THE RADICAL STATEMENTS JESUS MADE ALMOST required an accompanying disclaimer— "Caution! If followed as prescribed, this could turn world upside down." Just about everything Jesus said or did seemed to contradict the accepted cultural views of his time, resulting in, more often than not, religious and social upheaval.
His comments on what constitutes true happiness or contentment in life are no exception. In the New Testament Gospel of Luke, Jesus defines the poor, weeping, starving, and hated as "happy." See Luke 6:20–23 (TEV). The Gospel of Matthew adapts and adds to this list, and the result is a series of nine short statements, each one beginning with the promise of happiness. See Matt. 5:3–12 (TEV) .
Commonly known today as the Beatitudes, these sayings not only redefine happiness, they show that each person has the natural ability to experience this happiness. Natural because, as the statements suggest, true happiness comes from God. They tell not so much what humanity needs to do in order to become superficially happy, but what God does to establish the foundation for spiritual happiness, the kind of happiness that lasts.
First, it's worth mentioning that although some Bible readers may not be so quick to associate the theme of happiness with the Beatitudes, this interpretation hinges on the translation of one word from the New Testament. The Greek word makarios is translated differently in various Bible verses and versions. In the King James Version, for example, makarios, which is translated as "blessed" in the Beatitudes, is also translated as "happy" elsewhere in the New Testament. In several other versions, however, makarios is rendered as "happy" even in the Beatitudes. But rather than a happiness that may come and go depending on external factors, makarios implies a spiritual happiness that results from the relationship between benefactor and recipient, namely, God and God's creation. See Carl Vaught, The Sermon on the Mount (Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1986), p. 14 .
If the Beatitudes were meant to tell humanity what it needs to do in order to be happy, then they would probably include some instruction along those lines. But this is not the case. There is no mention of a need to work or beg for this gift. The Beatitudes take it for granted that happiness is simply the inevitable effect of one's relationship with a God who nourishes the hungry, comforts the mourning, cherishes the slandered, and provides for the poor, as stated in the Beatitudes themselves.
The Beatitudes begin with an affirmation—namely, the inherent happiness of anyone who turns to God for help. These people are called "the poor in spirit. " It's interesting to note that the Greek word translated as "poor" in the first beatitude is also the word for "beggar." Here, Jesus is clearly blessing those who beg not for human happiness, but for something much higher—for Spirit, or God. The New English Bible captures the essence of the first beatitude: "How blest are those who know their need of God; the kingdom of Heaven is theirs." Matt. 5:3 (NEB).
The Beatitudes offer a different approach from the Commandments. Instead of prohibiting wrong actions, the Beatitudes celebrate right actions.
A beneficial reliance on God is also expressed in the next three beatitudes, where mourners are receptive to God's comfort, the meek recognize God as the source of true goodness, and those who crave righteousness yearn to be in right relationship with God. These first four beatitudes' emphasis on turning to God echoes the First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Ex. 20:3. Yet the Beatitudes offer a different approach from the Commandments. Instead of prohibiting wrong actions, the Beatitudes celebrate right actions. Rather than commanding humankind to say no to other gods, the Beatitudes begin by proclaiming the joy of those who say yes to the one all-encompassing God.
The Beatitudes are virtually free of commands. Not until the final verse do any imperative verb forms appear. But even these verbs sound more like promises than commands. The persecuted are told, "Rejoice and be glad." Matt 5:12 (NRVS) Much like the Hebrew psalmists who voiced praise in the midst of pain, and hope in the midst of hurt, the Beatitudes declare that one can rejoice even in the face of persecution. Why? Because God will sustain one through the difficult times that bring necessary growth and, ultimately, freedom from that persecution.
But all this isn't to say that the Beatitudes recommend that people just sit around and smile. There is some doing required. In fact, while the first four beatitudes conclude by blessing those who crave righteousness, beatitudes five through nine promise blessings to those who exemplify righteousness in their actions—those who show mercy, those wholehearted in their devotion to God, those who make peace, and those who act so rightly that they provoke persecution. In this way, these latter beatitudes move from desiring righteousness to living it.
The giver of the Beatitudes embodied the righteousness he spoke of. Instead of merely offering these statements as abstract theories, Jesus put his teachings into practice—bringing sustenance to the hungry and comfort to those who mourned. Through his actions, those begging for God experienced God's transforming touch. Jesus made the outcasts of his day the priority of his ministry, reaching out to the untouchable lepers and eating with people considered unrighteous, such as prostitutes and tax collectors. Before putting forward a single beatitude, he had already healed multitudes.
So what's the basis for an ability to live these Beatitudes? Perhaps one can view them not so much as a moral checklist, but as a kind of spiritual charter. The promise of God's kingdom as already present that appears in the first beatitude sets the tone for the future-tense promises that follow—because God already reigns, the starving will be fed and the weeping will laugh—and allows one to view these statements as something of a constitution for the divine government. See Vigen Guroian, "Bible and Ethics: An Ecclesial and Liturgical Interpretation," The Journal of Religious Ethics, Spring 1990, p. 140 . This constitution starts with a declaration of dependence on God, a dependence that awakens one to the dawning of God's kingdom in one's life. It empowers ethical action and restores one's relationships with God and humanity, and is the basis of righteousness.
Perhaps the most radical thing about the Beatitudes isn't their reversal of commonly held notions about contentment—the idea that happiness belongs not to the powerful, proud, and popular, but to the merciful, mourning, and meek. Instead, it's the idea that the source of this happiness, the reign of God, is already here. Perhaps the promise that both opens and closes this list of assurances is the most radical statement of all: "yours is the kingdom of God." Luke 6:20. It doesn't get much more revolutionary than that.
