Chapter 4: WHO IS REALLY WELL OFF? — THE BEATITUDES
The Puzzle of the Beatitudes
Jesus deals with two universal questions. What is the good life? And, who is truly a good person?
Pretty Poison? The beatitudes are very influential. But, they beg the question, how are we to live in response to them? Trying to live like the beatitudes taken at face value cause great problems.
Teaching from the Context. We should assume that the beatitudes continues the theme of the availability of the kingdom of heaven on earth. “I believe he used the method of “show and tell” to make clear the extent to which the kingdom is “on hand” to us. There were directly before him those who had just received from the heavens through him. The context makes this clear. He could point out in the crowd now this individual, who was “blessed” because The Kingdom Among Us had just reached out and touched them with Jesus’ heart and voice and hands. Perhaps this is why in the Gospels we only find him giving Beatitudes from the midst of a crowd of people he had touched.”
“Spiritual Zeros” Also Enjoy Heaven’s Care. “Those poor in spirit are called “blessed” by Jesus, not because they are in a meritorious condition, but because, precisely in spite of and in the midst of their ever so deplorable condition, the rule of the heavens has moved redemptively upon and through them by the grace of Christ.”
Staying in Charge. “Here we have full-blown, if not salvation by works, then possibly salvation by attitude. Or even by situation and chance, in case you happen to be persecuted, for example—meritorious attitude or circumstance guarantees acceptance with God! Can we really imagine that Jesus had anything like this in mind?”
And What of Those Not on the List? If the beatitudes are complete, then if you don’t have the attributes are you blessed? Will you even make it into heaven. Lukes woes are the opposite of the beatitudes.
Not for Today? “Because being in the kingdom of God is, on the usual interpretation of the Beatitudes, obviously not a matter of grace but of attaining to special conditions, the present age cannot be the age of the kingdom. That is the thinking of many.” Instead of denying that the beatitudes don’t apply to toady, maybe the teaching has been wrongly interpreted. “They [the beatitudes] are explanations and illustrations, drawn from the immediate setting, of the present availability of the kingdom through personal relationship to Jesus.” “The Beatitudes simply cannot be “good news” if they are understood as a set of “how-tos” for achieving blessedness. They would then only amount to a new legalism. They would not serve to throw open the kingdom—anything but. They would impose a new brand of Phariseeism, a new way of closing the door—as well as some very gratifying new possibilities for the human engineering of righteousness.”
Dealing with Soul in Depth
Jesus’ Manner of Teaching. Parables are meant to help us understand a difficult concept by comparing it something specific.
Teaching to Correct Prevailing Assumptions and Practices. The rich young ruler who is told to give away his wealth and follow Jesus directly counters the prevailing assumption that riches are a sign of God’s blessings.
Don’t You Have Relatives for Dinner?
The Case of the Good Samaritan.
How to Make a Neighbor. “ But in God’s order nothing can substitute for loving people. And we define who our neighbor is by our love. We make a neighbor of someone by caring for him or her.” “ Jesus deftly rejects the question “Who is my neighbor?” and substitutes the only question really relevant here: “To whom will I be a neighbor?”
Why Jesus Teaches in This Manner. Teaching was totally different in Jesus’ time. It was not designed to impart information, but to change lives.
What Jesus Really Had in Mind with His Beatitudes
A Look at Luke’s Version of the Beatitudes. The blessed in Luke’s beatitudes are the poor, the hungry, the grief- stricken, and the persecuted for believing in Jesus. These are categories of people, not attributes to be aspired to.
The Beatitudes as Kingdom Proclamation. “This fact of God’s care and provision proves to all that no human condition excludes blessedness, that God may come to any person with his care and deliverance. God does sometimes help those who cannot, or perhaps just do not, help themselves. (So much for another well-known generalization!)”
Beatitude under the Personal Ministry of Jesus. “The Beatitudes are lists of human “lasts” who at the individualized touch of the heavens become divine “firsts.” The gospel of the kingdom is that no one is beyond beatitude, because the rule of God from the heavens is available to all. Everyone can reach it, and it can reach everyone. We respond appropriately to the Beatitudes of Jesus by living as if this were so, as it concerns others and as it concerns ourselves.”
Making This Message Personal to Us Today
And on Your List of the Blessed.
A Silly Side of Salvation? “This is the gospel for a silly world, all the more needed because the silly is made a matter of life and death for many. Sin, for that matter, is silly. If the kingdom did not reach us in our silliness who would be saved? Lostness does not have to wear a stuffed shirt to find redemption.”
And the More Serious Side.
And the Immoral.
These Are to Be the Salt of the Earth, Light of the World.
Quotes from: Dallas Willard. “The Divine Conspiracy.” Apple Books. https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-divine-conspiracy/id360632495