In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

In the Holy Gospel appointed for today, we’re blessed to hear the portion of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount that we call the Beatitudes.

Christ proclaims true blessings to us in the Beatitudes, but do we receive those blessings only if we’re able to be perfectly meek, merciful, and pure in heart? If we take the wrong approach to answering that question – understanding the Beatitudes as a collection of conditional statements … sort of a spiritual to-do list – then we’re more likely to find ourselves terrified over our spiritual condition when we read the Beatitudes … instead seeing them as the blessing that they actually are. I mean, really … if us seeing God is dependent on how pure in heart we can be by our own doing, then I guess we’re all in big trouble. So, just what is it that the Savior of the World is saying to us? How can we possibly take comfort in Jesus’ words?

Our fallen nature really wants to mess this one up. It wants to turn the Good News of Christ into some kind of law. It wants to believe that if we do all the right things, we’ll have a right standing with God and will have earned all the resulting blessings. We see this tendency of our fallen nature in all of the self-help books, motivational speakers, and life-coaches who tell you that if you follow their steps, you’ll gain control of your life, accomplish your dreams, and have all the money and happiness you could ever ask for.

As much as this kind of thinking appeals to our old, sinful nature, it’s simply not true. In fact, it’s actually rather sad to talk to Christians who’ve been influenced by this line of thinking because it’s led them to rely on their obviously insufficient works of holiness rather than on Christ’s perfect holiness on their behalf. How disheartening would it be to think that you’d hungered and thirsted for righteousness ever so much, but at the end of the day you knew you really hadn’t made yourself any more righteous?

Taking this approach to turns the Gospel blessings of Christ into a misguided sort of law that makes you responsible for your forgiveness, life, and salvation instead of Christ … and the burden of that false Gospel will only lead to despair, unbelief, or both.

Instead, let us understand the Beatitudes to be what they actually are: declarations of truth about who we are in Christ … pronouncements from the incarnate Son of God of present and future blessings for us as heirs of the kingdom of heaven.

In the first Beatitude, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven“, and in the eighth Beatitude, He says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Now, the kingdom of heaven is more than just a place. It’s also the work of God performed in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s why, after His Baptism and temptation, “Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of heaven is at hand'” (Mk 1:14-15). The kingdom of heaven includes everything that Jesus has done and continues to do to bring us eternal life and salvation with Him. In fact, we’d be right to say that the kingdom of heaven is Christ Himself.

In that first Beatitude, Jesus refers to the “Poor in spirit”. That’s us. We have no spiritual goodness in and of ourselves. There’s nothing we can do to merit salvation and eternal life. We’re conceived and born in original sin and continue to commit actual sins throughout our lives.

And those who are the worst off are those who imagine that they’re not really so bad and think that they can live their own lives of righteousness. Such people don’t realize the seriousness of their spiritual condition. Like Jesus said to the Pharisees: “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Lk 16:15).

So, when Jesus said “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” He was teaching us that His divine presence – as the incarnate Son of God – is a true and lasting blessing for us.

Of course, the disciples who first heard Jesus proclaim this blessing hadn’t seen or heard it’s great fulfillment by Jesus … in His crucifixion and resurrection … but we look back and see the cross and the empty tomb. We know that Christ is our true and eternal blessing because he paid for the sins of the world by the shedding of His blood. And we know that His sacrifice was acceptable to God the Father as payment for our sins because He rose again from the dead.

In the eighth Beatitude, Jesus refers to those who are “persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” That’s also us. But that righteousness isn’t something we just conjure up on our own. Rather, it’s Christ’s own righteousness – the righteousness the He accomplished for us by His sinless life and His innocent suffering and death. And He gives it to us freely in His Gospel Word and Sacraments.

The unbelieving world rejects Christ, and it rejects those who Have Christ’s righteousness through God-given faith. They despise Christ because “there is no other name under heaven … by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12) and because there’s no way that they can ever be good enough of themselves to find favor in God’s eyes.

So, the world persecutes Christians. But when this happens, we’re reminded that Christ has promised us His blessings. Christ is, even now, ruling and reigning in His Church – in us – and has promised to be with us when faced with the burden of the world’s persecution. And it will be that way throughout our lives because such persecution is simply part of this fallen world.

Christ’s rule and reign in the present age is a hidden reality. He doesn’t rule from any sort of visible worldly power as the first-century Jews were expecting, rather, He rules from the seeming weakness of the cross. Right now, only those who believe in Christ know His true power and authority. But on the Last day, all will know when Christ returns again in glory to judge both the living and the dead, even as all believers in Christ will look upon their Savior with their own eyes as He ushers them into His eternal kingdom.

These two Beatitudes – the first and the eighth – reveal that the true blessings that are promised to us are entirely dependent upon Christ. We are spiritually poor and there’s nothing we must – or even can – do to merit the blessings that our Savior has promised us.

As Christians, we see the sin in the world and in ourselves and we mourn over it. But Christ gives us the blessing of His comfort and on the Last Day will dry our tears and put an end to our pain and sorrow.

As Christians, we see our meekness. Not because we’ve sought it out and found it at the end of some sort of spiritual journey, but because in Christ, meek is all that we can be. We know our transgressions and our sin is ever before us, but because of Christ’s saving work on the cross, we who are meek in the knowledge of our sin will inherit the new earth that is free from sin.

As Christians, we know that Jesus is our righteousness. We know that we’re helpless apart from Christ and only His righteousness is our salvation.

Only Christians have a pure heart because we’ve received the forgiveness of all our sins through Christ alone. When the Holy Spirit works faith in us through the means of God’s grace – through the Gospel Word and Sacraments – we’re given that pure heart, and blessed with the promise that we will indeed see God. It’s just what God said through the Prophet Ezekiel: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you” (Ez 36:25-26).

And those who thus have Christ also become peacemakers since, by the shedding of Christ’s blood we now have peace with God as St. Paul writes: “For in [Christ] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col 1:19-20) … the peace that we – as the people of God – now joyfully share with others.

Lastly, Jesus gives us a final blessing: “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.”

Yes … you heard that right. When the individual and collective anti-Christian powers rail against you and beat you down for confessing Christ, you have the sure and certain promise from the incarnate Son of God that you will be blessed … and how could you not be. Christ died for your sins. He confirmed His victory over sin, death, and the devil by rising again and appearing to many. You are baptized in His name. Your sins are forgiven. And you’re strengthened for the fight by Christ’s body and blood.
So, “rejoice and be glad”, in Jesus’ promised blessing to you … because in Christ “your reward is great in heaven.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Pr. Jon Holst