The Sermon on the Mount | Matthew 5: 1-12
Today’s Gospel recalls one of the most popular teachings of Jesus: The Beatitudes. The word beatitude means happy, and in this sermon Jesus gives us a ‘how to’ guide to being happy. For Jesus happiness means both happiness on earth and happiness in heaven (being in heaven is often called the Beatific Vision-Vision of Happiness).
True happiness on earth has less to do with a feeling than it does a state of being. Amid family, work, and school sometimes being busy and challenging we can reflect that we may not always feel happy all the time, but that we are truly happy about who we are and what we are doing. Following Jesus will make us truly happy both now and forever.
So what is Jesus’ guide for ‘how to be happy’? Be poor in spirit, mourn, be meek, hunger and thirst for righteousness, show mercy, be pure of heart, a peacemaker, and be persecuted for doing the right thing. This list doesn’t make for a good advertising campaign, but it does tell us a lot about Jesus’ life and who we are called to be.
In the Old Testament God gave his people (Jews) laws and commandments to help them be faithful to their covenant (pact with God). In Jesus, God establishes a New Covenant (Testament) that doesn’t abolish the law, but fulfills it (Matt. 5:17). Jesus still intends his followers to still be faithful to the 10 Commandments, but goes a step further; Jesus isn’t simply telling us “Thou shalt not kill”, but that we are called to be peacemakers and show mercy. Instead of tablets with 10 ‘to do’s” on it, Jesus life and words are the New Law.
Jesus teaches us to not just be ‘law abiding’ people, but to imitate him or as St. Paul says, to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 13:14) so that we will be truly happy and bring God’s Kingdom of Happiness “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).
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