Title: Mount Beatitudes/Matthew 5:1-12
Contents The Great Pilgrimage of Life (10) The Beatitudes/Mt 5:1-12
In the Jewish Talmud, there is a story of a businessman who worked hard in search of happiness and earned a lot of money and social status, but he did not feel happy, and one day he fell ill with a serious illness. The children made every effort to cure their father's illness, but it was only getting worse. One day, when he went to the rabbi and asked for help, he said, "Then find someone who lives with true happiness - someone who confesses that I am really happy - borrow his coat and put it on his father." His children have traveled all over the world and met all kinds of people, but it has not been easy to find someone who confesses that they are really happy. But one evening, while visiting a monastery in the mountains, a monk in a cave said, “God, thank you for a happy day today. I'm really happy. Now I will go to rest.” I hear a voice praying. He was so happy that he went into the cave and found that he had nothing on his coat. I don't know if their father was cured, but the lessons these children learned must have been clear. “Happiness is not possession”.
Today is Chinese New Year. Traditionally, it is the season of wishing for happiness for family and neighbors. But on this day, we wish each other happiness by saying “happy,” but how many people really ask what happiness is? Today's text is a verse that shows Jesus' view of happiness. Today we will go to the Beatitudes of Galilee, where Jesus taught mankind the lesson of true happiness. About 10 km from Capernaum, in the northwest of Galilee, the Beatitudes and the Beatitudes Church are located. According to tradition, this place where the Beatitudes Memorial Church was built is where a Byzantine church was originally built around the 5th century. It is a church hall. When you enter the church, you can see the 8 blessings of the Bible verses in Latin on the octagonal windows facing the 8 directions on the vaulted ceiling. A place where the picturesque Sea of Galilee stretches out through the cracks in the windows, and according to church tradition, this is the place where Jesus taught the lesson of the eight blessings.
According to the original text, these eight blessings begin with the words “blessed are you”. Jesus spoke the essence of true happiness to His disciples and mankind. Verse 1 says that when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up to a mountain and sat down and began to speak. But Jesus does not begin to teach until his followers come to him. This lesson of happiness is for everyone, but above all, it contains the essence of true happiness that disciples should seek. Today, through these 8 blessings, we will find out what is the essence of true happiness that we as disciples of the Lord will seek. The essence of true happiness - what is it?
1. True happiness is in a state of mind.
What word does the first blessing of the 8 blessings begin? This is verse 3. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” However, the first blessing does not focus on the state of the heart, that is, the heart. The second mourning is the state of the heart, the third meekness is the state of the heart, and the fourth is hunger and thirst for righteousness. It is a state of mind, and isn't the fifth compassion also a state of mind? How does the sixth blessing begin? He says, “Blessed are the pure in heart.” It is the fact that happiness does not depend on external conditions, that is, the environment. Happiness depends on making up your mind, governing your mind. We live every day in the hope that if we earn a little more money, if we get a little bigger house, we'll be happy if we get a little bit more prosperous. But Jesus is saying that happiness is in the heart and not dependent on external circumstances.
2. True happiness is being in a right relationship with God.
As I have already said, the eight blessings begin with the word ‘blessed are you’. The Greek word for "makarios/makarioi". The English translation of this word is "blessed". Not "happy". The original English word "happy/happiness" comes from an Old Word word meaning "happen". But happiness is not like an accidental windfall. Happiness is "blessing". Interestingly, the word blessing in English comes from the word "bleed/bleeding", which means blood sacrifice. Why did the priests in the Old Testament offer sacrifices with blood? Isn't life about building a right relationship with God? Why did Jesus shed His blood on the cross to give His body? It is to forgive our sins and bring us into a right relationship with God. “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission,” the Bible teaches.
The 8 blessings are full of virtues of the heart that teach this right relationship with God. <The poor in spirit> He is a person who realizes the spiritual poverty that he cannot live without depending on God. <The one who mourns> is a person who reflects on his inner self from God's perspective, grieves for his sins and repents. The <meek> are those who are governed by God. <Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness> are those who rejoice and satisfy only the values and standards of God. Let's read this passage as a message from Eugene Peterson. “Blessed are you who are standing on the edge of the cliff. The smaller you are, the greater God and His rule are. (Blessed 1)/Blessed are you who feel that you have lost the most precious thing. Only then can you be embraced in the arms of the most precious person. (2nd Blessing)/Blessed are those who have an appetite for God. He is the best food and drink you will ever taste (Blessed 4).” Therefore, true happiness is to give up sinful self, rely on God as the master of your life, and enjoy true satisfaction there.
3. True happiness is to be in the right relationship with your neighbors.
I think the most important focus of Jesus' eight blessings is the right relationship with God. But Jesus instructs us not to forget the right relationship with our neighbors in the eight beatitudes. It's like the greatest commandment of the Bible. What is the greatest commandment? Isn't it <to love the Lord God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself>? Then, isn't happiness ultimately about loving God and loving neighbors as God expects? So now, in the 5th blessing, Jesus teaches us to be “merciful” to our neighbors, and in the 7th blessing, he teaches us to be “peacemakers”. Let's read this passage again with Eugene Peterson's message. “(5 blessings) Blessed are you who take care of others. The moment you take care of yourself with such care, you are also taken care of. (7 Blessings) Blessed are you who show cooperation instead of competing or quarreling. Then you will know who you really are and where you are in the house of God.”
That's right. Jesus showed that true happiness lies not in pursuing one's own selfish goals, but in living with neighbors and serving them one step further. Jewish philosopher Martin Buber says that this kind of life is a relationship between <me and you>, not <me and it>. It means that there is true happiness in a life that considers neighbors through genuine personal communion. So the Puritans said, “If you want a happy day, get a haircut. If you want a week to be happy, travel. If you want to be happy for a month, move into a new house. If you want a happy year, get married. But if you want to be happy for the rest of your life, serve your neighbor.” Although Jesus laid down his life to serve mankind, was he not the one who lived a truly happy life in which he was able to make mankind happy and finally confess that it is finished? I think the poet Yun Dong-ju was the one who expressed the happy life of Jesus Christ more than anyone else. In his 'Cross' poem, he refers to Jesus as "the afflicted man/happy Jesus Christ." Serving comes with pain, but on the other side of the pain, happiness that the world cannot understand is promised.
We might consider this story an episode in a novel. But in the cold of this good day and holiday, can't you hear the sounds of ghosts running all over the land, in every street, every street, every house, even at this moment? Instead of “my coat,” “my money,” “my apartment,” “my securities,” “my stock,” “my insurance,” “my seat,” shouted. But what is Jesus talking about in today's 8 blessings? It's not in the coat, it's not in the money, it's not in the power, it's not in the position - so how does it come about? If we can confess <Lord Jesus> instead of <My cloak>, we will find the true happiness that awaits us there. Therefore, accept Jesus Christ, the Lord of true happiness, as Savior and Lord, hold on to Him and follow Him. May God Bless U!