Read Isaiah 61 and do the following exercises:
- Compare Isaiah 61 to the Matthew 5:1-12 and Luke 4:14-20. What do you think Jesus is trying to say in Matthew and Luke? How is that different than your previous ideas about the beatitudes?
- If Jesus were to come today, do you think he would be bringing the message of the kingdom to the same groups (the poor, the mourners, the blind, the lame, etc.), or are there new groups present today that Jesus would be pointing out as “blessed” by the coming of the kingdom? If so, who?
- Yesterday we read Clarence Jordan’s mid-century “southern” version of the beatitudes. Take some time to craft your own version of the beatitudes in language that you think might make sense to people today and have the same kind of impact.
You asked “What is Jesus trying to say?” and How is that different than what I’ve previously thought?” Well I always kinda saw it mostly as a lesson for us to be those things that Jesus says be poor in spirit, be meek, be merciful, be peacemakers … which in turn brings the blessing he is giving. Today as I read these passages together I saw something new for me, the beatitudes are as Jesus says in Luke 4:21 “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” I see that the Beatitudes are Jesus saying he is doing what was said in Isaiah 61.
I can almost hear “because I have come” added to the end of each verse 5:3-10 “Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted”-because I have come.’”Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.” – because I have come.’
Cindy – that is very insightful! It’s interesting, but that is exactly what has been coming out in the dialogue at our Sunday night gatherings…how Christ’s inauguration of the kingdom – displayed in both his proclamation and demonstration of it at the end of Ch 4 – recasts the beatitudes, and the whole sermon, in different light. It becomes less about what we must do and more about what he has already made available (though, obviously, there is still something we must do, namely, join him in that kingdom). In this sense, the beatitudes are less an exhortation to qualify for blessedness than they are a statement of fact, as in: “See, the poor are now blessed, the mourners are now comforted…because I have come.”
Thanks for pitching in!
One of the things Jenell and I discussed was the idea that human brokenness is basically the same as it was during Christ’s day. We really see this passage as a promise that God is going to repair and restore the world – make it right – and what is most wrong with the world today is still what was most wrong then: people suffer from severe poverty, sickness, disease, death, etc.
We think that if Jesus came today those who are most cursed would still be considered most blessed by the kingdom: the poor, the mourners, the blind, the captives.
God will give his Kingdom to those who truly feel they cannot live without God and need him desperately,
God will be there to wipe the tears away from those who are truly hurting and don’t know what to do,
God will treasure in heaven to those who did not have treasure here on earth,
God will rectify the incomprehensible wrongs that have been committed,
God will bless those who truly tried to walk in the shoes of those less fortunate and help them.