Jesus’ program for being happy is the exact opposite of the world’s program for being happy
Fr. Steven Scherrer, MM, Th.D.
Homily of Sunday, Fourth Sunday of the Year, January 29, 2023
Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13, Psalm 145 (146), 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, Matthew 5:1-12

Scripture quotations are taken from the Revised Standard Version

unless otherwise noted

“Seeing the crowds, he [Jesus] 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 obtain 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 men 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 men persecuted the prophets who were before you’” (Matthew 5:1-12).

The Beatitudes are Jesus’ program for happiness in this world and the next. It is the exact opposite of the program that the world presents for achieving happiness. All the types of people that the world considers miserable, Jesus tells us are happy, because the kingdom of God is within their hearts, for “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21 KJV). When the kingdom of God is within your heart, you are happy. But it is a very different kind of happiness from what the world considers happiness. And the way of attaining this true happiness is the opposite of the way that the world recommends for obtaining happiness.

First of all Jesus tells us, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). The word blessed here in Greek really means truly happy deep in our hearts with the happiness that we experience through our faith in Christ.

Those who experience this happiness now are poor in spirit, for they have the kingdom of God within them, the kingdom of heavenly peace and spiritual joy. We obtain this happy state by being poor in spirit.

What does poor in spirit mean? First of all it means that we are aware of our own spiritual poverty compared with God. We do not consider ourselves, as the Pharisees did, to be righteous above everyone else. In fact, we are very much aware of our own sinfulness and that any righteousness that we have comes as a gift from God through our faith in Christ who justifies us.

Our righteousness comes from God reckoning to us his own righteousness, when we put our faith in Christ who died in vicarious punishment for our sins to save us from undergoing this punishment forever in hell. We are thus profoundly grateful for being justified; that is, for being declared and thereby made righteous by God, because of our faith in Christ, whose death on the cross reconciles us with God.

We therefore experience a deep inner peace, while at the same time we realize that without this righteousness of God through the death of Christ on the cross, we would be doomed to hell for our sins; and so we are overwhelmed with gratitude and deep inner peace for being redeemed by Christ through our faith in him.

This is the deepest happiness that a person can experience in this life, for it brings him heavenly peace and spiritual joy. To obtain this we must be poor in spirit, for this allows the kingdom of God to enter into us and transform us. Of ourselves we recognize that we are “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (JC Ryle, 1816-1900). We are not righteous in our own sight. All our righteousness, we realize, comes to us from God by our faith in Christ, and so we live in profound gratitude for this gift, while realizing our own poverty of spirit.

Jesus next tells us, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). Do we want to be comforted by God? The way to obtain this is to mourn. What do we mourn for? We mourn for our sins and those of the world around us. We are aware of our own weakness, failures, and sins throughout our life, and we weep over these and express our sorrow for this and our profound gratitude to God for his forgiveness through Christ’s redemptive death for our sins on the cross, when we put our faith in him.

Another way to happiness is by being meek, for “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). These are those “who are sensible of their own spiritual poverty, of their ignorance and sinfulness, their guilt, depravity, and weakness, their frailty and mortality; and who, therefore, whatever their outward situation in life may be, however affluent and exalted, think meanly of themselves” (Joseph Benson, 1749-1821). These meek shall inherit the earth. They shall be rich beyond anyone in spiritual blessings and true inner happiness, for the kingdom of God is within their hearts.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). These are those who know how far they are from God on their own and so long for the righteousness that Christ brings to all who put their faith in him. These are those “who desire above all things to be entirely conformed to the mind of God” (JC Ryle). Knowing that they are far from this, they hunger and thirst for God’s own righteousness, which he wishes to give them as a free gift in Christ through their faith in him. They long to become completely righteous, for they know they have a long way to go. Those who have this hunger have the kingdom of God within them.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). If we want to experience God’s mercy, we must be filled with mercy for others – not only for their material, but especially for their spiritual well-being, and we should do all that we can to improve the spiritual well-being of other people, especially those who are suffering from sin. We can do this by preaching sermons that deeply touch their hearts and give them direction for their lives.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). Passionate thoughts pass through our minds and hearts. We should long for a pure heart to be completely pleasing to God. We should sorrow for still being so far from this ideal.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). How do we make peace? First of all by being at peace with God ourselves. Then our words and sermons will flow from a heart that is at peace with God, because of Christ’s forgiveness for our sins and his declaring and thereby making us ungodly sinners righteous through our faith in him. We become peacemakers by first receiving this peace ourselves and living with it in our hearts and then by proclaiming it to others and extending it to them in a loving, peaceful, and gentle way.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). We might think that happiness means not being persecuted, but Jesus tells us just the opposite. Happiness is being persecuted for righteousness’ sake. This means that we should bear witness to God’s values that the world of our day is opposing and rejecting. If we do this, we will be persecuted by the world that despises God’s values that he has revealed to us.

So what should we bear witness to today? We should speak and preach against homosexual sex, homosexual “marriage,” same-sex civil unions with the Church blessing, transgenderism, abortion, and adulterous marital unions, that is, people who have divorced from a valid marriage and remarry during the lifetime of their valid spouse and live in an adulterous union.

All of these things are being proclaimed, promoted, and praised by the world today and even by some Church leaders. We need to stand up for the truth that God has revealed. If we do so, we will be persecuted, but we will be happy by being persecuted in this way.

And finally, “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account” (Matthew 5:11). This means that we must openly proclaim, bear witness to, and preach Christ in this world that does not want to hear about him and does not believe in his vicarious, substitutionary death on the cross for our sins. At best the world accepts Christ as an inspiring example of a good man. But we need to proclaim him as our Savior who redeems us by his vicarious, substitutionary suffering in our place on the cross for our sins. If we proclaim this, we will be persecuted and reviled by the world and even by liberal Christians who no longer take such teaching seriously. But we will be happy if we are persecuted for witnessing to this profound truth.