Chapter 6: The Beatitudes

The Sermon on the Mount

In the book of Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount takes place just as Jesus has begun His ministry, traveling through the land of Galilee, calling His disciples, and healing. "those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics” ().

When Jesus goes up to the mountain, sits, and prepares to speak to the people, His disciples come to him, eager to hear what He has to say.

There is a clear parallel here between when Matthew says that Jesus “Went up on the mountain” and when Moses is described as going up on Mount Sinai to meet with the Lord in , , and Exodus 34:42. The mountain is the place where man has met God throughout the Old Testament, such as when Abraham was called to sacrifice Issac on the mountain in Moriah () and when Elijah called down the fire of the Lord to confront the prophets of Baal (). Here, the incarnate Word of God, on the mountain before His people, and spoke.

Mount Carmel Elijah calls down fire?

The Beatitudes

Matthew 5:1–12 ESV

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: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “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, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The Disciples

Bonhoeffer opens this chapter by contrasting Jesus’s disciples with the crowd that had gathered. It is Bonhoeffer’s view that the beatitudes are directed from Jesus right to His disciples. For because they followed Christ, they were made poor, meek, hungry, and would soon be persecuted for righteousness’ sake. In fact, Bonhoeffer went so far as to say

“Something has happened to them which has not happened to the others. This is an extremely unsettling and offensive fact, which is visibly evident to the crowd.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, ed. Martin Kuske et al., trans. Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, vol. 4, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 100.

This is perhaps presumptive on Bonhoeffer’s part to assign perspectives and feelings to the crowd that aren’t immediately present in the text, but it does illicit an interesting question through which we will frame our discussion this evening: In the beatitudes, is Jesus talking to you?

This is an intentionally open-ended question that could be interpreted to ask if they are as the people described in the beatitudes, if they are truly disciples of Christ, or even if these beatitudes apply today, discuss discuss.

The Beatitudes (In-depth)

The Present Kingdom

English Standard Version Chapter 5

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

The poor in spirit can gain their spiritual power from only one place, the Lord. Bonhoeffer spends a fair amount of his time discussing how literally poor the disciples are, but in the old testament “poor” also meant

“(2) political and legal powerlessness and oppression”

J. David Pleins, “Poor, Poverty: Old Testament,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 402.

It was also used to describe being totally dependent on God, as we often saw the disciples were.

Psalm 86:1 ESV

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.

It is also interesting to examine Bonhoeffer’s contrast of Jesus’s blessing and the caricature form of such a blessing, like that which was currently being promised to German’s by National Socialism. He specifically calls out political ideology that “blesses the poor” to “fend off the cross” in contrast with Christ’s love for the poor.

All of that aside, perhaps the most interesting theological implication of this statement is when Jesus says “for theirs IS the kingdom of heaven”. This is one of the sources of our theology about the kingdom of God, that it has begun when Jesus arrived on Earth, and isn’t only something that is yet to come. It is from here that we draw our assurance that the kingdom of God is at hand, and that we have really good news to share with the world.

Comfort for the pain

English Standard Version Chapter 5

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Some things, I think, can have their purpose blurred slightly when we try to “dig deeper” when what God is trying to share is right on the surface. My preacher shared a sermon last year about mourning, about what he and his family had learned in the aftermath of their son’s sudden death. He said we all to often want to offer some platitude, some sort of scripture quote or well-intentioned but often hurtful quip like “everything happens for a reason” or “they are in a better place now” when really, what Jesus models us to do to comfort those who mourn is simply to join them in their grief and be present. To comfort them by sharing their pain in our presence with them. We all know, the shortest verse of the bible

John 11:35 ESV

Jesus wept.

Jogn 11:35

Those who mourn, should be held and comforted, both by the Lord and His church.

