Every Sunday, sermons ring out from the pulpits of Kamloops churches.
Pastors, ministers and priests explain the scriptures and make it real and applicable to modern life.
But, the most famous sermon of all was the Sermon on the Mount, delivered by Jesus of Nazareth.
Scholars have declared it to be the essence of Christian theology, a set of ethics that has guided the great thinkers and leaders of the Christian faith for centuries.
The sermon’s opening statements are called the Beatitudes.
The word comes from the Latin word for happiness, but because of their power and wisdom, they could be called the Beautiful Sayings.
There are eight Beatitudes and we’ll look at four:
1. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Many of the Beatitudes are counter-intuitive, in that they run counter to conventional wisdom.
The first is a typical example. How is it that the poor in spirit qualify for the richest reward — heaven?
What Jesus is saying is those who are painfully aware of their sinful nature and unworthiness are the most likely to see the gift of heaven.
It is their innate sense of humility and, correspondingly, their gratitude to God for their salvation, that grants them a place in heaven.
By contrast, Jesus spoke harshly about self-righteous hypocrites who are going to be surprised when they are denied admission to heaven.
2. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Keep in mind Jesus’ audience consisted primarily of the poor, who were well-acquainted with suffering, loss and premature death in their families.
We all long to be comforted in times of despair and grief.
Here is a promise from the King of kings that comfort in times of mourning is assured.
Part of that assurance is the gift of eternal life and the prospect of seeing one’s loved ones again in paradise.
For many, one of the great gifts of religious faith is the comfort they receive in times of great grief.
3. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
I once saw a bumper sticker that said, “The meek will inherit the earth (if you don’t mind).”
This is a counter-intuitive statement but, once you peel back layers of meaning, it makes sense.
The original Greek word is prautes and one of its secular uses was to describe a well-trained horse — in other words, “broken” yet still powerful and useful as it responds obediently to its master’s commands (think of the Lippizaner stallions).
That is how a Christian must be: Meek (humbly obedient) to the Lord’s directions, yet courageous, forthright and useful in delivering the message of God.
But, what about the “inherit the earth” part?
This can be seen in three ways. The book of Revelation recounts the ultimate destruction of Satan and all evildoers. Those who remain (the meek) will inhabit a “New Jerusalem”. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
The second possible meaning comes from research done by William Strawbridge and his colleagues (American Journal of Public Health, 87(6), June 1997: 957-61) which compared frequent attendance at religious services and mortality in a well-designed longitudinal study over 28 years with 5,286 people in Alameda County, California.
The results showed those who were actively engaged in religious practice were 36 per cent less likely to die during the study period than those who were infrequent or non-attenders of religious services.
In other words, the “meek” are inheriting the earth because they are living longer.
The third reason the meek will inherit the earth is that religiously observant people have more children than secular people.
Vancouver Sun religion writer Douglas Todd recently noted that mostly Catholic Latinos have an average of 2.75 children, while non-religious whites average 1.66 children.
4. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Theologian Karl Rohmer once said, “A mystic is someone whose life is ruled by thirst.”
Despite the concerted scorn of atheists and pervasive apathy of “don’t care-ists”, there are still many people who are desperately thirsty for transcendent meaning in their lives.
This is a realm only religious belief can fill, and to our collective dismay, a large number of disaffected young men are slaking their thirst in radical Islam.
The sad irony is that instead of righteousness, they seem to be thirsting for murder, rape and mayhem.
It is people like Mother Teresa and Albert Schweitzer, however, whose thirst for righteousness led them on a path of selfless service in honour to God.
God guarantees that those who seek him, will find him.
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