both words represent an invisible energy that can be both impersonal, e.g., wind, or personal, e.g., a person’s life force/energy/vitality.
We saw in the OT how “_ of spirit” or “_ in their spirit” became a common way to describe the quality of one’s life force.
We then can see that JESUS is describing someone who is power -(spirit) less (poor); someone whose life energy is lacking.
The people JESUS was speaking to were lacking in both physical and metaphorical resources, e.g., economic, social, & spiritual.
The lack of resources contributed to their emotional & mental lack of stability.
The lack of spiritual resources (oppression by Rome & religious leaders didn’t help) contributed to the lack of physical resources.
This will become more clear when we look at the next two sayings which is why their tied together in the first triad.
So, they are marginalized group of people lacking in socioeconomic standing and with no way - no power - to change their situation.
They are powerless.
JESUS comes on the scene, looks them over, and says that GOD’s KINGdom has arrived, and it is being offered first to them.
So, we rephrased the first Beatitude to read:
Matthew 5:3 “3 “How good is life for the powerless, because theirs is the kingdom of the skies.”
Announce text again: Matthew 5:1-16
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
1 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the hillside, and sat down. His disciples came to him.
2 He took a deep breath, and began his teaching:
3 “How good is life for the poor in spirit! The kingdom of heaven is yours.
4 “How good is life for the mourners! You’re going to be comforted.
5 “How good is life for the meek! You’re going to inherit the earth.
6 “How good is life for people who hunger and thirst for God’s justice! You’re going to be satisfied.
7 “How good is life for the merciful! You’ll receive mercy yourselves.
8 “How good is life for the pure in heart! You will see God.
9 “How good is life for the peacemakers! You’ll be called God’s children.
10 “How good is life for people who are persecuted because of God’s saving plan! The kingdom of heaven belongs to you.
11 “How good is life for you, when people slander you and persecute you, and say all kinds of wicked things about you falsely because of me!
12 Celebrate and rejoice: there’s a great reward for you in heaven. That’s how they persecuted the prophets who went before you.”
13 “You’re the salt of the earth! But if the salt becomes tasteless, how is it going to get salty again? It’s no good for anything. You might as well throw it out and walk all over it.
14 “You’re the light of the world! A city can’t be hidden if it’s on top of a hill.
15 People don’t light a lamp and put it under a bucket; they put it on a lampstand. Then it gives light to everybody in the house.
16 That’s how you must shine your light in front of people! Then they will see what wonderful things you do, and they’ll give glory to your father in heaven.
16 That’s how you must shine your light in front of people! Then they will see what wonderful things you do, and they’ll give glory to your father in heaven.
Prayer for added blessing to the reading of the Word
Message
Message
Edith Rockefeller McCormick, the daughter of John D. Rockefeller, maintained a large household staff. She applied one rule to every servant without exception: They were not permitted to speak to her. The rule was broken only once, when word arrived at the family's country retreat that their young son had died of scarlet fever. The McCormicks were hosting a dinner party, but following a discussion in the servants' quarters it was decided that Mrs. McCormick needed to know right away. When the tragic news was whispered to her, she merely nodded her head and the party continued without interruption.
Today in the Word, September 29, 1992.
The beatitudes are 9 sayings of JESUS in which HE is reframing what the good life is. HE does this by drawing our attention to a group of people to unexpectedly persuade us that from HIS perspective, these people are living the good life - they are the fortunate ones. Then HE identities how each particular group of people is blessed - HE describes what the blessing is.
We are going to continue digging into the Greek and Hebrew words underlying our English translation of what JESUS is saying in our text, as we continue looking at the first triad covered in vv.3-5.
Let's read these three verses again in succession for context, and then we'll dive into the next verse, v.4.
I will be reading from a modified version of the NTFE translation, as I have changed part of the original translation to reflect what we discovered JESUS meant when we see the English word, blessed.
3 “How good is life for the powerless, because theirs is the kingdom of the skies.
4 “How good is life for the mourners! You’re going to be comforted.
5 “How good is life for the meek! You’re going to inherit the earth.
Ok, so that’s the context of the triad again.
This morning we’re going to pick up where we left off from last week as we look at three unexpected places where JESUS says the good life is found.
So, if we’re lacking in life energy, as we discovered last week, and we live in the margins of society, then we likely are experiencing a lot of loss, death, and grief. And this leads us to the next unexpected state JESUS surprisingly calls the good life.
The good life is for the powerless.
The good life is for the grieving.
Looking at v.4, we read:
4 “How good is life for the mourners! You’re going to be comforted.
So, the words we see here in the perspective (mourners) and in the blessing (comforted) mean pretty much the same thing in the Bible. Another word for mourn is the word grieve. Grief is most often associated with death and loss. We see derivatives of these two words, grief and comfort, paired a lot in the Bible.
Here’s an example:
31 So they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood;
32 and they sent the varicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.”
33 Then he examined it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”
34 So Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.
35 Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.
Here we see the cultural response - tearing of clothes and putting on sackcloth - as a physical response to the news Joseph was dead. So, there are cultural practices associated with grieving the dead, and then we see the pairing of both grief and comfort present in the text.
