I have entitled our message this morning, “Finding True Blessedness (Part 1).” The words of Jesus seen in our passage today are called “The Beatitudes,” and this does not mean “beautiful attitudes,” even though this phrase might have catchy ring. “The Beatitudes are blessed sayings.”(1) “The word ‘beatitude’ comes from the Latin beatitudo, meaning ‘blessedness.’ The phrase ‘blessed are’ [seen] in each beatitude implies a current state of happiness or well-being. This expression held a powerful meaning of ‘divine joy and perfect happiness’ to the people of Christ’s day. In other words, Jesus was saying ‘divinely happy and fortunate are those who possess these inward qualities’.”(2)
The Greek word seen in our passage for “blessed” (makarioi) means “happy,” which in English can be traced back to “hap,” which means “chance” and “good-luck.”(3) However, A. T. Robertson says that “blessedness, is of course, an infinitely higher and better thing than mere happiness.”(4) William Barclay adds that in the Christian faith we have “a divine and godlike joy,” and that the word “blessed” (makarios) in this passage “describes that joy which has its secret within itself, that joy which is serene and untouchable and self-contained, that joy which is completely independent of all the chances and changes of life.”(5) So, as we encounter the word “blessed” in our passage, we will understand it as meaning “joyful.”
“The Beatitudes” are jam-packed with spiritual insight and need to be examined in great depth; and so, we are going to tackle Jesus’ message by doing a verse-by-verse exposition. In “Finding True Blessedness (Part 1),” we are going to be looking specifically at Matthew 5:1-6. So, let us go ahead and get started with verses 1-2.
The Sermon on the Mount (vv. 1-2)
1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
Beginning in verse 1, we are told that “He went up on a mountain.” The mountain is not identified, but it is probably a reference to a place west of the sea of Galilee in the vicinity of Capernaum.(6) The suspected location is based on Matthew chapter 8, in which we read, “When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him” (v. 1), and “Jesus had entered Capernaum” (v. 5). Verse 1 also says that Jesus was seated with His disciples. According to Luke 6:17, they were seated “on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem.” In verse 2, we read that Jesus “opened His mouth and taught them.” Because Jesus was teaching on a mountain, His entire discourse, which comprises three whole chapters (Matthew 5-7), is known as “The Sermon on the Mount.”
In the gospel of Luke, “The Sermon on the Mount” follows immediately after the official choosing of the Twelve (Luke 6:13 ff). For that reason, it has been called “The Ordination Address to the Twelve.” “Just as a young minister has his task set out before him, when he is called to his first charge, so the Twelve received from Jesus their ordination address before they went out to their task”(7) – and of course, there was also a crowd of people present to hear the words of this ordination sermon.
Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit (v. 3)
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“A young man in college was so engrossed in preparations for final examinations and in extra-curricular activities, that he neglected to write home for five weeks. Then his parents received a letter, which said, ‘The inevitable consequence of not writing for five weeks is that I am now broke.’ [Likewise], the inevitable consequence of not keeping in close communication with the heavenly Father is that the child [of God] becomes spiritually bankrupt . . . [and] it is sin which cuts the communication lines.”(8)
“The phrase ‘poor in spirit’ speaks of a spiritual condition of poverty. It describes the person who recognizes his or her need for God.”(9) “One’s honest and humble acknowledgement of his [state of spiritual poverty] opens the way for the reception of God’s blessings.”(10) “The kingdom of heaven” refers to people who acknowledge the one true God, and who know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of their life. “Only he who does God’s will is a citizen of the kingdom; and we can only do God’s will when we realize our own utter helplessness, own utter ignorance, our own utter inability to cope with life, and when we put our whole trust in God.”(11) One who is poor in spirit knows that he or she is spiritually bankrupt apart from Jesus Christ.(12) A paraphrase of this verse could read as: “Joyful are those who realize their own utter helplessness, for they have put their entire trust in God.”(13)
Blessed Are Those Who Mourn (v. 4)
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
This verse could refer to those who know pain and loss. “In Venezuela there are great iron mines, from which ore is shipped to the largest iron works in the world, near Philadelphia. If a person were to try to get iron out of ore with a hammer, he could not do it. The ore must go into a great furnace. As the temperature rises, the iron within the ore turns to liquid, and the pure metal runs out. This is how God sometimes works in your life and mine. You and I cannot hammer the sin out of our lives. Rather, we must recognize that God loves us and that He will refine us with fire until the slag is burned away and only pure metal remains(14) – and this time of refinement can be very difficult, as we undergo trials that result in mourning.
