Beautiful Attitudes
‘Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.’ Matthew 5:1-2.
Imagine the scene: a travelling preacher arrives in town saying things like, ‘repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is here.’ He is causing quite a stir, crowds are starting to follow him, he is announcing good news, healing the sick and people from different nations (namely Syria) are bringing the blind, the lame, the sick, the demon possessed to this travelling preacher and he is healing them all.
All this is set on the backdrop of a state that was occupied and rumblings were going around; could this teacher really be the Messiah, the one who has come to rescue us?
As the crowds follow this teacher called Jesus, they are led to a quiet hillside on the shores of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus is about to teach. The anticipation must have been incredible- a bit like it was last July before the Euro 2020 final, a whole nation on tenterhooks. Then Jesus sits down (a position of authority, as all the teachers of the law did that day) and begins to speak.
I’m sure the nation was expecting a rousing speech, a call to take up arms and send the invaders back to where they came from, claiming the nation, the promised land once again.
Instead, Jesus spoke the opposite. Jesus spoke words which we now call the Beatitudes; the ‘beautiful attitudes.’ Jesus declared that the Kingdom of God is opposite to the world we live in. It’s not a call to arms but instead a call to humility.
Matthew Henry writes, ‘Blessed Jesus! How different are thy maxims from those of men of this world! They call the proud happy, the rich, the powerful, and the victorious. May we find mercy from the Lord; may we be owned as His children, and inherit His Kingdom. With these enjoyments and hopes, we may cheerfully welcome low or painful circumstances.’
These statements were, in effect, Jesus’ manifesto. ‘This is what my Kingdom looks like.’ This is how you enter the Kingdom, not by being rich and buying a position but instead humbling yourself and acknowledging your need for God. Hunger and thirst for righteousness and justice and goodness, being merciful and pure, and even when you are persecuted for walking in this way and doing what is right, you will be blessed!
For those who belong to God’s Kingdom, this is the posture Jesus calls us to live by. To live the way the beatitudes speak of. It’s a daunting task and no doubt along the journey we will all struggle. But blessed are those who walk this way, for they lead us into blissful contentment, joy and life.
- Josh Raybould
Inward prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to humble myself and hunger and thirst for You and Your Kingdom. Help me to have beautiful attitudes.
Outward prayer: May my life be a witness to the world of Your Kingdom and the things that really matter to You.
Imagine the scene: a travelling preacher arrives in town saying things like, ‘repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is here.’ He is causing quite a stir, crowds are starting to follow him, he is announcing good news, healing the sick and people from different nations (namely Syria) are bringing the blind, the lame, the sick, the demon possessed to this travelling preacher and he is healing them all.
All this is set on the backdrop of a state that was occupied and rumblings were going around; could this teacher really be the Messiah, the one who has come to rescue us?
As the crowds follow this teacher called Jesus, they are led to a quiet hillside on the shores of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus is about to teach. The anticipation must have been incredible- a bit like it was last July before the Euro 2020 final, a whole nation on tenterhooks. Then Jesus sits down (a position of authority, as all the teachers of the law did that day) and begins to speak.
I’m sure the nation was expecting a rousing speech, a call to take up arms and send the invaders back to where they came from, claiming the nation, the promised land once again.
Instead, Jesus spoke the opposite. Jesus spoke words which we now call the Beatitudes; the ‘beautiful attitudes.’ Jesus declared that the Kingdom of God is opposite to the world we live in. It’s not a call to arms but instead a call to humility.
Matthew Henry writes, ‘Blessed Jesus! How different are thy maxims from those of men of this world! They call the proud happy, the rich, the powerful, and the victorious. May we find mercy from the Lord; may we be owned as His children, and inherit His Kingdom. With these enjoyments and hopes, we may cheerfully welcome low or painful circumstances.’
These statements were, in effect, Jesus’ manifesto. ‘This is what my Kingdom looks like.’ This is how you enter the Kingdom, not by being rich and buying a position but instead humbling yourself and acknowledging your need for God. Hunger and thirst for righteousness and justice and goodness, being merciful and pure, and even when you are persecuted for walking in this way and doing what is right, you will be blessed!
For those who belong to God’s Kingdom, this is the posture Jesus calls us to live by. To live the way the beatitudes speak of. It’s a daunting task and no doubt along the journey we will all struggle. But blessed are those who walk this way, for they lead us into blissful contentment, joy and life.
- Josh Raybould
Inward prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to humble myself and hunger and thirst for You and Your Kingdom. Help me to have beautiful attitudes.
Outward prayer: May my life be a witness to the world of Your Kingdom and the things that really matter to You.
1 Comment
Thank God we don’t have to muster up our strength to do any of these or to have any of these attitudes, thank God for the Holy Spirit our Helper!
Thanks Josh for the write-up.