Pastor's Sermon - February 1st, 2026 - The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Matthew 5:1-12
The people are ready for a mountain-top moment! They’ve seen John the Baptist announce this “Lamb of God Who Takes Away the Sins of the World”. They’ve seen Jesus be baptized- the heavens opened and the voice spoke. They’ve heard Jesus teach amazingly and heal the sick and oppressed. To say the least, now, they’re intrigued. So, they follow Him because they recognize that something cool is happening.
Jesus leads them to the mountain so that He could preach His sermon on the mount, which the Beatitudes kick-off. This is a visible cue to the people following and listening that they need to really listen now. Matthew is primarily written to a Jewish audience, so in this, he is intentionally framing Jesus as a new and greater Moses- not because it seems like a neat narrative thing to do in his book, but because it is true.
Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the Law. Now, Jesus goes up to a mountain to teach with authority a new Word that the people had never heard, but needed to. In the ancient world, mountains were places of divine revelation, so by sitting and teaching on a mountain, Jesus assumes the posture of a rabbi and He speaks not as a commentator on the Law, but as one who authoritatively declares God’s will, like Moses had done. Only this is even better!
So, the people gather and stay. They focus and they listen. The audience is important when understanding the Beatitudes. Who is Jesus talking to? That helps us understand the meaning.
The audience is a poor and oppressed people waiting for consolation and the fulfillment of God’s promises. First-century Judea was marked by Roman occupation, heavy taxation, economic inequality, and religious elites, such as the Pharisees and Sadducees, who were often aligned with power. Because of all of this, the listeners had in their mind exactly what they were waiting for- the restore of Israel’s political and world power, the defeat of Rome, and rewards to the righteous even as the wicked are punished earthly.
Understanding that this is the audience and their expectations, we can see how Jesus’ message comes as a world-shaking message. They wanted Jesus to do things their way, but His message is that blessedness is NOT on the powerful, the wealthy, the elevated, or the politically victorious. His message is shockingly and strangely that blessedness IS on the meek, the mourning, the persecuted, and the poor. This was a shock to all and grabbed their attention, not as a cheap grab of their attention, but as a true message from God that didn’t align with man’s presumptions.
Jesus teaches several things and let me know which one of them lines up with man’s way of thinking… which one of these conditions sounds nice? Blessed are the poor in spirit. This isn’t a matter of whether you are sad or happy, have lots of money or not. To be poor in spirit is to recognize that you have nothing with which to justify yourself before God, and therefore you must cling entirely to God’s promises. Blessed are those who mourn! Blessed are the meek! Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness! Blessed are the pure in heart and the peacemakers. Blessed are those who are persecuted! Blessed are those who are reviled and treated evilly.
Sure, there are a couple that sound ‘good’. But these are the primary words… Blessed are those who: are poor, mourn, are meek, hunger and thirst, persecuted, reviled and treated badly… these don’t sound like things to be considered blessed or to be sought after.
Consider the people listening, who likely aren’t that different from us. They are thinking that the most blessed are those in power, those with wealth, those highly elevated, and those who are comfortable and happy. Yet, Jesus flips it on its head. They’re not the ones blessed, but the poor and the hungry and the persecuted are.
We can see how Jesus is baffling the people.
So, what is Jesus telling them and us? When you’re downtrodden and the world is treating you wickedly, that you should smile and be happy? That any of us that have wealth or any level of earthly authority should quickly toss it away so that we can be poor and meek? That any of us who are treated well by our neighbors should go seeking an opportunity to be persecuted and treated poorly so that we can be happy like Jesus told us?
Obviously, no. In the Beatitudes, Jesus is not giving us a ladder to climb into His Kingdom, nor a checklist of virtues that we must seek out in order to earn His favor and a blessed status. Jesus is not giving a directive message to them- go and be persecuted, but rather, He is giving us a descriptive message to the Church- WHEN you are persecuted, etc. You are blessed. These are not commands to the Church, they are promises.
