Beatitudes

Mathew 5:3 to 15

According to this chapter Jesus sat on the mountain side, a crowd including his disciples had followed him to listen to his teachings, this is where Jesus taught them the beatitudes that are in the book of Mathew. Beatitudes also means blessings which shows the blessings that faithful Christians will get as reward.  The theme of this text from the book of Mathew is the beatitudes, it shows that faithful Christian deeds by believers are not in vain but have rewards. Beatitudes also shows what Christians should be and Jesus taught this as a way of showing his followers what they should be and how they should act.

 The beatitudes:

The first beatitude in the Holy Bible Mathew 5 verse three states that “blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”[1], this verse does not refer to financially poverty but refers to poor in spirit, when one allows the word of God to fill the emptiness of the spirit then this reward is for them.

Eduard Schweitzer interprets this beatitude that to be poverty cannot only be physical measured but also Christians can be poor in spirit, according to him Christians should be empty in spirit and this will allow the word of God to dwell in spirit, empty in spirit can be interpreted as a case where we have an empty cup waiting to be filled, and to inherit the kingdom of heaven we must allow the holy spirit to fill our emptiness.

According to Anna Wierzbicka the poor are those who have experienced many bad things and they are unable to do anything about it because they don’t have the ability to do so, people who are poor in spirit are those that believe that good things cannot come to them without God. Blu Murphy on the other hand states that the poor in spirit are those who humble themselves before God, Christians should therefore humble and confess their sins to Jesus for forgiveness. Murphy also states that we should not have priced because this will turn away blessings from God and therefore we should be humble in order to be good Christians.

The second beatitude is stated in the fourth verse and it states that “blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted”[2], this means that those who mourn for their sins and repent their sins will be comforted, Eduard Schweitzer interprets this beatitude by stating that those who humble before the lord by morning for the sins they commit will be comforted.

According to Blu Murphy Christians should be poor in spirit and also repent their sins, we should realize that we have sinned and that we should also realize that sins hurt our heavenly Father  and that sins are a dishonor to God. According to him therefore Christians should repent and weep for the sins they have committed.

According to Anna Wierzbicka the weeping are the people who weep because they have done something bad or against the will of our heavenly Father, these include the people who weep because of something bad that other people have done, and also those who weep because other people are experiencing bad things.

The third beatitude states that “blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth”[3]. According to St. Augustine Christians should be meek in the face of the Lord and should not resist but obey the word of the Lord, obedience and submission to the will of the Lord will not be in vain according to this beatitude and the reward of this will be that those who are meek will inherit the earth.

Murphy states that the name meek in Greek means praus, praus in Greek is a name for domestic animals that are humble and not wild and disobedient like other animals, therefore according to this verse Jesus did not want us to be week, we should be strong but at the same time under God’s control.

According to Anna Wierzbicka this beatitude refers to those people who do not want to do something bad and that they don’t want bad things to happen to others, therefore Christians should always do according to the will of God and also long for things that are Godly to happen to others.

The fourth beatitude is stated in verse six and it states that “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be satisfied”[4], this beatitude means that Christians should always strive to achieve justice where they experience hunger and thirst, the reward of this is that they will be filled.

According to Murphy on this beatitude Christians should avoid doing bad things no matter hos they attract us and that we must always do according to the will of God, through this we will be righteous and Murphy quotes proverbs 21:21 which states that we can only be righteous through honor, love and justice, righteousness will result into satisfaction and therefore Christians should do right things in order to be satisfied.

Anna Wierzbicka on the other hand discusses those who hunger as the Christians who have nothing because something bad has happened to them, when the those who hunger realize that only God can help them then they will definitely be satisfied.

The fifth beatitude is in verse seven of the bible and it states “blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy”[5], this verse according to St. Gregory states that mercy is having mercy towards those who surfer distress. [6]As Christians show mercy to others then our heavenly father will show mercy, Gregory gave examples of cooperate deeds of showing mercy in life including feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, giving shelter to the homeless and visiting the sick.

The merciful according to Anna Wierzbicka refer to those Christians who will mourn while others mourn, they are those who will try to help those who suffer from bad thins that have happened to them. According to Murphy those who are merciful are those that who have deeds that show mercy including feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, he states that those that show mercy will receive mercy.

The sixth beatitude is in verse eight and it states that “blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God”[7], Saint Gregory states that to be pure in heart means that Christians should be free from any selfish desires and also acting according to the will of God, the reward for this is that they will see God.[8]

Murphy states that we must live according to God’s instructions and this is the only way we can keep our hearts pure, the pure in heart will see God, however in they feel his presence now when they live according to the will of God.

The seventh beatitude is in verse nine and it states that “blessed are the peace makers for they will be called sons of God” [9],according to saint Gregory peacemakers will not live peaceful lives while trying to bring peace and they will preserve peace between god and man[10], he states that peacemakers will only bring peace to the others if one posses peaceful deeds and through this they will be called sons of God.

Murphy states that the peace makers posses certain qualities that Christians should have, peacemakers are those who characters are righteous and truthful  and that they will make peace even when they fail, therefore Christians should be righteous and truthful in order for them to be peacemakers who will be called sons of God.

The eight beatitude states that “blessed are those who are insulted and prosecuted because of God because the Kingdom of heaven is theirs”[11], this verse states that Christians should not be ashamed for preaching the word of God to others, they should rejoice when insulted or prosecuted for speaking the words of God, the reward for this is that the Kingdom of heaven will be theirs.

Murphy states that Jesus was prosecuted; Jesus was righteous and wants his followers to be like him and therefore today Christians must be like Jesus in every way whereby they should rejoice when prosecuted because of the Father in Heaven, Anna Wierzbicka states that the prosecuted are those who will experience bad things because of speaking the word of God.

Finally Anna Wierzbicka states that the blessed are those who experience bad things, those who believe that good things will happen through God and those who will feel bad and weep for bad things that happen, Murphy states that this sermon by Jesus on beatitudes is the longest in the Bible, Jesus was describing the kind of followers he was looking for as Christians and that people should desire and develop these characteristics.

 Discussion:

From the above discussion on Beatitudes it is evident that Jesus wants us to have all the characteristics, we all want good things to happen in our life and also after we die, each beatitude shows the different rewards Christians will receive on earth and in heaven, there are those who will inherit the earth, those who will be termed as sons of God, and those who the Kingdom of heaven will be theirs. We must therefore as Christians follow the instructions given by God, we must humble and be obedient and be righteous.

It is evident that Jesus was teaching us what we should be in the world, we should be different from others and should always repent our sins, from the above discussion also it is evident that we should be like domesticated animals that are humble and obedient, we should not be disobedient and wild like the other animals. Finally this verses from the Book of Mathew shows that Christians may suffer in this world but when they believe in God good things will happen, we Christians will also receive rewards depending on our deeds

 References:

Anna Wierzbicka (2001) Explaining the Sermon of the Mount and the Parables in Simple and Universal Human Concepts, Oxford University Press, US

Religious Journal online (2008) Blu Murphy on beatitudes, retrieved on 27th August, available at http://www.relijournal.com/Christianity/The-Beatitudes-Explained.126818

Sarah Coakley (2003 Re thinking Gregory of Nyssa, Blackwell publishers, Oxford

The Holy Bible (2000) King James Version

Erik Kolbell (2003) What Jesus Meant: The Beatitudes and a Meaningful Life, Westminster John Knox Press, New York

 [1] The Holy Bible (2000) King James Version