After meditating last Sunday on Jesus’ first proclamation, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” we are invited today to reflect on the beatitudes that open the Master of Nazareth’s first discourse in Matthew’s Gospel. The text is dense in meaning, and it takes time to dissect all its biblical-theological and spiritual-existential riches. For those who want to, I refer to the monumental study by renowned monk-biblical scholar Fr. Jacques Dupont in three volumes, titled precisely “The Beatitudes.” (See also the series of Pope Francis’ catechesis on the beatitudes in the general audiences starting from January 29, 2020.) I will only point out the three most important aspects, for an in-depth reflection on the gospel we have just heard.
The solemn atmosphere that St. Matthew the Evangelist wanted to give to the proclamation of the beatitudes should be emphasized immediately. Indeed, it is necessary for every listener to be immersed in “that time,” to see and perceive all the solemnity of the moment when Jesus proclaims the discourse, in order to enhance the importance of the teaching and then to live it with reverence and gratitude.
First of all, the place of the proclamation is the mountain. St. Matthew, in fact, explicates, “Jesus saw the crowds,” and “he went up the mountain.” The mountain immediately recalls Mount Sinai where God delivered to His people, through Moses, the gift of the Torah, commonly translated as the Law. It is to be understood, however, not only as the legislative commands—precepts to be observed—but also and above all as the set of divine teachings to be followed. Now Jesus is also on the mountain and will thus be the new Moses, through whom God will give the Torah of the new covenant. Therefore, the following discourse of Jesus is conventionally called the “Sermon on the Mountain” and rightly regarded as the Manifesto or Constitution of the Kingdom of God, whose coming was announced by Jesus at the beginning of His public ministry. It is par excellence the first teaching of Jesus in the Gospel according to numerical or chronological order and also in importance.
The solemn atmosphere of the teaching is further enhanced by the description of Jesus’ position before He speaks, “After he had sat down, his disciples came to him.” Sitting down with the disciples around is the usual position of a teacher (rabbi) when teaching the divine Law. Also in the spirit of solemnity, the description of Jesus’ act of speaking is also highly extraordinary: “He began to teach them.” Such an expression literally comes across as more formal: “He opened his mouth.”
We need to keep in mind this majesty-filled scene to appreciate more the message of the beatitudes that will be the heart of the Gospel, the good news, which Jesus proclaims with divine authority.
Jesus’ first discourse in Matthew’s Gospel opens with the series of eight beatitudes proclaimed in the third person plural (“Blessed are the poor…, for theirs…”), followed then by the concluding beatitude addressed directly to the listeners, in the second person plural (“Blessed are you when they insult you…”).
Again, on each beatitude one can talk endlessly. For the sake of time, the primary importance of the beatitude to the poor should be emphasized, which actually occupies the first place. It is precisely the heart of the divine Gospel, that is, the Good News of God, which Jesus brings to the world and particularly to the “poor,” fulfilling his mission to “evangelize”: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
“The poor in spirit” are the first recipients of the kingdom of God. As clarified by the evangelist himself, this is not only the state of material poverty, but rather an attitude of the spirit. The poor are those who have no support or security in life except in God himself. They are those who despite everything, the precariousness of life, tribulations, and oppressions, continue to put all their trust in God who saves. From this perspective, we can glimpse that the poor in spirit are the category that encompasses all the types mentioned in the subsequent beatitudes.
In other words, on the one hand, the poor in spirit are those who are weeping, hungry and thirsty for righteousness, and persecuted for righteousness’ sake (divine implied). They are all blessed, that is, happy according to the Hebrew sense of the term, not because their situation of poverty, misery, weeping, hunger, thirst, or persecution is in itself good and praiseworthy, but because in such a situation they obtain the special grace of God who draws near to them to give them the happiness of his kingdom, that is, of his loving saving presence. On the other hand, the poor in spirit are shown to be identifiable with the meek or humble, the merciful, the pure in heart, or the peacemakers, because these are the characteristics of the people called in the OT anawim “the poor” of God. Precisely they constitute “a people humble and lowly,” the privileged recipients of divine salvation at the end of time (cf. Zep 2:3;3:12-13; Reading 1). The blessed status proclaimed to them is thus also shown to be an implicit exhortation to a commitment to conversion to these values in order to embrace the saving realities of the kingdom.
Finally, we need to remember that Jesus himself, as St. Paul points out, became poor for our sake in order to enrich us with his poverty. Here are literally the profound words of the Apostle: “For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2Cor 8:9). Jesus then is the first blessed “poor of God,” and thus, we can glimpse His profile in all kinds of recipients of the proclaimed beatitudes. The path of the beatitudes is actually not a mere following of social or ethical values, however valid they may be, but the following of the person of Jesus, the God-Man of the beatitudes, who, as St. Paul says, “who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption” (1Cor 1:30; Reading 2). In this way, we also become men and women of the divine beatitudes who live them out and pass them on to others, near and far.
Let us continue to pray then for our own and everyone’s conversion to the Kingdom of God and His Gospel of the beatitudes:
O Lord, make us feel still and ever more in us Your heart all taken up for the Kingdom of God as well as Your cordial invitation to conversion to Your Gospel of peace and love. Help us to constantly live out this conversion in our lives, so that we may become ourselves, with You and in You, the living invitation, in word and deed, to conversion to the Kingdom for those who do not know You. And in this our mission to be witnesses of You and Your Kingdom, help us, Your disciples, to be more and more united in Your love, overcoming the divisions that exist in our churches and communities. Let Your face shine upon us, and we will be saved and resplendent with Your Light for all the world. Mary, mother of Christ and mother of His disciples, pray for us! Amen!
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