18. Blessed, Matthew 5:11-12

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1 18. Blessed, Matthew 5:11-12 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Question: How can I be happy? Trajectory Verses: James 4:10; James 1:2, 12; 1 Peter 4:13 14 The Human Quest for Happiness Clearly we all want to be happy. There s nothing wrong with that! God wants you to be happy as well. Yet, clearly there are a lot of unhappy people. Perhaps you re one of them right now. Why are so many so unhappy? Simply because we are chasing after the wrong things in the wrong way. So what is it that will contribute to your greatest happiness? Jesus tackles that question head on in the introduction of his first and most famous message known as the Sermon on the Mount. The eight simple statements that open Jesus sermon are called Beatitudes. Each of the statements turns the totem pole of social expectations on its head. They begin with the word blessed or happy think fortunate or lucky. Yet, what Jesus says will make us happy is counter-intuitive: Being poor in spirit, mourning, meekness, weakness, hunger, etc. The Greek philosophers spent a lot of time thinking about the human quest for happiness. According to their highest wisdom, happiness is found in four things: wealth, family, status, and peace. Wealth protects you from the ravages of poverty (hunger, cold, and thirst). Family connects you to meaningful relationships where you can be valued and loved. Status gives significance at work and in the community. Peace is the result of escaping enemies in business, the legal courts, and the battle field. Anyone who had these four things could live above the pressure and pain of normal human existence. Supposedly, they make you happy. Yet we look around and see it ain t so. Many who are wealthy, popular, and powerful only magnify their misery. We all realize that getting the right things in the wrong way will hinder our happiness. That s where religion steps in. The Religious Quest for Happiness Hebrew tradition improved on Greek philosophy by adding ethics to happiness. Following God s laws leads to far greater happiness. Getting the right things in the right way is essential for enduring happiness. Obedience to the Law brings blessings Interestingly, these blessings are virtually identical to what the Greeks desired: Bearing children (Genesis 30:13, Psalm 127:5), a good wife or friends (Sirach 25:8 9; 26:1), and vengeance against enemies (Psalm 137:8 9). There was also a moral side of happiness for both Hebrews and Greeks. Blessed are those who show benevolence to the poor (Psalm 41:1) and do justice (Psalm 106:3). Thus, the land is blessed when the rulers are just (Ecclesiastes 10:17). This explains why the

2 righteous are blessed (Psalm 1:1; Proverbs 20:7; Isaiah 56:2) as well as those who gain wisdom (1 Kings 10:8; 2 Chronicles 9:7; Proverbs 3:13; 8:34). Yet have you not also experienced the failure of religion to bring happiness? Why is that? Perhaps it is because religion is often as self-focused as philosophy. Those who follow religious rules are often as selfish The Christian Quest for Happiness Jesus Beatitudes stand in a long line of literature on happiness. Yet, this eight-stanza poem explodes every expectation. Rather than saying happy are those with money, power, family, and fame, Jesus says, Fortunate are the unfortunate. The beatitudes are striking, disruptive, and unexpected. They are not, however, unprecedented. Each individual statement has a faint but familiar echo elsewhere in Hebrew literature. Jesus turns the echo into a megaphone. No one but Jesus did (or could have) so radically altered the philosophy of happiness. The beatitudes are an avalanche of world altering ideals. Simply put, Jesus is amplifying in one poem what others had alluded to in scattered statements. Let s start by seeing how Jesus pulled these alternative ideas from past Hebrew literature. (1) Blessed are the Poor in Spirit. Proverbs 16:19, It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud. (See also Psa 34:6; Prov 29:23; Isa 57:15; 61:1). Isn t it true that those with a deep connection to God seems to have peace without prosperity? (2) Blessed are those who mourn. Isaiah 61:2-3, Comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion to bestow give them a beautiful headdress on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit of despair. Isn t it true that God seems closer in times of trouble? (3) Blessed are the meek. Psalm 37:11, The meek shall inherit the land. Isn t it true that those with humble and quiet strength eventually outlast the boisterous and brash? (4) Blessed are those who hunger for righteousness. Amos 5:24, But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (See also 1 Kings 10:9; Psalm 89:14; Job 29:14; Proverbs 29:7; Isaiah 9:7). Isn t it true that that the passion for righteousness is more gratifying than the passions of the world? (5) Blessed are the merciful. In the Old Testament, only God is merciful although the Rabbis certainly called people to show mercy: So long as you are merciful, He will have mercy on you (Tosefta, Baba Qamma 9:30). Isn t it true that people of mercy are more respected than people of power? (6) Blessed are the Pure in Heart. Psalm 24:4-5, He who has clean hands and a pure heart... he will receive blessing from the LORD. (See also Psa 73:1; Prov 22:11). Isn t it true that a pure heart is a reward of its own?

