Who Gets Blessed?

Bonhoeffer on the Beatitudes

• The Beatitudes are addressed specifically to Jesus’ disciples, the “little flock” that has left everything to follow him; they describe what happens to people who have answered Christ’s call, rather than the traits of generally “good” or religious people.
• The blessings are grounded in Jesus’ call and promise, not in human merit; for Bonhoeffer, the error in some interpretations is to make particular human behaviors the basis of blessedness instead of Christ himself.
• He reads the Beatitudes as a form of renunciation and “want” (lack) for Jesus’ sake: the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, the persecuted are those whose deprivation and vulnerability arise from their obedience to Christ.
• He famously concludes that the “fellowship of the Beatitudes is the fellowship of the Crucified”: the place on earth where the Beatitudes are truly embodied is at the cross, where the community that has lost all for Christ also finds all in him.

Today, we are looking at a familiar passage of scripture found in Matthew 5:1-12, commonly known as The Beatitudes.

Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Blessed are those who mourn.
Blessed are the meek.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Blessed are the pure in heart.
Blessed are the Peacemakers.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for my sake.

We find a similar teaching by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. When I am honest, I must admit that I agree with Karoline Lewis, Professor of Preaching at Luther Seminary, when she admits to gravitating to Luke’s version more than Matthew’s version. And when I am really honest, I must admit to myself that I do this because, as a person who has never had to struggle with poverty and hunger, Luke’s version allows me to access my compassion. Matthew’s version is more of a challenge. Do I hunger for righteousness? Am I a Peacemaker? Matthew moves the conversation from our circumstances to our character.

An important grammatical distinction in this text is the use of the indicative mood. In the original language, Jesus isn’t using the imperative mood. He isn’t giving us a list of “to-dos” or commands. He isn’t saying, “Go be poor in spirit so you can get into heaven.”

Instead, Jesus is making descriptive statements. He is describing a reality that already exists in the Kingdom of God. It functions like an “If/Then” framework:

If you are poor in spirit, then yours is the kingdom of heaven.
If you mourn, then you will be comforted.
If you are meek, then you will inherit the earth.
If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, then you will be filled.
If you are merciful, then you will receive mercy.
If you are a peacemaker, then you will be called children of God.

Jesus has a way of flipping the world’s logic on its head. In our culture, we don’t celebrate mourning or persecution as “blessings.” We avoid them at all costs.

The word “Blessed” is often translated as “Happy,” but this isn’t a shallow, momentary feeling. It speaks to a well of happiness that runs deep. It is the joy of someone who sees the “bigger picture,” someone who knows that even in the midst of a broken world, God is moving.

When we truly look at the pain in our world and are honest about the ways we are implicitly or explicitly complicit in that brokenness, it changes us.

We realize that we must become poor in spirit. We must mourn. We must hunger for righteousness. This shift in our state of being ultimately leads to the healing of our own brokenness and to our willingness to stop participating in the brokenness of the world around us.