Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this morning is from the Gospel according to Matthew, the fifth chapter:
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
These beatitudes are so good for us, but they often go so wrong. People tend to make them about the idea that these are attitudes you must be, be-attitudes. You must be meek, you must be poor in spirit, you must be a peacemaker. And if you don’t become these things, then, at best, you’re not blessed, and in the middle, you’re an awful Christian, and at worst, you’re not a Christian at all.
But that’s not what’s going on here. Jesus our Lord is speaking to all the people who were coming to Him for healing from all manner of sickness and disease. And the thing to remember is that these people, many of them, were dragged to Jesus because they had no power of their own. They were powerless. In their society, they were the welfare state. They were the ones to whom everything had to be given. They were those who were not allowed to go to the Temple in Jerusalem to worship their God because according to God and man they were ceremonially unclean and could not approach their Lord.
They were set apart from God. They were never allowed to enter the Temple. They never saw a sacrifice of atonement that was made for them. They never offered their sacrifice on the altar. They felt they were still in their sins. There was nowhere to run, there was nowhere to hide; in their minds, God was coming to get them, take them down, and shove them into the pit of hell. They had no assurance, no means of grace. They had no object for their faith.
And then they are dragged to be healed by this famous teacher, a teacher who seems to be different from any other man that anyone has ever seen. And He touches them. And He heals them. And He speaks to them as if they are His own children. The love that is shown by this Jesus is incredible. And these people are cleansed. It’s not just that they are healed of their diseases, possessions, infections, and pains. But Jesus literally cleanses them. They are no longer ceremonially unclean. They can go to the Temple if they wish. They can offer the sacrifices for the atonement of their sins. But they don’t do that. They stay. They stay with Jesus. Jesus is now the object of their faith.
And they follow Him. They believe in Him. They care not for the Temple, because they are beginning to realize that the God who resided in the Temple is there no longer; He is sitting in front of them. And He speaks to these men and women who have for so long been absent from God’s house. They have need a blessing from the Lord and they, for so long, could not get it.
But then this Jesus says that the poor in spirit are blessed, because they possess the kingdom of heaven. Those who recognize their sins, or recognize that the are not the Holy God, that’s what poor in spirit means, possess the kingdom of heaven.
Then, those who mourn are blessed, because they will be comforted. Those who are meek, humble, are blessed, because they will inherit the earth when the one who owns it dies. That’s when inheritances are passed down, yes?
The ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed because they will be satisfied. The merciful are blessed, because they will receive mercy. The pure in heart, the ones forgiven of their sins, are blessed, for they will see God. The peacemakers are blessed, because they will be called sons of God. The persecuted are blessed for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The build up here is great. Yes, Lord, yes, Lord! They are blessed, what about me? When am I blessed? Because I am none of those things, Lord. I am unclean. I am a sinner. I am a wretch.
YOU are blessed when others revile you and persecute you and utter evil against you on Christ’s account! You are blessed when these happen, these poor souls hear. Those standing at the feet of Jesus hear that they, too, are blessed because their reward is great. And if their reward is great only for persecution, they begin to see that Jesus has been talking about them all along, in every category.
They are poor in spirit, not because they have strived to be so, but because Jesus makes them so. They are the mourners, not because they love losing the people they love, but because death is the wages of sin.
They are the humble, for Christ’s majesty awes them. They hunger and thirst for righteousness in Christ, and so Christ will someday soon for them put Himself on their tongue and down their throat. They are merciful, for they have been forgiven much. They are pure in heart, for they have been forgiven. They are peacemakers, because they share the kiss of peace. They are persecuted, because they believe in Jesus.
But these are things we do not strive to do, they are things that happen to us because Jesus makes them happen. They are caused from outside of us. They are counted to us in faith, in righteousness, in Christ, in Baptism, in the Lord’s Supper, through His Word. These beatitudes do not say “do this and live.” They say “you are living and doing this.” Should you strive to obey the Law? Yes. Do you? No. You stink at it. So do I. The Law is good, and right, and holy, Paul says. But the Law is not going to save you. Do not receive this as Law.
For the saints in heaven, awaiting the great and glorious day of the Lord, do not receive this teaching as Law. They receive it as great gift. For when they have died, they are granted eternal peace and perfection. This is only and ever because our beatific Lord descended from heaven, took on human flesh, lived a perfect life, died upon the cross, rose against from the dead, ascended into heaven, and grants to every believer in Him the perfect righteousness He alone has earned. The saints have gained heaven because Christ gives it to them freely on account of His death for their, and our, sins.
Those saints who have gone on before are truly those who are poor in spirit, seeing how much they have needed Jesus. They long to be with the whole Church again. They are humble for they boast only in the Lord. They hunger and thirst for righteousness, crying out, “O Lord, how long until you take your vengeance?”
They are merciful, praying for the Church militant that they have left, keeping us in their prayers to their God so that we would all come to everlasting life. They are pure in heart, for they no longer sin. They are the peacemakers, for they no longer struggle against the flesh or one another. And they are the ones who have been persecuted, even succumbing to great persecution and martyrdom.
This is what we, too, should desire. We should desire the fulfillment of all these things. We should desire to go and be with our Lord, for that will be a great day, but it will be a day of His choosing. To live in this world, to live is Christ, but to die is gain. For to go to be with our Lord is far better than the sin and the sadness this world has to offer. And, unless Jesus returns to this earth first to resurrect all the dead and to judge all men, we shall all surely die.
There is not one immortal man or woman in this place. But by faith, we shall live eternally. By having the immortal Christ put into our bodies, washing over our bodies, entering the ears of our bodies, this immortal Christ promises us immortality is soon coming for us. The One who defeated death, the One whom the grave could not keep, promises this to you, and He always keeps His promises.
So, when He speaks to those who are unclean a word of blessing, that blessing is coming without question. When He promises that He will go and die for the sins of the world, for my sins, for your sins, and that on the third day He will raise Himself up, and He does, you may believe that anything else He says is true, too.
He cleanses the crowds with a word of blessing, and so He cleanses us. And what does He ask in all these things? What response does He ask for in light of the blessings of heaven, the resurrected life, mercy, seeing the face of God in Christ Jesus, for being counted as a son of God? Rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. For our reward is with God, where God is. And where God is there is great blessing.
When we do suffer, when we do mourn, when we do see our sin, when we do all things wrongly, we yet rejoice, for our great Savior is greater than our sin. He has done great and marvelous works, and it is good in our eyes to see that our Lord has saved those sinners who have come before us. He saves them all, and He preserves them, as He will preserve us, unto the Resurrection from the dead. We shall rise from our graves with our bodies, and we shall be made His.
And on that day, we shall no longer wonder, “How much do I have to do to keep the beatitudes?” We will see fully that our Lord is the fullness of the beatitudes, He meets every single one, and He has given us the promise that He will bless us with all things in them. Our Lord is good. And He is risen. And He is keeping our Church Triumphant safe until all time is completed. This is good, and it is our hope, as well. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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