Who Is Truly Blessed?

Who Is Truly Blessed According to Jesus?

2000 years ago, Jesus sits on a hillside in Galilee facing a mixed crowd. Fishermen, religious elites from Jerusalem, Greeks from the Decapolis, sick people he has just healed. And he opens his mouth to give what many consider the greatest speech in history: the Sermon on the Mount. His first words are not about rules, morality, or performance. They are about happiness. "Blessed are..."

But Jesus declares blessed people that no one in the room would have spontaneously called that. The poor in spirit. Those who mourn. The persecuted. If you are reading this text for the first time, it is puzzling. And if you have known it by heart since childhood, the question remains: what does Jesus really mean when he looks at you and says "you are blessed"?

This article picks up David Pothier's message preached at La Chapelle, the first part of a 15 week series on the Sermon on the Mount. It explores the Beatitudes not as a list of virtues to attain, but as three much deeper things: a word of welcome, a blessing, and a promise.

Article outline

1. The context: the greatest speech in the world
2. What the Beatitudes are not
3. The Beatitudes are first of all a word of welcome
4. The Beatitudes are a blessing for those who don't believe they are blessed
5. The Beatitudes are a promise: present and future
6. How to respond to the invitation

1. The context: the greatest speech in the world

Matthew chapters 5 to 7. The Sermon on the Mount is the noblest, deepest, richest, most influential, and most radical speech in all of history. It covers happiness, managing anger, prayer, worry, forgiveness, how to get through storms. It was given 2000 years ago, and it is still relevant today.

But preaching on this text is a challenge. First a challenge of conciseness: the sermon is long. Then a challenge of interpretation: if you think Jesus is always easy to understand, it's because you have never really read the Sermon on the Mount. "Pluck out your eye, cut off your hand": what does that mean? Jesus lives in such a deeply Jewish context that you need to know his world to really understand him.

The greatest challenge, though, is not interpretation. It is obedience. The Sermon on the Mount, as one author put it, is the best known part of Jesus' teachings, probably the least understood, and certainly the least obeyed. Yet Jesus gave it to be put into practice:

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock." (Matthew 7.24)

Even before the sermon, Matthew notes that from Matthew 4.17, "Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The sermon is addressed to people who must first repent in order to follow. Then Jesus sees the crowd: Galileans (the workers, the lower class people, those with an accent), residents of the Decapolis (non Jews of Greek culture), Jews from Jerusalem (the religious elite), people from everywhere. A mixed crowd: believers, unbelievers, the super religious.

So Jesus goes up the mountain. Matthew is nodding here to Moses. But unlike Moses, who received the law and had to come back down because no one else was allowed near, Jesus brings the people up with him. The old covenant said "careful." The new covenant says "come closer." And he opens his mouth.

2. What the Beatitudes are not

Before saying what they are, we need to clear up a few common misunderstandings.

• They are not a list of virtues. Being poor, being in mourning, being persecuted are not virtues. Some qualities do appear (mercy, purity of heart), but the Beatitudes are not primarily a catalog of virtues.
• They are not a list of commands. The Sermon on the Mount contains 60 commands from Jesus, but the Beatitudes are not among them.
• They are not a list of timeless truths. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." In the world as it stands, it is often dictators who inherit the earth, not the meek. If we take these statements as laws of how the world works, Jesus is wrong. That is not what he is doing.
• They are not a list of conditions for being blessed. It is not "become this and I will bless you."
• They are not an eight step guide to personal success, nor a series of tips, nor reproaches.

So what are they? Three things.

3. The Beatitudes are first of all a word of welcome

The Greek word translated "blessed" is makarios. In French it is often rendered "happy." Some also suggest "congratulations." At the time, people said makarios to a newlywed, to parents who had just had a child. It was a word of welcome, a way of ushering someone into a new reality.

