The Beatitudes
The Beatitudes from the New Testament are a set of nine blessings that come to people who develop the virtues which Christ Himself had. The Beatitudes are found in Matthew 5:1-12. The passage begins with setting the scene – Jesus is seated on a mountain with His disciples; and a multitude of people has gathered to listen to Him. Then Jesus “open[s] His mouth,” (Mat 5:2) and states the beatitudes. The final beatitude stands out by its length and the encouraging sentence, which seems to be the conclusion that follows it.
The beatitudes are the first part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount; the second is when Jesus takes the Old Testament Commandments, which focus on keeping our actions pure, and takes it to the next level, commanding us to keep our thoughts pure as well. The third part is on spiritual disciplines such as prayer, fasting and almsgiving, which help us get closer to God and receive His divine Grace; and lastly His Sermon concludes with some warnings and information. This is the structure of Jesus’ sermon. The events preceding this are Jesus’ temptations and fasting in the desert, after which He starts preaching repentance, chooses His first disciples, and then starts teaching and healing in Galilee. The events after the sermon are mainly Christ healing and teaching.
There is much symbolism, and comparison between the Old and New Testament, found in Matthew 5:1-12. In the Old Testament, only some people were specifically chosen to be able to hear from God directly, whereas here Jesus openly speaks to everyone. This shows that by Christ’s Incarnation, we are able to unite with God and have a closer relationship with Him. The mountain is a symbol of a place where divine action takes place, a place where God reveals Himself to man; as seen in historical events such as Moses receiving the Ten Commandments from God on a mountain. Some more symbolism found in the introductory verses are that “He was seated,” (Mat 5:1) which is the way that Jewish teachers taught with authority. Matthew specifically mentioning that “[Jesus] opened His mouth,” (Mat 5:2) highlights the fact that His talking is in one direction – the disciples are to listen, not discuss or argue.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (5:3). Being poor in spirit means having the heart and mindset of a poor person and having humility. Just as the poor depend on kind people who help and donate to them, so we should accept that we are dependent on our Father in Heaven to feed us spiritually and physically.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (5:4). There are different things for which one can mourn. Ungodly mourning leads to despair, but Godly mourning eventually leads to joy. Paul tells the Corinthians, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Godly sorrow includes sorrow about the state of the world and how sinful and ungodly it is, one’s own sins (which is the key to repentance), other’s suffering (which is empathy) and the sufferings of the earthly life. This sorrow is part of repentance. The reward for this is comfort which comes from the knowledge and trust in God’s power in both worlds.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (5:5). Meekness is a mindset of being content with honour and dishonour, during the highs and lows of life. It’s also gentleness and self-control. Being gentle doesn’t mean weakness, because you need to be strong to control yourself, to stay calm and not explode with anger. The earth which these people will inherit is the new earth which will be in the future, from the book of Revelation.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” (5:6). Just like a hungry person craves food, blessed are the people who hunger and thirst for righteousness. These people love God and strongly desire to be righteous in every way to imitate Christ and become like Him. They see Him as the most important part of their life, their number one priority. God takes priority over their hobbies, family, friends, sport and work; not that these things aren’t important, but that God is ultimately important. God wants us to “[…] seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, […]” (Mat 6:33) with a highlight on ‘first’. These righteous-hungry people will be filled with grace, peace, love and joy, and will also get the reward of becoming more like Christ.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” (5:7). Mercy is love in actions. Jesus was merciful to us in dying for us on the Cross when we didn’t deserve it. So, we should, with joy, show mercy to everyone around us even if we feel that they don’t deserve it. The reward is mercy towards us now and in Heaven when we will stand before God’s judgement throne.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (5:8). Those who are pure in heart have no evil intentions. They have purified their heart; so, they have made it unmixed with any evil. When the person’s purified thirst is only for God, and his will follows this desire, then he will see God everywhere.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (5:9). Peacemakers who have God’s peace spread God’s grace to their neighbour and the people around them. St Seraphim said, “Acquire the Spirit of Peace, and a thousand souls around you will be saved!”
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (5:10-12). Christians behave differently from society sometimes because they don’t make compromises to God’s commandments. Christians can be persecuted: in some countries they are tortured like Jesus was, in others the persecution may be more like getting bullied or biased against and needing to put in the effort to live a good life.
When considered together, the beatitudes are a set of blessings that one can receive by being poor in spirit, mourning, meek, and so on. They teach us to live like Jesus Christ and become united with Him. The beatitudes are similar to the Ten Commandments, but they are more positive with positive rewards, whereas the Ten Commandments were a bit more negative, with the phrase ‘shall not’. Together, the beatitudes tell Christians how to behave in order to become more like Jesus.