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Matthew 5:3-12 – Happiness Comes from What We Do
God never intended citizens of His kingdom to just sit around “being and believing.” The Beatitudes are not yoga positions, nor breathing techniques. If you allow me a little linguistic leeway, Jesus begins His Sermon on the Mount with both BE-attitudes and DO-attitudes. Notice the BE-DO rhythm: BE – Poor in spirit; DO – Mourn; BE – Gentle; DO – Hunger and thirst for righteousness; DO – Merciful; BE – Pure in heart; DO – Peacemakers. Consider also this rhythm: Being poor in spirit leads to me mourning my sins; followed spiritually by being gentle and calm within; and then hungering and thirsting to get closer to God’s righteousness; which leads to showing mercy to others as I have been shown mercy; and in so doing I become even more pure in heart; allowing me to do God’s work of making peace between me and others, and between God and others. The Sermon on the Mount starts with these descriptions and much of the rest of the Sermon shows how those Beatitudes show themselves in real life. Even some of the descriptions within the Beatitudes themselves show both a being and a doing. Can anyone be merciful without showing mercy, or be gentle without showing gentleness, or be a peacemaker without making peace. The end of the sermon puts it well; a good tree produces good fruit because it is a good fruit tree. A fruit tree that just is a tree, is elsewhere condemned (Mt.21:19).
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