Beatitudes: Introduction Part 2

Before reading this, please look at the previous post (if you haven’t already). My views on the Beatitudes from here on are little heterodox. These are my current thoughts on the Beatitudes and am still working them through.

Matthew 5 v 1-2

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.

In the verse, we see Jesus climb up a mountain. He does not go to the top, but stops on the mountainside. His disciples follow Him, away from the crowds, to a private place. Jesus then teaches them. What He has to say is not for the crowds, but only for them and by extension to the Church.

When someone goes up a mountain in the Bible, we need to pay attention. Something important is about to happen. In this case, Jesus tells the Disciples about how He wants them to live as His followers.

Mount Sinai Moment

This feels like a Mount Sinai moment, where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God. Jesus (God) is now on another mountain, and revealing something similar.

Matthew seems to be comparing the Beatitudes with the Ten Commandments. So effectively saying, these are the rules for living in the God’s Kingdom. They do not replace the Exodus Commandments, as Jesus points out later, by saying:

Matthew 5 v 17

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

So it looks like they build upon them.

Christ’s Covenant

The Beatitudes are part of Jesus’ Covenant with the Church.

After the Beatitudes, there are further chapters which lay out how they should act as Christians. Much like after the Ten Commandments, there are chapters about the application of the Law.

The common view that the Bestitudes are about the relationships between Christians within the Kingdom, or people more generally, might be slightly off. It is more likely, in my opinion, the Beatitudes are about a covenant between God and the Church.

The Structure of the Beatitudes

The 8 Beatitudes are split into two sections. The first four are about ‘being low’. The second four are about ‘aiming high’.

When I think of this, I can imagine Jesus pointing down the mountain while saying the first four Beatitudes and then changing His gaze and pointing upwards, to the mountain peak, for the last four.

The Beatitude Formula

A Beatitude seems to say that if you act or are in a certain way, then you will receive a blessing. They differ from the Ten Commandments, as they do not give the blessings until the end of Deuteronomy. And they don’t link certain Commandments with particular blessings, except ‘Honour your father and mother, so you may live long in the land’.

Mount of Blessings

The blessings from the Beatitudes map onto a mountain too. It almost like the blessings ascend.

When we humble ourselves and choose to follow Christ, we come to the mountain. We are welcomed and begin to live on the mountainside, and in the Kingdom of Heaven.

We are comforted and ‘inherit the earth’ (this is a complex phrase which I will unpack in a later post).

We are filled, shown mercy, we see God and become ‘sons of God’ (another complex phrase).

The peak of the mountain is the Kingdom of Heaven, so wherever we go on the mountain, we remain within the Kingdom. Wherever we go, we receive these Kingdom blessings.

Over the next few weeks, I will unpack what these Beatitudes, or Blessings of the Kingdom, mean.