Jesus begins his sermon by essentially saying, "Congratulations. Welcome." And he says it first to the "poor in spirit." Dallas Willard offers a striking paraphrase: "Blessed are the spiritual zeros, the spiritually bankrupt, the spiritual beggars, those without a shred of religion, when the kingdom of God falls on them."

In other words: welcome to everyone who didn't grow up in church. Welcome to those who don't know the Bible, who don't know how to pray, who have lived for years without God. Welcome to sinners, prostitutes, tax collectors. This is exactly what Jesus did with Matthew, the very author of this Gospel: a tax collector, a fraudster, an enemy of the state. Jesus looked him in the eye, called him, went to eat at his house, and then said:

"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice." (Matthew 9.12-13)

When Matthew writes "blessed are the poor in spirit," he knows exactly who Jesus is talking about. He is one of them.

There is a possible hypocrisy here. We happily say "amen, everyone is welcome" as long as we're talking about categories of sin that don't shock us. But as soon as we think of that one category of sin, the one that makes us bristle, we shut the door again. The Beatitudes take that right away from you. You do not have the authority to tell someone Jesus has invited: "you are not welcome."

This doesn't mean following Jesus costs nothing. After throwing the door wide open in the Beatitudes, Jesus is going to become extremely demanding in the rest of the sermon. But it all starts here, with a wide open door: everyone is welcome in the kingdom.

4. The Beatitudes are a blessing for those who don't believe they are blessed

Jesus is not the first to pronounce beatitudes. A century before him, a rabbi named Yeshua Ben Sira had written some. They were all based on outward circumstances: blessed is the one who lives long enough to see the ruin of his enemies; blessed is the one who lives with a sensible wife; blessed is the one who has a faithful friend; blessed is the one who doesn't have a bad boss; blessed is the one who has found wisdom and is listened to.

These beatitudes sound a lot like ours. Our Western version would go something like this: blessed are the rich, for the kingdom of this world is theirs; blessed are those with a nice body, for their photos will be liked; blessed are those who hunger and thirst for fame, for they will end up on reality TV; blessed are those who follow every desire, for they will never know frustration; blessed are those who wage war, for they will impose their peace by force.

Then Jesus comes along. He turns his gaze to people no one considers blessed: the poor, the indebted, the exploited, the enslaved, those who have just lost a child, those who struggle to buy groceries, those who weep, those who suffer injustice, those who are persecuted. And he says to them: makarios. You are blessed.

This is revolutionary. Jesus comes to teach that you can be happy even in difficult circumstances. Happy even in grief. Happy even when the home didn't work out. Happy even when the marriage is hard.

Watch out for what this is not. It is not "look on the bright side." It is not "don't compare yourself to others." It is not "be grateful for what you have." Nor is it "it's a matter of perspective," even though Philippians 4 does talk about perspective. All of that is true, but it isn't what Jesus is doing here. Jesus says something more radical:

You are not blessed despite your circumstances. You are blessed through your circumstances.

You are not blessed despite your tears; you are blessed through your tears. You are not blessed despite persecution; you are blessed through persecution. And why? Because you are invited to enter God's kingdom. Because the life of God, in Jesus, is opened up to you.

5. The Beatitudes are a promise: present and future

Look closely at the text. Every beatitude includes a "for..." There are eight beatitudes, arranged in a chiasm, that Jewish pattern where the beginning and end answer each other. The first (verse 3) and the last (verse 10) say the same thing: "the kingdom of heaven is theirs." Present tense.

But the six beatitudes in the middle are in the future tense: they will be comforted, they will inherit the earth, they will be satisfied, they will obtain mercy, they will see God, they will be called children of God.

This is not sloppiness. It is theologically precise. The kingdom of God is already here: it is accessible now, you can take hold of it, live in it today. But the kingdom is not yet fully in place. The victory has been won, the King has been crowned, the ending has been decided, but the kingdom is still on its way.

