The blessed are....

Matthew 5:1-12, a portion of Scripture and the teachings of Jesus referred to as the Beatitudes. It received this name based on the Latin word for 'blessed'. These 12 verses have been studied, interpreted, re-interpreted, applied, turned inside out and back again over the many years since Jesus first spoke them on the unidentified hill somewhere in Palestine. The problem is that no one is really sure how we should understand these words of Jesus. Let me give you a sample...

One author wrote: "The Beatitudes are there for the purpose of being done."

Luther said the Beatitudes were there to remind us of our hopelessness of fulfilling the law and its impossible demands.

Another commentator said that these are ‘eschatological’ promises…that is pertaining to God’s purpose in this world and the coming of his kingdom…not just the end of the world.

While one scholar believed that Jesus isn't just telling us who is blessed, he is telling us what we need to be in order to be blessed.

Finally a Biblical scholar with social justice on their mind felt that the Beatitudes reveals a Christian movement of deep diversity struggling inwardly for its own soul and wrestles with the question, “What is the form of life and discipleship to which the resurrected Jesus is calling us?”

...I hope these few examples (and believe me there are many more points of view)help you understand the problems we face when coming to this text.

While preparing for this coming Sunday's sermon I came across one person whose words resonated with me. He had this to say...


What would it be like just to bless the congregation. To tell them that God loves and adores them, that God wants the very best for them, that God esteems them worthy of not just God's attention but God's blessing. You may have to say it a couple of times, as we're either so used to hearing the words that we don't really listen or so convinced that we don't merit God's blessing that we have a hard time believing it.

In fact, perhaps we shouldn't just talk about God's blessing but actually enact it. It could be that we decide to have persons come up to be individually blessed. Or that we conclude the sermon with a remembrance of baptism and the blessing baptism signifies. Or perhaps we could have people share with each other where they have recently experienced God's blessing. Or maybe have folks turn to another to hear and receive God's blessing. Whatever we do, we need to think hard about how to help people hear and believe that they are blessed because we become what we are called, and calling our people blessed will over time transform them to be God's blessing in and to the world.


Struck home to me. Sometimes we are so much into interpretation or dissection of the text itself that we don't let it speak simply and clearly, allowing the words of Jesus to do their work in our lives and the lives of those who are within hearing. In reflection the words of Jesus in Matthew 5 raised a question in my mind...

What difference would it make if instead of being critical of other people and the situations I found myself in I simply blessed them?