‘What if what you do to survive kills the things you love, fear’s a powerful thing…’
(Devils & Dust, Bruce Springsteen)
The Maze
The ‘perennial popularity’ of the Sermon on the Mount, both within and beyond the Church, has ensured its subjection (particularly that of the beatitudes contained within it) to unparalleled variations of interpretation.[1] One can lose their way in unresolved questions: To whom was Jesus primarily speaking, the disciples or the crowds? Are His proclamations a radical break from tradition, or do they reveal the heart of the Torah? Is Jesus proclaiming entry requirements for the Kingdom, or describing the true nature of one already in it? Is this a blueprint for humanity, or is He just addressing ‘mature Christians’?
The Guide
As a guide through this maze I have in front of me a painting I made by ‘mistake’ a few years ago. It is of a woman, looking down and full of sorrow.
For me, she manifests the first three beatitudes: she knows she is poor in spirit, mourns that state, and, therefore, can not help but be meek. The remaining five then tumble in to place on the back of these: she knows she is empty, so she longs to be filled with that which truly satisfies, and it is this fullness, in turn, which empowers her to live a generous, merciful life, pure of heart, making peace and able to rejoice (or at least to know herself ‘blessed’) in persecution.[2] Keeping the first three in mind at all times, she does not have recourse to self-congratulation for her behaviour, making these three ‘attitudinal’ beatitudes, for me, foundational (if only it were that easy!). It is, however, the making of this image that interests me most. I covered a page in black paint and then, with swift swipes of a small sponge, removed the paint until an image emerged. As Springsteen says, we cover our selves in layers of protection in order to be ‘safe’: we need to be strong, rich, ‘happy’, satisfied, assertive and respected: in essence self-sufficient. Yet, ironically, this self-sufficiency obscures, even destroys, the thing we value most: love. Jesus’s beatitudes are like eight confident swipes with a sponge full of paint stripper: agony. However, as we see the image emerge, we develop a hunger for more: more of the Real. He says ‘whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it,’ (Matt 16:25) and it is in line with this consistent message of Jesus’s teaching that The Beatitudes must be read.
[1] Craig L. Blomberg, “The Most Often Abused Verses in the Sermon on the Mount: and How to Treat them Right.” Southwestern Journal of Theology 46, No.3, (2004): 1-17, p.2.
[2] Most commentators (John Chrysostom, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Charles Price and John Stott to name four) agree that the ordering of the Beatitudes is significant.
however intended..
this living work
reveals the magnetic and powerful Truth...
a sincere thank You.
Posted by: jan | March 27, 2013 at 12:35 PM