THE BEATITUDES VIII

THE BEATITUDES VIII

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

Well, this beatitude seems to be saying something that is humanly impossible. I'm sure none of us would be so bold as to say that our hearts are pure. That is, if we define pure as free from defects, from wrong thinking or feelings, from sin.

Some people might ask, 'Who said I wanted to see God?' Indeed, we must accept that there are people in our world like that. In fact, believe it or not, I have a brother who would probably say that at this stage in his life. Of course, that doesn't make me very happy but what can I do? Of course, I can continue to pray for him, love him, try to keep the channels of communication open between us, hoping some day he will change his mind.

On the other hand, we know that many great thinkers - philosophers and theologians, from all over the world and from all times in history have thought about this question of how we get to see God. They have looked at the universe, at earth, at ourselves, and concluded there is a Higher Power. They have also concluded that our ultimate destiny then must surely be to be somehow connected with this Higher Power.

It really doesn't take much more thinking to also realize that no one in all of history seems to have achieved this in a way that convinces everyone else of its reality. If we see ourselves as mortal beings and this Higher Power as God, supernatural and immortal, it isn't hard to understand that it is probably impossible for us to see God by our own efforts.

Well, according to our Christian teachings, according to the Bible, God himself made it possible for us to see him. We are taught that God is holy, righteous, perfect, and cannot tolerate imperfection in his presence. So, how then can we get to see him? Knowing we could not achieve this on our own because of the barrier of sin, which had brought on us the punishment of death, God came to earth himself in the form of an only Son to die in our stead, in our place. The powerful effect of this sacrifice was made complete by The Son then rising in triumph over death in the resurrection, which we celebrate at Easter. This is what the whole Bible points to. If we accept this sacrifice as made on our behalf, if we thus believe in Christ Jesus, God forgives and wipes away our sins. Indeed, God himself makes us holy! God makes us pure in heart in his eyes, in his sight. This gives us the hope and promise of seeing Him after we die, leaving behind our imperfect body and taking on the perfect new one waiting for us so we can be re-united with our Creator and God. This is summarized in many passages in the Holy Scriptures, one of which is II Corinthians ch. 5. Beginning at verse 15 we read:

            "He died for all, that they which live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again (15)…Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; look, all things have become new (17). All things are of God, who reconciled us (made things right between him and us) to himself by Jesus Christ (18) …For he made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin (talking about Jesus the Son); that we might be made righteous like God through him (21)."

There you have it – we are made righteous, pure in heart, through Jesus, by what God himself did. 

THE BEATITUDES VII

THE BEATITUDES VII

This is the Fifth Beatitude:

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

What is mercy? Is it sympathy? Is it pity? Is it grace? According to one dictionary, it is:

Kindness or forgiveness shown to an offender or someone you have power over; a disposition to be forgiving or compassionate of others; a situation that provides relief or prevents something unpleasant from happening; the easing of distress or pain

Do we really know what being kind to someone means? I think we know what forgiveness means. It is 'the act of pardoning someone for mistake or wrongdoing'. What about compassion? Actually, people who are compassionate carry out acts of kindness. We sometimes hear about people promoting the idea of doing random acts of kindness. Is that compassion or just trying to do some good, which is all right in itself. There are many references in the Bible to Jesus' being filled with compassion (e.g. Matt. 9:36, 15:32, 20:34; Mark 1:41, 6:34, 8:2). Sometimes Jesus' compassion made him perform miracles of healing and feeding the people who flocked to him. At other times, we see Jesus being full of compassion, feeling sad and sorry for the poor and lost people he was trying to reach for the Kingdom of Heaven.

So, if we show mercy, we will be shown mercy. Seems fair doesn't it? But, you may ask, who said I need mercy? It doesn't take much thinking to know that sooner or later in life we will be in a situation where we need mercy. Maybe we will have gotten in trouble with the law. Maybe we will have gotten seriously ill. Maybe we will have suffered a big loss. In all of those situations, we will want mercy.

There is one situation where we all need mercy. It is our condition before our God. As it says in Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and come sort of the glory of God." In other words, we don't measure up to God's standards for us; we fail. This is because of our sinfulness. There is a consequence for that. Also, in Romans, 6:23, we read further: "For the wages of sin is death." That was the curse that Genesis ch. 3 tells us fell on the human race because of sin. However, there is good news because God is merciful and compassionate. Romans 6:23 finishes this way: "But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Isn't that amazing! The same God who pronounced judgment on us offers us a gift, a way out. As Paul, the writer of Romans says in 8:31: "If God be for us who can be against us?" I encourage you to read the rest of chapter eight. It is a wonderful hymn of praise for such a wonderful God and His Son Jesus. And really, if we thankfully realize how merciful God has been to us, won't we just want to show mercy to others out of gratitude for the mercy shown us? Then we will be blessed.

THE BEATITUDES VI

THE BEATITUDES VI

The next beatitude is:

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

How do you show 'hunger and thirst for righteousness'? By going to church? It should be one way of doing so. We talked about the importance of attending church worship services when we were discussing the Ten Commandments. However, attending 'church' should not be the only way of satisfying that hunger and thirst. If you only pay attention to what is offered to satisfy your 'hunger and thirst for righteousness' on Sunday, your Christianity, your faith, will starve. You will not be satisfied.

