This Sunday we begin our series on Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” by taking a look at the Beatitudes, recorded in Matthew 5:3-12. There is no way to do this passage justice in a 20-30 minute sermon. So we are encouraging the congregation to spend some time in personal Bible Study throughout the week, looking at these. Each week we will post some additional material that may not be covered in the sermon for folks to study and explore on their own. This week we ask you to take some time and look at Jesus’ life and ministry and notice examples of the beatitudes at work.
No good leader will ask his followers to do what he himself is unwilling to do. Looking at Jesus’ life and ministry, surely we will find examples of these Beatitudes at work. But you don’t have to follow this line of questioning very long before you find yourself at the foot of the cross.
Was Jesus poor in spirit? If someone is under so much stress that they literally sweat blood, I’d say they’re overwhelmed and desperate.
Did Jesus mourn? Crying out, “Why have you forsaken me?” sure sounds like grieving a loss. Even if Jesus is simply quoting Psalm 22:1, he’s quoting it because he is taking every curse on himself. He is bearing the full brokenness of the world. He is, on the cross, experiencing every grief we’ve ever felt, including David’s.
Was Jesus meek? As we said before, a guy hanging on a cross is not forcing anyone to do anything. And yet, “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32).
Did Jesus hunger and thirst after righteousness? If righteousness, in this context, means living out the Kingdom life, Jesus was fulfilling his unique role in the kingdom. Moreover, this role he is fulfilling on the cross is what opens up the possibility of righteousness to all of us. So, yes, Jesus desired righteousness enough to die for it.
Was Jesus merciful? In the extreme. He didn’t just extend mercy in the abstract to everyone far away. He extended mercy to the very people who put him on the cross. Refusing to “other” them, he cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).
Did Jesus have a clean heart? Absolutely. That’s the only reason his sacrifice was accepted (Leviticus 1:3).
Was Jesus making peace? “For God was pleased . . . through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:20).
Was Jesus persecuted? The cross was the ultimate act of the world rejecting him. “Though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:10-11).
We are citizens of the Kingdom. And if the Beatitudes are a portrait of our King, then the final version shows him hanging on a cross. Brush stroke by brush stroke, they show us who our Master is, and who we are called to be. Some strokes are beautiful, some are melancholy. In the end, what they all say is,
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). It is the ultimate reversal that the way of blessing is the way to the cross. But for those with eyes to see, the picture of the Beatitudes is a portrait of the Way of life. For those with eyes to see, the picture of the Beatitudes is a portrait of the Way of life.