Blessed By Beatitudes

Finding the divine presence in the ordinary

Whether approached from an inspirational viewpoint or a theological one, the Beatitudes are the paragon of the “Sermon on the Mount” found in the gospel of Matthew.

The word beatitude is Latin and means blessings. It is translated from the Greek makarios which can also be translated as “fortunate” or even “happy”.

Dallas Williard — in his famous Divine Conspiracy — offers even further nuance:

Blessing is synonymous with divine presence.

The Beatitudes

The list of qualities Jesus called blessed are:

1. The poor in spirit

2. The sorrowing

3. The humble

4. Those seeking righteousness

5. The merciful

6. The pure in heart

7. The peaceable

8. The martyred

We concentrate on these qualities, maybe considering how we can strive to attain them to be a better person, like:

• “7 Ways to Be Successful”
• “5 Habits That Will Make You Happy”
• “8 ways to Get in Good with God”

Of course, we know that it’s unlikely that Jesus sat down and, in one big long TED talk, gave the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew wanted to be sure to include all the sayings of Jesus, so he probably used a discourse as a literary device to do that. There were five such discourses in his gospel.

Most of the time in this discourse, Jesus was quoting from or referring to the Hebrew scriptures. Lots of these quotes come from Isaiah, or Psalms, and are about the Kingdom of God and its restoration. A large number of his audience were Jewish, so they would have been familiar with the quotations, but according to Matthew 4:25, there people from all over, so Matthew may have been pointing out that all the people of the earth were listening to Jesus, and his message was about everyone.

I’m going to assume then that it includes us now. As humans, if in no other way.

After all, most of us know how it feels to have these qualities.

No matter how hard you try to have it all together, sometimes you’re poor in spirit.

We all mourn.

Even the most rigid judge sometimes shows mercy, and hardened hearts can wish for a more peaceful world.

So, we’re all blessed.

We already have these qualities somewhere in us. But do we really want them, or do we just think we should, since Jesus says they are blessed states of being?

Because blessings are never about the individual. We tend to think of blessings as being such things as a good life, or material gain, or our health.

The problem with that view is it makes them just about us, and blessings never are. Nothing Jesus taught was meant to be done alone.

And these aren’t really qualities that you’d practice to be cool, or respected, or successful anyway.

These qualities actually seem to make you kind of ordinary.

That doesn’t sound particularly “fortunate” or “happy”.

So, the question becomes not, will we accomplish them, but will we allow them to exist in us? Will we recognize them as the blessing they are?

How do we do ordinary well?

Perhaps by recognizing our way of doing things is not the only way, or even the best way.

Perhaps by being able to feel our human emotions without shame.

Perhaps by being willing to say, “I don’t know.”

Perhaps by listening instead of fixing, because fixing is a task you complete and then move on. Listening is an ongoing effort to understand someone else’s experience, in order to see what is whole in them.

And then forgiving them the broken parts that can remind you too much of your own failings.

Perhaps it’s recognizing that what is good in the world is just as true as what is bad, so that we don’t allow ourselves to become cynical or overburdened with grief.

But continuing to work to make the good grow, and mitigating, as much as we can, the suffering caused by evil.

Not everyone will like you for this. That’s how you know you’re being a blessing.

And yet, you still aren’t done. You don’t get to go home smug, knowing you’ve done your blessed best.

Remember what I said about blessings not being about the individual?

We must also recognize and acknowledge these qualities in others. We have to let them bless us too.

Oddly, that can be the hardest part, and yet it’s doing that part that helps us see how to become more like a blessing ourselves.

It seems like that’s how the kingdom of God works. It’s is always circular; to give up yourself is to gain yourself, to die is to live, to be the servant, to be the lowly, is to be first.

Once we can understand how this is true, happy are we, that is, blessed.

Because that is where we find the presence of God most active and alive; visible to our ordinary eyes.