Transcription
The sermons on the mount, it’s pretty deep stuff. It’s not the kind of thing that you can’t sit and read and not have move in you. Blessed are the, blessed are.
It all begins in an interesting way. Jesus sees the crowds gathering, starting to listen, starting to follow. And then he goes up on a mountain and he sits down.
Now we don’t know what all up to this point has intrigued the crowd, so to speak. But instead of taking the whole crowd with him up the mountain, he takes just the disciples. He takes them up to teach and speak to them.
Now in those first two verses, Jesus says quite a lot. And if you’re thinking, but he doesn’t say anything. It’s what he speaks with his mind and his body.
First of all, going up to a mountain and teaching, you might be thinking about Moses going up and getting the 10 commandments. There’s no doubt that Jesus doesn’t think about this when he does it. Then he sits down.
Now you might be thinking, of course he sits down. He’s been walking everywhere. Why wouldn’t he sit? No, no.
He is a rabbi. He is a teacher. And when he sits down, everybody else sits down.
He’s not going to sit down and just kind of watch the world. No, he sits down to teach. He’s going to teach his disciples, his followers, what all he needs to give them.
In a lot of ways, he’s sitting down is like a king sitting at court or a judge sitting down. Or like when your teacher stands up in front of everybody, but it’s a little different because teachers don’t sit and teach from sitting. But the things that Jesus has to talk about aren’t simple things.
And part of what he does leading up to this shows how deep and in-depth his conversation is going to be. When Matthew chooses his words, when Jesus opens his mouth, that’s a common Greek phrase for he is going to teach. He’s going to instruct.
He’s going to tell them and us how we are to be his people. And so his mouth is open. And the disciples’ ears are ready.
And what does Jesus say? Well, first of all, he doesn’t pull any punches, does he? Blessed are the. Blessed are the. And every time he lists out in those verses, he lists out something that is a struggle.
Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the. Every statement Jesus makes has a point and a counterpoint.
Blessed are the. And then they will be blessed. But there’s an issue.
And depending on which translation you’re reading, you’re either reading happy or blessed. You’re either happy or blessed. And I wish I could bore you with the conversation about how biblical scholars argue left and right about which it is.
And to the most part, it doesn’t matter because what matters is where that blessing or where that happiness we have as a result of these things comes from. And no matter what the word makarios is translated as, happy or blessed, it is rooted that happiness. It is rooted that joy.
It is rooted that being blessed in one thing only, and that is in God. When you are blessed and the word is makarios, that blessing comes directly from God. When you are happy or joyful and the word is makarios, that word isn’t just happy.
I got the bears into the playoffs for the first time in a while. Well, guess what? That happiness is gone because the season’s over. But the happiness we’re talking about is happiness rooted in what God is, what God is doing, and what God has done for us.
It’s not passing. It is a showing of divine favor for all those going through tough times. When you go through being poor in spirit, being meek, being one who is being reviled for the sake of Christ, you are blessed.
You are blessed in these different and difficult times. Now, we are familiar with that common story about footprints in the sand. You’re walking along a beach and you see behind you two sets of footprints and you realize you’re walking with Jesus and you say, you know, Jesus, it’s great, you’ve been with me all this time, but what about those times I only saw one set of footprints? What’s always the response? Those were the times I carried you.
The reality is every single one of these blessings is like that conversation. All of these difficulties that result in being blessed are moments where God has stood beside us. Quinn, think about this.
You will have a long and happy life and guess what? God will bless you, but God will bless you because you are God’s, not because of the things you’re going through, but because of God’s relationship with you. I used to know a guy in college who felt he had to go through some sort of Picasso or Van Gogh sort of experience with mental illness to be a good artist, but this isn’t it. We shouldn’t be going through trials in order to see that we are blessed by God.
We should know that when we go through a trial, God will bless us. God is blessing us continually, continually walking beside us no matter what. God will be with us through the deep and the dark, through the happy and the blessed, all of it, all the day, every day.
God is with us and we should always remember the rhyming of Jesus. Blessed are you when you experience and go through these things because God is with you. Blessed are you because God has looked upon you and cared for you through these dark times.
Blessed are you as you live and serve God. Blessed are you. Brothers and sisters, remember no matter what, no matter how difficult, how cold, how snowy, how difficult life can be, know that you are blessed, that you are being blessed and your blessedness, your joy will always be rooted in him who always gives joy, who always looks after you and will be with you always.
And now let us respond.