What does it mean to be "blessed"?

Text: Matthew 5:1–12; Luke 6:20–26

5 When He saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain, and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2 Then He began to teach them, saying: 

    3 “The poor in spirit are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 

    4 Those who mourn are blessed, for they will be comforted. 

    5 The gentle [meek] are blessed, for they will inherit the earth. 

    6 Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed, for they will be filled. 

    7 The merciful are blessed, for they will be shown mercy. 

    8 The pure in heart are blessed, for they will see God. 

    9 The peacemakers are blessed, for they will be called sons of God. 

    10 Those who are persecuted for righteousness are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 

11 “You are blessed when they insult and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me. 12 Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 

Mt 5:1–12

On our way to understanding righteousness, Jesus begins with what it means to be “blessed.”

1. Being “blessed” begins with knowing who you are

Being blessed isn’t what you think. There are two different Greek words for “blessed.” The first is to give someone something they didn’t earn but the second [this word] has no English equivalent. The Romans used this word in reference to the gods and God’s people used it in a way that meant something closer to being ‘fortunate.’ 

This is why versions of the bible translate it as “happy” but both fall short because it means someone whose place in life is enviable but it’s not about getting stuff, it is about your character. There was such a debate about this concept that Aristotle wrote a commentary on it. He said,

“One swallow does not make a summer; neither does one day. Similarly neither can one day, or a brief space of time, make a man blessed or happy.”

Aristotle

This means that being blessed is not something you are given, it is a sense of contentment that comes from knowing your place in the world and learning to be satisfied with that place. This is why some translators consider it to be the state of being happy in the fullest sense.

But as Aristotle said, and the bible confirms, it does not happen over night. It is achieved little by little through practice and, according to Jesus, it begins with knowing who you are: completely dependent upon God because you are a sinner in need of a savior.

3 “The poor in spirit are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 

4 Those who mourn are blessed, for they will be comforted. 

Matt 5:3-4

This word “poor” is used in reference to a person who makes their living as a beggar. By itself, it could mean someone who has no money but when you add “in spirit” it takes on the wider sense of wretchedness and complete dependents on God.

So, this is why being poor in spirit is the substance of the whole message. When you are poor in spirit you know you are not self-sufficient. You know you are a spiritual beggar without a chance of saving yourself. It is the opposite of the worldly arrogance which is why we mourn.

Two of the greatest examples of spiritual mourning come from Simeon and Anna. What did they mourn? They mourned their sin and the sins of their people. In Luke 2, we read that Anna  worshiped in the temple “night and day, fasting and praying” and Simeon “was waiting for the consolation of Israel” which means the removal of mourning. Both were waiting to see Jesus.

2. Being “blessed” is knowing who you should be

You have a purpose and part of it is to be more like Jesus in the situation you find yourself in which means being meek and merciful.

The gentle [meek] are blessed, for they will inherit the earth…

The merciful are blessed, for they will be shown mercy. 

Matt 5:5,7

We should mourn and despise our sin and out of gratitude for being saved from it, we should slowly remove the sin from our lives and become more like Jesus and we do this through developing a character of meekness. Meekness is often mistranslated as “gentle” but it was actually used to describe wild horses that had been broken because it is not gentle, it is power under control.

We can read an example of the word used by Ignatius, a disciple of the Apostle John, who was appointed the Bishop of Antioch by the Apostle Peter.

He told his church,

Pray also without ceasing for the rest of mankind (for there is in them a hope of repentance), that they may find God. Therefore permit them to take lessons at least from your works. Against their outbursts of wrath be meek; against their proud words be humble; against their railings set your prayers; against their errors be steadfast in the faith; against their fierceness be gentle…Let us show ourselves their brothers by our long-suffering and let us be zealous to be imitators of the Lord...

Ignatius

Ex: Police, Fire, and Military. We want our authorities to be meek.

Meekness and mercy go together because mercy is “not judging people even though they deserve it” while meekness is the ability to control ourselves so we can be merciful, both of which are only possible because we know we are on the right path.

3. Being “blessed” is seeking the right path

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed, for they will be filled…

The pure in heart are blessed, for they will see God. 

Matt 5:6, 8

All of these verses are expressions of a beggar, whose hunger and thirst drive them to seek the path that will lead them to righteousness. It is only in the righteousness of Christ that we are made pure, find peace, and we experience his righteousness today through walking the path of faith as we follow and imitate him.

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” 

Psalm 42:1-2

And Jesus answered this longing,

“I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

John 6:35

Being blessed means knowing who you are, who you need to be, and where you need to go to find it and Jesus told us what it is we should seek: his kingdom and righteousness.

“This is why I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the sky…Aren’t you worth more than they? 

Mt 6:25–26

So don’t worry…But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. 

Mt 6:25–34

All human beings hunger and thirst for true peace and security but most refuse to accept that it is found in God’s righteousness. Jesus told us he is the way, the truth, and the life and that no one comes to the father but through him and our lives are a journey of faith to God’s kingdom.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.”

Mt 7:13–14

Jesus is our rock and we bring that spiritual truth into the real world and feel that security only when we seek and follow Jesus. While the world seeks its joy and happiness through popularity and stuff but Jesus tells us that is the wrong path.

Our purpose is to honor the Lord, follow his will, and some day receive crowns of glory which we will throw back at his feet because there is nothing good in us. This is because the final key to being blessed comes from knowing and accepting the end. This is why Jesus ended with,

12 Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 

Mt 5:1–12

We know the path because we know the end is Christ. Not our opinions, not politics, not our country, not social justice, or the next election. Our end is Christ and our reward is his will and his glory. If you seek anything else as your goal, you will be disappointed because everything else is idolatry: it is either worship of self, worship of others, or worship of the world.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will find it. What will it benefit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?

Mt 16:24–26

Do not envy the rich influencers with their jets and cars. Don’t envy the Elon Musks of the world with their unlimited funds and personal islands. Lots of people throughout history have come into the world, conquered most of it, but their end is always the same: death.

How will your life end?

What you desire most in life will determine what kind of life you end with.

What do you hunger and thirst for?

Is it influence? Is it popularity? Is it respect or love or honor or money or big houses? In the end, none of this matters because our end is the same. The only true and eternal glory you can have is found in seeking the kingdom of God and making his righteousness your goal. 

When this is true, riches or poverty, life or death, and all the rest have little value by comparison to the peace of the Lord. That is what it means to be blessed. That is what is truly enviable: peace that is beyond understanding. 

What will it benefit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?

Mt 16:24–26

Jesus Christ is our life and our salvation, there is nothing greater and next week we will look at the attitude we need to cultivate in order to experience this blessedness Jesus calls us to seek.

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