“Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them…” (Matthew 5:1-2)
Most Christians don’t realize that the Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount actually lasted for several days. That’s because many of us only associate the Beatitudes with the Sermon of the Mount. The truth is Jesus spent the better part of a week encouraging and instructing believers about other equally important issues like witnessing, obedience, prophecy, anger, lust, divorce, integrity, retaliation, loving our enemies, caring for the poor, prayer, fasting, money, criticizing others, going to heaven, servanthood, and faith.
There are also more than a few Christians who believe that the Sermon on the Mount happened in the early days of Jesus ministry, if for no other reason, because it is located just five chapters into the Gospel of Matthew. Wrong again. Those few days in the life of Christ actually occurred about nine months into his Galilean ministry, which in and of itself consumed almost eighteen months of his three-year public ministry.
I’m wasn’t surprised to learn that a large crowd showed up to hear what Jesus had to say. Word was spreading like wildfire that a young, charismatic Jewish carpenter was claiming that he was the Son of God. That alone was enough to convince the first century Jew to have a look-see. But this man had other credentials that intrigued people to seek him out.
The miracles he performed were unlike any that had ever been witnessed, and his incomparable wisdom often left the intellectuals of his day speechless. Even his ability to teach complex spiritual truths through parables, a then common-day form of storytelling, had both Jews and Romans alike shaking their heads in amazement.
The Bible records that people traveled for days to see him, sometimes getting nothing more than a brief glimpse or a momentary chance to reach out and touch his garment in hopes of being healed.
But the crowd that showed up for the Sermon on the Mount was more than curiosity seekers. They believed Jesus really was the Messiah that the prophets of the Old Testament had promised. So they listened intently while he taught extensively.
So why did Jesus start his Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes anyway? Why didn’t he just kick off what we might call today a “crusade-like event” with a more eye-catching, ear-snatching sermon, one that might have attracted an even greater crowd? The reason is simple, but not so obvious.
Remember that Jesus was speaking to believers rather than unbelievers. So he drew upon personal experiences to which every Christian, then and now, could relate. You see the Beatitudes don’t describe eight kinds of people. They describe eight kinds of experiences that every Christian is likely to remember.
Jesus was reminding these believers that Christian living involves a spiritual journey that begins when a believer realizes that he doesn’t have God in his life (“the poor in spirit”), but will one day end in victory (“great is your reward”). These eight Christian experiences deal with grace, conviction, repentance, faith, sanctification, servant hood, and persecution. And in each of these experiences, Jesus points out that the Christian will find all that is necessary for fullness in life, in spite of what else may be going on in the world.
William Barclay, in his book, The Gospel of Matthew, put it this way: “Blessed is an absolute. It is true anytime, anywhere–now as in the first century…(It) describes that joy which has its secret within itself, that joy which is serene and untouchable, and self-contained, that joy which is completely independent of all the chances and the changes of life.”
So you see Jesus began with the Beatitudes to emphasize that our Christian faith involves a spiritual walk in this world that must begin and end with a relationship. And if we don’t have a relationship, then everything else that he has to say to us really doesn’t matter.
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