The beatitudes show us the way

Christians around the world will be hearing some of the most memorable words from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount this weekend. The beatitudes are among the most often-quoted passages in the Bible.

 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me....” (Luke 5:1-10)

 

We can easily tend to think of the moral life as a series of “do not's.” After all, scripture is filled with examples like the Ten Commandments and the negative Golden Rule, “do to no one what you yourself dislike” (Tobit 4:15). However, the moral life is not meant to focus only on the negative. To do that means the goal of life is to stay out of trouble. Rather, the beautiful teachings of the Beatitudes invite us to direct our attention to what we are to become. That is, they lead us into a life modeled after the life and teachings of Christ. It is in weakness that God's strength is demonstrated; it is in poverty of spirit that true wealth is found. As like begets like, it is in living a life of purity of heart that we shall have the ability to see God for who he truly is.

 

This is not a new concept. It is common knowledge that people who share a perspective can relate to and empathize with each other more easily. We see this among those who spend a lot of time together, share a career, or have endured a similar difficult experience. They often understand each other in ways that others do not.

 

Many years ago, I decided to take in a miniature Australian puppy. He was tricolor, very smart, and named Prince. As a puppy, Prince was undoubtedly 100% dog, doing the things dogs like to do: chew, bite, bark, and jump on legs to greet people. To stay indoors and be around people, Prince needed to learn habits and ways of being that were a little more refined than those typically found in the dog world. He needed to learn where he could sleep, what he could chew, how to greet people, and what he could eat, to name a few. One might say that Prince was partially humanized, in the sense of elevating his natural inclinations to meet human expectations, if he was going to stay in the home.

 

The Lord is rich in mercy, and He desires to draw each of us to Himself. We also know that living out the perfections of heaven is far beyond our abilities on this side of eternity. St. Clement of Alexandria once said, “The Word of God became man, that you may learn from man how man may become God.” Grace enables the Christian to live out the beatitudes so that we might reflect God's nature, much as Prince was able to adopt human mannerisms and ways of interacting.

 

Perhaps this is what Gregory of Nazianzus meant when he said: “Let us become like Christ, since Christ became like us. Let us become gods for His sake, since He for ours became man” (Oration 1, Sec. 5).