“Waiting and patience are necessary if we are to fulfill what we have begun to be, and to receive, through God’s unfailing help, what we hope for and believe.” -St. Cyprian
Matthew 5:1-12: Seeing the crowds, he went up the hill. There he sat down and was joined by his disciples. Then he began to speak. This is what he taught them: ‘How happy are the poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happy the gentle: they shall have the earth for their heritage. Happy those who mourn: they shall be comforted. Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right: they shall be satisfied. Happy the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them. Happy the pure in heart: they shall see God. Happy the peacemakers: they shall be called sons of God. Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right: theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; this is how they persecuted the prophets before you.’
Christ the Lord When Jesus teaches, he takes an authoritative posture: he is not just giving advice, he is unveiling Truth. St. Matthew illustrates this with two details prefacing Chapters 5-7 of his Gospel, the chapters that present in summary form Christ’s idea of how we ought to live, commonly called the Sermon on the Mount:
- First, Jesus sat down before he began to teach. When rabbis in Israel sat down to teach, it indicated that they were presenting their official doctrine.
- Second, the Greek used for “Then he began to speak…” contains a phrase that, literally translated, would read: “he opened his mouth.” In the ancient world, this phrase indicated an official declaration or a setting forth of the speaker’s most deeply held convictions.
When St. Matthew depicts Jesus as sitting down and opening his mouth, it is as if he were saying: “What follows is the soul of Christ’s doctrine, his very heart expressed in the most important words spoken by the Word of God.”
When Christ teaches, he claims to have authority; we can either accept it or reject it, but we cannot write it off, nor can we treat it like one opinion among many. Our attitude towards Jesus’ teaching is our attitude toward the Lord himself.
Christ the Teacher At the end of the Beatitudes (the name given to these eight sentences outlining the characteristics of Christian living), we encounter Jesus’ first indication that his teaching is 
intrinsically linked to his person. He makes an odd claim: “Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you… on my account.” Instead of only pointing to his teaching, as most of history’s great religions leaders did, he links his teaching to himself. Buddha, Mohammad, Confucius, and even Moses all said, “Look at this teaching!” Christ, on the other hand, says, “Look at me, follow me.” Many times throughout the Gospels he will make similar claims: “I am the vine… I am the living bread… I am the way, the truth, the life… I am the light…”
Christ is a teacher who must either be accepted completely or rejected completely; to claim that he was merely one insightful religious leader and philosopher among history’s many is to falsify his doctrine and miss the point. With Jesus Christ, it’s all or nothing.
This link between his teaching and his person is also part of our vocation as his followers. Because Christ’s claims go beyond mere philosophical logic, our own efforts to spread his teaching must do so as well. As [Blessed] Pope Paul VI put it [in Evangelii Nuntiandi], “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.”
Christ the Friend Entire books can be (and have been) written on the meaning of the Beatitudes – and they are worth studying. Each one identifies a fundamental Christian virtue, the very virtues that Christ exemplified throughout his life: humility, gentleness, mercy, purity, fortitude, justice, and sorrow for sin. The best way to develop these virtues in our own lives is to study and imitate them as lived out by Christ. Something that often goes unnoticed in this passage, however, is why Christ wants us to practice these virtues.
In the Greek texts of St. Matthew’s Gospel, these sentences actually don’t contain any verbs, and the word translated as “happy” (or sometimes “blessed”) refers to a kind of happiness independent of circumstances, complete in itself, and unshakable. As one scholar puts it, it is as if Christ were saying: “Oh, the bliss of…” instead of “Blessed are…” Christ teaches us not only how to get to heaven, but also how to find true and lasting joy on earth. He knows the secret to true happiness, and, like the friend that he is, he does his best to share it with us.
Christ in My Life The authority of your teaching astonished your audiences back in the days of your public life. And you continue to teach with the exact same divine authority today – through the Magisterium. Too often I give little attention to those teachings. Help me, Lord, to hear your voice resounding through the teachings of the Church, so that I will hearken to you in them, love you there, and follow you faithfully…
You want my happiness. This is why you created me, why you redeemed me. Lord, I have had moments of happiness, but you want me to have something more – a life completely fulfilled, truly and eternally fruitful. You look at me and you see your dream for my life… Thank you, Lord; all my hope is in you…
If I followed you more closely, I might experience more of the persecution and abuse you talk about. I wonder if fear of that is holding me back. Why am I afraid of what you consider to be a blessing? O Lord, with the knowledge of your heart make my heart wise, and with the courage of your heart free me from my fears…
PS: This is just one of 303 units of Fr. John’s fantastic book The Better Part. To learn more about The Better Part or to purchase in print, Kindle or iPhone editions, click here. Also, please help us get these resources to people who do not have the funds or ability to acquire them by clicking here.
Art: Cover of The Better Part used with permission. The Sermon on the Mount, Carl Heinrich Bloch, 1877, PD-US, Restored Traditions, used with permission.
About Fr. John Bartunek, LC
Fr. John Bartunek, LC, S.Th.D, received his BA in History from Stanford University in 1990. He comes from an evangelical Christian background and became a member of the Catholic Church in 1991. After college he worked as a high school history teacher, drama director, and baseball coach. He then spent a year as a professional actor in Chicago before entering the religious Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ in 1993. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 2003 and earned his doctorate in moral theology in 2010. He provided spiritual support on the set of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” while researching the 2005 Catholic best seller, “Inside the Passion”–the only authorized, behind-the-scene explanation of the film. Fr. John has contributed news commentary regarding religious issues on NBC, CNN, Fox, and the BBC. He also served as the English-language press liaison for the Vatican’s 2005 Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist. His most widely known book is called: “The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer”. His most recent books are “Seeking First the Kingdom: 30 Meditations on How to Love God with All Your Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength”, and “Answers: Catholic Advice for Your Spiritual Questions”. Fr. John currently splits his time between Michigan (where he continues his writing apostolate and serves as a confessor and spiritual director at the Queen of the Family Retreat Center) and Rome, where he teaches theology at Regina Apostolorum. His online, do-it-yourself retreats are available at RCSpirituality.org, and he answers questions about the spiritual life at SpiritualDirection.com.
