Matthew 5: 1-12

Matthew in the Margins…Epiphany 4…Revised 2020  

(It may be helpful to re-read LK’s ‘Beatitudes’ before launching into MT’s.) 

William Barclay’s comment ad loc., ‘the beatitudes are not pious hopes of what shall be, but congratulations on what is’, goes to the heart of the matter. It reflects Jesus’ consistent teaching that the Kingdom of God (‘Heaven’ in MT), is now on earth, ‘as it is in Heaven’! Not unlike the Celtic approach of the line between heaven & earth being a very thin one indeed. ‘It’s now or never’! God rules right now among those named ‘blessed’ by Jesus.

Do we need to unveil both our hearts & eyes to the world’s increasingly growing numbers of those who are poor in this world’s goods, rather than simply (?) poor in Spirit. Can we join the ranks of those Jesus calls ‘Blessed’ - in either sense - except by showing compassion to them? Compassion remains meaningless until it’s put into practice for someone.

Maybe we need to become mourners, not just at physical deaths, but the death of values that God in Jesus represents? Is talk of ‘closure’ (increasingly common today) really a form of escapism from death’s realities? What does this passage have to offer those who are spiritually dead although physically living?

Let’s not ever preach a Jesus who is ‘meek’ let alone mild! What a travesty! Can we make the earth more worth ‘inheriting’ by living out Jesus’ gentleness?

Are we hungry enough to do what’s right in God’s eyes & not simply mourn the lack of righteousness among us? (N.B. LK’s alternative form, also Thomas 54 & 69:2.) Could the old, discredited term, ‘God of the Gaps’ take on a new lease of life when we fill gaps, including stomachs? What do we need to do to go beyond mere pity to mercy & compassion?

How do we recognise a heart that’s ‘cleansed’ today? Is ‘cleansed’ a term that comes to mind about anyone round us, churched or not? Are we ourselves cleansed in heart, & able to see God clearly enough, to preach Him?

Can we break the cycle of talking, talking, always talking about peace by actually making it happen through living it? Let’s make ourselves worth persecuting & reviling by standing for God as revealed in Jesus!
Brian

Afterthought: Barclay gives another insight for our preaching when he sums up these Beatitudes as, ‘Jesus’ teaching distilled’. However we approach this passage, reflecting that the Beatitudes are ‘now’ as well as ‘then’ things, will serve us & our hearers well.