Commentary on Matthew 5:1-10

(linked to the 6^th Section of the Post-Lourdes Study Topic)

Last month we were thinking about the example of sacrificial love shown by Jesus in the Last Supper and on Calvary, and that idea of sacrifice continues this month. The dominant theme now is obviously the celebration of Easter, which is the resurrection of Jesus and our gateway to a new life. In this context we are asked to meditate on the Beatitudes in St. Matthew’s Gospel. What does being a faithful Christian bring? What’s in it for us?

I have never really liked this version of the Beatitudes that uses the word “Happy”. For one thing, it sounds rather trite, and for another it seems too contradictory to say, in effect, “You’re happy when you’re sad”. These statements of Jesus are certainly disturbing to our normal ways of thinking, but they are not meant to be nonsensical. A new translation of the New Testament by Nicholas King uses the word “Congratulations!”, as in, for example, “Congratulations to the pure in heart – they shall see God”. It is an interesting, fresh way of hearing the teaching of Jesus, but perhaps it doesn’t roll off the tongue all that easily. The traditional word is “Blessed”, and I prefer this because it describes a condition that we are in, rather than a simple emotion.

Blessedness is the life of God. What Jesus is saying in these Beatitudes is not just empty encouragement (like the Monty Python song, Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life). Nor is He saying that the poor, etc., are “happy” because they are morally better than other people. Instead what Jesus is telling us is that if we learn to look beyond the things that seem most important in this life then we shall discover God’s special care for us. He is promising us that we shall share in the very life of God. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve opted to try to hold on to and control the human life that they knew, rather than sacrifice it in favour of the better, supernatural life that God offered them. Their descendents have been doing the same ever since: we try to grab as much as we can for ourselves in this life, and we don’t see what God is offering us. Jesus teaches us the values that allow us to live the life of God, the Easter life, here on earth in our communities and in our families.