He knew. We guess.
The concept of gracious blessings is not particularly
new in Hebrew or Greek genres. We read in Psalm 1:1−2: “Blessed is the one who
does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that
sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is
in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.”
(NIV) Luke, of course has his own version of the Beatitudes. Some say Matthew
expanded and edited these, most notably perhaps in adding the modifying “in
spirit” to the blessing of the poor.
At any rate, we don’t do much meditating in our nation these
days. The advent of spurious but addictive “news” outlets and social media seems
to have replaced our reflective time and practice.
Neither are we content with the promise of future
blessings based on our righteous behavior at present. The current worldwide health
crisis brings that home to us daily. We can only guess how the Galilean would
react to his armed and angry children who refuse to protect the least of his
children, or a national leader who exhorts the mob instead of comforting those
who mourn. We sit on the edge of global annihilation and pray for a peacemaker. But none comes.
In fact, one could make a sound argument that, for
more than a third of Americans, the Beatitudes and much of the remainder of the
Sermon provide nothing more than a contra-constitution for guiding daily life.
They provide only nauseous rules that bless the most obnoxious segments of society,
and should be shunned and strewn from out path. We do tend to elect politicians
that promulgate that philosophy.
Some scholars have argued that the content of the
Sermon, demanding to the maximum as ordained by the Galilean, was intended as guidance
for his disciples and not as structures for the average person.
We’d best hope so.
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