Hi everyone. Welcome back to daily gospel
exegesis. Today, we have a really
important passage to look at and there's a lot to say about this
one so we'll get straight into it.
We're looking today at Matthew chapter 5 verses 1 to 12.
Seeing the crowds. Jesus went up the hill, there,
he sat down and was joined by his disciples.
Then he began to speak. This is what he taught them.
How happy are the poor in spirit?
Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Happy the gentle they shall have
the Earth for their heritage. Happy are those who mourn?
They shall be comforted. Happy.
Those who hunger and thirst for what is right?
They shall be satisfied. Happy the merciful they shall
have mercy shown to them. Happy the pure in heart.
They shall see God. Happy the peacemakers they shall
be called sons of God. Happy?
Those who are persecuted in the cause of right.
Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happy, are you when people abuse
you, and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you
on my account rejoice, and be glad for your reward will be
great in heaven. This Is How They persecuted the
prophets before you. So really, really important
passage one. That's probably familiar to many
of you and there's lots of different angles that we can
approach this from and there's lots of really interesting
things about this. Passage.
So firstly, what's the context we're in Matthew Chapter 5 and
in chapters 1 to 4, he's already begun his ministry in Galilee.
He's been teaching in various synagogues, particularly in
chapter 4 and Performing. Lots of local healings by this
time, his gathered followers from All over Israel.
The section we have here at the start of chapter 5, begins The
Sermon on the Mount, which goes for three chapters.
We're looking today at What's called the introduction to The
Sermon, on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is one
of five discourses in the gospel of Matthew.
This is the first one. And we need to make a few
comments about The Sermon on the Mount and what it's all about.
If you read chapters 5 to 7 and I do recommend reading it in one
block. If you can, the basic point of
The Sermon on the Mount is, he's telling his followers.
What it means to live under God's reign.
He's going to teach his disciples what it means to have
God as their father. What it means to have Jesus as
their Lord and Master. He's going to teach them what it
means to love one another, and he's going to teach them how to
love others, even their enemies. So he's telling his disciples
what their standard of life should be his teaching them and
it's a very high standard as we know he says be perfect.
Just as your heavenly father is perfect.
That's later in chapter 5. But we shouldn't just say The
Sermon on the Mount is just a discourse on how to live or
about ethics or something. Jesus also, says, some things
here that carry profound claims about his own identity and
authority. And we'll look at these in the
coming days as we move through chapters five to seven.
There's a lot we could say about the structure of the sermon.
Some have suggested that it's deliberately structured on the
three pillars of Judaism, which are the Torah worship and Good
Deeds. They're To be the three
Essentials of the faith. So some have said, maybe it's
deliberately been done so that chapter 5 is all about the
Torah. Chapter 6 is all about worship
and chapter 7 is all about Good Deeds.
That's one possibility. Certainly the Our father is
Central, that's right in the middle of The Sermon on the
Mount. And this is a quote from one
Bible scholar. Thus The Sermon on the Mount
takes its readers along a way that leads them from God's
radical demands into the interior of Faith where they
experience the father's nearness in prayer, then it leads them
back into the Praxis of renouncing possessions and of
love. And with the Sermon on the
Mount. It's possible that this didn't
all happen on the one occasion. Maybe Jesus said these things at
different times in his ministry, and Matthew has collected them
and put them all at the same point because they're about a
similar thing. And in that sense, maybe Matthew
is deliberately crafting a kingdom, Manifesto of all the
great things Jesus says about the Kingdom, so that Matthews
readers will have it all in one place that's possible.
Although we shouldn't rule out that Jesus may have said all of
this. In one go and certainly that's
quite possible. So verse 1, we're starting at
today, it says, seeing the crowds so by now, we know that
there's these huge crowds following Jesus, he went up the
hill or more literally Mountain. That's what it says there.
So why would he go up a mountain?
Probably because he plans to teach the crowds and we know
that the mountains in Galilee are really good for amplifying
sound, you can stand at the top and people all the way down.
