Hey, folks, I'm at camp this week, so we're having a guest Bible study leader: Phil Ruge-Jones. He already wrote a study on this portion of Matthew, so I'm shamelessly pilfering it (with his permission). Thanks!
Holy Blessings: Matthew 5:1-18
As the Sermon on the Mount begins, Jesus, like Moses, reveals God’s will to his followers amidst mountain scenery. He explains God’s way of perceiving the world, focusing on all those who had suffered under Roman occupation. He begins his sermon not with imperatives of how they should act, but with a gracious declaration of that which Rome is unable to see–they are beloved children of God. Jesus blesses those beleaguered followers. Jesus declares various groups of people blessed. And in the hearing of his word, they know themselves to be blessed. Before Jesus starts telling them how to live, he gives them a sure and secure identity. You are blessed! Their new way of life begins by receiving the respect and gracious regard that God offers. Just as Jesus’ ministry began with God’s declaration, “This is my Son…”, their action will flow out of the solid, new identity that God offers them as a community. “You-all who are poor in spirit” are blessed “in the Empire of Heaven.”
The crowds who hear him say these words have already experienced the blessing of his healing power. This is what drew them to follow him (See Mt 4:24-25a). We can be sure that these people were poor by any standards we normally use. The vast majority of people in Jesus’ time lived from day to day. Subsistence rather than blessedness was the norm. Yet Jesus tenderly speaks them into a new realm.
The word repeated throughout this opening is “blessed” and this word brings about what it declares. People understand themselves as blessed in the very hearing of the word. Jesus declares that the poor in spirit, those at the bottom of Rome’s priorities, are central in God’s Empire. Likewise those who know tears now will rejoice. Also those who are meek, not the power players, will inherit the land. The first groups named are described in terms of what has been done to them–they have been left poor, grieving, and robbed of pride. This has created a longing for a different kind of world, a world Jesus is opening up to them through the word he speaks.
Jesus then blesses those who define their lives along alternative lines. To use the moving image of Gandhi, they have become the
change that they long to see in the world. Although they have been beaten down, their spirit is not destroyed. They hunger for the world made new in justice and righteousness. They act with mercy and single-hearted focus; they seek peace in the midst of the violence. Jesus is no idealist here. He understands that such a commitment is costly. They will be persecuted for their quest to create an alternative to the violence. Those who do not desire change will accuse the peacemakers of every manner of evil. Yet Jesus blesses them along with all the prophets whose ways they now follow.
Finally using images of salt and light Jesus again declares them into a new reality. He still is not commanding them to do something more. He is celebrating whom God has made them as a people. “You all are salt” “You all are light”. From the community of blessed peacemakers, from the community of those who have grieved and yet hope without bitterness, the light will shine forth.
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