Mild and gentle friendliness

Matthew 5:5 ESV

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

I checked lots of different dictionaries and lexicons for this one because to be honest “meek” is a concept that I often have difficult understanding exactly what it is. I know what it is, kinda, I know it when I see it, but I can’t always define it. The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament defines this word as “having a mild and gentle friendliness”, and I think that just about fits. Treat everyone kindly and do not cause trouble. Endure the suffering that the world dishes out without reacting as those who are of the world would. I really wish some of these so-called evangelical leaders would employ a little more meekness when they model Christ to the world.

The promise to the meek is pretty straightforward here, when the time comes for the old earth to pass away and the new creation to live in peace with God, it is the meek, those who were gentle and friendly like Jesus, who will dwell in it with Him.

Righteousness, nothing else

Matthew 5:6 ESV

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Notice that they do not hunger for prosperity, wealth, victory, revenge, the power of the Lord, for Him to conquer their enemies, just righteousness, nothing else.

Touch the untouchables

Matthew 5:7 ESV

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Who is considered untouchable in our community?

Who is considered untouchable in modern evangelicalism?

How do we show them mercy?

Not good, Pure

Matthew 5:8 ESV

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Not even knowing good and evil, Bonhoeffer says “like a child”

Suffer instead of causing suffering

Matthew 5:9 ESV

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

One surprising line here is “they are silent in the face of hatred and injustice”. Especially for Bonhoeffoer who was ardently working against the rise of Nazism. It’s probable here that Bonhoeffer meant when hatred and injustice are done to us, but not standing by while others suffer?

There’s that “is” again

Matthew 5:10 ESV

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

These last 2 beatitudes return from the future tense of “shall” to the present tense of “is”. Jesus used “is” here when referring to the kingdom of Heaven, which is clearly at hand. This is also an echo of the promise to the poor which wraps up most of the beatitudes, and all of the ones that followed a nice poetic tempo. Matthew often recorded Jesus’s words in rhythmic, well structured ways that could easily be memorized, for that is how most people experienced Scripture at this time in church history.

The Community of the crucified

Matthew 5:11 ESV

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Matthew 5:12 ESV

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The Community of the Crucified

Matthew 5:11–12 ESV

“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, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Discipleship The Beatitudes

Here at the end of the Beatitudes the question arises as to where in this world such a faith-community actually finds a place. It has become clear that there is only one place for them, namely, the place where the poorest, the most tempted, the meekest of all may be found, at the cross on Golgotha. The faith-community of the blessed is the community of the Crucified. With him they lost everything, and with him they found everything.

Now, I would just like to remind us as we are preparing to wrap up of the world that Bonhoeffer was writing this to. Hitler’s rise to power swiftly, violently, completely obliterated all resistance in its path. Hitler’s stormtroopers had been brutalizing his political opponents in Germany for over 15 years, and the Christian following Christ would surely find themself vehemently opposing the impending genocide. Therefore, suffering and death were basically guaranteed in order to truly follow Christ.

The situation we face today, is less dire. Make no mistake, the Bible absolutely promises that following Christ will be difficult, and the world will hate us for it, see . However understand that Bonhoeffer’s obsession with the worst of suffering was written for a different Christian in a different time than for us.

Nonetheless, following Jesus will undoubtably bring us, as Bonhoeffer says, to “the cross on Golgotha”. He promises living a life following Him is not easy, and will not be well received. We are called to faithfully, truthfully abide by the word of God and keep His commands. We are to love those who the world may view as unlovable, we are to stand up for those that the world may have decided against, and we are to be steadfast in our obedience to Jesus. Bonhoeffer ends this chapter:

Discipleship The Beatitudes

The poor will stand there in the joyous assembly. God’s hand will wipe away the tears of estrangement from the eyes of the weeping.[47] God feeds the hungry with the Lord’s own Supper. Wounded and martyred bodies shall be transformed, and instead of the clothing of sin and penitence, they will wear the white robe[49] of eternal righteousness. From that eternal joy there comes a call to the community of disciples here under the cross, the call of Jesus, “blessed, blessed.”

Discussion Ideas

How do you feel about memorizing Scripture?

How much is too much to memorize?

Would you memorize all of the beatitudes? The whole sermon on the mount?