So, counter to our instincts and even our involuntary response to grief and loss, the conclusion is the good life belongs to those who experience life in a constant state of grieving because they will be comforted.
Remember, the KOG is both now and not yet. So, another characteristic of the second line in a beatitude is that the blessing is typically oriented toward this concept: sometimes the present and always the future arrival of the KOG in its fullness. What JESUS is doing is building upon what the prophets have spoken, like in Isaiah 40:1 “1 “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.” The exile is over. The new Jerusalem - the state where the time of grieving has ended - is coming, and it will be the comfort for those who now grieve.
One of the things included in experiencing comfort after loss is some kind of restoration afterwards. Think of the life of Job who endured a time of testing by Satan. In summary, he lost possessions, children, and his health. He was in a remarkable state of grieving.
20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped.
Here are the cultural practices of demonstrating grief on display again, but the remarkable part is that he immediately worshiped.
That’s not within the scope of what we’re talking about today, but these are just some unique things to point out.
So, Job is in a state of grieving great loss and death in his life. Yet, at the conclusion of his testing, there was restoration.
10 The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold.
12 The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys.
13 He had seven sons and three daughters.
15 In all the land no women were found so fair as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers.
16 After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations.
17 And Job died, an old man and full of days.
Job is comforted in his grief with a restoration - twofold, so, twice what he had before - of everything. As those of us who have suffered loss know, grief is a life-long process. So, comfort in this scenario - particularly death, doesn’t mean everything is fine now - that we’re happy all the time again. No! When you experience the loss of a loved one, that’s not okay. No amount of materialistic gain will ever make that okay. Neither will having more children. New children are a new blessing from GOD, meant to be cherished for who they are in their own unique way, but they don’t replace the loss of an existing child - another blessing.
Comfort doesn’t mitigate all pain, nor is it intended to. It’s meant to help soften the blow of living with the loss because the loss is eternal. Those who have lost loved ones understand this all too well. The birthdays, the anniversaries, the holidays keep coming and serve to remind us of the loss we now own.
Testimony: Aaron’s words to me about grief
Yet, we experience the comfort of our Heavenly FATHER in the midst of the grief - that is the blessing: HIS comfort.
Still, there are many contexts for grief besides death.
Dr. Tim Mackie says this about grief in the Bible:
… there's a particular layer of meaning here about grief as it relates to the story of the Bible. The state of the exile, the Babylonian exile, brought about a period of grief. And comfort became an icon, as it does in the book of Isaiah, for the new Jerusalem, the restoration of Jerusalem. A hundred or so years after Nebuchadnezzar took out Jerusalem, and after the people were exiled from Jerusalem, a bunch of people come back. This is what the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are about. And it's cool, but not great.
So, something is diminished. The life they once experienced is not the same as it was before. How many times in our lives have longed for “the way things used to be?”
We see an example of this in the lives of two prophets whose time in history overlapped - Ezra and Nehemiah.
After one of the periods of time that Israel rebelled and was led off in exile, the exiles were returning. The prophet Ezra made plans to restore Jerusalem and the temple but things started to go poorly in that effort. After identifying the issue is with men had married wives from foreign nations against the commands of GOD, one man made a proposal that they put away the foreign wives and their children to then make a new covenant with GOD. In vv.5-6, we read:
5 Then Ezra rose and made the leading priests, the Levites and all Israel, take oath that they would do according to this proposal; so they took the oath.
6 Then Ezra rose from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. Although he went there, he did not eat bread nor drink water, for he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles.
So, here grieving is the process associated with the prolonged violation of GOD’s covenant that brought about oppression by foreign rulers as a result of the unfaithfulness of the exiles. Ezra is grieving Israel’s unfaithfulness as demonstrated by his fasting.
The prophet Nehemiah who was a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes receives word of the exiles and upon hearing of their condition, that the wall of Jerusalem was reduced to rubble, and the gates burnt cinders, we read in v.4:
4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
So, within this Biblical story of grieving is the narrative that it is also associated with waiting for restoration and fulfillment of GOD’s Promises.
So, loss can include many things. Returning to the SOTM and the Beatitudes, JESUS is likely speaking to multiple layers of grief here. Again, remember HIS audience and their plight. How many ways are they grieving? We mentioned last week, some lost their land. Some lost their livelihood. Yes, some lost loved ones. They’re oppressed, so they’ve lost freedoms. Some have lost their dignity, their joy, etc.
Everyone experiences loss at some point in time. Those who have “power” - in our context, have resources - can ignore the grief. They might not be completely untouched by it, but they can preoccupy their time with distractions to avoid it or pretend it doesn’t exist for others. Sometimes in our own lives, we want to skip over grieving loss because it’s not comfortable.
However, for those going through the grieving process - those without power (life energy) - they’re forced to face it. They’re forced to deal with loss. There is no escaping it. Which is why, as Dr. Tim Mackie put it, “It's an appropriate twin to the poor of spirit being powerless.”
