This whole setup is about how Adam and Eve in Eden are like priests in the cosmic Temple and there’s abundance, they walk with God, they are meant to rule, that is organize their lives in such a say that there’s flourishing. This whole package, this is the blessing. Jesus starts touring around the villages of Galilee with a message and the message is given in a one sentence summary by Matthew, hey everybody, change directions, because the Kingdom of Heaven has come near. Matthew says Jesus went around teaching in the synagogues around Galilee with that message, announcing the good news and healing all of these sick people who were coming to him.
The design of the Torah itself, is showing that Israel consistently failed at being the covenant partners that God recruited them to be through Moses on Mount Sinai and so, Moses himself anticipate the day in his speeches in the Torah, when God will circumcise the heart, transform the heart of Israel, so that they can truly live by God’s will and be God’s covenant partners and Jesus is saying in the Sermon on the Mount, that’s what I’m here to do and Matthew is presenting Jesus as the new Moses, who’s doing that, he’s the new Moses doing the thing Moses hoped would happen. Moses hoped for something and that’s the message of the Torah and Jesus is here saying, I’m doing the thing that Moses hoped for.
Matthew 4:17, from that time Jesus is announcing, to turn around. In Hebrew, the word “repent” is literally “to turn around,” there’s something happening that requires you to go in a different direction, the Kingdom of Heaven has come near. The Kingdom of Heaven has touched down right here, right now, you guys need to turn around and pay attention. This is unique to Matthew, Jesus’ message about the Kingdom of Heaven here, is clearly not that it’s somewhere that you go, it’s somewhere that has arrived here. The substance of what it means to turn around and respond to the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Sermon on the Mount only makes sense as it’s unpacking a bigger program of Jesus. Jesus is launching both in teaching, but then with his actions and with this declaration of power over evil and over sickness and death itself, announcing that something new is happening and God has a Kingdom that he is bringing about, we need to realize, it’s here in our midst.
Matthew 5:3, the first word of the sermon, “the good life” or blessed, is repeated nine times in this opening movement. The good life is someone who is delighting in God’s instruction or delights in the will of God revealed in the scriptures, a tree that’s just constantly bearing fruit, someone living the good life. Everyone has their own version of the good life, but what Jesus said is, how fortunate are those who or how good is life for you. Blessing is the Hebrew word “baruk,” it’s the word that we use when we want to highlight that God is the one who has brought about abundance and safety and security in someone’s life. People can pronounce blessing on each other, when they do that, what they’re doing is praying for God to do it. Baruk are you by God, you are in a state of blessedness by God, and that’s what many people think is underneath what Jesus is saying in the Sermon on the Mount, but it’s different, because blessing revers to the concrete manifestations of abundance, safety and security that come as a gift from God. God is the source of all blessing, that’s what Genesis chapter one is all about, God blessed the creation and he blessed the humans, blessing comes from God in the Hebrew Bible.
Humans don’t have the power to create a state of blessedness in each other’s lives. How fortunate are those who or how good is life for you, essentially is in the eye of the beholder, a description of a state of happiness on someone that’s being observed by another, by a bystander who isn’t the one providing or bringing about the blessing. When I want to convince someone that a certain state of blessedness is actually the good life, Jesus used the Hebrew word “ashray,” it’s a wisdom word that’s aimed at persuading the listener to see that a certain way of life is the blessed ideal state. Jesus is going to say “ashray are these people,” because in reality, they are the ones receiving the blessing. Matthew 5:3, Ashray are those who are impoverished in spirit, meaning someone without any power or social influence. Why does Jesus think that their powerlessness is a desirable state of life, because they are being given the divine blessing of the Kingdom of Heaven, they are the ones that receive the state of blessedness.
Matthew 5:4, ashray are those who grieve, why is Jesus holding up grieve as the good life, because they will receive the comfort that God will bring, when he brings about New Creation. Matthew 5:5, ashray are the afflicted, because they will inherit the land, because the Kingdom of God is happening through Jesus, and this is happening through us too. When we look at our situation, it feels like the opposite of God’s Kingdom coming, but Jesus is going to reframe our situation, because it’s happening within us. We actually are the privileged ones today, because God’s got a surprise in store, it’s starting right now and it will be fulfilled when heaven and earth unite. These nine sayings, they’re reversals are apocalyptic revealings of the truly right side up nature of God’s Kingdom and what it means to be a part of it. We have to believe that the Kingdom of God has come near, the logic of these nine sayings depends on Jesus’ claim that he is bringing the Kingdom of God to earth as it is in heaven. The Kingdom of God brings total reversal of our value systems, our estimations of who are the fortunate ones, that’s the work these nine sayings are doing.
