The gospel reading for Sunday, January 29th is Matthew 5:1-12. This Sunday is the Fourth Sunday of Epiphany, and the second to last.
It helps to know
How Matthew resembles the OT. The key secret about Matthew’s gospel is that, from start to finish, it parallels the structure of the Old Testament. (Here’s a paper.) Jesus’ baptism corresponds to the crossing of the Red Sea (Matt. 3:13-17; cf. Exod. 14:10-13). Jesus’ temptation corresponds to Israel’s tempation in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11; cf. Exod. 16:1-17:7). Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” corresponds to Moses receiving and giving the law (Matt. 5-7; cf. Exod. 19:1-23:33).
How the Beatitudes resemble the Decalogue. In Matthew, Jesus begins his “Sermon” (ch. 5-7) with eight words, called The Beatitudes (5:1-12). In Exodus, Moses begins the law with ten words, called The Decalogue or The Ten Commandments (Exod. 20:1-17). In both cases, an extended section of teaching is introduced with a structured, memorable, and theologically significant set of words.
The narrative significance of the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes correspond to The Decalogue. They don’t replace or fulfill them, strictly speaking. But think this way: Yahweh redeems Israel from what He calls “the land of Egypt and “the House of Slavery” (Exod. 20:1), leads them into a time of transition, and gives them a new, anti-Pharaonic law to teach them holiness before they settled the new land. Jesus has just crossed through the waters (Matt. 3:13-17), defeated Satan (4:1-11), and begun to call people to follow him (4:12-22) and begun teaching and healing (4:23-27). The Beatitudes are they key to transforming the hearts, minds, bodies, and ways of life of the people he has called out of “darkness” (4:16).
Matthew 5:1-12
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
What I noticed
Matthew includes both “the crowds” and “the disciples”.
The phrase, “his disciples came to him” (5:1) is the first mention of the disciples (mathētai) by that name. 4:18-22 introduces the disciples by name (Simon, Andrew, James, John), by occupation (fishermen, now fishers of men), by activity (cast, mend, left, followed), and by Jesus’ commitment (I will make you…) but not by category.
“The crowds” (ochloi; 5:1) had been introduced in the previous verse as “large crowds” (ochloi polloi; 4:25). They consist at least of those in need of healing from natural and supernatural diseases, and of those who brought them. They are also described as having “followed” Jesus from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
The divine mouth.
Matthew does not only depict Jesus speaking; he depicts him opening his mouth (5:1). Why does that matter?
So far in Matthew, Jesus has spoken succinctly, and his words have largely been borrowed:
He speaks just one sentence to John at his baptism, and it’s about fulfilling righteousness (3:13-17).
Against Satan, he speaks only three lines, all of which are direct quotes of Scripture (4:1-11).
When he starts his ministry, he simply quotes John (4:12-17).
When he calls his first four disciples, he speaks originally, but only one sentence: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (4:18-22).
Matthew 5:1 marks a drastic shift in the narrative. Jesus “opens his mouth” for the first time, and speaks.
This is significant because, just above, in his tête-à-tête with Satan, Jesus quotes Deut. 8:3, where it says that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew has us see Jesus—who here teaches the heart of the law, describes what will be judged and what will be rewarded, addresses anxiety, and explains entering the kingdom of heaven and building a house that will last—speaking words to live by.
Jesus doesn’t make an explicit, divine claim here, but Matthew makes one structurally. Jesus has the mouth of God.
Identifying the meek.
Last month, some friends and I discussed “meekness” and tried to identify who might be rightly described as meek. Whoever they are, they’re inheriting the earth, which sounds great!
The other day, another brother, Joel, pointed out the mundanity of inheriting the earth in the exile stories.
For instance, when Nebuchadnezzar sacks Jerusalem (II Kings 24:10-17), King Jeohiachin gives himself up, both him and his household (v. 12). Nebuchadnezzar then takes “all the officials”, including royal wives and the “chief men of the land”, numbering 3,000; all the mighty men of valor, numbering 7,000; and all the craftsmen and smiths, also called metal workers, and all described as “strong and fit for war” (vv. 14-16).
In the center of this list is an omission: “None remained, except the poorest people of the land” (v. 15b).
Nebuchadnezzar has two kinds of goals, and they are fairly standard practice for conquerors in the Ancient Mesopotamian world (Rome would popularize a different kind of conquering). One, sieze the “best and brightest” of Judean labor to strengthen Babylon. Two, keep Judah settled and productive in order to benefit form its resources and ward off other empires.
Suddenly, those who are left, the poor, find themselves right where they always had been. Nebuchadnezzar’s not going to plant his own potatoes. He’s going to leave the people who plant potatoes to plant potatoes. These poor are one biblical image of the meek, and this is one biblical image of inheriting the earth.
