Matthew 5
I figure I'll take my time on this section, since it's so dense. In some notes I was reading, the author compared Jesus going up the mountain to Moses going up the mountain in Exodus. Moses gave the people THE LAW, and now Jesus is giving them a new law. It would make sense because in Matthew 5:17-20, Jesus takes care to tell people He is not abolishing the law. I don't necessarily see any direct correlation between the 10 commandments and the beatitudes. I can see some parallels, however.
A long time ago, someone told me to read the 10 commandments as promises. It turns them around a bit. They no longer become prohibitions, meant to limit and hold back evil, but they are the promises of a "better world" (for lack of a better term), in which people don't kill each other, or steal each others' stuff, where kids obey their parents (sign me up!) and where we are all united under God the way He intended. I realize it's probably a bit of a stretch to read that into the text, but I like the principle.
Jump ahead to the beatitudes, and exactly what Jesus is doing is promising this "better world". All of these promises of comfort and mercy and seeing God, speak of a similar type of world as Moses might have described with the commandments-as-promises.
It's interesting, too, that Jesus intentionally doesn't phrase His words into commands. Rather than saying, "Thou shalt be poor in spirit", He almost lays it out as a option... no, I think choice would be a better word. The choice is laid out before you, along with the positive consequence. Not even all of them are choices, per se. Mourning and persecution aren't really choices, but are normally something thrust upon us by someone, or something, else. But I suppose mourning can be seen as a choice, as there are many ways to deal with that sort of situation. And persecution due to righteousness comes as a result of previous (or current) choices.
What is the fulfillment of the law, then? It's not to have people who don't do bad things. It's even beyond having people who do good things. It's a whole new way of being. I may have said this before, but as followers of Jesus, I don't think there are any things that we "must" or "must not" do. I think the difference is that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will want to do those things we are meant to do. Not to say it will be easy, as the "right" thing and the "easy" thing are rarely synonymous. But there is a difference in the person, and not just the actions.
To me, that's the part that gets missed so often. But I tend to err the other way. I feel the freedom from having to measure up and to "do", and often I am not compelled to "do" as much as I should. I suppose one could argue that simply doing things be because we feel we're supposed isn't necessarily the best thing either, but at least they're doing something.
Anyway, I think I've rambled on enough for this post.
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