The bottom can hear your teaching with any.
Don't have to yell, you can go there today and try it with a
tour group and its really cool. One person gets up there and
says something quietly but everyone down the bottom of the
mountain can hear it, but there might be another reason why
Jesus went up the mountain and why Matthew highlights, the fact
that Jesus went up the mountain, perhaps it's to set up a
parallel with Moses. Remember, Moses goes up the
mountain to present the teachings or in fact to receive
the teachings of the old Covenant.
And now Jesus goes up the mountain here to announce the
teachings of the New Covenant. And in particular, the
Fulfillment of the Mosaic law. So Jesus is being presented as a
new Moses. That's certainly a possibility
but there is a key difference though between The Sermon on the
Mount and Moses going up the mountain which is that Jesus
Takes people with him up the mountain here, whereas Moses
went up by himself. But it is true that all
throughout the Old Testament, the phrase Moses went up.
The mountain is very common to when the Jews are reflecting on
when Moses received the Ten Commandments.
And so the same phrase is used here.
Jesus went up the mountain now, we're not sure exactly which
mountain it was. But there is a traditional site
of where Jesus did this sermon, it's called The Church of the
Beatitudes. That's where it's believed to
have occurred and you can go there today.
So Jesus goes up the mountain there, he sat down and was
joined by his disciples, so Jesus sits down and that's the
posture of a rabbi teaching. Now there is a bit of a question
here, about what's the audience of Jesus?
His disciples are, who is mentioned here, but we also know
that there's crowds following him and listening to him EC
intending this message for the crowd or for his disciples.
Certainly the content of what he says here would only really make
sense to disciples. So perhaps the best solution is
to say that the Sermon on the Mount is directed at the crowd,
but most of the crowd, are his disciples already.
They're one in the same or at least they want to be his
disciples. So there isn't really a conflict
there. Verse two, then he began to
speak, this is what he taught them or more literally and he
opened his mouth and taught them.
So we're going to hear quite a solemn.
Hear from Jesus and Jesus is going to preach in our passage
today. Verse 12. 12, what has come to
be known as the eight Beatitudes and the word Beatitudes needs a
bit of unpacking. Essentially it means blessings.
The word blessed which is or our lectionary translation, renders
it as happy the Greek word there is makarios Jesus says that you
are makarios. If this happens to you you are
makarios. If this happens to you
basically, happy is an okay translation but the basic
meaning is favored. It doesn't refer to a happy
positive emotional state. It's not an emotional thing,
makarios means being in a fortunate situation and it's the
same basic idea when the angel Gabriel appears to, Mary and
says, highly favored, you are all blessed you are.
It's the same sort of basic Jewish idea of having favor in
God's sight. Now, what about the word
Beatitudes? You've probably heard that word,
lots of times before and assume that it was just a label that
was attached to this particular sermon.
Actually, it was a key part of Jewish tradition, even before
Jesus. And in fact, other parts of the
ancient world had this word Beatitudes as well.
A beatitude was a way of speaking.
It was almost like a greeting and it particularly involved,
the form. Blessed is the one who does X.
If you ever had a teacher That was in that format was called a
beatitude we find that several times in the Psalms and then the
wisdom literature, if you've ever heard the Psalms proclaimed
that say something like blessed is the one who does God's
Commandments or blessed? Is the one who walks in the ways
of the Lord. That is a beatitude because it's
in the form of blessed is the one.
So to in the Jewish World, a beatitude either, commended
those who take a certain path in life or it promises future
consolations to those in a fictions.
Now we see both elements in what Jesus says here.
Jesus is going to teach his disciples about certain groups,
of people who are fortunate. And he's also going to tell us
why they're fortunate. So, these are Jesus Beatitudes.
Basically, the ones that he unpacks for his disciples.
Most Old Testament, texts refer to be attitudes as imparting
blessings in the present life. But there are some later ones
that focus on eschatological blessings where they promised.