“The Greek word for ‘mourn’ used here, is the strongest word for mourning in the Greek language. It is the word which is used for mourning the dead” and for “sorrow.” “It can be taken quite literally: Blessed is the [person] who has endured the bitterest sorrow that life can bring.” Mournful sorrow “can show us, as nothing else can . . . the comfort and the compassion of God.” “When things go well, it is possible to live for years [just] on the surface . . . but when sorrow comes, [a person] is driven to the deep things of life, and if he accepts it [the right way], a new strength and beauty enter into his soul.”(15)
It is not just the trials of life that are referred to. “Those who feel sorrowful because of their own sins and failure” will “know God’s comfort.”(16) “One of the great functions of the cross is to open the eyes of men and women to the horror of sin. And when a man sees sin in all its horror, he cannot do anything else but experience intense sorrow for his sin.”(17) 2 Corinthians 7:10 tells us that “godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation.” “Blessed is the [person] who is intensely sorry for his sin, the [one] who is broken-hearted for what his sin has done to God and to Jesus Christ, the [individual] who sees the cross and who is appalled by the havoc wrought by sin.”(18) A paraphrase of this verse could read as: “Joyful are those who mourn for their sins, for they shall receive forgiveness and life eternal.”(19)
Blessed Are the Meek (v. 5)
5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“What is meekness? Many people have a wrong idea of [meekness], but they can learn the true meaning by listening to jockeys and horse trainers after a horse race. The horse that wins the race is [called] ‘the meekest on the track.’ This is the horse most under control, the horse that responds most quickly to the jockey’s guidance. The self-willed horse, the [insubordinate] horse, is frequently left at the post. When he does get started, he may run faster than some of the others, but he does not finish with the leaders who were meek.”(20) The word “meek” (praus) in verse 5, is “the regular word for an animal which has been domesticated, which has been trained to obey the word of command, [and] which has learned to answer to the reigns. It is the word for an animal which has learned to accept control.”(21)
We must have a complete and total reliance on the Lord, in order to submit to His control. In Psalm chapter 37, which is the passage that Jesus drew from, we read, “Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass . . . Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him . . . Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret – it only causes harm . . . Those who wait on the LORD, they shall inherit the earth . . . The meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace” (Psalm 37:4-5, 7a, 8a, 9b, 11). The blessing in verse 5 is not for the person who exercises self-control, for such complete self-control is beyond human capacity. “Rather, it is the blessing of the [person] who is completely God-controlled, for only in His service do we find our perfect freedom, and [only] in doing His will [do we find] our peace.”(22)
The word “meek” has come to be equated with words like “weak,” “spineless,” or even “doormat.” You have probably heard it said that “meekness is weakness,” but this is not what Jesus had in mind.(23) A. T. Robertson says, “The English word ‘meek’ has largely lost the fine blend of spiritual poise and strength meant by the Master . . . It is the gentleness of strength, not mere effeminacy” that Jesus had in mind.(24) “The meek are not the weak or cowardly. They are those who under the pressures of life have learned to bend their wills and to set aside their own notions as they stand before the greatness and grace of God. They are characterized by humble trust rather than arrogant independence.”(25)
“A.W. Tozer once wrote, ‘The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather, he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God’s estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto.”(26)
The word “earth” (gen; pronounced ghayn) here, simply means “the earth.” Psalm 24:1 declares, “The earth is the LORD’S, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.” We read in Psalm 2:7-8, which is a messianic prophecy, “The LORD has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.” So, the earth belongs to God; and God promised to give the earth to His Son; but as followers of Christ, we too will inherit the earth. “The earth does not belong to the self-trusting or self-assertive who seek to possess it, but to ‘the poor in spirit’ who are willing to lose all for the kingdom.”(27) A paraphrase of this verse could read as: “Joyful are those who fully submit to Jesus as Lord, for they will inherit everything He possesses.”(28)
Blessed Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst (v. 6)
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
A man named Lazaro, a native of Tanzania, walked three days from his village “to meet Tim and Annie Tidenberg. The couple were newly appointed missionaries with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. Lazaro greeted the new missionaries with these words: ‘We are so glad you are here, because we are a hungry people.’ Tim assumed the man was looking for food, so he told him their primary purpose in [Tanzania] was to train pastors, not to provide food. This headman of a Massai settlement replied, ‘Oh, you misunderstand me. I am not asking for food. I am asking for the Bread of Life. We are hungry for God’s Word’.”(29)
