Christian Art | Jesus | Love Revealed By Jesus Christ | Sermon On The Mount | Beatitudes
Beatitudes | Matthew’s Gospel | Sermon On The Mount | Matthew 5-7 | KJV
1 AND seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Love Revealed By Jesus Christ | Beatitudes | Sermon On The Mount
The Beatitudes form our gateway to the Sermon on the Mount, the first of the great five discourses which are recounted in Matthew’s Gospel, and a beautiful invitation to be with Jesus, a programme by which we may live a Christian life. Moses ascended a mountain to be with God and to bring the Law back to the people. Now Jesus ascends this mountain and draws the people with him, both his disciples and the multitude, and here he reforms and brings new life to the Law, teaching with authority as only he can. The Beatitudes give us Christ’s teachings as it were in microcosm. They are an invitation for everyone to be spiritually renewed and to receive such grace as will bring us to heaven. Jesus names different groups or kinds of people, and we are those people. Each one of the Beatitudes is for everyone. Each sheds its own special light on the Christian’s soul [ … read more … ]
Jesus teaches us to be bold and to have faith and confidence in the light of persecutions. His listeners are told that, when they are accused, the Spirit will be with them, guiding their words such that they become a living testimony to Jesus. The Christians’ accusers will be unable to answer their words then – the force of their witness will be irresistible [ … ]
The homily, continued, belongs to the early tradition of pastoral exhortation in which Christian teachers address communities facing both internal moral uncertainty and external cultural pressures. The homilist begins by locating himself within the same condition as his hearers. His confession of sin and susceptibility does not function as rhetorical modesty but as a reminder that Christian life is undertaken together. The salvation of each becomes bound up with the fidelity of all. This interdependence reflects an early understanding of the Church as a community shaped by shared discipline rather than by individual achievement [ … ]
In these Bible verses, from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives to his people instruction regarding the three traditional works of mercy of the Jews, namely almsgiving, prayer and fasting. A key message is that, when we pray, when we fast and when we give charity, this is not supposed to be because we wish to be seen as pious by other people. Jesus satirizes those hypocrites who wish to be glorified by other people for their fasting, their giving of alms and their prayers. They sound a trumpet in the streets and strike extravagant attitudes in the synagogues. They visibly mortify their bodies and pull dismal expressions. Jesus portrays such hypocrites as ridiculous. Their piety is not to do with their love of God; it is to do with their wish to be seen as ‘pious’ by their fellow man. And such will be their reward [ … ]
