Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done!

Matthew 5:1-12

The Beatitudes

 

Matthew 5:1-2  Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down.  His disciples came to him, and he began to teach…

 

The kingdom of heaven began in Capernaum of Galilee in the thirtieth year of Jesus’ life.  After his baptism, where he was announced as the Son of God; after his testing in the desert, where he was proved to be the pleasing Son of God; after John the Baptizer was imprisoned, Jesus began his preaching in Galilee.  The kingdom began with an invitation to Peter, Andrew, James and John, who immediately left their nets and followed Jesus.  Jesus continued the kingdom by healing all the sick.  Soon after, great crowds began to follow him all over Galilee.  

 

The kingdom began.  The New Exodus is under way.  Jesus is leading the people of God to the Promised Land.  But, before we can enter the Promised Land, we must to go to the mountain.  In the Gospel of Matthew important things happen on mountains.  Now Jesus leads us to the new Mount Sinai where we can receive the New Covenant!

 

 Jesus sits down and begins to teach the New Covenant. 

 

Matthew 5:3-12 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.  Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.  Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

 

We call these teachings the Beatitudes.  They begin what we call the Sermon on the Mount.  The Sermon on the Mount is the longest of 5 teachings sections in the Gospel of Matthew.  Numbers are cool for Matthew; 5 the number of books in the Pentitude.  Jesus is giving the New Covenant on a mountain, just like Moses.

 

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I have some struggles with these 8 beatitudes.

 

1) The Beatitudes are weird.  What is Jesus talking about; blessed are people who are broke?  That doesn’t even make any sense.  “We’ve got spirit, yes we do.  We have spirit, how about you?’’  “No, sorry.  We don’t.  We’re poor in spirit.”  What kind of kingdom values being poor?

 

2) The Beatitudes are unrealistic. 

-Hunger for righteousness?  I hunger for cheese burgers. 

-Pure in heart; really?  How impossible is it to keep all my thoughts pure?

-Merciful?  It’s a dog eat dog world.  The merciful get ate.

-Pray for those who rag you; not likely.  Does Jesus really expect us to be able to do these?

 

3) These beatitudes are miserable.  Poor, mourning, hungering, persecuted; who would want to sign up for that kind of kingdom?  I can picture the TV commercial for the Kingdom of heaven, “Come join the kingdom of heaven we excel at being depressed.  We enjoy starving.  We relish persecution.  If you can’t wait to be miserable, come join us.”  The kingdom of heaven is miserable?

 

4) When is this supposed to happen?  If being poor and hungry and pure and peacemakers are supposed to bring great blessings, when is it going to happen?  I’m not seeing much of it around now?

 

Perhaps, if we explore the answers to these questions, we can begin to understand what Jesus is teaching about the kingdom of heaven.  If we can honestly process his teachings, we can understand the New Covenant.  

 

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1) Are the beatitudes weird?

 

Certainly, the beatitudes are backwards to the way the world thinks.  What kind of kingdom can be built by the weak?  If we are to succeed in the world we have to be go-getters. 

 

Jesus has a question for us, “How has that worked for you?”  Maybe, it’s the world that’s weird.  Maybe, the world’s is upside down.  We are just so used to it that we think that upside down is normal.  Obviously, the way the world works is not working all that well.  Arrogance, cold-bloodedness, pride, hungering for power, revenge, impurity, callousness, dog-eat-dog-ness, isn’t going so well.  All we have to do is look around at a world full of idiots and that should be enough to conclude that it is the world is upside down.  The world is the one that is weird. 

 

When we have spent most of our lives walking on our hands with our faces in the dirt, it may seem that standing on our feet is strange.  Jesus is advocating a world that is right-side-up.  It is the kingdom of heaven which is the way the world should be!  It is the kingdom of heaven which has come to bring sanity to a world gone loony.  The kingdom of heaven is a movement to set the world straight again.  The kingdom of heaven is turning the world… the way it’s supposed to be… right side up.

