Notes on the Beatitudes - Wilkins

The following excerpts are taken from Michael Wilkins commentary on Matthew in the NIV Application Commentary Series, pages 204 – 211.

Makarios (Greek for blessed) is a state of existence in relationship to God in which a person is “blessed” from God’s perspective even when he or she doesn’t feel happy or isn’t presently experiencing good fortune. . . Negative feelings, absence of feelings, or adverse conditions cannot take away the blessedness of those who exist in relationship with God. (204)

Blessed are the poor in spirit . . . (5:3). The “poor” are those who have encountered unfortunate circumstances from an economic point of view, but also persons who are spiritually and emotionally oppressed, disillusioned, and in need of God’s help. . . We hear this in the psalmist as he cries out in Psalm 40:7:

Yet I am poor and needy;
may the Lord think of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O my God, do not delay.

This attitude of humility in the harsh realities of life makes a person open to receive the blessings of the kingdom of heaven. (205-206)

. . . for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. . . The first beatitude undercuts the predominant worldview that assumes that material blessings are a sign of God’s approval in one’s life and that they automatically flow from one’s spiritual blessings. Instead, Jesus teaches that the norm of the kingdom of heaven is spiritual bankruptcy, unlike the spiritual self-sufficiency that was characteristic of religious leaders. (206)

Blessed are those who mourn . . . (5:4). . . The loss of anything that a person counts valuable will produce mourning, whether it’s one’s financial support, or loved ones, or status in society, or even one’s spiritual standing before God. . . Those who are self-satisfied are tempted to rejoice in themselves and their accomplishments, but those who have reached the bottom of the barrel, whether it is spiritual or emotional or financial, or those who see the bankruptcy of those around them, will mourn.

. . . for they will be comforted. . . The arrival of the kingdom of heaven in Jesus’ ministry brings the first taste of God’s comforting blessing. (206)

. . . But our mourning does not turn to the grief of those who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13). We mourn oppression and persecution, but we do not despair, because we know the end of the story. We mourn over personal sin and social evil, because we mourn the things that God mourns. But as we mourn, we become instruments of the good news of the kingdom of heaven as we bring the comfort of God with which we ourselves have been comforted (2 Cor. 1:3-7). (206-207)

Blessed are the meek . . . (5:5). The domineering, the aggressive, the harsh, and the tyrannical are often those who attempt to dominate the earth and establish their own little kingdoms. But Jesus says that it is the “gentle” will inherit the earth, harking back to the psalmist who encourages those who have been treated harshly by evildoers (Ps. 37:9, 11). This shifts the focus from individual personal qualities (“poor in spirit,” “those who mourn” to interpersonal attributes (“the gentle”), to people who do not assert themselves over others in order to advance their own causes.

. . . for they will inherit the earth. . . Ultimately this points to the reign of Christ on this earth (25:35), but even now Jesus’ disciples have entered into their spiritual inheritance.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness . . . (5:6). Persons who “hunger and thirst” are in dire need. They will perish if they are not filled. Such is the passion of those who desire righteousness. . . It (righteousness) includes “justice” for those who have been downtrodden or who have experienced injustice. It includes the idea of personal ethical righteousness for those who desire a life lived above the entanglements of sin. And as in 3:15, it includes the salvation-historical sense of God’s saving activity. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness desire to see justice executed on earth, they long to experience a deeper ethical righteousness in their own lives, and most of all they crave God’s promised salvation come to the earth. (207)

. . . for they will be filled. The ultimate source of this kind of righteousness is God himself (cf. Ps. 42:1-2; 63:1). His enablement is the only satisfaction for those who long for his standard of righteousness written in his law. . . That divine satisfaction will come in a final sense in God’s future reign, but it will be experienced in the present by those who respond to Jesus’ invitation to kingdom life and enter into a relationship with him as he fills their deepest personal hunger and thirst for righteousness.

. . . As they continue to experience the transformation that accompanies life in the realm of the kingdom of heaven, their hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness remains real as they live in the already – not yet of the present age, experiencing a passionate concern for the right things in kingdom living. This passionate pursuit of righteousness flows from a transformed heart.

Blessed are the merciful . . . (5:7). . . Likewise, the merciful are those who demonstrate forgiveness toward the guilty and kindness for the hurting and needy. The religious leadership in Jesus’ day tended toward being merciless because of their demand for rigorous observance of the law. Their motive was commendable in that it was driven by a desire for the people of Israel to be pure, but it was inexcusable because their unbending demands produced harshness and condemnation toward those who did not meet their standards. (208)

. . . for they will be shown mercy. Without sacrificing God’s standard of holiness, Jesus commends those who demonstrate mercy toward the needy, because the mercy that they show others will be shown toward them. . . The religious leaders cannot receive God’s mercy because they have become so self-satisfied with their own religious attainments that they don’t believe they need mercy. (208-209)

. . . The true disciple has experienced God’s merciful forgiveness toward an undeserving sinner, which in turn will produce such overwhelming gratitude and deep understanding of forgiveness that he or she will in turn demonstrate that same mercy toward other undeserving sinners.

Blessed are the pure in heart . . . (5:8). . . Observing all the Old Testament laws of being clean could bypass the most important purity of all, purity of the heart. Jesus declares here that a pure heart is what produces external purity, not vice versa. . . a pure heart describes a person whose single-minded loyalty to God affects every area of life.

. . . for they will see God. . . But Jesus pronouncement of this beatitude to those of his day also has an immediate fulfillment of their hopes. Jesus is Immanuel, “God with us” (1:23). For those who have set their heart on God and not simply religious ritualism and who respond to Jesus’ message of the gospel of the kingdom, they are invited to enter into a fellowship with him in which they will experience the unthinkable; they will se God in Jesus. (209)

Blessed are the peacemakers . . (5:9) . . . (Peace) indicates completeness and wholeness in every area of life, including one’s relationship with God, neighbors, and nations. . . But the real peacemakers are those who bring the good news that “your God reigns,” who brings ultimate harmony between all peoples (cf. Isa. 52:7). Making peace, therefore, has messianic overtones, and the true peacemakers are those who wait and work for God, who makes whole the division created by humans. (209-210)

. . . for they will be called sons of God. . . Those who have waited for God’s messianic peace can now respond to Jesus’ invitation, and they will receive the ultimate reward: to be called “sons of God,” fulfilling the role that Israel has assumed but taken for granted. Those who respond to Jesus’ ministry are heirs of the kingdom and reflect the character of their heavenly Father as they carry Jesus’ mission of peacemaking to the world. (210)