* From today on the fourth Sunday of every month, Nihei Mizuguchi, the assistant Pastor of this church, will give a series of lectures on, The Sermon on the Mount, from the Gospel according to Matthew.

1. Blessings from the Mount

We will commence our lecture series from the Sermon on the Mount by focussing first on Matthew 5:1-12, verses commonly know as the Beatitudes.

According to Matthew, Jesus commenced his ministry in Galilee, “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them” (Matthew 4:23-24).

In consequence of those marvelous works many people came to Him with the hope of being healed, “Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him” (Matthew 5:1). Here begins Jesus’ famous ‘Sermon on the Mount’. In his longest sermon, Jesus began by describing the traits he was looking for in his followers. He called those who lived out these traits blessed because God had something special in store for them. Each beatitude is an almost direct contradiction of society’s typical way of life.

In whichever era we live, all humans aspire to be happy. So did the people who gathered around Jesus. Some were looking to be healed from a lifelong illness. Others wanted to be liberated from their poor and difficult way of life without enough food. Others suffering from mental conditions also came to Him.

They believed they would be happy if only they could rid themselves of their existing pain and poverty. But, Jesus said that the people who are poor and suffering can be happy. The audience¡¡were disappointed because, naturally, because they could not understand how their present miserable existence could possibly make them happy. The teaching Jesus provided could not be accepted by secular reasoning. Indeed, to become Jesus’ disciple is to live under a different set of conditions than that of the earthly world. Now let us see more precisely what kind of life that might be.

2. Blessed are the poor in spirit

Jesus outlined 9 conditions or traits for being blessed. The declarations encourage appropriate actions. So, please take a glance at each one of them.

The first one is, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’, which might seem paradoxical because we tend to think it is the rich in spirit, who will be blessed. But, being ‘rich in spirit’ might lead us to be complacent, even arrogant, of which God disapproves. They are those who consider themselves as god, and dare do anything without remorse. In contrast, a verse in the Psalms tells us explicitly, “The lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).*

The second instruction concerns those who sorrow, ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.’ Here I want to draw your attention to Paul’s teaching, which distinguishes two types of sorrows: “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death” (2 Corinthians 7 :10).

Of course the sorrow we must accept is ‘Godly Sorrow’, which Jesus suffered. It is clearly described in the Old Testament, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:5-6). Jesus became the Man of Sorrows and ultimately the Lord of our life by experiencing the whole range of human suffering.

The next trait Jesus was looking for in his followers was, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” The word ‘meek’ does not mean cowardice, or keeping silent to avoid arguments and conflict. But, it represents the state described in Psalm 37:8-11, “Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land. A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.”

The following statement is, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” We should understand this verse in accordance to the political and social background of the event. In Jesus’ time Israel was under Roman rule, where evil dominated the world by exploiting the weak by force. The ordinary people were abandoned in times of famine and unfairness. So much so, Jesus says those who aspire to righteousness, through a real relationship with God, will be blessed.

Another suggested standard of conduct is, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” This may remind us of today’s Japan, and the disaster experienced by our nation during world war II. Not only solders, but also civilians, even children, were killed by indiscriminate bombardments. The disaster and defeat was followed by famine and sickness. Similar tragedies were experienced by the peoples of other nations, of whom we were in conflict. But, if we humans possessed a merciful heart, perhaps there would have been no wars.

The sixth teaching is, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” On one occasion I spoke about this purity of heart, but my speech was rebuffed in no uncertain terms, because the audience was under the impression that nobody possessed such a heart. They said, even if there were such a person they would not be able to live in the real world where the wicked casts out the virtuous.

Another declaration, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” Peace, Shalom in Hebrew, means not only a state without conflict, but a state in which each human enjoys fully one’s life. Peace is indeed indispensable, if we are to live such a life. However, peace cannot be preserved without human effort and patience, which supports and protects the purpose of peace. Peacemakers are those who work for the cause of peace, by living under God’s mercy, through Jesus Christ.

The next one we come to is, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This should not be too difficult for us to talk about. Almost no one here today experiences persecution.

The last one is, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” Jesus even points out that a serious effort to develop these traits is bound to create opposition.

Now, let us think for a moment and take an overview of the nine blessings. All of those conditions for being blessed could possibly be found during one’s lifetime. Of the nine, I think the most important one is the first, ‘being the poor in spirit’, and to admit being poor in spirit to oneself. So, let us examine further what ‘the poor in spirit’ means exactly.

3. Why are the poor in spirit so blessed ?

I chose Luke18:11-13 as invocation verses to further deliberate over today’s lecture. This passage informs who are really to be blessed by God. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” And having heard the man’s voice Jesus said: “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).

Jesus found ‘the poor in spirit’ in the tax collector’s testimony. His words were from the heart. At that time the tax collecting profession was looked down upon with some disdain because of the very nature of the job. But it was exactly that social status that made the man humble, in other words he was ‘poor in spirit’.

How are we listening to this teaching? Don’t we exalt ourselves by thinking we are humble and benevolent ? If so, we would have an attitude similar to the Pharisee. It’s only through meeting God that we can be changed, to become modest and unselfish. We must seek again the insight of Jesus’ blessings.

So, please allow me at this time to talk about my own experience. When I belonged to another Baptist Church, one of the church members eventually stopped coming to the Bible study class. I was very concerned. One day I recieved a post card from him, in which he asked me to come to a hospital. I went to the hospital to visit him. Then he said, “I really recognize now it’s God who allows me to live”.

I understood that what lead him to that conviction was his very first experience of hospitalization. Till then he had enjoyed always good health. Though, enjoying such a desirable condition of living led him to believe that he was in control, and therefore he found God’s words less important.

As long as his life remained free of problems, he began to think he did not need God. But the unexpected illness caused him to lose confidence in himself. So much so, he read again in the hospital bed the Bible offered by the church. At that moment he was profoundly moved by the words he read. In talking, he showed me the passage which he had read.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Matthew 6:25-27).

He said, The parable of the birds is excellent. I learned how God allows me to live by reading the Bible.” I was impressed by the fact that the Bible itself quietly preaches God’s words to all those who are willing to read it.

Once he became sick, his heart opened, and he began to genuinely listen to the words of the Bible, from which he received nothing physically, but much spiritually. The illness made his heart ‘poor in spirit’, in other words ‘humble.’ So he called upon God’s name, and God responded. Indeed, his spirit became calm and peaceful.

I present you another and similar testimony given by Mr. Genzo Mizuno**. And I quote: “If I didn’t suffer I would not have known God’s love. For those people who do not experience pain, God’s love will not have touched them. If Jesus did not accept the Passion, God’s love would not have been revealed to humans.”

Mr. Mizuno was afflicted by a severe fever in his early years which left him paralyzed all of his life. Apparently, such a life is miserable, painful and pitiful. But his testimony teaches us that every thing, even illness, will end in blessings, like those described in the Beatitudes. What we really need is not physical healing, or a release from poverty, or solutions to our concerns. The most important thing is to understand that God’s love will bless us beyond all of our suffering. We can find it by being ‘poor in spirit’, and listening to God’s words from our heart. Now let us rejoice together in the knowledge of what we have learned today from Jesus’ giving of the Beatitudes, from the Sermon on the Mount.

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*The verse corresponds to Psalms 34: 19 In Japanese current translation:
Bible The New Interconfessional Translation , by Executive Committee of The Common Bible Translation
NIISBN 4-8202-1211-7

** http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/¿åÌ»°