Beatitudes

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The Beatitudes (from Latin, beatitudo, happiness) is the name given to the well-known, definitive and beginning portion of the Sermon on the Mount of the Gospel of Matthew. Some are also recorded in the Gospel of Luke. In this section Jesus describes the qualities of the citizens of the Kingdom of heaven (it refers to the reign or sovereignty of God over all things, as opposed to the reign of earthly or satanic powers), showing how each is/will be blessed. The Beatitudes do not describe many separate individuals, but rather the characteristics of those who are deemed blessed by God. Kodjak believes that this opening of the sermon was meant to shock the audience, as a deliberate inversion of standard values, but that today this shock value has been lost owing to the commonness of the text.

Each of the blessed individuals is generally not considered blessed according to worldly standards, but with a heavenly perspective—that is, truly blessed. The word traditionally translated into English as "blessed" or "happy" is in the Greek original μακαριος (makarios); a more literal translation into contemporary English would be "possessing an inward contentedness and joy that is not affected by the physical circumstances". Each of the Beatitudes presents a situation in which the person described would not be described by the world as "blessed", yet Jesus declares that they truly are blessed, and they are blessed with a blessing that outlasts any type of blessing this world has to offer.

These verses are quoted early in the Divine Liturgy of John Chrysostom, which continues to be the liturgy most often used in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Similar sayings are also recorded in a few of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and are found in Jewish sources that predate the Christian era. Four of the beatitudes are found also in Luke's Sermon on the Plain, which many scholars feel is the same event as the Sermon on the Mount. In textual criticism these beatitudes are seen as originating in the Q document, and the large Sermon they appear within simply being an invention of Matthew and Luke to provide an excuse for quoting them. Luke's Sermon has four woes in addition to the four beatitudes, and Matthew uses the woes elsewhere for use against the Pharisees, so some scholars, such as Gundry, see Matthew as having wanted to keep the eightfold structure and consequently having to create four additional sayings.

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[edit] Content

While opinions vary as to exactly how many distinct statements the Beatitudes should be divided into, normally ranging from eight to ten, most scholars consider there to be only eight. These eight of Matthew follow a simple pattern of naming a group of people and the reward they would receive for being part of that group.

The beatitudes present in both Matthew and Luke are:

  • The poor (Matthew has "poor in spirit"). The text says that theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
  • Mourners (Luke has "those who are weeping"). The text says that they will be comforted (Luke has "will laugh").
  • The hungry (Matthew has "hunger and thirst after righteousness"). The text says that they will be filled (Luke has "be satisfied").
  • Those persecuted for seeking righteousness (rather than righteousness, Luke has "followers of the Son of Man"). The text says that theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The beatitudes only present in Matthew are:

  • The meek. The text says that they will "inherit the earth".
  • The merciful. The text says that they will "obtain mercy".
  • The pure of heart. The text says that they will "see God".
  • The peacemakers. The text says that they will be called "the children of God".

The last of these eight is followed by what appears to be commentaries on it, with Matthew's, according to France, integrating elements from Isaiah 51:7. Amongst textual critics, this is seen as an attempt by Matthew and Luke to re-interpret quotations from Q that do not quite fit with their theology if read literally. That the commentary discusses the persecution of Christians, who clearly would not be able to consider Jesus' crucifixion until after it had actually happened, is regarded by most scholars as indicating the timeframe for when Matthew and Luke were written, although more fundamentalist Christians believe that this commentary is an example of prophecy. Matthew refers to only verbal attacks, while Luke also refers to excommunication, which scholars feel indicates the differences in situation between the writers.

A number of scholars, most significantly, Augustine of Hippo, have been convinced that there should actually be seven Beatitudes, since seven has historically been considered the holy number. The beatitude about the contrite heart is generally believed to have originated in Psalm 24 (as a manifestation of verses 3–5), with which it is remarkably similar, and so some believe that this was the beatitude that was later added to the other seven. Augustine himself felt that it was the eighth—about persecution of the righteous—which was the addition, since it partly parallels the first. Most modern scholars do not consider that there were originally seven, but instead propose that there were originally four: those shared with Luke.