Listen to the faithful who are afflicted, when God ultimately
vindicates, the just so we do have these promises about
blessed is the one who perseveres blessed is the one
who remains on Judgment Day. Some key texts here, which are
well worth looking at. Because these are probably in
the background of Jesus thinking here, tobert 13:14 and Jan,
Daniel 12:12. Both have this idea of people
receiving blessings at the end of time, if they persevere in
doing. His will.
What we're about to see is one of the hardest parts of the
Gospel of Matthew to interpret. There's so much that could be
said about it. You've probably heard lots of
sermons preached about it. Usually, you'll probably hear
sermons preached about spiritual senses of this text.
We want to discern the literal sense of the text, and that's
what our podcast is all about helping.
You understand what the author and what Jesus intended on the
most fundamental level? It's not an easy text to do that
for. So I'm going to do my best but
there might be some things that I don't get.
Quite right. On the most basic level in
general here. For each of the eight
Beatitudes, Jesus is teaching his disciples of the ones who
are truly blessed are not those who the world sees, as blessed
or even what conventional wisdom, or what the Pharisees
taught about. Who is blessed, he's saying that
all of those Notions that incorrect.
He's turning the world standards for happiness and blessedness
upside down. So on a fundamental level what
Jesus is teaching here is that those who are Ian is
disadvantaged by the world are actually in a very favorable
position. When his followers live by God's
standards, they will be in a truly fortunate state of life,
no matter what their circumstances may be.
Because they bring a glimmer of the joy and hope of the Heavenly
Kingdom into the afflictions of the present world.
So that's the overall, big picture of what we're going to
see here in the Beatitudes, that's the general meaning.
However there's also some specific promises to each of the
types of people. We can't ignore the promises
that Jesus gives. Perhaps the best way to
interpret, what we're about to see here is that all of the
promises in the coming verses refer to basically the same
thing, which is entering the kingdom of heaven and that is
certainly a key theme in the gospel of Matthew.
So all of eight Beatitudes, the reward is the same entering the
kingdom of heaven. Once we've established that
though, there's still a further question about the Beatitudes is
Jesus, promising them things in the future, or is he telling
them things that they already have?
In virtue of already being in the Kingdom of Heaven?
Is it a present tense thing or is he telling them?
What will they will receive on Judgement Day?
When the Kingdom of Heaven comes in its fullness.
So there's two options if he's referring to present things.
That his disciples are already experiencing because they're
already in the kingdom of God, then.
Jesus is saying here that they are already happy or blessed.
So when he says blessed are you he's just saying it.
Like it is your blessed already because you're already in the
kingdom of God but if he's referring to Future things,
they're going to inherit on Judgement Day.
When the kingdom of God comes in its fullness.
Then Jesus is telling his disciples that they should
consider themselves happy or blessed because of what they're
going to receive one day. He's telling them that
ultimately They will receive these amazing things and
therefore they should consider them.
Blessed that I think is the best interpretation that he's talking
about future promises mostly, because Jesus is mostly using
the word shell in these coming versus so that implies a future
fulfillment. That's not to say they can't
experience some of these promises in the present, but
it's mostly Jesus telling them what awaits them in the future
in the future Kingdom of Heaven. At the End of Time.
Verse 3, he His first one. How happy are the poor in
spirit? What does it mean to be poor in
spirit? Well, it probably means those
who recognize that they are powerless in and of themselves
and those who realize that God is the only one who can help
them. So they find their security in
the Lord rather than in material wealth.
Maybe that's meant to contrast with the Pharisees who are quite
self-sufficient, but that's the basic idea.
It's those who are who recognize their need for the Lord.
Now, Luke's version of this passage of this beatitude is he
just says, blessed are the poor now.
