A topic often preached in churches is that of the beatitudes. The blessings are regularly taken out of context as if they are a stand-alone concept. What is the context they are taken out of? They follow on the heels of Jesus healing the multitudes, everyone seeking to get in close and touch him.
That follows on the heels of Jesus praying all night before choosing twelve apostles from among his disciples – which should tell us that Jesus had more than twelve disciples. That followed the accounts of two Sabbaths upon which Jesus angered the authorities of the synagogues. Jesus rubbed their noses in the law and, thus, made enemies. And finally, the beatitudes lead into the commandments that govern Christian behavior, for example, love your enemies.
I am taking this study from the sixth chapter of Luke. I wish to highlight the broader implications of the beatitudes and the commandments, both of which may be classed with the parable of Lazarus. The parable of Lazarus deals with the difference between our present lives and our lives to come. To put that in alternate phrasing, the beatitudes and the commandments for Christian behavior deal with the contrast between worldly physical lives and the spiritual lives to come – lives without physical bodies.
Jesus makes comparisons between the two states of existence that are as stark as comparisons between night and day. They may be seen to be as simple as cause and effect. They may be viewed as comparable to Yin and Yang. They may also be interpreted as present proofs of transcending truths. Let us look at a few examples.
Luke 6:21 states, “Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled.” This states rather plainly that the tables are due to be turned. What is 'down' in our present existence will be 'up' in the life to come. This reckoning is given as a proof of just whose company the Christian stands in, as seen in Luke 6:22-23, “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.”
The Christian, first of all, must see that he stands in the company of prophets, but secondly, he must see the 'reward' in heaven as the 'effect' end of cause and effect. In the example of night and day, one does not merely cease to be as its opposites steps in to replace it. Night works toward day. The night actually 'achieves' the day. In that sense of working toward our spiritual reward in a spiritual heaven, we must do those works that achieve the desired ends.
In the beatitudes, Jesus tells us that there is a bright day to follow for those of us in the company of prophets – but we must work for it. To reach an easterly destination one must actually walk in that direction. In opposition to that desired day, Jesus speaks of the children of the men who persecuted the prophets of old. He tells us the same truths, that because they are full in this present existence, the tables will turn in the life to come and they shall know only want.
In all of the beatitudes, the condition of the present existence becomes its exact opposite in the life to come. Some say that life here on Earth is no life at all, but only existing in a state of day to day survival at the barest level. That will be a spiritual truth for many in the afterlife – it will not be life for them. Because everything that Jesus says in the beatitudes may be seen in the light of Yin and Yang, that is to say, in the light of opposites, it is needful to see the following commandments in that light also.
Jesus did not present the beatitudes and stop there, he immediately followed with protocols that are necessary to achieve an opposite spiritual outcome. Let me ask this, if those who have this world's good end up with the opposite in a spiritual afterlife, what will 'loving your enemies' achieve? Those enemies who remain enemies will have already received their reward by the time they come to the afterlife. From that point and forward, the opposite will be their truth.
They will have been handed a state similar to the rich man in the parable of Lazarus. They will find themselves in a state of personal torment. They will desire relief and comfort. They will call for compassion and sympathy. However, they will only receive the hot coals of their own misdeeds. When a Christian turns the other cheek, he is actually playing a winning hand. All these things must be done with the future state in mind. With whatever measure you mete out, it shall be measured to you again – or, you only get out of it what you put into it.
The Christian stands not only in the company of prophets. When we exercise those 'spiritual muscles' that are God: i.e.: mercy, we are children of the most high. Like father like son. We stand in the company of the first begotten son of God.
Chapter six ends with several parables. This point must remain clear: all of the parables at the end of chapter six must be read in the context of the above. They were employed to clarify both the beatitudes and the commandments. I leave you, the reader, with this simple question: are you working toward the night, or are you working toward the day?
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