Our Gospel text is known –traditionally as being the “Beatitudes” – based on the “original Latin word” for “blessed.” This is like the preamble or the prologue or the forward to the infamous “Sermon on the Mount.” It is the opening or the beginning…
In Hebrew – “blessings” – give life, whereas “curses,” – take life.
Therefore: It is good to be blessed!
The “Beatitudes” are considered to be “law” as opposed to “gospel” because they tell us how we OUGHT to live, what we OUGHT to do, they teach HOW we are TO LIVE OUR LIVES EVERYDAY!
People PRESENTLY are not BIG on being told what to do. We do not like things forced upon us. We rebel. We oppose. We say, “No way.”
There is a real formality here. There is no doubt – this IS a teaching.
The scripture says that Jesus saw the crowds and so he goes up into the mountain.
Mountains are places of special events, they are places of epiphany, and they are reserved for special proclamations – like the “giving of the law” at Sinai.
Even the suggestion of a mountain – alerts us that “something” is about to happen.
And then, strangely enough, we are told that Jesus sits down. Today, speakers stand up when they have something to say. In Jesus’ time, they sat down…and their students “came to them.” Encircled them…and got in a good position to both see and to hear them. This is all quite formal and orderly…as it is supposed to go.
Jesus we assume is here really speaking to his own disciples, but the crowds of people gather in and around, so that they too, might hear and observe him.
At the end, we are told that the crowds were “astonished at his teachings…”
The crowds were merely making sure that they were in ear-shot…they did not want to be left out of any of his teachings…which is to say…They wanted to hear him speak!
For the record, the beatitudes were not a new thing in the world of Jesus. Usually they were “common sense sayings” that expressed what “everyone already knew.” They were short sayings that “expressed conventional wisdom…”
“Kind of like…blessed are those on a low-fat-diet, for they will have healthy arteries.”
Well, Jesus turns this whole-beatitude- thing-upside-down-by-switching-things-up-a-bit.
Nobody would have associated “blessings” with being dirt poor and begging for daily sustenance or with the whole grieving process.
According to Jesus, and according to his beatitudes – God’s favor is upon all those who are constantly being left behind, the little, the lone, the least and the lost.
These “marginalized ones” – the poor, the meek, the bereft, those in dire poverty and destitute were some of the very first followers of Jesus.
Now into this group- throw in the lame and the blind, the disease-stricken and “other sinners” and you now have – Jesus’ major constituency.
They would have found this message of “God’s favor” to be empowering and uplifting…a breath of fresh air…and totally and completely surprising.
It was a reversal of everything that was being taught at that time.
Blessed are the filthy rich, for they have earned God’s favor. Blessed are those who are disease free – for they must be have found pleasure with God. Blessed are those who feast sumptuously every day, for they have God’s ear. Blessed are you if you live in elegance and refinement – for you must be doing something right!
But not Jesus – his beatitudes are about showing mercy and compassion to all those in need…especially to those who are barely hanging on…by a thread…
It was said – that in Jewish life – you were either a somebody or a nobody – there were no other choices possible.
If you were a somebody – then you were respected. If you were a nobody – you were constantly reviled.
What was so radical (and it was radical) about the message of Jesus – at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount is that he gathers all these people who are completely bereft and without honor in their culture’s eyes – and he gives them two gifts: (to help compensate for their very real losses)… he gives to them honor …and he makes them a part of God’s family. Both of which, are life giving and nurturing…
He raises them up to new heights…and in so doing, he raises us all up, right along with them!