That has quite a different meaning from blessed, are the
poor in spirit. So many, many essays have been
written by biblical Scholars about, which is the right
version. Blessed are the poor and
blessed, the poor in spirit because they do have quite
different meanings. It's not Just a simple variation
in language, there's a question about which was the original,
which author wrote first and which, which of the author's
borrowed and modified, it it's not easy to solve may be part of
the solution here, is that in the Old Testament, the word poor
didn't just refer to those who in economic hardship, but it had
also come to refer to those who are part of the oppressed people
of God in general. So, we see that in some 30 Seven
in Isaiah, chapter 10 and in other places in Isaiah as well.
That would make sense. I think, because Matthew is
assuming his readers, know, the Old Testament, quite well.
So I think that's the best way of harmonizing.
The two is that, when Luke says, blessed are the poor, he doesn't
just mean economically poor. He has a broader notion of poor,
which basically corresponds to poor in spirit.
Now, of course it could be that Luke's version which is
sometimes called the sermon on the plain.
Maybe this is an entirely different speech and that is
quite possible because Jesus would have given similar
teachings on different occasions.
And in that case, we don't have a problem.
So blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom
of Heaven. Of course, the Kingdom of Heaven
is a key theme all through the gospel of Matthew.
And basically, it means it's where God's will on Heaven is
carried out on Earth. The Kingdom of Heaven, According
To Jesus begins during his own Ministry.
It continues afterwards through the work of the Holy Spirit, and
it will one day be consummated when God sets up, his final
Kingdom on Earth. So Jesus here, teaches that, the
poor in spirit will be part of this Kingdom of Heaven.
That's one group who gets to be in the Kingdom.
Now, we're about to see what we have is verse for most
translations of the Bible have verse 4 and 5 swapped around
compared to what we see in the lectionary.
I'm not sure. Sure why the lectionary has put
blessed, are the meek before? Happy are those who mourn?
Usually it's the other way around.
It could just be a typo in the lectionary so if you studying
the Bible, most Bibles will have happy are those who mourn next
but our lectionary has happy the gentle so we'll look at happy.
The gentle first. And another word for gentle is
Meek. Lots of discussion about
meekness. As I'm sure you've heard those
different explanations of meekness.
I think the best way to understand meekness is that it's
those who understand their place before God, and who do not
overstep their boundaries. It probably does have some sort
of relationship to anger and aggression.
The the meek of those who patiently wait on the Lord and
made their afflictions and they refrain from responding in
anger, or with Force against those who wronged them.
I do think that makes sense in context of other things.
Matthew says, in The Sermon, on the Mount here.
He does talk about what to do when you're Afflicted.
That's kind of what the whole thing is about.
So I think a good explanation here of meekness is those who
patiently wait on On the Lord rather than retaliating.
So, in other words, they rely on God, not their own strength to
set things, right? That is a Meek person.
Meekness is in the Bible, the meekest person according to the
Bible in the Old Testament is Moses.
It actually says, Moses was the meekest person on Earth.
That's in number 12, numbers 12 verse 3, and then Jesus himself.
Of course, says that he is Meek in 11:29.
This same basic teaching, Jesus is going to amplify shortly in
The Sermon on the Mount when he says turn the other cheek,
that's basically what it means to be meek is to not retaliate,
but to submit ourselves to On Happy the gentle or the meek for
they shall have the Earth for their Heritage or more
literally, they shall inherit the earth.
Now, this is a quote from Psalm 37:11.
In fact, it says pretty much this.
In Psalm 37, the meek shall inherit the earth.
Now in context of the psalm, the Earth there is about the
promised land. It's a promise that those who
are virtuous in the Old Testament and to wait on God, if
they're patient, They will receive the promised.
And Jesus here. Modifies that a bit to refer to
the Future coming of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.
So their hopes about the promised land Jesus says, that's
going to be fulfilled in a greater way in the, coming
Kingdom of Heaven. So, Jesus says that those who
are Meek and do not aggressively seek an honorable position, they
will inherit the Kingdom. That will be quite a radical
teaching since the conventional wisdom of the time.
