I have been going through the Gospels as part of my personal Bible study. In going through Matthew 5, 6, and 7, I came across interesting commentary from two sources: The Gospel according to Matthew by Leon Morris and The Daily Study Bible by William Barclay. I felt both sources would be worth considering as part of our Sabbath Thoughts for a few weeks.
Blessed - Various expressions are used by translators for the word blessed. Words like “fortunate” (Anchor Bible) or “happy” (Jerusalem Bible) are how the translators of those works chose to express the Greek word “makarios”. But translating Makarios as happy or fortunate is basically a human way of conveying the meaning and misses the deeper religious meaning.
Fortunate - One of the meanings of fortunate is lucky. The word lucky conveys the idea of things for no apparent reason broke your way. There is nothing to it.
Happy - A word we can understand based on the first 3 letters of the word: hap. The root “hap” which means chance. Human happiness is something which is dependent on the chances and the changes of life, something which life may give and which life may also destroy.
So what is “the deeper religious meaning”? Let’s look at 2 general facts.
(1) It can be seen that every one of the beatitudes has precisely the same form. As they are commonly printed in our Bibles, each one of them in the King James Version has the word “are” printed in italic, or sloping, type. When a word appears in italics in the King James Version it means that in the Greek, or in the Hebrew, there is no equivalent word. Therefore, the word added in italics or sloping type was added to bring out the meaning of the sentence.
This is to say that in the beatitudes there is no verb, there is no word “are”. Why should that be? Jesus did not speak the beatitudes in Greek; he spoke them in Aramaic, which was the language Hebrew people spoke in Jesus day.
Aramaic and Hebrew have a very common kind of expression, which is in fact an exclamation and which means, "O the blessedness of . . ." The expression ('ashere in the Hebrew) is very common in the Old Testament. For instance, the first Psalm begins in the Hebrew: "O the blessedness of the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly" (Ps 1:1). This is the form that Jesus first spoke in the beatitudes. The beatitudes are not simple statements; they are exclamations: "O the blessedness of the poor in spirit!"
What is most important, is that the beatitudes are not pious hopes of what shall be. They are not glowing, nebulous prophecies of some future bliss. They are congratulations on what is the blessedness which belongs to the Christian. It is not a blessedness which is postponed to some future world of glory. It is a blessedness which exists here and now. It is not something into which the Christian will enter. It is something into which he has entered.
True, it will find its fulness in the time after Christ’s return. But for Christians, it is a present reality to be enjoyed here and now.
The beatitudes in effect say, "O the bliss of being a Christian! O the joy of following Christ! O the sheer happiness of knowing Jesus Christ as Master, Savior and Lord!" The very form of the beatitudes is the statement of the joyous thrill and the radiant gladness of the Christian life.
(2) The word blessed which is used in each of the beatitudes is a very special word. It is the Greek word makarios. Makarios is the word which specially describes the gods. In Christianity there is a godlike joy.
The meaning of makarios can best be seen from one particular usage of it. The Greeks always called Cyprus he makaria which means The Happy Isle. They did so because they believed that Cyprus was so lovely, so rich, and so fertile an island that a man would never need to go beyond its coastline to find the perfectly happy life. It had such a climate, such flowers and fruits and trees, such minerals, such natural resources that it contained within itself all the materials for perfect happiness.
Makarios then describes that joy which has its secret within itself. That joy which is serene and untouchable, and self-contained. That joy which is completely independent of all the chances and the changes of life.
The English word happiness gives its own case away. It contains the root “hap” which means chance. Human happiness is something which is dependent on the chances and the changes of life; something which life may give and which life may also destroy.
The Christian blessedness is completely untouchable and unassailable. "No one," said Jesus, "will take your joy from you" (John 16:22). The beatitudes speak of that joy which helps us through our pain. That joy which sorrow, loss, pain and grief are powerless to touch. That joy which shines through tears, and which nothing in life or death can take away.
The world can win its joys, and the world can equally as well lose its joys. A change in fortune, a collapse in health, the failure of a plan, the disappointment of an ambition, even a change in the weather can take away the fickle joy the world can give. But the Christian has the serene and untouchable joy which comes from walking for ever in the company and in the presence of Jesus Christ.
The greatness of the beatitudes is that they are not wistful glimpses of some future beauty. They are not even golden promises of some distant glory. They are triumphant shouts of bliss for a permanent joy that nothing in the world can ever take away.
(From The Daily Study Bible, by William Barclay: First Edition. Biblesoft Formatted Electronic Database Copyright © 2015 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Have a pleasant Sabbath evening,
Gary Smith
No comments:
Post a Comment