Post by M.R. Hagerty on Apr 18, 2023 22:04:26 GMT -7
Matthew 5:9-12, Luke 6:21
9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:9-12)
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. (Luke 6:21)
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Commentary
Matthew 5:9
9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
Despite the scenes of violence in the OT, the God of the Bible is a God of peace. This seems like a glib contradiction but the principle of promulgating peace cannot be separated from a principle of justice. This is simply because all men do not cooperate with peace. There is always a need to correct, curtail, and even
summarily judge those who act against peace. This does not undermine God’s desire and preference for peace. The call for peace means that in the world there will be conflict, whether it be a simple argument between two people or the violence of war. Hence, there is a need from the divine point of view for peace makers.
The peacemaker is someone who reminds combatants that peace is always the alternative, but more than this it is a real alternative, and one that serves both parties better than conflict. In the heat of conflict, this may be seldom heeded. So the peacemaker must also have the cleverness to adeptly intercept the conflict and diffuse the fiercest emotions to an agreeable stand-off that permits each side to think more on the issues at hand and the consequences.
In fierce and angry conflicts, nothing seems more important than doing harm to one’s opponent. So altruistic interjections about the fellowship of man and what benefits society will fall on deaf ears. But that’s the secular approach to peacemaking. The peacemaker here in the Beatitudes is one who brings the God of Heaven into the discussion. It is often a more effective remedy to remind combatants that such a conflict is wrong because it offends God.
From the mouth of someone who exudes powerful confidence that can be enough to cause people to stop and think about their actions. Parents, in arguing with their kids about the rules, often resort to “Because I say so!” This is rather hard for kids to understand, especially when they are being taught at school that relativism and a world free of absolutes is the mode of day. In such cases, parents would do better by simply saying, “Because it pleases God.”
We need to remind ourselves that the connection kids might have to God does not critically depend on us as parents. If we read Romans correctly, God is very capable of making Himself known to our children independently. We can therefore with confidence appeal to the pleasing or displeasing of God as an effective argument for why there are rules. (But this only works if, as parents, we have made sure the rules we establish at home are godly ones.)
But in all areas of life, we as followers of Christ need to look for opportunities to convey peace between people in our immediate view, and from a larger view, the restoration of peace between all men and God.
“they shall be called the sons of God.”
Sons of God, because such are those born of Him. To be born of God is to take on the Father’s attitudes and desires, to want what He wants. And let us be clear – God wants peace among men and with Himself more than any human institution past or future. So much so that He gave His Son to be a sacrifice to effect that peace. And what better than that which by making things right on the inside.
Paul states that we at last have peace with God (in contrast to the enmity that prevailed) because of what has been done in Christ (Romans 5:1). Those, therefore, who are in Christ as children of God cannot separate themselves from His role in the institution of peace.
Matthew 5:10
10 "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Persecution is seldom perceived as a blessing. But it’s not saying “happy” are those. Blessedness is not simply the state of being happy, but rather the state of being called blessed, esteemed fortunate, or counted as happy. It is an attitude from the perspective of God not necessarily always the inner perspective of the believer. So it is not concomitant that we perceive blessed feelings when being persecuted, but that we comprehend how this pleases God.
Men are not eager to experience this (although it was reported in the Roman persecutions that some Christians actually leapt into the flames or the claws of wild beasts, that their martyrdom be accomplished all the more quickly.)
In distant times, people were by nature more altruistic about sacrificing their lives for others. At a time of the Me and X generations, people are thinking more about what’s in it for them. Altruistic principles are everywhere in doubt. “Why give up my life so that someone else can go on enjoying theirs? Why do it if I won’t be around to enjoy the benefit?”
So, the only genuinely effective reason for suffering for a good cause is persecution for righteousness’ sake. It is the only one in which the victim sees a benefit beyond their act. Because righteousness carries its benefit beyond this life into the next that they have some hope of spiritually sharing in it.
But it is also the most enigmatic because it involves persecution for having done what is right. Most people understand incurring the wrath and anger of others for their own selfishness, failures or missteps. Like it or not, we at least understand it because we know that we messed up and there are consequences. But we don’t understand nor do we accept without complaint a suffering or persecution for doing the right thing. And we can easily blow our promise of blessing by fighting back or exhibiting anger or rage at being misjudged.
