A CHRISTIAN LOOKS AT MATTHEW’S GOSPEL
The manifesto of the Kingdom
Reading: >Matthew 5:1-5 Click to view passage
The keynote of the Kingdom is the word, “Blessed.” Note that there is no, “are” in the original. There is never a verb in a beatitude, either in the Hebrew of the OT (Psalm 1) or in the Greek of the NT. Jesus is not looking down the time-line to the future and saying, “One day the people in my Kingdom will be blessed.” A beatitude is an exclamation of what is true now, “Oh the blessing now…..Oh the bliss now of those….. “ I’ve searched for fifty years for a modern word to replace “blessed” and I haven’t found it yet. Some people translate it, “happy” and call them the “happy-attitudes.” But I’m not happy with that, because the word “happiness” in English comes from what happens to us. However, the word “happiness” in Hebrew, describes the result of what happens to people because they know God. That is why Job, in the midst of all his troubles can say, “Happy is the man you reprove,” (Job 5:17). Moses says to the people of Israel after 39 years of failing and going around in circles in the wilderness, “Happy are you Israel,” (Deut 33:29). Now that is what I need – a happiness in every circumstance, because I know God and am certain he is with me at all times.
Meditation: Can I, like Job, be “happy” in every circumstance?
Prayer pointer: Help me to make my whole life an exclamation of bliss, showing thatI am enjoying “days of heaven on earth,” (Deut 11:12).
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