Beatitudes or Be-Attitudes?

This is clear from the way the passage opens in Matthew 5, with the crowds following Jesus up the mountainside, and then it says, still in verse 1, that “His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them [ie. the disciples] saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit …” Jesus is talking to His disciples. In Luke’s version, it is made even more clear. It says “Jesus looked as his disciples and said, ‘Blessed are you poor …’”

It is the disciples that Jesus is talking to and it is the disciples that Jesus is talking about. It is the disciples who are spiritually “poor” or “crushed”. It is the disciples who are hungering and thirsting for justice. It is the disciples who are being persecuted.

Jesus says “you guys are blessed. Yes, you might seem to be a pretty pathetic bunch by worldly standards - poor and meek and persecuted, but you’re blessed.” They are blessed, of course, not because they are poor and meek and persecuted. No. They are blessed despite the fact that they are poor and meek and persecuted. But they are poor and meek and persecuted because they are disciples. Let’s be clear about this.

Jesus is not telling us to be poor any more than he is telling us that we ought to strive to be persecuted. Jesus commands us to be disciples. And if indeed you count the cost and become a disciple, then there is every likelihood that you will find yourself poor and persecuted. Even so, Jesus says that you are “blessed”. Not by worldly standards, no. By worldly standards you are poor and meek and persecuted. But from Jesus’ perspective you are blessed because you are a disciple of the Kingdom of God, and when the Kingdom comes you will be rewarded.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justicee, for they will be filled.

The picture, as Jesus depicts it, is a bit of a trade-off. The servants of the Kingdom of God forego the blessings of this world but are compensated when the Kingdom comes. Like it or not, the blessings that Jesus promises (at least those in these Beatitudes) are not due to kick in until the Kingdom comes.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." When? When the Kingdom comes.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." When? When the Kingdom comes in its fullness. That's when those of us who have been hungering for justice will finally be satisfied, for that is when we will finally see justice.

We know that we do not see justice in this world. We disciples hunger and thirst for it and we work and pray for it, but we do not see it, not in its fullness, not now.

No. In this world we continue to see wicked men conquer and evil schemes triumph, despite the best of our efforts. But one day, when the Kingdom comes, we will see true justice prevail, and we shall be satisfied. That is Jesus' promise.

Blessed are you when people 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 in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Yes. The prophets before us suffered, as we will suffer if we have the courage to proclaim the truth, but this is no reason to get depressed. No. “Rejoice and be glad!” For the day will come when the “earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea”, and when that day comes, we will all enjoy the full blessings of God.