Jesus Mortal |
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Beatitudes “Blessed are the poor”? What does that mean? In English we even have a special way of pronouncing the word “blessed” when we mean “sacred” or “miraculous,” as in the Beatitudes. The standard pronunciation of “blessed” is one syllable, “blest.” That’s how we pronounce it when we say “I am blessed with a loving family.” This is roughly the meaning of Jesus’ words. One can be blessed with fortune, health, prosperity, or any other good thing. It means, roughly, favored, fortunate, or lucky. Jesus’ wording is surprising. Who would say “I’m blessed with poverty” or “I’m blessed with hunger”? Usually we say that we’re blessed not to be poor, hungry, or thirsty. But when we’re referring to something with reverence, we use two syllables and call it “bless-ed.” A birth is a “bless-ed” event. In the church’s Beatitudes, the poor are “bless-ed.” They are somehow close to the LORD. Of course they are. You hardly even hear the word “bless-ed” unless you’re talking about the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the peacemakers, etc. Jesus’ original audience was shocked at the idea that the poor were blessed. Today we’d be shocked if the poor weren’t bless-ed. We also like think of blessings as spiritual gifts, but the folks of Jesus’ day took a much earthier, more matter of fact view. Health, family, and prosperity were blessings. The wealthy were clearly blessed. Just look at them! What do we say today for someone whose blessings are material? We say that they’re lucky or fortunate. The term “fortunate” carries some connotation of having received good fortune as a gift, sort of like a blessing. So “Blessed are the poor” might better be rendered: Fortunate are the destitute. It’s hard for modern readers to hear Jesus’ beatitudes as the radical declarations that they were when he uttered them. For one thing, Matthew has already edited the beatitudes for easier consumption. First, he invented several beatitudes that square nicely with expectations. That’s one way to discern Jesus’ original words from the words invented for him: the invented words fit expectations better. Blessed are the peacemakers, says Matthew? Sure, of course they’re blessed. The meek, merciful, and pure? Sure, it makes sense for them to be blessed, too. These beatitudes appear only in Matthew. For another thing, Matthew spiritualized Jesus’ own beatitudes to make sense of them. For Matthew, it’s those who hunger and thirst for justice who are blessed. Sure! Why not? But Jesus’ authentic beatitudes were nuts. Listen: Fortunate are those who weep. Fortunate are the hungry. Hungry people are fortunate? Blessed? Lucky? Hunger is no fun and Jesus’ audience of Galilean peasants knew it. Modern readers are lucky enough never to know hunger like a peasant did two thousand years ago. Jesus’ teaching confounded people. Matthew did his best to tame the beatitudes, and the church has been grateful ever since.
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contents table of contents you're already looking at it introduction for the inquisitive reader biographical overview who he was and wasn't
afterlife not Jesus' concern animal sacrifice bloodless religion apocalypse did Jesus preach hellfire? baptism sin wash for Jesus and others beatitudes Jesus' words and others' words beloved disciple witness for the un-gospel bible scripture old and new bishop the unjesus body focus on the physical Buddha Jesus' close kin charity key Christian virtue and legacy of Jesus The Da Vinci Code secret (and false) messages divorce women's status dreams convenient literary device Elijah Jewish prophet with his own second coming equality ancient source of modern egalitarianism exorcist Jesus and demons failure reinterpreting Jesus as a failure faith from trust to blind belief father Jesus on titles of honor Francis of Assisi the most Christlike Christian Gandhi the 20th century's most Christly holy man Galilee Jesus' inauspicious homeland gentiles Jesus' inadvertent audience god how Jesus became god golden rule key to Jesus' success gospels competing accounts heaven from sky to spiritual home hell revenge fantasy humanism Jesus' legacy inerrant Christian treatment of scripture Thomas Jefferson ethics of Jesus Jewish guilt Christian libel John's gospel the un-gospel John the baptist, see John the washer John the washer Jesus' apocalyptic mentor Judaism libeled religion of Jesus kingdom of god what Jesus promised Lao Tzu poet of the cosmic way logos jesus as the word of god C. S. Lewis famous, flawed trilemma little drummer boy Luke beats Matthew logos Jesus as the divine word LORD Yahweh transitioning to the one god of all Luke's gospel the all-around best gospel Mark's gospel the gospel that lost its point Mary of Magdala women, visions, and sex massacre of the innocents bloodshed starts early Matthew's gospel best gospel for church reading Mormon, see Joseph Smith Moses Jewish lawgiver Muhammad a prophet who got it right mystery Orpheus and transubstantiation oppression origin of Jesus' compassion The Passion of the Christ Luke as buzzkill Paul revealer of the revealer private and public public Jesus and secret Christ relativism the secret power of the golden rule sacrifice Jesus' death and Christian sacrament Albert Schweitzer Jesus as a failure sheol dark pit of death show Jesus' deeds as put-ons slavery abolished by Jesus' efforts Joseph Smith flesh-and-blood Jesus Socrates secular Jesus son of god on close terms with the man upstairs soul, see body synoptics three gospels that agree temple center of Jewish religion trinity unifying and divisive doctrinre vision, see dreams Yahweh, see LORD Zoroaster Persian dualistic holy man
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