Matthew 5:1-12
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for All Saints Day which we are celebrating on November 5, comes from Matthew chapter five, verses one through 12. It reads, seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain, and he sat down, his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Bless there are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Bless it, are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil falsely against you on my account? Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Here ends the reading. This passage is sometimes called the Beatitudes, because in Latin blessed it is beatitude. And so it's all about the blessings that God is giving. The funny thing about Jesus's blessings that he's saying here is that blessings are all about being in a place that is not always seemed so bless it. Alright, he says, Blessed are the poor in spirit. And we go, wow, the people who are lonely and crushed who who don't have that, like spiritual joy and exuberance. He's saying the people who are crushed in their spirit are blessed. Same for those who mourn. We don't usually think about being blessed. When we mourn, or the meek. Now Meek is often seemed as someone who's like humble, but humble and attitude. This really isn't humble in attitude. It's a condition of being lowly. And so bless it or the lowliest of society. And bless it are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. You know, it's kind of good to hunger and thirst for righteousness. But if you hunger and thirst for something that means you are not filled with it. Right? Bless it are those who are lacking righteousness? We don't usually think of those as a blessing estate. We also often those who are high and mighty, those who are rich and powerful, aren't always the ones who are merciful or pure in heart or peacemakers. There's often don't seem like blessing estates. But it's especially true for those who are persecuted. Right? Bless it, are you those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. And then finally, Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely, on my account? Rejoice and be glad Jesus says. The interesting thing about Matthew chapter five and these Beatitudes is that he gives a blessing state, for people who are lowly in this life. Because when Christ comes when he returns, in the future state, we will be raised up. There's a turning of God's people, to say that the blessing of God is not found in the way the world sees power, and joy, enriches and happiness and love and all of these things. Blessing is found in Christ. And so in Christ, those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn those who are meek, we will have the great joy on the day he returns. And what I love about placing Matthew chapter five, in with Revelation Chapter Seven, in our readings for All Saints Day, is they give us the both sides of this image is on earth. The Christian Church is lowly. We're sinners in a broken world, and we're meek, we mourn or poor in spirit. In Heaven, or on the day when Christ returns, we will be gathered around Jesus Christ. The revelation gives us the image around the lamb on the throne. We are robes we be washed in the blood of the Lamb and we will rejoice with him. Math gives us the hope for now. Revelation gives us the image of the future, the joy in Christ. And so pairing these two together you get to see the burden that we carry now, and the hope that we have for the future. The pain of life now, that we can rejoice and in even rejoice when when people revile us and are angry at us, because of Christ. We can rejoice because what we have is an eternity with Christ. Wash our robes washed in the blood of the lamb to live forever with Him. That's it for our readings today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai