Makarios – Matthew 5:1-12

A text – Matthew 5:1-12

5 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. ² And he began to speak and taught them, saying:

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴ “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

⁵ “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

⁶ “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

⁷ “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

⁸ “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

⁹ “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

¹⁰ “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

A reflection:

These opening teachings of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount are called The Beatitudes, the “Blessed”. The word in Greek is makarios, meaning as supremely contented and want-free as the gods on Mt. Olympus. It even carried the meaning of being envied by those who had less. Our word “blessed” gets co-opted by those who want to seem or even sincerely practice being humble while at the same time having much. But when Jesus tells us, “Blessed are these people,” he is saying they will have more than enough.  

The other Greek word I want to highlight is in verse 4: those who mourn will be comforted. In Greek that word is long: parakleytheysontai. It’s in the passive voice, so you cannot bring it about yourself. But its root is in the legal advocacy system. You will be advocated for. You will have a lawyer arguing for you for justice. If you are mourning the loss of your home or your possessions or even a person, you will have the force of justice behind you, making things right again. Now that would be comforting.

When I think of the injustices we see all around us, especially right now, I just want all the many victims of cruelty and selfishness and hate to know these verses of Jesus: you will be advocated for, you will inherit the earth, you will have more than enough.

Some New Testament scholars say that verses 3-6 are about those who suffer deep social mistreatment, verses 7-10 are about how we behave individually day to day, and verse 11 is about living out our faith. When we read these verses of Matthew’s gospel, especially through those lenses, we see how radical Jesus’s teachings were in his first major speech to the crowds. God absolutely stands with and for the poor, the victim, the innocent, the peacemakers, and those unjustly persecuted for living out God’s kingdom in the world. May we too live out advocacy for the victims, in whatever way it is right to do it in our context. May we try to help all the people in our circles in these days to have more than enough.

A prayer:

Lord God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for these promises of yours, to make justice finally come and to make it possible for everyone to have enough. Help us to have the courage to do what we can to bring such a kingdom to pass in our little corners of your world. Amen.