[edit] Parallels and differences

Like several scholars, Schweizer feels that a large part of Matthew's variance from Luke is down to Matthew not approving of asceticism as a way into heaven in and of itself. Hence Matthew changes what Luke has as ordinary physical degradations into spiritual ones—by changing poor into poor in spirit, and hungry into hunger . . . after righteousness. Nevertheless, Matthew's poor in spirit also occurs in the Dead Sea Scrolls, apparently being seen by the Qumran community as something important, and those seeking harmony between Matthew and Luke consider that poverty is not only a physical event but a spiritual one as well, and so "poor in spirit" is interpreted by them in this sense rather than it meaning courage, religious awareness, or the Holy Ghost. Those seeking harmony between the two sets also interpret mourner as the oppressed rather than as a mourner. The other variations are usually regarded as an attempt to make the beatitudes in question more closely parallel the Old Testament, with, for example, hungry becoming hunger and thirst to parallel Isaiah 49:10.

Some of the beatitudes can be found in parts of the Old Testament; for example, the beatitude concerning the poor is also found, with Luke's wording, in Psalm 37 (v. 11). Hill speculates that the beatitude about the pure in heart could actually be a mistranslation of Isaiah 61:1, and thus should have read only the contrite will see God. Since the beatitude which precedes it, concerning mourners, ever so slightly parallels Isaiah 61:2, and in a number of early manuscripts of Matthew these two beatitudes appear in reverse order, Schweizer feels the current order was implemented to better reflect Isaiah 61:1–2. In addition to such direct parallels, there are similar themes; for example, the idea of a divinely significant figure ending a fast is commonly used as a metaphor, for example, appearing in Isaiah 55, Jeremiah 31, and Psalm 107. While not a mainstream view, Betz feels that the beatitude concerning the poor can be traced back to Socrates' notion of enkrateia, explaining that the philosopher was one who had no interest in wealth—an idea adopted by the influential Cynics, who rejected wealth and saw poverty as the only route to freedom.

[edit] Interpretations

The literal meaning of many of the beatitudes is not always regarded as acceptable by various groups, who instead prefer to reinterpret the passages to conform with their own theology. Meek literally means reserved, i.e. keeping oneself to oneself, and so a large number of groups instead feel that the beatitude regarding the meek should be understood as a rephrasing of the one concerning the poor, with both poor and meek being understood to mean humble or powerless. With the same two beatitudes, in order to make them rephrasings of each other, it is necessary to interpret earth not as referring to the physical planet, but instead an allusion to some esoteric holy land. Particularly in early Christianity, some have sought to view the reference to mourners as referring to mourning one's sinfulness, but this does not fit with the theology that was around at the time in which Matthew was written, whereby sin was regarded as something that should be hated not mourned.

Although the beatitude concerning the meek has been much praised, even by some non-Christians such as Mahatma Gandhi, some individuals have negative views of it:

According to non-pacifists, the word peacemakers does not imply pacifism, instead applying to people who cause peace where once there was conflict. As such, this beatitude formed the heart of Augustine's argument in favour of a just war, arguing that a war that brought about greater peace was justified. The first century was in the middle of the Pax Romana and actual wars were rare, so according to Clark, this verse may have been referring to those who merely calm disputes within the community. Although traditionally the passage is regarded as stating that such peacemakers will be children of God, Sons of God is more accurate—Martin Luther and other early Protestant translators viewed the term Son of God as an actual genealogical relationship, rather than simply a description of someone as being generally spiritual, and hence felt it could only be applied to Jesus.

Some Christians have typically seen the commentary following the beatitudes as somewhat disconcerting in its soteriology, since it emphasises how good deeds can result in eternal rewards, and barely mentions any need for faith. Some, such as Hill, attempt to resolve this by reinterpreting divine reward as good repute. An interesting feature of the commentary as far as scholars are concerned is the manner in which it compares the audience to prophets, pointing to similarities between Jesus and the Essenes, who called each other prophets, though, as suggested by Schweizer, this may simply be a reference to Jeremiah 31:34 and Isaiah 54:13, which prophecy that one day all will be equal to the prophets.