“Very few of us in modern conditions of life know what it is to be really hungry or really thirsty. In the ancient world it was very different.”(30) The working man was so poor that he ate meat only once a week, and he was always on the verge of real hunger and actual starvation. “In the ancient world it was [also] not possible for the vast majority of people to turn [on] a [faucet] and find the clear, cold water pouring into their house.”(31) What is being described in this beatitude “is the hunger of the [person] who is starving for food, and the [person] who will die unless he drinks.”(32)
Without going into detail on the rules of Greek grammar, when someone said, “I hunger for bread,” the person only desired some of the bread, not the entire loaf; and when someone said, “I thirst for water,” it was some of the water, or just a drink of it that the person desired, not all the water in the pitcher! But in looking at the Greek in this beatitude, to say, “I hunger for the bread,” means I want the entire loaf; and, to say, “I thirst for water,” means I want the entire pitcher. Therefore, the correct translation of this beatitude is, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for the whole of righteousness; for total righteousness; for complete righteousness.”(33)
Those who hunger are “people who want more than anything else, to see the world’s evil overcome by God’s righteousness. They want righteousness as much as a starving person wants food and as much as a person dying of thirst wants water. Jesus promised . . . that God’s righteousness would finally prevail, and their desire for it would be satisfied.”(34) The word for “filled” means to feed or to fatten cattle to the full.(35) So, to be “filled” is the satisfaction of our soul’s desire. If we want it all, we will get it all – all of God’s righteousness, that is – and God’s righteousness upon the earth and in our lives comes through Jesus. A paraphrase of this verse could read as: “Joyful are those who passionately long for Christ, for He will satisfy their souls.”(36)
Time of Reflection
So, this morning, we have seen four spiritual realities that run contrary to what the world holds dear; and Jesus says that if we can grasp these realities and walk in them, it will lead to true blessedness, which is having a life full of peace and divine joy. The first reality is being honest about our state of spiritual poverty, repenting of our sins, and being totally dependent on God. The second reality is understanding that the reason why we might be mourning is because we are being purged of sin, and that God will ultimately work all things together for our good (Romans 8:28). The third reality is that we must put aside our own plans, and in meekness submit to the Lord’s leadership and purposes; and the fourth reality is knowing that God will fulfill our deep hunger and thirst, as we make Him our heart’s desire.
Are you tired of the temporary? Have you found yourself searching for happiness, only to come up short? Remember that happiness comes and goes, but joy is untouchable. True blessedness (and joy) comes from above; and for those who know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord – who will one day live for eternity in heaven – they will have everlasting joy. In Isaiah, we read, “So the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness; [and] sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isaiah 51:11). If you desire joy for both now and eternity, then you need to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
NOTES
(1) Mary Fairchild, “What Are the Beatitudes?” Learn Religions, Apr. 5, 2023: https://www.learnreligions.com/what-are-the-beatitudes-701505 (Accessed May 8, 2023).
(2) Ibid.
(3) A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1930), p. 39.
(4) Ibid., p, 39.
(5) William Barclay, “The Gospel of Matthew, The Daily Study Bible, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1958), p. 84.
(6) Frank Stagg, “Matthew,” The Broadman Bible Commentary, vol. 8 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1969) p. 104.
(7) Barclay, pp. 78-79.
(8) Donald Barnhouse, Timeless Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers), p. 219.
(9) Fairchild.
(10) Stagg, p. 105.
(11) Barclay, p. 87.
(12) Fairchild.
(13) Barclay, p. 86.
(14) Barnhouse, p. 222.
(15) Barclay, p. 88.
(16) Clair M. Crissey, “Matthew,” Layman’s Bible Book Commentary, vol. 15 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1981), p. 31.
(17) Barclay, p. 90.
(18) Ibid., p. 90.
(19) Fairchild.
(20) Barnhouse, p. 163.
(21) Barlcay, pp. 91-92.
(22) Ibid., p. 92.
(23) Crissey, p. 31.
(24) Robertson, p. 41.
(25) Stagg, p. 105.
(26) “Meekness,” Sermon Illustrations: http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/m/meekness.htm (Accessed May 22, 2023).
(27) Stagg, p. 105.
(28) Fairchild.
(29) Raymond McHenry, McHenry’s Stories for the Soul (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers), p. 77.
(30) Barclay, p. 94.
(31) Ibid., p. 94.
(32) Ibid., p. 95.
(33) Ibid., p. 96.
(34) Ibid., p. 96.
(35) Robertson, p. 41.
(36) Fairchild.