If you think about it, was that those with the biggest and most
powerful Army would be those who inherit the earth, that was how
the Roman World worked. So Jesus turns that on his head
verse five, happy those who mourn.
Now that seems like an oxymoron. Happy those.
Who mourn morning. He refers particularly to the
Jewish conception of morning. And in particular, its thinking
of those who grieve over wickedness, like, Daniel and
Ezra in the Old Testament. They were said to, to mourn and
grieve over wickedness. Jesus says, happy those who
mourn they shall be comforted. So in context here, Jesus
basically saying that those who suffer and mourn, as a result of
wickedness will one day be comforted by God.
It doesn't mean that everyone who is sad will get to heaven.
Often you'll see this quoted at funerals.
Happy those who mourn. They will be.
Added. Perhaps there is an application
there on the spiritual level of the text, but on the literal
level. It's talking about those who
grieve over wickedness. So here Jesus is encouraging his
disciples to mourn about wickedness.
He's telling them that it's a good thing to do that and when
they do that, they should have hope that God will vindicate
them because they will be comforted verse 6.
Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right, or a
better translation there is for righteousness.
Now, is in the Jewish mind, meant following God's
Commandments. That's what righteousness was to
be a righteous man was to follow God's commandments.
So here Jesus is talking about those who hunger and thirst
which means to seek something with your whole heart.
So, just hunger and thirst for righteousness.
It means someone who is totally devoted to doing God's will.
Jesus says these people are happy and he says, they shall be
satisfied. So, those who long to see God's
will followed on Earth, will see it happen in the final kingdom
of heaven and this should be a question for all of us.
Do we long to follow God's Will and see it done on Earth and
interesting here. Jesus uses satisfied and that
sort of completes the Metaphor. He started about hunger and
thirst, they hunger and thirst, but they will be satisfied.
In the final Kingdom of Heaven verse 7, happy the merciful they
shall have mercy shown to them. Mercy is essentially showing
kindness to those in need and that, teaching comes up a few
times in the gospels. Remember Jesus often says things
like the measure you use will be the measure which is used for
you. All through the New Testament,
there's this idea that God will show mercy and forgiveness to us
only to the extent that we show mercy and forgiveness to others.
Same basic teaching here, happy the merciful they shall have
mercy shown to them. Perhaps Jesus here is
contrasting with the Pharisees because the Pharisees in the
other Jewish leaders. Probably they weren't
particularly merciful and the implication would be that God
will not show Mercy to them. This eight, happy are the pure
in heart. Now when we hear the word heart,
we might think of emotions. But in the Bible heart was the
seat of reason and will, as well as the emotions it was
considered to be the deepest part of man, and we might almost
equivocate it to brain today or mind.
So this teaching is not about having nice emotions.
Happy the pure in heart doesn't mean being a nice person.
Jesus teaching here is Is about those who have a pure undivided
dedication to following God. Their whole reason will and
emotions dedicated to God with the out Mixed motives, this is
an important reminder for Jesus disciples that truly entering
God's promises requires, not only external Purity, which is
what the temple rules said. But Jesus reminds them that
there's also a requirement to have an internal disposition of
a pure heart and that is taught in Psalm 23.
Versus 325 happy. The pure in heart for they shall
see God. What does it mean to see God?
This is almost certainly a reference to this state of
being, which Catholic theology calls the beatific vision.
Those who have purify themselves from all sin according to
Catholic teaching will enter the glory of heaven and they will
behold God as he is revelation, 22 verse 4 and it says here,
they shall see God. And I think that's what it
means. Is that one day they'll get to
behold God. And that's something we have to
look forward to if we remain pure in heart, if we remain
undivided dedication to God. Verse 9, happy the peacemakers.
So people who encourage peace rather than conflict, that's who
Jesus is thinking of keep in mind that for the Jews piece,
didn't just mean the absence of hostility for the Jews piece.
Was almost a way of life that you wanted to strive for it.
