The Beatitudes As An Ethical Document Paul Versluis (March 1, 2015) The Sermon on the Mount is an ethical document. Jesus is teaching his core values, his ideals, that are rooted in the love of God, self and others. He is teaching us his spiritually; on humility, love, justice and peace and he is asking us to practice this love ethic in our daily life. If we will practice this love ethic we will flourish and be happy and blessed. Jesus is using these eight beatitudes to inspire us, to ignite in us a fire, to awaken us. The beatitudes are a spirit boosting talk, encouraging us to do the work of justice and peace in our world. The term beatitude comes from the Latin noun beātitūdō which means "happiness" If we practice the love ethic as shown us in the Sermon on the Mount, we will be happy, our would will flourish. In his book, The Gift of Ethics, Trevor Bechtel writes, [my summary] This is the best way to live, this is the best way to be happy. [Trevor, 5] We are to live, as if heaven is already here. We are to act, as if heaven is already here. [pg 7,8] We were once given the gift of a border collie. She was domesticated, she learned her manners well. After living with us for many years, I was out driving with Nellie in the car and I stopped near a herd of cows. Nellie had never seen cows up close before. As soon as we got out of the car she began to tremble, crouch, dart back and forth. Her herding instinct was awakened, she was on fire. I think Jesus is using the beatitudes to awaken and release our intrinsic nature to do the work of love to heal the world. You can do this work, it is deep within you, it is in your nature, it is in your soul, let me awaken my spirit within you to act in love to help me bring forth the kingdom of justice and peace. In his book, "We Belong to the Land" (pp 143-144), Elias Chacour, a Palestinian Christian, reflects on the Beatitudes. He thinks we are used to hearing the Beatitudes expressed passively, but in Aramaic, the Greek word Makarioi is translated Ashray, and this Aramaic word is not passive but active. It does not mean to passively just receive a blessing, but in his words, it means "[to] set yourself on the right way for the right goal; to turn around, repent; to become straight or righteous." He writes, When I understand Jesus' words in the Aramaic, I translate it like this: Get up, go ahead, do something, move, you who are hungry and thirsty for justice, for you shall be satisfied. Get up, go ahead, do something, move, you peacemakers, for you shall be called children of God.
In the Beatitudes Jesus is preaching inspiration, encouragement, awakening our courage and setting us free to do the work of love, the work of justice and peace, to act as salt and light in our world, to act to help preserve our world and to allow the light of God s glory to shine forth.. Scholars organize the beatitudes in different ways. I will use the outline of Professor Scott McKnight. He divides the passage into threes; Jesus gives three blessing upon the humble poor, three blessing on those who pursue justice, and three blessings on those who create peace. He writes, the three central moral themes of the Beatitudes are humility [of the poor], justice and peace. Three blessing on the humbly of the poor 1. Blessed/happy are the poor in spirit, [Luke the poor ], for theirs is the kingdom of God. The poor in spirit are the oppressed, the unfortunate, the disadvantaged, those who have been rejected who recognize their need for help and learn to trust in God for justice and redemption. When I feel that I have been rejected or treated unfairly, I should not allow the injustice to sour my soul. May our poverty not lead us to hatred but bring us to God. May our need open the door to receive Jesus and do what we can to live and to bring forth the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is not a place but a presence, the presence of Jesus here with us now and with us in the future as well. Jesus is our spiritual guide, speaking to all who suffer material or spiritual poverty, God is with us in our scarcity and need. Not to blame us for our poverty or poverty of spirit but to bless us with Gods presence. May our poverty of spirit lead us to experience the presence of divine love and acceptance and right action. 2. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are those who mourn [those who grieve their losses], for they will be comforted. It is good for us to grieve, to express our pain, for those who grieve will be comforted. We grieve their broken dreams, tragedy, injustice, death. God will comfort these who mourn thru us now and God will comfort all who mourn in
