Right Attitudes

June 30, 2019 Background Scripture: Matthew 5:1 – 12 Lesson Passage: Matthew 5:1 – 12 Matthew 5 is the beginning of the narrative that is often referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. The bible records that large crowds started to follow Jesus at this point in his ministry. The people came from all of the regions where Jesus had been teaching and performing miracles. One day as Jesus was looking at the crowd, he went to the side of a hill and sat down. His disciples came to him and he started teaching them about many principles of the kingdom of heaven. This is the beginning of what Jesus said to them. There is a series of nine statements that declare a blessing for various people who are described within the statements. This series of statements has come to be known as the beatitudes—or as some will say, these are the attitudes that followers of Jesus should have. This list describes situations and attitudes that individuals do not seek to become or experience. So, it is significant that Jesus said there is a blessing for those who are so. I don’t know of anyone who wants to be poor in spirit or mourning. Nor do I know of anyone who doesn’t naturally believe that to be gentle, a peacemaker, or merciful is to set one’s self up to be taken advantage of by aggressive and unmerciful people. Jesus’ words must have been like music to the ears of those who were already enduring such things. In spite of their current situation, Jesus was assuring them that there was a blessing in it for them. No one had taught such things. There is little wonder that some would dare to teach that religion is the opium of the people. Any teaching that would have people become comfortable in such situations rather than incite them to riot or struggle to rise up from such things, was certainly seen as intoxicating them to the point of becoming unaware of their present state. But Jesus was not teaching about earthly outcomes for earthly living. Jesus taught about heavenly rewards for enduring earthly conditions for the sake of God. It is unfortunate that some today teach about earthly outcomes as the only meaningful aspiration of a person’s faith. Jesus taught his followers to look at the outcome of life on an eternal level. Life should not be lived simply based on what a person can obtain or attain to. Life for a child of God should be lived with eternal rewards and consequences in mind. That is one of the things that makes this list that Jesus gave so profound. Many people who understood very little about life were being inspired to have aspirations for eternal things beyond life. The assurance that Jesus gave them was that God is the guarantor of the outcome. In other words, the outcome is in God’s hands and so too are the eternal rewards. There are consequences to be faced for the actions we take in this life. Before there are human actions, there are attitudes. And before there are human attitudes, there are human thoughts. Jesus’ approach to corrective action was to help people have the right thoughts and that would lead them to have the right attitude. Jesus’ teaching on this was made complete by teaching them God’s role in determining the rewards resulting from those outcomes. Robert C. Hudson May 15, 2019