In the Name etc. Amen.
It is possible to understand the Beatitudes as a list of progressive steps, as stages on a journey, from the beginning stage of a life in poverty of body and spirit, to its culmination in the Kingdom of Heaven. Indeed, the Beatitudes (remember that the word means 'blessings') begin with the Kingdom: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven," and they end with the Kingdom: "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in Heaven." Each of these Beatitudes, or blessings doesn't merely describe a condition; the condition, or conditions, are not the whole story. Each blessing concludes with a promise: the kingdom of heaven; comfort; an inheritance; satisfaction; mercy; the vision of God; and, again, the kingdom of heaven, where we begin.
This is not "pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die" heaven, but something quite different, as our text plainly says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven," right here and right now, not in some remote future, but in the present. Earth and heaven, our lives and God's life, are connected in the present. The relationship already exists; it remains to learn how they are related, and how to make awareness of it actual in our present reality.
The idea that earth and heaven, God and his creation, are tied to each other, connected to each other, goes back a very long way. In Jacob's dream at Bethel, Genesis, chapter 28, says: "He dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it." And this idea of a ladder from earth and heaven has inspired some commentators to see each of the Beatitudes as a step on that ladder, each one higher than the one before it, each step founded on the one below it, and each one bringing us closer to the transformation and fulfilment that God intends for us: becoming fully what we already are, children of God.
Poverty of spirit is something we all experience at one time or another. It may begin in material poverty, brought on by job loss or other misfortune. Depression, confusion, uncertainty may follow, leading us to become aware that we are not what we are meant to be, not what we could be, not what we want to be. This may lead us to realize that some essential thing is missing in life, something that we can't locate exactly. Our Buddhist friends call this dukkha, suffering, off-centredness, the first truth of the Buddha's dharma, and for us, the first truth, the first blessing, of the Beatitudes.
The succeeding Beatitudes expand and build upon the meaning of poverty, by including mourning, meekness, and hungering for righteousness. The second Beatitude says, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted". Mourning is likely the first reaction to the realization of loss. The sudden discovery of our poverty, material or spiritual, of our loss of goods or money or job or a partner or loved one, or confidence or belief or trust -- losses like these lead to mourning, and paradoxically, as is typical of the Christian religion, lead to the promise of comfort that accompanies the second Beatitude. Our Lord is telling us here that poverty and mourning are not the whole story, that the Kingdom is not far away.
As we recover from poverty of whatever kind, and we pass through mourning, we learn humility, here called meekness, in the third Beatitude. "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth". We realize our true place in the scheme of things, we lose illusions about ourselves, about others, about the world, we realize that whatever we thought we had is gone. This realization is a liberation, although we may not think so at the time. Concluding the third Beatitude is the stunning, absurd promise, that we will inherit the earth. It seems to me that this means only one thing, the only thing that makes it a realistic promise: that we inherit, that is, we come into full realization of what life really is, the only thing that we actually have and ever really had. This inheritance can't be taken away from us. It is the solid rock of our experience of ourselves and others and the world as they really are. That's why our Lord can promise comfort to those who mourn, and promise the Kingdom to the poor in spirit. Comfort, inheritance, kingdom, are all words for the one unshakable thing which is always there: God himself. Poverty, mourning, meekness, open us up to the experience of the reality of his presence, because we lose those things which obstruct awareness of him.
And we come to the fourth step on the Ladder, the fourth Beatitude. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." It is possible to understand this Beatitude as a change in the list, turning from poverty of spirit, mourning, and meekness, toward the mercy, purity of heart, and peace of the following Beatitudes. A soul purified by poverty, mourning, and meekness is ready for the next step in growth in the Spirit, in the approach to God, in achieving the destiny God intends for every person. To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to want the world and everyone and everything in it to become, to be, what God intends them to be. This step, the fourth Beatitude, is possible only at this point, when we have let go of those things which have obstructed us. Then, as the promise says, we will be filled.
And we come to the fourth step on the Ladder, the fourth Beatitude. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." It is possible to understand this Beatitude as a change in the list, turning from poverty of spirit, mourning, and meekness, toward the mercy, purity of heart, and peace of the following Beatitudes. A soul purified by poverty, mourning, and meekness is ready for the next step in growth in the Spirit, in the approach to God, in achieving the destiny God intends for every person. To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to want the world and everyone and everything in it to become, to be, what God intends them to be. This step, the fourth Beatitude, is possible only at this point, when we have let go of those things which have obstructed us. Then, as the promise says, we will be filled.
Filled with what? Our Lord goes on to say, in the next three Beatitudes, that we will be filled with mercy, purity of heart, and peace. They are the results of the purification wrought by the first three Beatitudes. We are liberated to manifest these results, these attributes. We are free to show mercy, and we receive it, as our text says, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy". But perhaps it is not quite right to say that we receive it, because we discover that it has been there all along. We receive it the same way we receive grace, become aware of God --- grace, God, have always been there, and we have got to the point, in the fifth Beatitude, where our true nature begins to shine through.
Now, at the sixth step, the sixth Beatitude, we achieve, or rather, we become aware of, our purity of heart. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God". Mercy given and received are signs of this purity, this clarity, this presence of God in our lives. The promise is the sight of God.
When we look back at the steps we have climbed on the ladder, we can see how they lead to the seventh step, the seventh Beatitude: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." Who else, really, is qualified to achieve real peace, in themselves and for others, except those who have been purified by spiritual poverty, mourning, and meekness? The Beatitudes show us how to reach this level, and what the consequences and rewards are. This Beatitude reminds us of the Russian saint Seraphim of Sarov, who said to one of his spiritual sons, "Acquire the Spirit of peace, and thousands will be saved around you."
Now we come to the last two steps on the ladder, the last two Beatitudes, which are difficult to hear. "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake," and, "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you..." There is an interesting change at this point. Up until now, all the Beatitudes are in the third person; they speak in general terms about others, not, apparently, the people being spoken to. Remember that the Beatitudes open the Sermon on the Mount, so there is an audience. But, in the last Beatitude, Jesus addresses his hearers directly, "Blessed are you, when people revile you....on my account." This is the goal, so to speak, of the Beatitudes. They are preparation for the full Christian life, the life that Jesus himself lived. He is the exemplar of his own teaching, and he is preparing his hearers for what will happen to him, and for what they may have to undergo as his followers. It is another step on the ladder to life in God, a step which not all are called to take, but one which is always available.
The Beatitudes are about living a life, a God-centered life, a life in which God is a living presence. "Rejoice and be glad" in the comfort, the inheritance, the fullness, the mercy, the vision of God, which return us to the condition in which God means us to live. "for your reward" which is the vision of God "is great in heaven".
In the Name etc.. Amen.