Now it must be hurriedly reiterated that sacrifice and suffering cannot be purely secular and count for something simply because it defends righteousness. There is an attitude among quasi-believers and even outright non-believers that what is done philanthropically for God will benefit them in the likelihood there is such a thing as the Judgment. But this is a mistaken conclusion. It is God who sees the heart and whether it is done by faith, and we know from Scripture that all things done without faith are ultimately for naught. “[it] did not profit them, because it was not united by faith” (Hebrews 4:2)
“theirs is the kingdom of heaven”
This was also said of the poor in spirit. We must avoid making these into functional formulas – possession of the kingdom belongs only to those who are poor in spirit or who have been persecuted. In general terms, the end of the blessed states is the same for all who aspire to them. All such persons will inherit eternal life in Christ , will enjoy the benefits of the kingdom. But it would be a bit boring to repeat this from beatitude to beatitude. And there are in some cases additional blessings to be highlighted: ”they shall see God.” . . . “they shall be called the sons of God.”
Matthew 5:11
11 "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.”
This is similar to that just said above, but adds ”because of Me.” It is profoundly predictive that the righteousness on account of which we will be persecuted will be directly related to the Person of Christ. This is again enigmatic because who is more loving, gentle, compassionate and a better friend than Jesus? What can the world have against Him compared to everyone else?
But it is the message associated with Jesus that offends and subjects us to persecution. This is very important because we often count as persecution the anger and hatred of people for things that are in fact our own fault or our mistake. This is not persecution on account of Jesus. If we snub our neighbor and he gives us trouble we can’t call it part and parcel with suffering for our faith.
Jesus brings peace and the answers to life, but He also brings an implied and even voiced condemnation of the life without God. You get Jesus but at the cost of having to first hate and abandon your present life. This, many people are not willing to do and resent being asked.
Hence, anyone who loves his life as it is will find Jesus an embarrassment, a fly in the ointment, a jab in the ribs that reminds them that something has to change. And a ready justification for those who wish to mollify the conviction of those reminders is to persecute this kind of life. To treat it as just an abnormal distortion of the Christian life and label such preachers as just being “out of it.” When Christians first became subjects of persecution in Rome they were called ”haters of mankind” by the citizens certainly a strange appellation, since Christians were taught to love their neighbors as themselves.
The reason is made clearer when we observe the life Christians tacitly condemn by their abstainance. They were basically party poopers in Roman eyes, when we consider that the more popular evening activities involved frolicking, hedonistic escapades and orgies. So Christians became known as people who hated the enjoyments of life, indeed appearing to hate the very society of man.
Today, it is virtually the same but without the ordeal of the arena. Interestingly, during the protests at abortion clinics making the news in Southern California in the late 1980’s, some abortion advocates were heard to shout, ”Bring back the lions! – a chilling indicator of how hatred for Christ could one day repeat history.
Matthew 5:12
12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
As above, our reward may never be earthly, and in the case of an untimely death, certainly never. But we are promised a heavenly reward, which is not to focus on the getting of rewards, but on the knowledge that we have pleased God greatly for service well done.
There is also an added comfort – that we are to count ourselves in the company of a great collection of saints who have gone before, including the prophets. In our world today, we seem far removed from the seriousness and the magnitude of accomplishments which the prophets of old represent to the faith. It would be arrogance to glibly share their spotlight. But Jesus proclaims that those who are persecuted on account of their relationship to Him are esteemed by God Himself as among the same company.
Luke 6:21
21 “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.”
Luke presents a more summarized view of the same beatitude above (Matt 5:6). He mentions hungering for righteousness as simply hungering and promises a hunger that will be satisfied. But we must take the whole witness of the Gospels into account to understand parallel statements, and in Matthew Jesus clarifies that it is the hunger after righteousness that will be satisfied.
But is there any justification for a promise about physical hunger? In a general way, Christians can look back on their lives thus far and see the provision of God. Has a Christian ever been hungry and not satisfied? Everyone certainly knows of real cases. But moments of hunger are not in view. A life routinely supplied by God’s care and provision is the context, if it be pressed to include physical hunger and the providence of God.
“for you shall laugh”
This does not mean in general that the children of God will laugh in their mourning. It means that those who mourn and believe that life will be forever overshadowed by the sad reminder of their loss, will laugh again and be able to one day again see the beauty and blessing of life.
Jesus then moves to a series of woes, which are designed to stand in contrast to the blessed states.