Digging Deeper in the Beatitudes

Let’s talk about the Beatitudes, a part of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus gave in Matthew, Chapter 5. While the words sound great, on the surface, there’s so much more to them than I thought. I’ve been doing some digging and want to share what I’ve found.

In case you didn’t know, the name Beatitudes comes from the place where Jesus gave one of His earliest sermons. It’s believed to have been delivered by Jesus on the Mount of Beatitudes, a hill in northern Israel’s Korazim Plateau.

A view from the Mount of Beatitudes in Israel

The mount overlooks the Sea of Galilee’s northwestern shore and offers views of the Golan Heights and Capernaum, which are a few miles away and clearly visible from the mountain. I bet the view was beautiful as Jesus sat down and began to teach both His disciples and the crowd following them. Fun fact: Rabbis typically sat every time they taught the people.  

The teaching begins with “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” It sounds good and like something the Son of God would say. But what’s the real meaning behind it? I hear “poor in spirit,” and I immediately think about an empty wallet.

To be poor in spirit means the opposite of self-sufficiency. Spiritual poverty includes the deep humility of recognizing one’s spiritual bankruptcy without God. He’s describing people who know they are acutely lost and hopeless apart from God’s divine grace.

In other words, you cannot work or earn your way to Heaven. You aren’t good enough. I’m not good enough. We can’t be. We don’t have to be. That’s why Jesus made a way where there was no way before.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” That’s solid on a secular level, such as after losing someone close to you. But Jesus meant something more by it.

Mourning over sin means having Godly sorrow that produces repentance - turning from sin in a new direction, leaving it behind - leading to salvation. The comfort you receive is the comfort of forgiveness and salvation.

Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.” Despite what jumps into my head, meekness is NOT weakness. It’s the opposite of being out of control. It’s Holy Spirit empowered self-control. Revelation says after the Tribulation, there will only be believers living on Earth, and God will be with them. The meek will truly inherit the Earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall obtain mercy.” These are people who seek God’s righteousness rather than their own, like the self-righteous do. God promises that His righteousness will fill those who seek it. The more you hunger for a relationship with God, the more you will be filled.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” I think this one is pretty self-explanatory. The more mercy you show others as an overflow of your relationship with God, the more will be shown to you. After all, mercy is something God displays regularly, so we should too.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” Now, those who make peace between men and women are obviously doing something God will approve of. But it goes deeper than that.

GotQuestions.org says it this way: The peace that the sons of God are making is between other human beings and God. Jesus laid down His life to make peace between God and sinners, and when we carry that message of peace to unbelievers, we are peacemakers. What a privilege. After all, there is no peace without God in a world that’s continually getting darker.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” The person Jesus describes as blessed here is countercultural and exhibits values not typically welcomed by people of the world.

Now, some people do suffer for evil, but that’s punishment, not persecution. Others are persecuted for reasons not relating to righteousness. But Jesus isn’t offering a general blessing to all victims of persecution for any cause.

He offered it only to those persecuted for actively pursuing the kingdom of righteousness and because of their faith in Jesus Christ.

Peter put it this way. “If you suffer for doing good and endure it, this is commendable before God.” (1 Peter 2:20).

There’s a lot of meaning behind the Beatitudes. I’m hopeful this clears some of it up for you!