RE EFLEC FLECT FL EC CTI TION ON REFLECTION
What’s your attitude? T
Major Alistair Dawson asks how our behaviour reflects our Christian values
HE Beatitudes come at the beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:1–12 and are statements of great significance for the Christian life. They are affirmations of everything we share with Jesus today, relating our characters to our deeds as we become the salt of the earth, radiating light and glorifying our heavenly Father (see vv13–16). The nine Beatitudes break themselves up into three groups of three. Each group commencing with a leader, followed by a protector, then a reward. The word ‘happy’ – from the root ‘hap’, meaning chance or fortune – is used in some translations, but is not a good word to introduce the Beatitudes, for the life of God cannot be expressed in that way. The congratulatory word ‘blessed’, relating to the Christian’s bliss, is more appropriate as it finds its expression within the life of God. The first Beatitude leads us into reality, contrasting our utter destitution of spirit with our standing in the Kingdom of Heaven: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven’ (v3). To quote the French Carmelite nun Thérèse of Lisieux, ‘I expect nothing of myself but everything of God.’ She went
on to say: ‘Do not let us stay very far from all that is brilliant. Let us love our littleness, love to feel nothing; then we shall be poor in spirit – and Jesus will come for us far off as we are. He will transform us.’ ‘God is beyond human experience,’ says the celebrity cook Delia Smith in A Journey into God, ‘and whoever comes to terms with this is one who understands what it means to be merely human and not God. Being “poor in spirit” means that I am happy to be what I am and to allow God to be what he is. If he is hidden in me, I am content not to be able to encompass him with my intellect and senses. I am at the same time freed from the awful pressure of striving to be like him, which will always be impossible at any level.’ Such a spirit then needs careful protection and care, so we have a spirit of mourning expressed in the second Beatitude: ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted’ (v4). These first two Beatitudes develop a balancing effect that becomes our reward – namely, a spirit of meekness: ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth’ (v5). This spirit will inherit the Earth because it is at one with God and itself – and completely at one with the world it seeks to serve. In the second group of Beatitudes, the leader becomes the driving force of prayer: ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will
be filled’ (v6). There is a problem here: righteousness can be bad for the soul if it develops into a holier-than-thou attitude. So an attitude of mercy towards the failings and shortcomings of others is added as a protection: ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy’ (v7). We need a passion for God and a compassion for people. Mercy then creates a lovely balance within the Christian life. Such a balance is not only the Christian’s reward, but an opportunity to see God and become united in heart and single-minded in purpose: ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God’ (v8). The leader of our final group refers to God’s peacemakers: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God’ (v9). These are the dependent people who concentrate on their need of God and live under his control. They are single-minded and have a pure heart. As they are God’s peacemakers, they live at the centre of crisis. The fact that they are reviled and persecuted for righteousness (see vv10 and 11) is their protection, holding their lives in check and keeping it in balance. What is their response? It is to ‘rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you’ (v12). What is your attitude? How does it influence your actions? ‘Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven’ (v16).
MAJOR DAWSON LIVES IN RETIREMENT IN ST AUSTELL
Salvationist 12 March 2022
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