THE BEATITUDES (continued)
Not to be remiss, we will take this time to discuss the Beatitudes as put forth in Luke’s Gospel. As said at the beginning of this series on the Beatitudes, the whole of Luke’s treatment of the Sermon on the Mount is about a third of that given to us by Matthew. We will discuss some of the possible reasons for this difference later in this essay. These are the Beatitudes from the Gospel of Luke:
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Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled .
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Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
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Blessed are ye , when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy : for, behold , your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. (Luke 6:21-23)
You should note that two of these three are pale equivalents of those put forth by Matthew and the third is more or less the same. Now from this we can think that the Lord is acknowledging blessing on those who are hungry and who are weeping or we can attribute to them the same deeper meaning that was given to their counterparts in Matthew.
Since there is no basis for just any hungry or the weeping people to have any special blessing we will take it that Jesus meant that it is those who hunger after righteousness and the Kingdom who, in their hunger, will be blessed and shall be filled with that which they are seeking. Similarly weeping should be seen as the same as the mourning in Matthew. Those who are striving, as the Master told us to do, to enter into the Kingdom but who are at times thwarted by the outer realities of life. Their path is a struggle and they mourn the fact that they have not reached their goal. They shall be happy when their struggle and sorrow is alleviated through their consistent effort.
This third Beatitude from Luke is basically the same as that which we called an addition to the eight listed by Matthew. Citing that it was not in the same form as the eight and tended to mask the meaning of what we listed as the eighth, we find it here alone and without reference to being ‘persecuted for righteousness sake’. This said, we should look at this entry in Luke in the same way as we did in Matthew which is to say that it is addressed specifically to some who would suffer and for all who are counted among those who did and perhaps still do suffer persecutions or are reviled or who are spoken of evilly for Jesus sake. They are blessed and have great reward in heaven. Remembering that the Kingdom is within and that we can live in it now and do when we do the words of the Jesus, we should see that if we are outward enough to be seen as His disciple and we are persecuted for it, we have our reward in the here and now and forever more. There was also a caution against seeing the results of a self righteous attitude as persecution and other theories of persecution prevalent in today’s church. This can be read in part 17 of this series, In The Words Of Jesus.
There are differences in the Beatitudes from these two gospels as there are many differences overall. Some like to make it that the gospel, rather the whole of the bible, is without any error but this concept has no place except in the dogma of the churches through the ages. So that there is no question as to what is meant here, let us look at Webster’s definition of dogma: That which is held as an opinion; a tenet; a doctrine. A formally stated and authoritatively settled doctrine; a definite, established, and authoritative tenet. A doctrinal notion asserted without regard to evidence or truth; an arbitrary dictum. And here to a discussion of the relationship between tenet and dogma: Syn. — tenet; opinion; proposition; doctrine. — A tenet is that which is maintained as true with great firmness; as, the tenets of our holy religion. A dogma is that which is laid down with authority as indubitably true, especially a religious doctrine; as, the dogmas of the church. A tenet rests on its own intrinsic merits or demerits; a dogma rests on authority regarded as competent to decide and determine. Dogma has in our language acquired, to some extent, a repulsive sense, from its carrying with it the idea of undue authority or assumption. this is more fully the case with its derivatives dogmatical and dogmatism*.
Now some dogma is liked and some is disliked by many in the church; for example, the infallibility of the Pope is disputed by non-Catholics as the infallibility of the bible is disputed by some denominations. There is no scriptural reference for either of the above concepts and there are undoubtedly many other disputed dogmatic concepts in the various denominations and sects of Christianity. Don’t misunderstand the intent in bringing out the above; it is done purely to allow a better understanding of the plight of the church today and to outline the reasons for the differences in these gospels. Why are there are so many different Christian denominations and sects, over 20,000 by some counts worldwide, each with their own perspective on the life, death, resurrection and saving grace of Jesus Christ?
In this series on the Beatitudes they have been interpreted differently that most of the church would interpret them and you can take this interpretation to heart or you can take another. It will depend on how the spirit in you reflects through your personality. If you are looking at this all from a purely material and carnal perspective then you will see only words and meanings. However, if you are looking at them spiritually and there are no personality preconception of what the Beatitudes say and you have no dogmatic teaching in your heart to counter any spiritual impulse that may come, you may agree with my presentation or you may find an even deeper one. And this is the same truth that the writers of the gospels and the epistles dealt with so long ago.
All this about infallibility and differing interpretations of scripture and the many sects is to bring us to this. Each of the gospel writers wrote in his own style and wrote those things that he knew and that were important to him. Through each of them the same Holy Spirit worked as the Spirit, the God, within and gave to each the revelation that became their gospel or their epistle. Repeating from yesterday the words of the Apostle John: the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:27) which should show us that the source is always the same. The Presentation however changes. It changes with these Apostles and Saints and it changes with today’s ministers and commentators. It changes because that same source is filtered through a human being, a human personality with his own belief system and habits and closeness to God. Were we all crystal clear channels through which the Spirit could work which is to say if we were fully in the Presence of God and the Kingdom was truly working through us, then we would all be saying the same truths in the same way because there is but one.
If we could be in that state of oneness with God then we would be as Jesus, able to bring forth the full potency of the Love and Wisdom of God as Christ. Or as Siddhartha Gautama, able to bring the full potency of the Wisdom and Enlightenment of God as the Buddha. But we are not and so we bring forth only a portion of the potency of God that is the Spirit within. The purer the heart, the greater the Presence of God in our lives, the greater the potency of the Spirit we can reflect.
So it was with the Apostles and Saints who wrote for us. They saw the teaching through their hearts and minds and gave it to us, each in his own way. Some were there (Matthew and John) and the others repeated second hand what they had learned (Mark and Luke) but they were, all of them, spiritual men who saw a revelation and repeated it to us. And what we have today is the product of the comparison of numerous manuscripts which in many ways differ as to content and wording that was translated by men of good will and intent into the multiplicity of translations we have today.
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
* Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
