The Beatitudes

Last week and this week in Come Follow Me we are studying the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain. I again struggled to think of what to write since so much has already been said about the Sermon on the Mount. For my primary lesson and for this blog, I decided to focus on the Beatitudes.

When I was younger, the beatitudes bothered me a bit. They felt like such a heavy burden. I felt like I had to be all the things listed to be acceptable to God. I could see being a peacemaker, meek, and hungering and thirsting after righteousness, but did God really want me to be poor in spirit, mourn and be persecuted? I think I was in my late 30's or early 40's when I realized that Jesus was talking to a crowd that probably were mourning, felt poor in spirit, and had been persecuted. His words were meant to comfort, not admonish. That helped me feel better about the sermon.

Something that is still a challenge for me is understanding some of the terms. What does it mean to be poor in spirit, meek, and pure in heart. I decided to use my Greek skills and my cool Bible Vocab app to see if I could gain any insight on the words.

So here are the beatitudes in English, from Matthew 5 JKV

[3] Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
[4] Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
[5] Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
[6] Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
[7] Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
[8] Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
[9] Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
[10] Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
[11] Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
[12] Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

First of all, the term Beatitudes comes from Latin not Greek. The first word of each verse is Beati, which really does mean blessed. The word in Greek is "Μακάριοι" and I think it probably is better to call them "beatitudes" instead of "makaritudes". The "to be" word ('are' in English) is absent in Latin and Greek. It is just understood, but it is not unusual to leave it out in either language after an adjectival verb form. As for the things we are "blessed" for, I decided to do a word search in Greek to see where each word is used again in Matthew to try to get a sense of what they mean.

3. Poor in Spirit: The word for poor is πτωχοὶ and is used in Matthew 11:5, Matthew 19:21, Matthew 26:9, &11. In each case it describes a person who is in poverty physically. I think we need to think about how someone in poverty feels and somehow apply that to our spiritual wellbeing. I think it describes spirit lacking and want.
4. Mourn: πενθοῦντες It is a participle, suggesting: those who are mourning now. It is used only once more in Matthew, Matt 9:15, when Jesus says the guests at the wedding can't mourn when the bridegroom is with them. It is used again in Mark 16:10 when Mary goes to the apostles who are mourning to tell them Jesus had appeared to her. (not sure why this is double spaced.)
5. The meek: πραεῖς, It is used in Matthew 11:29, and Matthew 21:5. I think that second passage is illuminating because it is when Jesus was entering Jerusalem on the donkey during the triumphal entry. He was being praised by all around him, but he was staying humble, knowing what was ahead of him.
6. Hunger and thirst: πεινῶντες καὶ διψῶντες. Again, these are participles: they are hungering and thirsting right now. The hunger word comes up in Matt 4:2, Matt 12:1,&3, Matt 21:18, and both appear in Matt 25:35-44. That parable is the only place in Matthew where the thirst word appears. It makes you think that when Jesus said, "I was hungry, and you gave me meat: I was thirsty, and you gave me drink" he might not have been talking only about physical food and water.
8. Pure in heart: καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ the word for heart is one we recognize, cardia, like cardiac arrest. The word for "pure" shows up in Matt 23:26, Matt 27:59, and also Luke 11:41. It seems to represent a ritualistic cleanliness. The heart is washed clean, like Jesus washed the feet of the apostles.
9. Peacemakers: εἰρηνοποιοί interestingly, this doesn't appear anywhere else in the New Testament.
10-12 Persecuted δεδιωγμένοι It shows up in the next three verses, and the later in the chapter in verse 44. It is also in Matt 10:23, and Matt 23:34. Each time, Jesus is warning the apostles that they will be persecuted. I guess it is clear the Jesus saw persecution in the apostles' future and wanted to give them solace in advance.


I hope this was helpful. I think I gained a couple of insights from it.