Let’s go over a couple more examples, and then we’ll close with some reflection and application.
1 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept over him and kissed him.
2 Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.
3 Now forty days were required for it, for such is the period required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
4 When the days of mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak to Pharaoh, saying,
5 ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am about to die; in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.’ ”
6 Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”
7 So Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
8 and all the household of Joseph and his brothers and his father’s household; they left only their little ones and their flocks and their herds in the land of Goshen.
9 There also went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very great company.
10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and sorrowful lamentation; and he observed seven days mourning for his father.
11 Now when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning for the Egyptians.” Therefore it was named Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
So, mourning in this context is a communal ceremony that lasted at least 117 days (travel time to the threshing floor). The grieving was witnessed by outsiders, and it impacted them, also. So, this wasn’t just family members who were in mourning - rather an entire community, within and without, who were in or touched by the grief over the loss of Jacob. It’s not private - it’s very public. They’re not avoiding it, rather they are participating in the grieving process along with Joseph and his family.
JESUS gives us the perfect and final example I will include, and this will brief, though perhaps impactful. Have you ever asked the question or wondered about why regarding the shortest verse in the Bible?
35 Jesus wept.
Why did JESUS weep upon hearing the news that Lazarus had died? HE was informed of Lazarus’ condition prior to passing, and JESUS doesn’t leave what HE’s doing. HE tarries. Lazarus dies. JESUS weeps.
Didn’t JESUS know HE was going to go raise Lazarus from the dead? Why, then, did HE weep?
HE is unwilling to minimize the grieving process of death. HE not only faces it - HE embraces it.
So, when JESUS says in Matthew 5:4 “4 “How good is life for those who grieve ...,” HE is saying a part of the good life is that we actually have a capacity for grief. HE demonstrates this as HE grieves over Lazarus, and we are beckoned to participate in this process following HIS example - to join HIM in HIS way of processing grief because it is actually good for you and I to do so.
It is good to grieve, and we will find comfort!
testimony: croods style grieving pain & comfort … co-mingled
So, here’s the BibleProject’s paraphrase:
4 “How good is life for those who grieve, because they will be comforted.
So, the first triad - the first three beatitudes - are announcements by JESUS that GOD’s KINGdom has arrived, and it is being offered first to the powerless and to the grieving.
The first triad in the entire context as paraphrased by the BibleProject:
3 “How good is life for the powerless, because theirs is the kingdom of the skies.
4 “How good is life for those who grieve, because they will be comforted.
5 “How good is life for the meek! You’re going to inherit the earth.
Next week, we’ll look at what JESUS meant when HE said, Matthew 5:5 “5 “How good is life for the meek!”
So, pj … What’s the point?
Conclusion
Conclusion
Grief is the price we pay for love.
— Queen Elizabeth II
The purpose of suffering is to know GOD, and I think that is the whole purpose behind why JESUS is looking at these marginalized people and trying to persuade us that they are living the good life. It’s not so much about the state they are in, but about the position of their heart. It’s about being in a position of complete dependence upon the FATHER which is what the state of the marginalized is meant to reveal. The state of an individual could probably be a myriad of circumstances and contexts, but the position of the individual is to be the same - complete dependence upon GOD as Adam and Eve were in the garden.
JESUS is always looking at who we are meant to be. HE sees the version of us HE created. So, HE can look at us in our worst state and see the redeemed version of who we are meant to be and who we will become! Wherever you and I are in our story, the end has not yet been written. There are still more chapters to be recorded. The end for those who are believers is a truly “happily ever after” ending! So, there is hope! Not conditional hope that is more like chance, rather it is an assured - a certain hope because it is in the ONE WHO is our HOPE - JESUS CHRIST!
So, grief is meant to be experienced - you and I are wired for it, and JESUS says that’s a good thing! It is good for us to grieve, so let’s not try to avoid it. In fact, let’s face and embrace grief because it is good for us.
What type of grief are you experiencing this morning? Perhaps you’re grieving the loss of a loved one? Perhaps you’re grieving the loss of relationships? Maybe we are grieving the loss of a time gone by? Maybe it’s our health? Or the loss of financial stability - a job, investments, etc.?
What type of grief are you not experiencing that perhaps we should be? Do we really grieve with and/or for others? Do we look at the state of our city and grieve? Do we look at the state of our nation? Of the world? The state of Israel? Jerusalem? Do we grieve over the broken kingdoms we both experience and observe in the times in which we live?
May we seek and find GOD’s comfort through prayer, the reading of and meditating on Scripture, worship, and community - finding support as we share in one another’s grief.
May HOLY SPIRIT lead us into grief teaching us how to grieve appropriately. Not only is it okay, it is good for us; for we will experience the comfort of the Loving, Heavenly FATHER! And isn’t HE the greatest blessing of all?
Closing prayer & benediction
Ask God to help the congregation face grief honestly, trust in His comfort, and support one another in loss.
24 The Lord bless you, and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
26 The Lord lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace.’
Scripture records the following words in v.27:
27 “So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”
So, receive and go with the blessings of YAHWEH!
