"Blessed are the poor...You are the salt of the earth...Unless your righteousness is better than the Pharisees...You have heard it said..." These are familiar words from Jesus. Many times they are said to be "a new Torah" or "the constitution of the Kingdom," and they can be a tad frightening if
we take them all as commands to be obeyed within our own effort, and not in the full context of Jesus' intentions. So what did he mean? This will only be the briefest overview, subject to much more discussion in months to come. (I am indebted here to Dr. Gary Deddo for his work, especially in the series of studies on this subject in his blog, "Trinitarian Study Center.")
Some of these sayings are commands ("Be happy about [persecution]! Be very glad!" "Let your good deeds shine out for all to see") and some are descriptive ("God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him" and so forth). But the overall thrust is that Jesus is describing a new reality -- that the Kingdom of his Father is now on earth, brought and announced by Jesus. The attitudes he describes, and their resulting actions, are the result of God's involvement in our hearts. For instance, "God blesses those who mourn" does not say "if you can work up an attitude of mourning, then you will receive God's blessing." We don't think of someone who mourns as being blessed, but as having a loss. Yet Jesus says if we're mourning, we will receive comfort -- the comfort of his Spirit, and eternal rest with him. In addition, he's telling us to recognize that these attitudes we find in us, of being humble, mourning, merciful and so forth, are coming from God himself, from his own heart that mourns over his children's bad choices, and is merciful toward us, and so forth.
Dr. Deddo explains it this way: "These are the ways of His kingdom.
Isn’t it wonderful
to know that those deepest longings you have, to belong, to be whole, are going
to be filled by the very God who put those longings in you in the first place?
They are a sign of His work in your life. Is He working? Am I blessed? Where
can I see this? Well it appears from this Scripture that we don’t see
it from our circumstances [our exterior 'blessings' like good health or a new car], but from what God is doing within us."
Have you been blessed by a trial, a loss, or a clearer view of the pain and suffering in this world? Have you been persecuted for Jesus' sake? Then rejoice! God is working in your life! Your full comfort and peace will come from God in the full reality of his kingdom; but in the meantime, be assured he is busy in you already. So be blessed!
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