As one of my daily devotional habits, I am reading Matthew's gospel very slowly. Most days I only get through one or two verses, no more. My approach is to compare the text in a number of Bible versions, read what a collection of commentaries have to say about the verses in question and then make a few notes. I use Logos Bible software to facilitate all of this reading and note-taking and I will write a future post to show how this brilliant software does it.
I've now reached chapter 5 and the Sermon on the Mount.
Much and been said and written about the Sermon on the Mount. The literature on it is massive and wide-ranging. Nothing that I can say about it will be truly new or revelatory. But I thought I would still share a nugget of truth that has blessed me afresh. Something does not need to be "new" to speak powerfully into our lives. I haven't got to Matthew 13:52 yet in my daily readings, but this saying of Jesus always speaks to me of the treasures the Bible brings.
He said to them, 'Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.' Matthew 13:52
As the old hymn says, "'Tis old, yet ever new"!
We are told that the audience for the sermon is not the crowds that often were attracted to Jesus, but "his disciples," a term used here for the first time in Matthew, but presumably intended in context for those who have been called to follow him in Matthew 4:18-22, together with others who share the same calling and commitment. The crowds are thus deliberately distinguished from the addressees of the sermon, though in Matthew 7:28-29 we discover that they have been listening to it, perhaps as an outer circle eavesdropping on what Jesus has been saying to his disciples.
Of course the Sermon famously begins with the Beatitudes. France, in his NICNT commentary on Matthew, states,
Beatitudes are descriptions, and commendations, of the good life.
France is excellent too at setting out the content for the Sermon. "The kingdom of heaven has already arrived (Matthew 4:17) and so these are people who are already under God's beneficent rule. The advantages of being God's people can then be expected to accrue already in this life, even though the full consummation of their blessedness remains for the future. The tension between "now" and "not yet," so familiar from much of the rest of the NT, may appropriately be seen as running also through the promises of Matthew 5:3-10.
Matthew 5:4 says, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Over the centuries this verse has been an incredible source of comfort and encouragement for countless people suffering in the pain of bereavement. Yet, to see its scope as solely addressing mourners is to miss its wider application. Again, France provides great insight and I can do no better than quote him at length (the emphasis is mine).
"To say simply that those who mourn are "happy" would clearly be nonsense. Their "happiness" consists in the fact that they will be comforted. The echo of Isaiah 61:2-3 (following the echo of Isaiah 61:1 in the "good news to the poor" in Matthew 5:3) indicates that the "mourning" envisaged is not primarily, as modern use of the verb might suggest, that of personal bereavement, but rather of those whose situation is wretched. Isaiah 61:2-3 goes on to contrast their "ashes" with "a garland" and "the oil of gladness," "the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit." Its message is of the restoration of oppressed Israel (cf. Luke 2:25, "the consolation of Israel"). For those who, as God's people, find their current situation intolerable and incomprehensible, there are better times ahead. When they will be is not stated, experience indicates that while for some there will be a reversal of fortunes in this life, this is not always so. The statement in Matthew 9:15 that the wedding guests (the disciples) cannot mourn while the bridegroom (Jesus) is with them speaks of the specific contrast between the period of Jesus' earthly ministry and the time to follow, whereas this beatitude speaks of a general characteristic of God's people: there will be times of rejoicing, but their situation in the world is generally one of disadvantage and therefore of mourning."
Are you struggling in a situation that is intolerable and incomprehensible? Many of us are.
Are you groaning under a burden of sorrow and guilt?
This verse is a gentle reminder that we can turn to God for forgiveness and help and comfort.