Thursday, April 01, 2010

The Blessings

For Lent this year I’ve been trying to read the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7) at least once a week. No doubt most of you are familiar with the beatitudes of Matthew 5:3-10 that kick-off this sermon. You could probably throw verses 11 and 12 in there too, but they seem to just add to verse 10.

3"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

My questions for you are:

- How do you interpret the beatitudes?
- Are these attitudes we should strive for as Christians?
- Are these attitudes we have to have to be Christian?
- Do these even have anything to do with our walk with Christ?
- Is there another way to interpret and look at these?

2 comments:

Nelsman said...

As I pondered this, I could see that blessings are described for different conditions of life - some that we choose and some that are chosen for us. It doesn't seem to specifically say that blessings for the conditions that we do not choose are guaranteed, but it seems to me that blessing only comes when we are prepared by a right relationship with God.
They all seem to me to be attitudes to strive for since the result is blessing. Aren't they part of the sanctification process that comes after salvation?
Hmmm...one last thought. Most look like attitudes that the world may look down on in some way or consider weakness - and Jesus turns them into strengths.
Thanks for the posts. They get me to think deeper about scripture!

Tim Sheets said...

Thanks Nelson, that's what I'm hoping to do.

Something special happens when you wrestle and chew on a passage of scripture long enough. I think a lot of Christians miss this because they have too short of attention spans. It's good to know you are putting this into practice and thinking about such things.