 

When we can begin to connect to the orientation of the beatitudes, we can see the beauty of the kingdom!  Are the beatitudes weird or is it the world? 

 

The New Covenant begins to set the world aright.

 

2) Are the Beatitudes unrealistic?

 

If I approach the beatitudes as a to-do-list which I must somehow accomplish, then, certainly, they are unrealistic.  I can’t, by myself, come close to the beatitudes.  But, Jesus is not simply sitting down and telling people how to behave.  These beatitudes are not a new 10 commandments, which we must try harder to obey. 

 

Rather, the beatitudes are saying that people who are already like this are in good shape. 

-Blessed are the poor in spirit; their hearts are ready for the kingdom.

-Blessed are those whose hearts are already broken; they will get the comfort of the kingdom.

-Blessed are meek for that is the way of the kingdom; they won’t have to learn… submissiveness.

-Blessed are the hungry; because there is good stuff to eat in the kingdom.

-Blessed are the merciful and pure and the peacemakers and persecuted… those kind of people are all set for the kingdom because that is the power of the kingdom. 

 

Jesus is announcing, “The kingdom of heaven is near”.  Those who are the beatitudes are going to be able to step right into the kingdom.  The beatitudes are the gospel.  The beatitudes are the good news.  The beatitudes are the way God is going to work in the world.  God is at work in a fresh way and this is what it looks like.  The kingdom of heaven is going to set the world back the right way.  Those of you who are out of sync with the world are in a great position to step right into the kingdom.

 

These are not 8 new commandments, but the nature of New Covenant people.

 

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This right-side-up nature of New Covenant people begins with the first beatitude.

 

Matthew 5:3  Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

Blessed are the poor in spirit.  Blessed are those who recognize their own failings.  Blessed are those who know they are broken.  Blessed are those who realize they are fundamentally… idiots.  “The world is full of idiots.”  That is true and I am one of those idiots.  Let me tell you what I mean by idiots.  I am not talking about lack of knowledge.  You can fix lack of knowledge, get an education.  I am talking about doing stuff you know is wrong.  I am talking about making decisions that are counterproductive to everything you want to be.  I am talking about, “If it’s stupid don’t do it, but I am doing it anyway”.  It is running the same experiment over and over and getting the same results and being surprised. 

 

Jesus says “poor in spirit”.  But that doesn’t mean much, to me.  But, “I’m an idiot”, I can relate to.   If we think of ourselves as the only one with any snap, then we are not going to be part of the kingdom of heaven.  If we think we are omniscient and everyone else is idiots, we aren’t New Covenant people.  I must believe that I am the idiot.  Blessed are those who know they are idiots, for they are ready for the kingdom of heaven.

 

“Wait a second.  I am the one who is an idiot.  I am the one who has the whole thing backwards.  I am the one who is standing on my hands with my face in the dirt.  I am the one who causes the problems in the world.  I am an idiot!”  Perhaps, I need to say it out loud, “I’m an idiot.”  Maybe, you should join me, “I’m an idiot”.  Maybe, we need to say it together.  Recognizing our idiotness leads to the blessings of the kingdom. 

 

Matt Woodley says it more tactfully…

 

“Every command in the Sermon on the Mount ... drives believing readers back into the valley of the first Beatitude and its wonderful promise of kingdom belonging and kingdom resources.  In other words, once we accept and embrace our spiritual poverty, our radical need for God's grace, and once we surrender to Jesus and admit that we are powerless to save ourselves, that opens the door to everything else in God's kingdom.”  – Matt Woodley –

 

When we are poor in spirit, when we know we are the idiots, we are ready for the blessings of the kingdom.

 

Matthew 5:4  Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

 

When we recognize our idiotness, then we can mourn.  We don’t deny our sinfulness; our brokenness; our need for the kingdom.  We confess it and, then guess what… we are comforted. 

