1And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
| 3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. 5Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. 6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. 7Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. 8Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. 9Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. 10Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. |
11"Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
At initial glance it almost looks like it is saying that when seeing the multitude, Jesus needed to get away for a while and went up a mountain, and that the disciples waited for awhile, till He was seated, before they joined Him. That is one way to read what it says.
It could also be read as having seen the multitude, Jesus considered the many burdens the multitude felt and realized something important that needed to be taught. He chose a mountain as a good place to sit down and teach His disciples. This interpretation ties in a little better with what Jesus taught next.
At first this seemed like an odd and difficult list. I could understand that if we want to be blessed, we should be meek, hunger and thirst for righteousness, be merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers. But must we be poor in spirit, mourn, and be persecuted in order to have a blessed life?
Actually, I think blessings come in smaller doses. It is not a matter of having a blessed life or a non-blessed life. Jesus just met with all kinds of people in the multitude. He must have felt it was important for them to understand the many blessings they each already have, even for those who may feel that life is going badly.
Blessed are the poor in spirit. When I think of someone being poor in spirit, I think of two different interpretations: someone who is sad, not having anything to be happy about, or someone who is poor in spiritual knowledge. Either one should feel a blessing when considering the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is available to everyone. Even with nothing else to be happy about, how can you not feel happy about the prospect of the kingdom of heaven? Or being poor in spiritual knowledge, not knowing the scripture, not understanding all of God's wishes, does not mean you do not have a chance to go to heaven. The poor in spirit are not blessed people because they are poor in spirit, but because they too can inherit the kingdom of heaven. This is a blessing.
Blessed are those who mourn. God shall comfort those who mourn. This isn't a statement that God wants everyone to mourn so they can receive His blessing. But the comfort that He gives to those who mourn is a blessing.
Blessed are the meek. I looked up the word meek in the dictionary. It defines meek as being humble, patient, submissive. Sometimes it seems like if you try to stay humble, patient, or submissive, you would end up with nothing. But have you ever seen someone who exhibits these traits? Often they end up with more than others. When you take the attitude of waiting and receiving rather than taking, this gives God the chance to give you more than you could have gotten yourself. The many things of this earth that the meek receive are blessings that are given to the them.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. I had a little tougher time understanding this one. When I think of someone who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, I think of someone who is being mistreated, or someone going through something that they really shouldn't have had to face, such as a young person dealing with cancer. It does not say they shall be made right, but that they shall be filled. Meaning their hunger and thirst will be taken care of? It almost makes me think of people I have seen who have put up with terrible living environments but are still peaceful, loving people. Or a person who knows they are dying and face it gracefully. It almost makes me think that this verse is telling me that if we turn to God with our desires for righteousness, God will give us the peace to calm our desires. This truly is a blessing.
Blessed are the merciful. God has many times rewarded mercy with mercy. Mercy obtained is a blessing.
Blessed are the pure in heart. A person who is pure in heart can only see good in everything around them -- that is seeing God. Sometimes it is hard to tell yourself that God is with you, sometimes He seems so far away. But to be able to see God in everything around you is a blessing.
Blessed are the peacemakers. Being called a son of God, means to me that others recognize you as being someone who is doing great work for God. The high respect you will receive from others when you are a peacemaker, is a blessing.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. If you are persecuted because you are trying to do what is right, don't let the persecution bother you. For if you are righteous, you already have the kingdom of heaven. This is a blessing that cannot be taken away from you, no matter how much you are persecuted.
It is interesting that in the beatitudes, both the first and last say theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Whatever our troubles or attitudes, we receive many different blessings. But the greatest blessing which is given to the poor in spirit, to the persecuted, and everyone else in between is the blessing of the kingdom of heaven. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven!
I don't think this is meant to be a recipe on how to become a blessed person, but an example of how to recognize our blessings. This is not a complete list of blessings available, but a varied enough list to make it easier to recognize the many blessings we are each given, even those things which wouldn't seem to be blessings. So my initial question where I asked if we need to do all these things to have a blessed life is out of context. It is not a matter of you having a blessed life or not. Everyone is blessed in some way or another. Some days we feel more blessed than others. The trick as outlined in the beatitudes is recognizing those blessings that we receive.