Shalom, it referred to well-being and rightly ordered
personal relationships and society.
When the Jews dwelled in peace in society, it was considered to
be the ultimate shell on. So Jesus here.
He is probably telling his disciples to make peace in their
life as far as they can, in their own circles.
It's probably not a political kind of piece that he's thinking
of here. And we're all called to do that.
It's hard, isn't it to make peace with everyone in our
lives, but that's the clear teaching of Jesus.
Here, happy or blessed are those who make peace?
They shall be called sons of God.
Now, that will be groundbreaking, we can talk more
about sons of God as we go through The Sermon on the Mount,
but it implies deep intimacy with the father and that was a
very radical concept for the Jews.
They did not consider themselves to literally be God's Sons, but
Jesus here serves That if you follow his Commandments then in
a sense you can become his son and it's an adopted son ship
where God chooses to bring people into his family and to
partake of his kingdom out of God's Own.
Love he chooses to adopt sons and daughters, and that's an
incredible thing, that's well worth reflecting on.
So here Jesus says, the peacemakers will get to be sons
of God, but as we go through The Sermon on the Mount will see
that other people can also be added to the category of Of sons
of God verse 10. Happy those who are persecuted
in the cause of, right? Or literally, for righteousness
sake. So Jesus here is talking about
people who are persecuted for following God's will Jesus knows
that. Many of his followers are going
to be heavily persecuted by the Jewish authorities in the coming
years. And of course, we see that in
the book of Acts, he knows that that's coming for them.
So that's why he tells them blessed, are you when you are
persecuted for righteousness, His sake.
Now, that might seem counterintuitive.
Why would that make you happy or blessed to be persecuted?
Well, well, Jesus says, theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and
probably that means those who persecute them won't get into
the kingdom. Jesus.
Now develops this last beatitude a bit more in verse 11.
He says, happy are you when people abuse you and persecute
you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my
account. This is pretty similar to the
previous verse except now he directs it directly at his
Apostles. Notice he's using the word you
now rather than they happy. Are you.
So, maybe at this point, he's turned to his closest followers
who were nearby as he says these words perhaps.
Jesus tells his followers here that when they're persecuted for
following him and he knows that they're going to be they should
be encouraged rather than disappointed.
And he tells them a great reward is waiting for them.
When they're persecuted for his sake, notice how extravagant and
radical this claim is Jesus, explicitly Ashok Associates
being persecuted for righteousness sake, with being
persecuted, for my sake. So, Jesus, he says that
obedience to God's law. And righteousness now means
obedience to Christ himself other.
Rabbis at that time, would never say anything like that.
They would encourage persecution for the sake of God or the Torah
Jesus. He says they're going to be
persecuted because of him. Jesus is claiming an authority
that no Prophet or Rabbi in Israel would ever claim to
possess and it's actually a Blasphemous claim.
If he's not really the son of God, he's saying that you're
blessed to be persecuted for my sake.
And this underscores how the Beatitudes that we've been
looking at and not merely ethical principles, there were
about Jesus, they statements about the unique authority of
Jesus and what it means for Christians to orient their lives
around him. So living the Beatitudes in a
sense is actually imitating. Christ's life.
Jesus was persecuted. His humble all the things that
are said here. Do apply to Jesus as our model
and we get to share in his sufferings and persecution verse
12. The final verse rejoice and be
glad for your reward will be great in heaven.
So this is attached to the previous one.
About those who are persecuted for his sake, notice the future
tense here, your reward will be great in heaven.
No. Jesus tells his followers that
when persecution comes on his account and they should Rejoice
since they have a reward in heaven.
Now this verse might imply possibly because he says your
reward will be great in heaven. Perhaps that implies that some
people are going to have more rewards than others in heaven.
That's a legitimate interpretation and Catholic
teaching although it's not explicit, the it does tend to
lend tend to lean in that direction that there are
different Levels of reward. That's not the only
interpretation of this passage though.
