“If you want the best view…”

Some of you have asked me how many miles we walked on our trip to the National Parks in Utah this summer. So, I added them up – 103.5 according to my phone. It is not that I love to walk long distances, it’s not that I like for my feet to hurt or my muscles to ache. It isn’t that I like huffing and puffing as we climb switchbacks. It that when I pause, I can see farther…every time…and I am ready to keep going, because for the best view, that’s what you have to do.

I sort of think of the Beatitudes as switchbacks on the journey of discipleship. Jesus sees the crowd is gathered and sits down near the top of the hillside near the Sea of Galilee to teach. It happened over and over again throughout his ministry, but no one took minutes or notes, so what we have in Matthew is labeled Sermon on the Mount, and in Luke is labeled Sermon on the Plain. If we were to name it today, we would probably call it the Greatest Hits Album.

Matthew’s Gospel was written near the end of the 1st Century, about 70 years after Jesus’ ministry. We can see that Matthew and Luke’s writers both had Mark as a main source and that they also both had another gospel that we no longer have, we call it Q, and we can divide the content of Matthew and Luke into information they got from Mark (because we have Mark), information they got from Q (because it is so similar in Matthew and Luke), and other information that they had from other sources. John’s gospel was the last of the four Gospels to be written.

Matthew’s purpose in writing is to help Christians who came from a Jewish background to see the connection between their Scripture, our Old Testament, and Jesus. So, the Gospel of Matthew is organized around 5 sections of Jesus’ teachings about the Kingdom of God. The Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5-7, is the first teaching section. And the Scripture that we read today, at the beginning of the Sermon, is known as the Beatitudes.

It’s a series of 8 or 9 switchbacks, depending on whether you group the last 2 together or count them separately. When we climb these switchbacks, they take us to a very different view – one author described it as a view of eternity. Dr. Stanley Saunders, an Old Testament professor at Columbia Theological, says that “The Beatitudes take us into a different world, with different assumptions, values, and practices…. The Beatitudes do not portray ‘pie-in-the-sky by-and-by,’ but provide a realistic picture of the nature and character of God’s reign, with all its attendant risks and rewards.” The Beatitudes invite us to see our lives from God’s perspective and consider what kind of community God envisions we could be.

Blessed are those who… notice that Jesus didn’t say “Blessed is he who…” Could have. Didn’t. Jesus said, blessed are those who…plural. We are not meant to climb these switchbacks alone. Not every person will experience every switchback in their own life, but we all experience blessing as we hike every switchback together.

Blessed are…Makarios in Greek. Today, we have lots of ways we use the word “bless.” If someone sneezes we say – bless you. If something unfortunate happens we say sympathetically – bless. If someone does something particularly foolish we “bless their heart.” Webster’s dictionary lists 7 meanings for bless,

The first 3 are fairly similar in meaning: to hallow or consecrate something or someone, like to bless a marriage. Or to pray for God to care for someone or something. Or to mark someone with a cross. The next 2 are very different from the first 3: to bless God is to praise or glorify God and bless can also be a way to say that we approve of or are speaking well of another person. We often think of being blessed as receiving prosperity or happiness, or as being endowed with an ability like the athletes at the Olympics are blessed with talent, but it can also mean to protect someone we could “bless them from injury”.

None of those definitions are what Jesus meant when he said “Blessed are those…” As the crowd sat listening, they knew that each of these blessings came from Scripture – from the Old Testament. And in Hebrew there are 2 words for blessing – barakah, which is used to say “this will be a blessing” – this is going to bring good or happiness, “he will be a blessing” – he is going to do good things, and ashrey – which means “the good life”.

Those who make their way along these switchbacks have the good life, they have an inner joy that is untouchable by the circumstances around them. They know a fellowship with God that is not strained by the strains of life. They have experienced God’s covenantal promise that “I shall be their God, and they shall be my people.”

Because they are poor in spirit. They have gotten quiet and let the reality “I am a sinner” soak in.

Because they have mourned. They have experienced pain that has weighed on them in a way that they know brokenness, that this world is not
the way we want, or God wants. And they have grieved over it.

Because they are meeked, remember it doesn’t mean shy…a horse is meeked, it means to come under the authority of…Because they obey God, they will be the heirs that experience God’s kingdom on earth.

Because they long for righteousness, they will be satisfied because their longing is the same as God’s longing, and God’s Will will be done.

Because they forgive mercifully, they will be forgiven.

Because their hearts are purely focused on God, and they have no greater priority or other loyalties, they will see God.

Because they make peace, the image of God in them will be evident and people will see that they are God’s children.

Because they are willing to do what is right and stand up for what is right and to be recognized as disciples of Jesus no matter the cost, they will experience the kingdom of God.

It is not an easy climb, and it’s not a solo climb. Each switchback is challenging and only ascendable as a community, but the views are spectacular. No one else can describe them for you. You really have to experience it for yourself.