Perhaps we need to step back and ask ourselves whether we really do hunger and thirst for righteousness. What does that mean? I don't think this is something that just happens to us. I don't think this hunger is that basic. The sinful nature we were born with and the sinful nature of the world around us has had too great an impact on most of us. The world would have us believe that people who hunger and thirst for righteousness are too conservative, too religious, too 'square', to use a slang term. They have no fun.

However, those of us who have lived a little while, or who have experienced more of what this world has to offer know that ultimately, in the end, the world does not satisfy. Popularity and fame, all our leisure pursuits, hobbies, collections, athletic prowess and ability, beauty, wealth, even our health – all these things that we may enjoy on earth - all fades and passes. Material possessions, worldly goods, can decay or rust or be stolen, as Jesus reminded us in Matt. 6:19-20, farther on in the Sermon on the Mount.

Most people realize as they get older that what ultimately satisfies in life is doing the right thing. Young people often like to drive speedily and perhaps somewhat recklessly. They think they are proving their skill, their independence; they don't have to listen to any rules of the road. Eventually, when we mature, we learn that the rules are there for a reason. If we follow them, we can feel more comfortable knowing we are doing the right thing, being safer, and not putting our lives and others' at risk. What was really the point of all that speeding and wild driving anyway? The mature person feels good enough just knowing they have done right. That is enough of a reward. That is righteousness. That is satisfaction. Are we there yet?

THE BEATITUDES V

THE BEATITUDES V

Jesus then goes on in the Sermon on the Mount with the sentence, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth," Matthew 5:5 

Suppose there was a nuclear war. What would be the targets of the bombs? Big cities? Nations' capitals? Why? Because the enemy would want to destroy what it would consider the places of wealth and power. It would want to weaken the other country so it could conquer it. In a nuclear war this might happen to both sides of the conflict as both sides aimed their weapons at each other.

So who would be left? People in the countryside, in the smaller towns and cities. People that would not be considered as important. Are these the meek? Those without much power or influence. Those who are not thought of as very capable. What's left of the world is theirs. Have they inherited the earth?

This may not be the best illustration, the best story or parable to talk about what Jesus meant here. However, I think it points us in that direction. When we think we are intelligent, capable, rich and powerful, we may not think we need anybody else, especially not God. If we turn our backs on God, he cannot and will not bless us. But if we don't think too highly of ourselves, as the Apostle Paul advised us in Romans 12:3: "For I say…to everyone among you, not to think of him or herself more highly than he ought to, but to think soberly, according to what God has given each of us according to the faith given us", then there is room for God to bless us. A song from a once popular musical production goes something like this, "The luckiest people in the world are those who realize they need people." As Believers, I think our version of that saying could be enlarged or expanded to say: "The most blessed people in the world are those who realize they need God."

So, if we humble ourselves and are meek before God, there is a reward. But what doe it mean here then, "they shall inherit the earth." We will become its owners, its rulers? We will have everything in it? Actually, if we believe God is the Creator and we are his Children, we are co-owners of the world. It is ours. We can enjoy all that God made the world to be for us. That is different than what most of us have been fooled into thinking we need. We are misled by our society and our cultures to think we need all kinds of things, we need to be in certain positions; we need wealth and power to get what we want or need. That is all human and man-made desire. Let our desires be the same as God's. Then we will be content, then we will feel like we have everything. Then we will have inherited the earth.

THE BEATITUDES IV

THE BEATITUDES IV

The second beatitude seems so straightforward one would hardly think one needs to expand on it. What could be more obvious than this statement:

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

When I was a much younger man, I attended a church that to my young mind seemed full of people who were far too comfortable. There had just been a book published called The Comfortable Pew by a famous Canadian author, Pierre Berton. It was critical of many churchgoers. It said they were far too comfortable, just going to church on Sunday and sitting in their comfortable pews, their church benches. During the week they didn't seem to do the kinds of things that The Bible tells us Jesus the Christ did for the sick, the poor and the mourning when he had been on earth, yet they claimed to follow him.

At Christmas time the minister in that church gave a message based on Isaiah 40:1, "Comfort, comfort my people says the Lord". Youth can be rebellious and insensitive. They have often not experienced much hardship in life yet. Furthermore, young people often seem oblivious to, unaffected by, things the way older people are. As I listened, I was getting more and more annoyed. These people need to be challenged to get out of their pews and do what Jesus did, I thought. They don't need more comfort.

Fortunately, except for my fiancée (whom I never did marry), who was with me in church and shared my views, we kept our thoughts to ourselves. You see, I wasn't thinking very hard. I didn't know these people well yet. Many of them had experienced great hardship in their lives, from which they never really escaped. They had come through the communist revolution in Russia. They had suffered at the hands of terrorists. They had lost almost everything they had. Then they hard to start out life in this country as poor people, working their way up. Yes, they had mourned. They did need comfort.

Sooner or later in life we all experience something which we are sad about, a loss or situation which causes us to mourn, for which we weep and cry. Let us be thankful that there is a place where we will be comforted when we mourn. That place should be the kingdom of heaven already on earth, the church. Let us be sensitive to others in this regard. Let us comfort when we can. If we can be comforted in church, the pew will be a welcome and comfortable place, as it should be for those that mourn. Perhaps Mr. Berton never got to see that side of the story.