Matthew 5:3-4

Devotional Thoughts

By Gary Wilkerson

Many of us ignore Christ’s healing grace in the Sermon on the Mount and emphasize his beatitudes.

According to Luke’s account, Jesus proceeded straight from those healings to present the beatitudes: “Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, ‘God blesses you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours.

God blesses you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. God blesses you who weep now, for in due time you will laugh’” (Luke 6:20-21). Other gospel accounts include additional blessings: to the humble (they will inherit the earth), to the pure of heart (they will see God) and to the merciful (they will be shown mercy).

As a boy, I measured my walk with Christ by how well I demonstrated humility, purity and mercy. If I caught myself being aggressive, I thought, “I need to be more humble and meek.” Or, if I had sexual thoughts, I wondered, “How will I ever be able to keep a pure heart?” Like many before me, I turned God’s gracious promise of blessing into laws I tried to keep. If I “lived” the beatitudes well enough, then maybe God would say, “Gary, you’re blessed.”

No! That is completely backward — and utterly contrary to Christ’s gospel. When Jesus looked on that crowd of people, he saw them already poor in spirit, on their knees in humility, harangued by sickness, exhausted by their efforts to live a good life. So what did he do? He spoke blessings upon them! Just as the Lord spoke creation into a void of utter darkness, Jesus spoke divine blessings onto ravaged sinners, people beaten down by life. He assured them, “You came here in mourning, but I say you are blessed in the eyes of God—blessed in your marriage, blessed in your labors, blessed in the depths of your soul.”