Many people mistake the significance of the beatitude concerning hunger, as while now hunger is viewed as a symptom of poverty, at the time in which the Gospels are set, fasting was commonly regarded as a sign of righteousness. The later reference to people being persecuted for their righteousness is actually used in the perfect tense, indicating that some of the people Jesus was addressing were seen as already having been persecuted. This beatitude explicitly referring to persecution has often been cited as an argument for toleration and acceptance, with Locke prominently citing it in his A Letter Concerning Toleration, but inquisitors refuted this argument, since they regarded the term righteousness not to be able to anyone who was an enemy of the church.

One interpretation of narrative theologians is that the Beatitudes provide a corrective against an upside-down view of the power structures of the world that has been all but universally taken for granted. That is, the powers and principalities of this world - primarily referencing, but not meant to be exclusive to political, military and economic forces - appear to be the inheritors of power and dominion. In the Beatitudes, however, Jesus explains that the reality of things as seen from God's perspective is that the powerless who are the inheritors the future. It is the meek, the poor, those who suffer loss, those on the bottom of the social ladder, who will rule in the rightside-up kingdom of God. Jesus is attempting to jog his listeners' assumptions regarding security and hope, showing them that the kingdom of God is for those who hope in God and not in the power structures offered by the world. Though not specifically referenced and explained with much less poetry, these same themes are strongly espoused by the Apostle Paul in his letters to the Colossians and to the Ephesians. As for a more modern example, such an interpretation of the Beatitudes can be found in "Resident Aliens", by Stanley Hauerwas & William Willimon. In their book Jesus is explained to be showing his audience that "In God's kingdom, the poor are royalty, the sick are blessed." "The Beatitudes are not a strategy for achieving a better society ... they are an indication ... of life in the kingdom of God ... to produce a shock within our imaginations ... to see life ... in a radical new way." Similary, John H. Yoder, in his "Politics of Jesus" refers to Matthew 5 as part of a "call on the disciples of Jesus to renounce participation in the interplay of egoisms". This entire work attempts to show that such politics of Jesus is the entire basis behind Christian pacifism - that the Jesus who has already conquered evil now calls us to follow him through the same heavenly humility.

[edit] Cultural references

As one of the most famous of Beatitudes, the meek shall inherit the earth has appeared many times in works of art and popular culture:

Other than "blessed are the meek", perhaps the most famous of the Beatitudes is blessed are the peacemakers:

[edit] References

  • Albright, W.F. and C.S. Mann. "Matthew." The Anchor Bible Series. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1971.
  • Betz, Hans Dieter. Essays on the Sermon on the Mount. translations by Laurence Welborn. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985.
  • Clarke, Howard W. The Gospel of Matthew and its Readers: A Historical Introduction to the First Gospel. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003.
  • Davids, Peter H. "Meek Shall Inherit the Earth." A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature. David Lyle Jeffrey, general editor. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1992.
  • Hill, David. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981
  • France, R.T. The Gospel According to Matthew: an Introduction and Commentary. Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1985.
  • Gundry, Robert H. Matthew a Commentary on his Literary and Theological Art. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982.
  • Kissinger, Warren S. The Sermon on the Mount: A History of Interpretation and Bibliography. Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1975.
  • Kodjak, Andrej. A Structural Analysis of the Sermon on the Mount. New York: M. de Gruyter, 1986.
  • Lapide, Pinchas. The Sermon on the Mount, Utopia or Program for Action? translated from the German by Arlene Swidler. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1986.
  • Schweizer, Eduard. The Good News According to Matthew. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1975
  • Twomey, M.W. "The Beatitudes." A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature. David Lyle Jeffrey, general editor. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1992.
  • "Blessed are the Meek" - School Ties 1992 film Head Master quotes to antagonise the protagonist - Daniel Green (played by Brendan Fraser).

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