Chapter 6 - The
Beatitudes
Bonhoeffer-'The aim
of this beatitude is to bring all who hear it to decision and salvation.'
'The disciples are
called 'Blessed' because they have obeyed the call of Jesus, and the people as
a whole because they are heirs of the promise. But will they now claim their
heritage by believing in Jesus Christ and his word? Or will they fall into apostasy
by refusing to accept him? That is the question which still remains to be
answered.'
My thoughts- This is
truth for us, a question for us. Will we hear? Will be believe? Or will we
refuse?
Mat_5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.
Bonhoeffer-
'Privation is the lot of the disciples in every sphere of their lives. They are
the "poor" tout court
Luk 6:20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples,
and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.
They have no
security, no possessions to call their own, not even a foot of earth to call
their home, no earthly society to claim their absolute allegiance. Nay more,
they have no spiritual power, experience or knowledge to afford them
consolation or security. For his sake they have lost it all. In following him
they lost even their own selves, and everything that could make them rich.'
My thoughts- This is
truth. They have no POSSESSIONS, can you even imagine having NO
possessions? Look around you wherever
you are right now and take stock of the possessions you see just where you sit.
Can you imagine having none of them?
Mat_5:4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall
be comforted.
'With each beatitude
the gulf is widened between the disciples and the people, their call to come
forth from the people becomes increasingly manifest. By "mourning"
Jesus, of course, means doing without what the world calls peace and prosperity:
He means refusing to be in tune with the world or to accommodate oneself to its
standards. Such men mourn for the world, for its guilt, its fate and its
fortune. While the world keeps holiday they stand aside, and while the world
sings, "Gather ye rose-buds while ye may," they mourn. They see that
for all the jollity on board, the ship is beginning to sink. The world dreams
of progress, of power and of the future, but the disciples mediate on the end,
the last judgment, and the coming of the kingdom. To such heights the world
cannot rise. And so the disciples are strangers in the world, unwelcome guests
and disturbers of the peace. No wonder the world rejects them!
Nobody loves his
fellow-men better than a disciple, nobody understands his fellowmen better than
the Christian fellowship, and that very love impels them to stand aside and
mourn.
They simply bear the
suffering which comes their way as they try to follow Jesus Christ, and bear it
for his sake. Sorrow cannot tire them or wear them down, it cannot embitter
them or cause them to break down under the strain; far from it, for they bear
their sorrow in the strength of him who bears them up, who bore the whole
suffering of the world upon the cross. They stand as the bearers of sorrow in
the fellowship of the Crucified; they stand as strangers in the world in the
power of him who was such a stranger to the world that it crucified him. This
is their comfort, or better still, this Man is their comfort, the Comforter.
The community of strangers find their comfort in the cross, they are comforted
by being cast upon the place where the Comforter of Israel awaits them. Thus do
they find their true home with their crucified Lord, both here and in
eternity.'
My thoughts-
'...that very love
impels them to stand aside and mourn.'
Mourning.
Have you ever
mourned for someone? Most of us
have. Yet how often do we mourn for
those we don't know, those who aren't close to us? To mourn for the world, this
sort of mourning is something that cannot be borne without Christ. This sort of
suffering can crush us if we didn't have Christ to bear us up.
This world we live
in is incredibly evil. Pick up a
newspaper, go to a news website, spend just a half hour reading the world news
and the reasons for mourning are numerous.
We have to find
comfort in the cross, it's the only place we can from comfort. The cross
promises us salvation, it gives us HOPE outside of the existence we have in
this world! If it weren't for the cross, if it weren't for our SAVIOR, we truly
would have no reason for living at all whatsoever, not recognizing the evil in
the world and the pain of existence.
Satan wants us to
despair and will do ALL he can to bring us to despairing.
As we mourn we must
trust, we must find our hope in Christ.
How can we NOT mourn
when we witness the evil running rampant everywhere?
We can harden our
hearts- it is a choice we have available to us. By the grace of God we will NOT
harden our hearts! Through HIS mercy and love we will NOT grow hardened to the
evil, but mourn for all those who choose to live in evil over Christ and His love!
Please LORD, help us
to understand the blessing in mourning, knowing the pain of mourning reveals
the evil that in turns reveals the blessing of SALVATION in Christ our Savior
who died so we do not have to despair of the evil all around us, consuming so many.
Please Lord, help us who are poor and are mourning, help us to understand Your
TRUTH in the blessings.
By Your GRACE, Your
LOVE!
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