Being called sons of God.
During Advent, I noticed that Matthew never calls Jesus Joseph’s son or Joseph Jesus’s father, and I wrote about that here. It’s not a scandal, it’s just a point. Matthew emphasizes patrimony:
Jesus’ genealogy connects to Abraham and David (Matt 1:1-17).
Jesus’ genealogy continues with Joseph, called “Son of David” (1:18-25).
Archelaus resembles his father, Herod, which makes Joseph afraid to return to Israel (2:16-23).
The Pharisees and Sadducees are not sons of Abraham; they’re sons of snakes (3:1-12).
The Heavenly Voice calls Jesus “Son” at his baptism (3:13-17).
Jesus calls two men to leave their father and his business in order to become his disciples (4:18-22).
Sons inherit their fathers’ households, take their name, and extend their glory. This is natural and right, so far as it goes. Patriotism (from pater, meaning father) extends this pattern to one’s country.
Filial duty and patriotism, of course, only go so far. Put your family or your people first, and you may do so at the expense or to the detriment of those outside your family, or who aren’t your people.
Jesus is Joseph’s son, but there is a sense in which Matthew won’t call him Joseph’s son. Perhaps it’s the same sense in which Jesus says, “Do not call anyone on earth your father” (23:9). Jesus is a son of Israel, but he settled in Capernaum, in Galilee, and he heals Gentiles.
Making peace requires some degree of disassociation from “your people” in order to unite two people into one “new man” (Eph. 2:15; cf. 2:11-22; 4:1-16). Making peace requires taking on God as your father and putting his kingdom first (Matt. 6:25-34).
Lectionary resonances
The lectionary preserves the relationship between Sinai and The Beatitudes. Micah repeats the words that start The Decalogue: “I brought you up from the land of Egypt / and redeemed you from the house of slavery, / and I sent before you Moses” (Micah 6:4). He does this to argue that, “He has told you, O man, what is good” (6:8). In Matthew 5-7, Jesus continues to show man what is good.
Psalm 37 expresses several of The Beatitudes in the form of a song-prayer. The psalm focuses, though, on “the land”, referring to it at vv. 3, 9, and 11. The final verse summarizes the sense of the psalm and explicitly anticipates one of The Beatitudes: “the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace” (v. 11; cf. Matt. 5:5).
The point of 1 Cor. 1:18-25 is that God’s foolish-sounding wisdom makes fools of the wise, and the point of vv. 26-31 is that God shows this in the people he chooses: “not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth” (v. 26). God be no Nebuchadnezzar.
This has me thinking…
I talked through these passages with a few students at lunch, and we came up with an analogy. Nebuchadnezzar and Yahweh are high school soccer coaches, squaring off for a pickup game of 11 v. 11 soccer—Babylon Heights vs. Judah High. Nebuchadnezzar supplements his side with five starters from the Babylon Premier League, chooses four more from Babylon Heights, and wants to cherry-pick two more starters from Judah.
Yahweh tells him to take whatever he’d like, and he does, taking all sixteen of the players on Judah High’s Varsity boys’ team.
What is left is a few members of intramural team, the four girls who’d been raising money to start a Varsity girls’ program, and a handful of kids from immigrant families who play every day during recess but can’t afford to register for the Varsity program.
The analogy aside, meekness has to do God’s election, which is described in contrast to Nebuchadnezzar’s election. It seems Nebuchadnezzar only chooses people with transferable skills—skills that could be just as useful in Babylon as they were in Judah, whose work has less to do with the land.
The meek will be given the land because the land already belongs to them in a certain way. They draw food from the ground the way God said Adam would: “by the sweat of your face” (Gen. 3:19). The meek, especially in their relationship with the land, resemble Adam.
What I don’t hear in The Beatitudes is an implicit commandment—Be meek—or an instruction for getting rewards—If you want to inherit the earth, focus on meekness. The clearest exhortation I hear in this weeks’ readings comes from the psalm: “Trust in the Lord, and do good; / dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. / Delight yourself in the Lord, / and he will give you the desires of your heart” (37:3-4).
I hadn’t realized that this popular verse is directly related to the promise of inheriting the earth in Ps. 37:11, recited by the divine mouth on New Sinai at Matt. 5:5. God has shown us what is good (Mic. 6:8), so let’s do it (Ps. 37:3). Dwell in the land (37:3), the way Jesus settled in Capernaum (Matt. 4:13) and form an affective relationship with Trust itself. Befriend Faithfulness (Ps. 37:3), Love Kindness (Mic. 6:8), Make Peace (Matt. 5:9).
"Form an affective relationship with Trust itself"
That's a sentence I could ponder for a while