Without this double perspective (present and future), the Beatitudes make no sense. There are people who suffer an injustice and will not obtain justice in this world. But if you enter God's kingdom, there will be justice. There are people whose comfort here on earth will remain partial. But a perfect comfort is coming, where God will wipe away every tear from their eyes (Revelation 21.4).

You need to leave behind a purely Western mindset and acquire a kingdom mindset. In eternity, everything gets set right. One day, the one who can no longer walk will run in the kingdom. One day, you will see again those you lost in the Lord. One day, God will wipe away every tear. The kingdom is now and it is tomorrow.

6. How to respond to the invitation

A brother at La Chapelle recently went through a cascade of trials. The death of his mother, a committed Christian who had herself brought him to Christ. Family hostility around the religious service she had wanted. Then, two days later, a cancer diagnosis. Six brothers gathered around him to pray. And he arrived in the office already carrying peace, strength, joy. In the end, he simply said: "I feel blessed. I am blessed."

How do you explain that? Only by this: this man lives in the kingdom of God. He has access to the life of God. That is what Jesus offers.

But Jesus invites everyone; not everyone responds. How do you respond? The first word of Jesus' public ministry says it: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4.17). The kingdom is at hand, within your reach. You can take hold of it. How? Through repentance and faith.

Repent of what? Of everything. Of writing your own sermon on the mount. Of cobbling together your own beatitudes. Of running your life your way rather than his way. You lose nothing: you trade your path for the path of life.

You are blessed because you are invited. You are blessed even more when you respond to the invitation.

Key takeaways

• The Beatitudes are not virtues, commands, or mechanical truths: they are a word of welcome, a blessing, and a promise.
• Jesus opens his kingdom to those no one expected: the "spiritual zeros," people who have never set foot in church, those whose past is frightening.
• You are not blessed despite your circumstances, you are blessed through them, because the kingdom of God is accessible to you.
• The kingdom is "already here" and "not yet": comfort, justice, and eternal life have begun now and will be complete in eternity.
• The response to the invitation is repentance and faith: trading your way for the way of Jesus.

Personal application

1. Which category do you spontaneously recognize yourself in: the one that thinks it is blessed or the one that thinks it isn't? What does Jesus' word change about your situation?
2. Toward whom in your circle do you tend to close the door of the kingdom? Which "category of sin" makes you bristle to the point of forgetting that Jesus invited it in?
3. Where are you with your own repentance? Are there areas of your life where you are still living by your own "beatitudes" rather than those of Jesus?
4. How does the "already / not yet" double perspective of the kingdom change the way you go through your current season?
5. Are you a Christian who goes to church or a disciple who obeys? What next concrete step of obedience is Jesus asking of you this week?

Verses cited

• Matthew 4.17-25 · Context of the Sermon on the Mount
• Matthew 5.1-12 · The Beatitudes
• Matthew 7.24-27 · The house on the rock
• Matthew 9.9-13 · The calling of Matthew
• Matthew 28.19-20 · The Great Commission
• Philippians 4 · The perspective of contentment
• Revelation 21.4 · God will wipe away every tear

FAQ

Are the Beatitudes conditions for being blessed by God?
No. They are not steps to check off in order to earn God's blessing. They are first of all a word of welcome from Jesus to a whole mixed crowd, a declaration of blessing over people who don't believe they are blessed, and a promise about what the kingdom produces in their lives, today and for eternity.

Why does Jesus say "blessed are the persecuted"? Isn't that masochistic?
Jesus is not glorifying suffering. He declares that suffering cannot cut you off from the life of the kingdom, and that in this kingdom your comfort, your justice, and your reward are real, partially now, fully in eternity. You are blessed through the trial, not because you deserve it.

Practically speaking, how do I enter this kingdom Jesus is talking about?
Through the two verbs that open his ministry: repent and believe. Repenting means recognizing that you have been living your own way and choosing his way instead. Believing means placing your trust in Jesus and following him day by day. You don't have to "get your act together" first: Jesus welcomes people no one expected.