Blessed are the...

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Now there’s a message that can wreak havoc with your concept of the Christian life. Oh, it doesn’t attack your suppositions with frantic accusations. It just quietly bites you with the inconspicuous truths of the kingdom of God, and then moves on to allow you to scratch the itches it has produced. I’ve heard this message called the most important passage of the Bible, the whole of Jesus’ ministry in one sermon, the Christian Magna Charta, the Christian Manifesto, the Rules for Living, and on and on. I have read chapters 5-7 of Matthew’s gospel innumerable times in my 40-plus years as a Christian, and preached through it several times in my pastoral career. And until just recently, I was sure I had a pretty good handle on what Jesus was saying.

Let me summarize my approach to the passage over the years and see if you can relate. It seemed obvious to me that Jesus was talking about the kingdom of God, that perfect heavenly version of what we know as the broken world today. Matthew records that Jesus had announced that His presence made the kingdom a reality (Matt. 4:17), and Luke (4:43) records Jesus as saying that His purpose in coming was to preach the kingdom. So Jesus must, I concluded, have used this lengthy and very early address to summarize what we who are His disciples will all look like when the kingdom is realized in its fullness. Makes sense, doesn’t it? I mean, He surely couldn’t have been describing how we are to look today. The standard is far beyond the reach of any but the dead saints of old, and since they are not around to provide verification of their saintliness, I’m not so sure I trust the accuracy of their biographers. You can see where I am going with this. The demands of the Sermon on the Mount are so outrageously superhuman, I reasoned, that they are to be spiritualized and were never intended to be taken literally.

Result? Well, when Jesus says the poor in spirit, the gentle, those hungering for righteousness, and the peacemakers are blessed, I added “those who try to be” before each descriptive word or phrase. Blessed are “those who try to be” gentle, blessed are “those who try to be” pure in heart, and so on through the list of beatitudes. Later in the message, when we learn that to be angry with a brother makes us as guilty as a murderer, or that we are to turn the other cheek when struck, I could only understand those as intentional exaggeration, hyperbole meant to drive home the point that we need to set a higher standard for ourselves regarding civil and moral behavior than the world does.

That was then. This is now. At some point over the last year or so I have become convinced that my understanding of this important passage has been deeply flawed. And it comes to a head with Jesus’ words from Matthew 5:38-42, verses that I feel are a commentary on the phrase from Matthew 5:9…”Blessed are the peacemakers…” Don’t assume that I have received some insightful revelation that will open the meaning of this crucial message of Jesus. I haven’t. But what I have come to understand about the message is rocking my theological boat. This article and the ones to follow that complete my thoughts on the topic are only my way of asking for help with some very troubling questions I must now answer. I invite your thoughts and comments.

Father, I have put my faith in your living Word and the record of His teachings. I have trusted your Holy Spirit to guide me as I try to learn and become like Jesus. Forgive me for reading my own thoughts into your revelation and for taking the easy way out as I seek to apply scripture to my life. Open the eyes of my heart to know your truth. And keep me from misleading myself and others as I seek to grow in this blessed faith. Amen.

Next installment: Did Jesus really mean…?