 

Matthew 5:5  Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

 

How can I be anything but meek?  “I am an idiot.  What do I know?”  Jesus says that is the attitude of the kingdom of heaven.  Arrogant omniscience has no place in the kingdom.  Humble dependency on God is the power which will inherit the earth.

 

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

 

I’m an idiot.  I need some rightness in my life.  Our acknowledged emptiness will be ready for filling.  Only those who know they are empty, will eat to be filled.  Because I know nothing…  I am hungry to be filled!

 

Matthew 5:7   Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

 

If I am an idiot, how can I criticize others?  If all I am is by the mercy of God, how can I hammer someone else?  As I show mercy, I get mercy, from God and others.  The way of the kingdom is… submissiveness and in that is the power of mercy!

 

Matthew 5:8  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

 

I don’t have to pretend to be perfect.  I’m an idiot.  I can be honest.  I can be open.  I can be pure in my words.  My relationships are pure because I can be honest.  I see God in my purity.

 

Matthew 5:9  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

 

Because of my recognized idiotness, I am in a position to be at peace.  I have nothing to prove.  I don’t have to be right.  I don’t have to win.  My pride is not based upon my facades.  I can be a peacemaker because I am an idiot.  Living under the Prince of Peace makes me a son of God! 

 

Matthew 5:10   Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

Then we come full circle back to the kingdom of God.  I am willing to endure persecution for righteousness because I know the power of the kingdom is submissiveness.  I know my God loves me even though I am an idiot.  My only change is to be submissive.  Then, I am a part of the kingdom.

 

In this I am blessed.  Wait a second, 3) Are the beatitudes miserable?  No!  They lead me to the love of God.  They lead me to comfort, inheritance, satisfaction, mercy, being able to see God, being called a son of God.  The beatitudes lead me to the kingdom of heaven.  They are not miserable.  In the kingdom I am blessed.  I am happy. 

 

N.T. Wright translates the beatitudes this way.

Wonderful news for the poor in spirit!  The kingdom of heaven is yours.

Wonderful news for the mourners!  You’re going to be comforted.

Wonderful news for the meek!  You’re going to inherit the earth.

Wonderful news for people who hunger and thirst for God’s justice!  You’re going to be satisfied. Wonderful news for the merciful!  You’ll receive mercy yourselves.

Wonderful news for the pure in heart!  You will see God.

Wonderful news for the peacemakers!  You’ll be called God’s children.

Wonderful news for people who are persecuted because of God’s way!  The kingdom of heaven belongs to you.

 

The way of the kingdom is wonderful news!  Nothing miserable here!

 

But just leaves one question… when?

 

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4) When is this supposed to happen? 

 

Some have said, “We get these blessing when we get to heaven.  This life is just miserable and then we die.  The only hope we have is in the next life.”  That is not the thought of what Jesus means when he says heaven.  Heaven is God’s realm now.  But the kingdom of heaven is what Jesus is bringing into this world.  The meek are going to inherit this earth.  Wait, the answer is in our theme for the year.

 

Matthew 6:9-10 "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

 

This kingdom from heaven, full of blessings, comes when we do God’s will on this earth!  The life of heaven, the life of the realm where God is already king, becomes the way of this world when we are poor in spirit.  It is God’s kingdom coming to this earth that transforms the upside-down world and makes it right.  It is God’s way of the kingdom – submissiveness – which breaks out in our hearts and changes the world.  It is the power of the advance of the kingdom which sets our world to right.  The kingdom of heaven takes our faces out of the dirt and sets us upright again!  The blessings come when we become New Covenant people!

 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is - right now - the kingdom of heaven.

 

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Jesus leads us in the New Exodus to the new Mount Sinai.  In the Sermon on the Mount we learn of the New Covenant.  The question is, “Are we going to be New Covenant people?”

 

Tim Stidham

Los Alamos Church of Christ

February 19, 2012