NOTES for Mat 5:1-13

The Beatitudes are a hymn to happiness, to the paradoxical Christian happiness of those who mourn and are persecuted, the meek and the poor. For Christ does not say, "Blessed are the well-fed and honored," although even they, difficult as it is, can still enter the Kingdom of Heaven (see Matt 19:23). On the contrary, through all these commandments the Lord shows that true life is found in simplicity. And these are not merely wishes, but commandments that must be fulfilled.

A very logical question arises: how is this possible? About some commandments we can still say that at times we correspond to them, for example those about mourning, but with others we have serious trouble. Who can honestly say that he is meek, pure in heart, and poor in spirit? No one, in essence. It is simply beyond our strength: our faith does not reach the level set in these verses.

And yet the Lord knows what He is doing when He sets such a standard before us. The mechanism of our relationship with Him is also paradoxical: hardly any teacher would pass a student who tries a little, has learned a little, and has understood something, but cannot answer all the exam questions. But the Teacher Himself promises to deal with us in exactly this way: to lead us "from faith to faith" (Rom 1:17) - from the small grain we already have to the fullness that only He can give.