Matthew 5
There were many hills and mountains in Galilee, and one day Jesus went away from the crowds who were follong Him, and went up a mountain. The men who believed Jesus was The Messiah, and stayed with Him, were called disciples; they followed Him up the mountain, and there He told them many wonderful words, which we may now read.
Jesus spoke much of the Kingdom of Heaven. A kingdom means people ruled by a king; the people of that kingdom were on earth, and were to be ruled by One from Heaven. Jesus told them how people should live under such a Holy King, and what would honor Him. He told them who would be “blessed” or made happy by God:
The “poor in spirit”, or heart, not the proud, would be blessed; “those who mourned”, that may mean mourn for sins, were “blessed”; those who were meek, or humble; those who were hungry and thirsty for the right, truly wished for the right; those who showed mercy; those who were “pure”, or honest in heart; those who made peace, not trouble, the last two were much alike, those who were wrongly spoken against. They were told to rejoice.
If we think over those words, we know those ways are not what are easy to do, or what would be natural for us, yet are pleasing to God. Jesus taught those disciples by things which they and we now well know: He said they were “the salt” of the earth; salt flavors and preserves; they were “the light of the world”. He said:
“A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.”
Jesus said He had come to fulfill the words of the law and the prophets, and He said every word written should be fulfilled, or come true, even every “jot and tittle”, which were the smallest marks of the Hebrew language.
Jesus told the disciples things which those who believed God, should not do: not be angry, not to resist wrong done to them. He told them these plain words:
“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you.”
Choose some of these words of Jesus, and memorize, and think of them: many boys and girls have learned the verses of those “blessed”, or the verses about light, about the candle and the bushel and others. Think of the said the words,—Jesus, who lived as a boy and a young man in this world, and knew sorrow and trouble, yet the way to please and honor God.
How many verses in this talk of Jesus’ begin with the word “blessed”?
Those verses are sometimes called “The Beatitudes”, and all of Jesus’ teaching on the mountain, “The Sermon on the Mount.”
ML 02/14/1943