The Blessed Life

Read Matthew 5:1-13

Everyone wants to be happy. Years ago there was even a song about it - I think the title was Don't Worry Be Happy. And what's true today about this pursuit of happiness was true in Jesus' day as well.

Jesus' teaching, His sermon in Matthew 5 was something new. It was something different than what the crowds were accustomed to hearing. They were used to hearing messages from the Pharisees, so it's important when we read Jesus' Sermon on the Mount to keep this in mind. Jesus desired to teach the truth about the Kingdom of God and how individuals could enter God's kingdom. So he talks about how they could have a blessed life by giving the people what a righteous God expects from his people in the Kingdom.

The person rightly related to the King is repeatedly described as "blessed". This word comes from the Latin word beatus, meaning "blessed" or "happy". This is why the blessings in Matthew 5 are called the beatitudes. And Jesus knows as He's speaking that this crowd He's talking to is interested in the good life. But His message is intended to bring clarity to what the good and happy life is all about. You see this world tells us something different than what God would tell us about happiness.

The blessings Jesus speaks of to the crowd tells of people who are at peace with God, their neighbor and himself/herself. The follower of Jesus, His disciples, have an abiding sense of peace because they are informed of several promises: he will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven (5:3), expects to be comforted (5:4), looks forward to a certain future on earth (5:5), anticipates the satisfaction of justice and righteousness (5:6), awaits the granting of mercy (5:7), knows he will live with God as His child (5:8), and will be greatly rewarded in heaven (5:11-12). One commentator says it this way, "The Beatitudes pronounce those blessed, or happy, who fulfill these six standards of the kingdom in character and experience." So the disciple can be happy in this life and live as Jesus says as salt and light (5:13-16) knowing this fulfilling Kingdom future awaits every disciple of Jesus.

Friends we all want a blessed life. So let's start by getting our message from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount what it truly means to be happy in this life and the life to come. God's blessings!!