There's More to the Beatitudes Than We Thought - Matthew 5:1-12

I have been very excited for Sunday to get here this week, because I have some cool stuff to tell you about the Beatitudes. Sometimes, when famous passages of Scripture come along, it can be hard to think of anything new to say about them. That’s what I was expecting with today’s Gospel, which is one of the most loved, famous teachings of Jesus. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” These verses have been comforting the faithful for generations. They are the stuff of Hallmark knickknacks, cross stitches, and prayer cards. Or maybe you know them through Monty Python’s “Blessed are the cheesemakers.” Whatever your history with the Beatitudes, you probably know them pretty well.

I thought I did, too, until I came across a two scholars talking about them on their podcast, Bibleworm. Which is as nerdy and wonderful as it sounds. What makes it unique is that one scholar is Jewish, and one is Christian. They ask each other about resonances and nuances in biblical texts that would be easy for us to miss. The episode about today’s passage rose to the occasion, and I’ll never think of the Beatitudes the same way again. I credit Bibleworm for the following interpretation.

Let’s start with a $10 word, which is “intertextuality.” It means reading one biblical text next to another, to see how one echoes, imitates, or helps interpret another. We’ve been learning about it in the Sunday Forum, in a study of the miracles by Jesus led by a Jewish New Testament scholar. For example, when Jesus stills the storm as the disciples panic on the boat, we should hear resonances of the story of Jonah, who had a very similar boat scene. When we read the New Testament for echoes and themes from the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, the stories come alive in new and richer ways, and we begin to hear them more as Jesus’ listeners would have. Such is the case with the Beatitudes.

For example, take “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” I’ve always thought of mourning here as a reference to those of us who have lost a loved one, and that God has special concern for us when that happens. But it has another meaning as well, if we read it next to Isaiah 61. Mourners in that passage are grieving the Babylonian exile and the destruction of the community. Theirs is a collective mourning about how things are, that the world is not as it should be, and they feel the pain of that. If you feel in your soul that the world is not as it should be, blessed are you. As people of faith, we are called to bear witness to that truth, and to feel the weight of it. It’s an important step in helping to repair the world.

Let’s also look at the familiar line, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” It sounds like a pretty obvious call to humility. But if we read it next to Psalm 37, something shifts. “The lowly shall possess the land; they will delight in abundance of peace.” The Hebrew word for lowly there is “anavah.” Anavah means to take up the space that is rightly yours and not to take up space that is not yours. The biblical tradition insists that we are not to make ourselves too big or too small, which is difficult. If we all were to practice anavah, the whole community would be in harmony.

Let’s look at one more verse through this intertextual lens, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” The Hebrew correlate here would be “Hesed” or loving-kindness or compassion. It reminds us of Proverbs 14:21, which reads, “Those who despise their neighbors are sinners, but happy are those who are kind to the poor.” Hesed is about having complete openness and generosity of spirit toward others. This is an all-encompassing attitude about how to interact with our neighbors, not out of scarcity but with open arms. And if you live like that, it comes back to you because we are creating that kind of community together. This would change the world when you really think about it. We’d all be living in a world that is closer to the kingdom of heaven here on earth. For Matthew, the kingdom of heaven refers to how it will look when we live together well, with righteousness.

Like many of us, I’ve always thought of the Beatitudes as comforting, maybe even a little sweet. But we can start to see that they are more like a roadmap for a much more demanding way to live - with radical compassion for everyone, with a holy grief that the world is not as it should be, and with a mandate to take up only our God-given space while keeping our egos in check. And from there, Jesus raises the stakes even more.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven… Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” True to his own story, Jesus is being honest about the path of the Beatitudes. When we are humble, compassionate, neighborly, creating community in which everyone is respected, those who live by the ways of the world will get angry. Those who lord power over others will be upset. The religious path is not the same as the worldly one, it never has been. But take heart, Jesus adds, because we are called to live this way as part of a long and faithful line, of those who came before us and those who will come after us. This is not just about me or us. We are not alone in this good and faithful work which began with the prophets long ago. Prophets like Micah, who once said so beautifully, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

If any of this feels like a heavy burden, or like less than good news, I invite you to see the joyful hope that anchors these ancient teachings. The Beatitudes invite us into a way of life that we can start today. We do not have to wait on some distant future for things to get better. We can live into the kingdom of heaven already. We can live by these values, and do it publicly so that others can learn from them and be drawn into the kingdom of heaven. The more of us who do this, the more the world will start to resemble that kingdom.

So my friends, take whatever comfort you need from the Beatitudes today. But also let them inspire you. Let them call us into kingdom of heaven living. We already have the instructions, which come with an extraordinary vision of what this world could be. And we can start today.

https://www.biblewormpodcast.com/e/episode-424-the-beatitudes-matthew-51-20/