The design of the Torah itself, is showing that Israel consistently failed at being the covenant partners that God recruited them to be through Moses on Mount Sinai and so, Moses himself anticipate the day in his speeches in the Torah, when God will circumcise the heart, transform the heart of Israel, so that they can truly live by God’s will and be God’s covenant partners and Jesus is saying in the Sermon on the Mount, that’s what I’m here to do and Matthew is presenting Jesus as the new Moses, who’s doing that, he’s the new Moses doing the thing Moses hoped would happen. Moses hoped for something and that’s the message of the Torah and Jesus is here saying, I’m doing the thing that Moses hoped for.
Matthew 4:17, from that time Jesus is announcing, to turn around. In Hebrew, the word “repent” is literally “to turn around,” there’s something happening that requires you to go in a different direction, the Kingdom of Heaven has come near. The Kingdom of Heaven has touched down right here, right now, you guys need to turn around and pay attention. This is unique to Matthew, Jesus’ message about the Kingdom of Heaven here, is clearly not that it’s somewhere that you go, it’s somewhere that has arrived here. The substance of what it means to turn around and respond to the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Sermon on the Mount only makes sense as it’s unpacking a bigger program of Jesus. Jesus is launching both in teaching, but then with his actions and with this declaration of power over evil and over sickness and death itself, announcing that something new is happening and God has a Kingdom that he is bringing about, we need to realize, it’s here in our midst.
Matthew 5:3, the first word of the sermon, “the good life” or blessed, is repeated nine times in this opening movement. The good life is someone who is delighting in God’s instruction or delights in the will of God revealed in the scriptures, a tree that’s just constantly bearing fruit, someone living the good life. Everyone has their own version of the good life, but what Jesus said is, how fortunate are those who or how good is life for you. Blessing is the Hebrew word “baruk,” it’s the word that we use when we want to highlight that God is the one who has brought about abundance and safety and security in someone’s life. People can pronounce blessing on each other, when they do that, what they’re doing is praying for God to do it. Baruk are you by God, you are in a state of blessedness by God, and that’s what many people think is underneath what Jesus is saying in the Sermon on the Mount, but it’s different, because blessing revers to the concrete manifestations of abundance, safety and security that come as a gift from God. God is the source of all blessing, that’s what Genesis chapter one is all about, God blessed the creation and he blessed the humans, blessing comes from God in the Hebrew Bible.
Humans don’t have the power to create a state of blessedness in each other’s lives. How fortunate are those who or how good is life for you, essentially is in the eye of the beholder, a description of a state of happiness on someone that’s being observed by another, by a bystander who isn’t the one providing or bringing about the blessing. When I want to convince someone that a certain state of blessedness is actually the good life, Jesus used the Hebrew word “ashray,” it’s a wisdom word that’s aimed at persuading the listener to see that a certain way of life is the blessed ideal state. Jesus is going to say “ashray are these people,” because in reality, they are the ones receiving the blessing. Matthew 5:3, Ashray are those who are impoverished in spirit, meaning someone without any power or social influence. Why does Jesus think that their powerlessness is a desirable state of life, because they are being given the divine blessing of the Kingdom of Heaven, they are the ones that receive the state of blessedness.
Matthew 5:4, ashray are those who grieve, why is Jesus holding up grieve as the good life, because they will receive the comfort that God will bring, when he brings about New Creation. Matthew 5:5, ashray are the afflicted, because they will inherit the land, because the Kingdom of God is happening through Jesus, and this is happening through us too. When we look at our situation, it feels like the opposite of God’s Kingdom coming, but Jesus is going to reframe our situation, because it’s happening within us. We actually are the privileged ones today, because God’s got a surprise in store, it’s starting right now and it will be fulfilled when heaven and earth unite. These nine sayings, they’re reversals are apocalyptic revealings of the truly right side up nature of God’s Kingdom and what it means to be a part of it. We have to believe that the Kingdom of God has come near, the logic of these nine sayings depends on Jesus’ claim that he is bringing the Kingdom of God to earth as it is in heaven. The Kingdom of God brings total reversal of our value systems, our estimations of who are the fortunate ones, that’s the work these nine sayings are doing.