Because you could just say your reward in heaven will be getting
into heaven. That is the reward that not
everyone gets Jesus continued. Is This Is How They persecuted
the prophets before you, if, you know, your Bible all throughout
Jewish history. Profits appeared in Israel who
are doing God's will? However, their message was
usually rejected by the Jewish leadership and they were
persecuted and sometimes killed as a result.
Jesus, now tells his followers that they're going to face a
similar situation, they're going to follow God's Will and they're
going to try to Proclaim his truth and particularly they're
going to Proclaim that. Jesus is the Messiah, but the
Jewish leadership is going to reject them and persecute them
in a similar way, to the way the Jewish leadership has done to
the prophets in the past. So those are the eight
Beatitudes as you can see. There's a lot in them though, so
much that could be said about them.
But I think that gives you a decent sense of what is going on
in the literal sense. In terms of it being promises
about the future Kingdom of Heaven.
Now there's still a future question here that Scholars
raise about what's the point in Jesus saying this when he's
speaking to the crowd? You see encouraging them by
saying that they're already blessed.
That's one interpretation. He's saying that this is you,
you're you're in the good books, you're being blessed or is he
telling the crowd what they need to do in order to become
blessed? So some Scholars really think
that we shouldn't say that Jesus would be is being prescriptive
here. He's not saying this is what you
should be like rather what he's doing is he's just being
descriptive, so he's making a contrast.
Between his true disciples and he's describing what his true
disciples are like already and his contrasting.
That with the self-righteousness of the Pharisees that I think is
a reasonable interpretation. Because a lot of The Sermon on
the Mount is contrasting false righteousness with true
righteousness, still though, even if we're saying, if we want
to say that Jesus is being descriptive, telling it like it
is at his present time rather than telling them what they have
to do. Even if If we go with that, the
message for us is still the same.
The message for us is that for us to get into the kingdom of
heaven, we need to be like, what Jesus is describing at that
particular time. So the message for us is the
same regardless. Now The Sermon on the Mount
continues over the next couple of chapters and we're look at
that in the coming days as part of the weekday cycle.
So the next part will be read on Tuesday of week, 10 in ordinary
time. Now, as you can imagine, there's
a lots of places. Lots of really, really
interesting places in the catechism where the Beatitudes
get reference quite explicitly, there's sections in the
catechism about poverty of heart which is based on what we see
here. There's sections there about
Christine Beatitudes, about what it means to be pure in heart.
It gets summarizes part of the fifth commandment, and it's
linked to what Jesus says here about be a peacemaker.
And there's all sorts of really interesting ones, but in the
interest of Of time because I know this is a long episode.
I'll just read out paragraph 17 16 and 17 17, which is all about
this passage. It's a commentary on the
Beatitudes. So here's what the Catholic
Church teaches about the Beatitudes that we've heard
today, the Beatitudes are the Heart of Jesus preaching.
They take up the promises made to the chosen people since
Abraham. The Beatitudes fulfill the
Promises by ordering them no longer merely to the possession
of a territory. But to the kingdom of heaven,
and then it goes on to list all the Beatitudes, and then it
finishes by saying the Beatitudes depict, the
countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity.
They express the vocation of the faithful associated with the
glory of his passion. And Resurrection, they shed
light on the actions and attitudes characteristic of the
Christian Life. They are the paradoxical
promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations.
They proclaim the blessings. Has and rewards already secured
however dimly for Christ's disciples.
They have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the
saints. So that's paragraph. 17, 16 and
17 17. I'll include all the paragraphs
and they're well worth reading. I'll include those in the show
notes. Hopefully you learned something
new today I certainly did as I Was preparing this there's a lot
of richness in the entire Sermon on the Mount.
If you think there's people in your life, who would benefit
from hearing this exegesis of the literal sense of the
Beatitudes, then please share it with them.
I would love it. If you could do that more and
more people could hear about the podcast.
Thank you. And we'll continue tomorrow.