Jesus’ Vision of a Way of Being in the World

The sermon on the mount and human flourishing.

Ponder this translation, by New Testament scholar Jonathan T. Pennington, of the beginning of what is commonly known as the sermon on the mount.

Flourishing are the poor in spirit because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

Flourishing are the mourners because they will be comforted.

Flourishing are the humble because they will inherit the world.

Flourishing are the ones hungering and thirsting for righteousness because they will be satisfied.

Flourishing are the merciful because they will be given mercy.

Flourishing are the pure in heart because they will see God.

Flourishing are the peacemakers because they will be called the children of God.

Flourishing are the ones persecuted on account of righteousness because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

Flourishing are you whenever people revile and slander and speak all kinds of evil things against you on account of me.
Rejoice and be glad because your reward is great in heaven. In this same way people slandered the prophets who came before you.

I’ve spent the last few months slowly going through Dr. Pennington’s book on Jesus’ sermon on the mount, and it has truly been a revelation. He’s helped me see things I’ve never seen before in the teaching itself; but then it all gains deeper layers and a rich thickness because he takes his readers through a detailed survey of the Old Testament backdrop, story, and history that formed Jesus himself, and thus, his teaching. I highly commend his work to you, for your efforts interacting with it will bring many rewards.

Consider this nugget from Pennington below, and see the glory and beauty of our Savior. Because the qualities that Jesus holds out as our pathway to a life of flourishing are they very things he has experienced and modeled himself.

You see, as is always the case with Jesus, when he asks us to follow, it’s because he’s leading. In other words, he’s walking the path before us, asking us to come and join him on the journey he’s already on.

And it’s a journey of flourishing.

Here at the beginning of the Sermon Jesus gives a vision of a way of being in the world that will result in our flourishing.

We would be suspicious and disappointed if he were teaching this cerebrally but did not know or experience or model it himself. Matthew helps us see that nothing could be farther from the truth.

In his carefully crafted and thoughtful work, Matthew takes pains to show that Jesus models precisely what he commends to us in the Beatitudes. Jesus is humble and poor in spirit (11:28-29; 21:5), mourns and grieves (23:37), hungers and thirsts with longing for God's kingdom to be manifested (9:38), is pure in heart (4:10), shows mercy (12:1-21; 14:13-22; 15:32-39;20:30-34), and brings peace (28:10). And even as the primary sense of the Beatitudes proves to be the emphasis on unjust suffering and persecution for righteousness' sake, so too Jesus serves as the greatest example of the same. Indeed, one could say that this beatitudinal flavor matches the overall sense of the Gospels, which are tilting and careening toward the inevitable darkness of Jesus's suffering and unjust death.

Thus, in each of these ways the Beatitudes relate intimately with the entirety of Matthew, and the Beatitudes and Matthew as a whole illuminate one another in a mutually informing way.