And Jesus isn’t talking about mere happiness. When you’re persecuted, don’t worry, be happy. Jesus is not so cruel nor is He stupid. He knows well that being poor in spirit is a low state. He knows that hungering and thirsting for righteousness means that there hasn’t been any to find, and that’s a miserable thing. He knows that mourning isn’t fun. He knows that persecution isn’t a thrill to endure. So, what is the promise, then?
Let’s look at the word “Blessed” or, in Greek, “Makarios”. What does it really mean? It doesn’t simply mean “happy” or “emotionally content”. It means to be favored by God, living under God’s approval, and experiencing a state of divine grace, even if outward circumstance are painful. Therefore, some of the blessed ones are the most beaten-down and the saddest! This understanding shapes the entire message of the Gospel and the Beatitudes. Jesus is not denying suffering, nor is He instructing us to seek it out or to dismiss it or pretend it’s fun. Rather, He acknowledges it, recognizes that the Church WILL suffer whether or not she seeks it out, and He is encouraging the Church with a wonderful promise by redefining where God’s favor is found. Don’t only seek God’s favor in the worldly things- wealth, power, happiness. Know God’s favor in the lowly things, for this is God’s promise. He exalts the lowly- a repeated message in Scripture. The lowly ARE blessed. Christ’s Word assures us of this, regardless of how we FEEL.
When we grieve our loved ones or our lost things, we don’t FEEL good. When we are persecuted, we don’t FEEL good. But by Christ’s promise, even when these terrible things happen, we remain in God’s favor and under His grace, and so we are still blessed. It’s non-negotiable.
How can any of this be true? The answer to that doesn’t rest in human reason or earthly powers. It rests solely in the very man preaching the message on the mountain. Christ is not telling His people that they will endure things foreign to Him, nor is He speaking on matters unfamiliar to Him. Jesus is instructing the Church that she will follow in His footsteps. Jesus would grieve- we see it at Lazarus’ tomb, but we also know He grieves over all people who turn from the Lord as we see when He laments Jerusalem. Jesus would we make Himself poor in spirit, taking on the sins of the world and being called THE SINNER before the Father’s eyes. He would be meek, humbling Himself from His throne in heaven to be poor and without worldly authority. He would hunger and thirst for righteousness, His entire ministry being one to bring that righteousness to a barren world. He would be merciful even as those around Him WOULD NOT be merciful to Him. He would be pure in heart when the world could not be. He would make peace, not just between men, but between God and Man, for He IS the Son of God. And He would be persecuted and reviled, even being crucified for the people. He is the reason and the source of the Church’s blessedness.
Jesus knows well all that we suffer. And He still says, “Blessed are you.” Let that inform your heart of just how serious Jesus is and just how wonderful it is to be called blessed even in the midst of these things. Jesus’ cross is what gives us this blessed status. His cross took away the punishment for sin and the death assured to all who were born into sin. His cross fills us with a joy and a hope that endures even in the worst of times. A hope that no persecution, not even Satan’s worst, can undo.
The Beatitudes are promises to God’s redeemed that give us comfort, mercy, and an eternal inheritance. They shape our lives of faith even as we bear our crosses. These crosses do not make us a hopeless or defeated people. Christ’s promise is that when bearing these crosses, God sees it. He knows it. And we are blessed by Him through it. Therefore, the promise Christ gives to the people on that mountain is for His entire Church.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in Heaven!
We could sit around and list all the ways the world is wrong. We could go on and on about all the problems we suffer from and all the crosses we bear. We could talk to each other about how beaten down we are by the troubles of the world and the people outside God’s Kingdom. And how it’s all hopeless and life stinks…
But at the end of the day, the world doesn’t get to dictate what is true and real. God does.
And His Word is this: Your reward is great in Heaven. Blessed are you!
What more do we need?
Praise be to Christ! We are SO blessed!
In His Name,
Amen.