3 (7) Blessed are the Peacemakers. Proverbs 16:7, When a man s ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. (See also Numbers 25:12 and Ezekiel 34:25). Isn t it true that the Nobel Prize goes to peacemakers over warriors? (8) Blessed are the Persecuted. One of the historical books written between the Testaments declares martyrs as blessed by God, By the blessed death of my brothers, by the eternal destruction of the tyrant, and by the everlasting life of the pious, I will not renounce our noble family ties (4 Maccabees 10:15). Clearly, each individual Beatitude has a comparable statement somewhere in Jewish literature. What Jesus offered was not unheard of. Yet no one else had ever stacked together such counter-cultural statements in a single shocking stanza. The biggest shock, however, came in the end. Jesus added an explanation only on the final verse: Blessed are the persecuted. Blessed are Beaten It is not unreasonable to think that God would reward someone who suffered for his name. In Jewish literature from 500 B.C. to the birth of Jesus, those persecuted for keeping God s laws were to be rewarded when his kingdom comes. Their fate is reversed making their suffering worth it after all. For example, Eleazar was killed for refusing to eat pork that God forbade (c. 165 B.C.). His last words to his persecutor were these: We, O Antiochus, who have been persuaded to govern our lives by the divine law, think that there is no compulsion more powerful than our obedience to the law (4 Maccabees 5:16). Daniel, likewise, praised those who stood firm for God s word under prolonged persecution: Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the thousand three hundred thirty-five days (Daniel 12:12). The historic heroes of the Jewish revolt under the Maccabees ( B.C.) as well as the Zealots contemporary with Jesus were held in high esteem. They were promised a glorious reward in the afterlife. Any Jew who fought and died nobly for the glory of God could expect a monument or at least an honorable mention in Jewish lore. Blessed are the Persecuted thus became common coin in the centuries between the Testaments. The blessing, however, is specifically for those who suffered for keeping God s law. So imagine standing in the midst of the crowd when Jesus replaced the Word of God with the Name of Jesus. Jesus presented himself as God s equal, or perhaps more accurately, the embodiment of God s Torah. Little wonder Jesus followed the Beatitudes with comments on six specific Old Testament laws: You ve heard that it was said but I say (5:21, 27, 31, 33, 38, 43). He was showing how his words were more important than God s word through Moses. That was BOLD! Moses words were the very words of God. One might rightly ask, Who does Jesus think he is? The Beatitudes offer a very clear answer. Moses gave the Law; Jesus is the law. When Jesus spoke, it held the same authority as God himself. Hence, those who suffer for following Jesus are on par with those who had been persecuted for God.

4 Jesus claims we will be blessed if we suffer for HIS name! Blessed are you when others revile you, persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account (5:11). Did Jesus seriously just put himself in the sentence where historically Yahweh had stood? He did. Don t miss this. If you want to be happy, you must add the ethics of the Hebrews to the philosophy of the Greeks. True happiness is in the significance of following Jesus. Loyalty to Jesus offers nothing less than inheritance of the Kingdom of God. To know God and to follow his commands always leads to the blessed life. In our day, that looks like knowing Jesus and following his commands. This theme actually runs the length of the sermon. We see the same teaching at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus begins the sermon with a beatitude comparing himself to God. He ends the sermon comparing his words to the bedrock of God s word: Everyone 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). Jesus is claiming his words are the foundation for a happy life. Is it any wonder the crowds stood stunned at the end of this message? And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes (Matthew 7:28-29). This turned culture on its head: Lucky are the unlucky as long as they align with Jesus words. Christians are part of an upside-down kingdom who live according to this fourfold pattern: Losers are winners, the dead live, the poor are rich, and those who pick up a cross experience resurrection. Why does this actually work? Here is the secret to happiness: Happiness is not a product of possessions but of purpose, not success but significance. When we live for the higher purpose, when we align with Jesus teachings, our happiness quotient skyrockets all the way to eternity. Key Points: Both Hebrews and Greeks were blessed by family, wealth, health, and peace as well as having the wisdom and morality to live in the right way. Jesus, tapping into a minority Jewish tradition, reversed the normal rules of who was blessed to include the poor, meek, mourning, and beaten. In Jewish tradition, martyrs were blessed by obeying God s commands. In Christian tradition, we are blessed by obeying Jesus commands. He and God are on par. Action Step: Go to The Voice of the Martyrs website. Read one story of a Christian suffering persecution. Pray for that person for three consecutive days. Further Resource: James & Marti Hefley, By Their Blood: Christian Martyrs of the Twentieth Century (Baker, 1979). Questions for Discussion: 1. Describe your perfect day.

5 2. What do people chase after for happiness that you have observed seldom brings happiness? 3. How have you seen it played out: Happiness is in significance, not success? 4. Is there a specific step you need to take to align more closely with Jesus teachings?