the future thru the resurrection and another opportunity to live again. May Love comfort those who grieve. 3. Blessed/happy are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. The meek are those who suffer because they have been humbled by the abuse and injustice of others, but they do not seek revenge, rather they seek the welfare of others. The meek have been weakened by injustice but they are strong to surrender to love, to do the will of God. Our life will flourish if when we are treated unfairly, we response with love rather than anger, violence or retribution. The meek will inherit the earth. The way of love works to overcome what is unjust and unfair. Those who are meek, who surrender to do the will of God will inherit the earth. Three blessing on those who pursue righteousness and justice 1. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness/justice, for they will be filled. The word righteousness means to live in conformity with the will of God, that we work to pursue peace, justice, reconciliation and love. Those who hunger and thirst for justice are those who respond to injustice with love rather than wrath, who work for reconciliation rather than revenge. These will be filled, satisfied, these will flourish and be filled with joy. Love works to overcome injustice. 2. Blessed/happy are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. When we suffer wrong, Jesus teaches us to be merciful and to forgive those who have wronged us. Forgiveness is a merciful response to someone who has wronged us. We are to do to others what they would want done to them. We are to extend mercy to those who harm us, compassion to those in need, the poor, the oppressed, mercy to those who have failed and to ourselves when we fail. James says it well, Mercy triumphs over judgment. [James 2 13] when we extend mercy rather than judgment to others, we will receive mercy ourselves. When we are merciful rather than judgmental we are released from the cycle of
violence and revenge. Love leads us to be merciful. Injustice and abuse is named and not denied, but we seek restoration rather than punishment. 3. Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. We know clean hands so what is a clean or pure heart? Glen Stassen suggests that the heart is not so much the inner self but the relational self. Purity of heart is integrity, a desire to please God and do the will of God. McKnight suggests that the pure in heart see God as a person to be loved, and this love leads to loving others as well. [45] So, the pure in heart are those who pursue justice and peace and who are given to the way of love. Those who pursue justice, who do the will of God, who love God, self and others, they will behold the glory of God even in this life; they will have the beatific vision. Those who love are those who will see God s glory. Three blessing on those who create peace 1. Blessed/joyful/happy are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. The peacemaker is someone who knows God is for peace and seeks reconciliation instead of strife and war. [McKnight, 46] Jesus continues to teach the love ethic, the way of love rather than the way of retaliation and violence. We should not burn heretics or witches or go to war in God s name. The children of God are peacemakers and we are blessed and flourish when we do this hard work. Many think this love ethic is unrealistic. This is the narrow difficult path Jesus calls us to walk. In common sense manner, when people do bad things to us we may want to seek revenge and make them suffer as well. Jesus does not want us to do this but rather to make peace. When bad things happen to us and people do bad things to us, we may want to do bad things to them. God is not like that. God returns good for evil and wants us to do the same.
2. /3. Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Stassen translates the verse, Joyful [happy] are those who suffer because of restorative justice, for there is the reign of God. [pg58] We are called by Jesus to be willing to suffer for doing the work of justice and peacemaking. The love ethic, this work for justice and peace will bring us God s blessing, it will enable us to flourish and is the way we do the pursuit of happiness. The beatitudes are a moral document. Follow Jesus, live this good life and our life will flourish. God gives us the Holy Spirit to empower us to live the life of love. In conclusion, Scott McKnight offers what he calls a revolution in evaluation, on how to measure spirituality or piety. On the one hand, a spiritual person is one who reads and memorizes their bible, who goes to church and tithes, who practices spiritual disciplines and uses their spiritual gifts, who listen to sermons or preach them and evangelize, who separate themselves from the world, succeed in business and serve in the military. These are good in themselves, but they are not the measure of a true Christian spirituality. Rather, true Christian spirituality is the ethic of love. Our love for God, self and others is so worked into the fabric of our lives that we are humble in spite of poverty and the suffering of injustice. We are willing to do all we can do to bring about justice in the world and we seek to reconcile those who are in opposition. These are the people who Jesus calls the salt of the earth and the light of the world. This is who we are, this is our identity and our vision, to live the ethic of love as taught and modeled in Jesus, our teacher, our leader and our savior. There human tendency is to assume that God s blessing is on the elite, the upper crust, the rich and famous, the important and powerful people. Jesus reverses this way of thinking as he imagines a different world, in which the last become first. Jesus gives blessing to the marginalized, those who are who are often rejected. Instead of blessing the sage, philosopher, nobility, the good family, and those with great reputations, he blesses the common ones.