Do the Biblical “Beatitudes” Have Meaning in Our Modern Lives?
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A Possible Interpretation of the Biblical Beatitudes in the Modern World
Continuity of Western Culture – still offering beneficial guidance?
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Western Culture was strongly impacted by two currents of thought and values – Christian ethics and increasing intellectual clarity – the latter reaching from the ancient Greek thinkers through the scholastic period and the enlightenment, into our modern “scientific” world, including Darwin – postulating that not Christian love, but that the “fittest shall prevail”.
Overemphasis on one philosophy has often led to a strong reaction by the other.
In our times of emphasizing science, we see a resurgence of religious fundamentalism in many parts of the world.
The resurgence of old theological dogmatism often does not fit well with the needs and thoughts of the modern world, and may even become counterproductive. We readily point out that Muslim fundamentalism may have done more harm to the Muslim world than any good it had basically wanted to contribute. The same, however, must be said about Christian fundamentalism throughout history.
What do we teach our children? What path in life do we pursue ourselves? We want our children to establish a sound economic base to their lives – and need one ourselves – by being fit to prevail. Obviously, though, in our human culture (which is based largely on cooperation), we prefer peace, cherish trustworthiness, and admire charitable generosity.
Does Christian teaching of old still fit into the modern world – or does it merely need to be reinterpreted?
A core area of Christian teaching are the so-called Beatitudes, part of the “Sermon on the Mount”, a collection of remembered and verbally transmitted sayings attributed to Jesus. These were put in the most quoted form of writing about 50 years after Jesus crucifixion by “Matthew” (see his Chapter 5), also mentioned in a different selection by Luke (Chapter 6, V 20 and following), even though both apparently worked from the same earlier source, “Q”. Luke mentions only four Beatitudes, while Matthew recites eight of them.
Were these sayings really the words of Jesus, especially those mentioned only by Matthew? Were the thoughts of the Beatitudes already contained in the words and thought found in earlier biblical writing and the Essene writings? This may be important to the researcher. Pope Benedict XVI, in his book, Jesus, presents mainly the relationship between the Beatitudes and other biblical writings, theological thought, and the church. For most of us, however, they express the earliest Christian thought, reaching the ultimate form of all ethical concepts leading up to Jesus – from nature-formed ethical behavior among social animals to Urukagina’s first ethical writings 4,500 years ago, and from there onward through the development of human cultures. Finally formulated by the young and inspired Jesus, these Beatitudes postulate, in their own time, an enhanced attitude toward society and fellow humans. The Beatitudes offer more demanding rules of thought and behavior, thereby, promising a better world for all of us.
Four of the Beatitudes in Matthew (the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 8th), as those in Luke, refer to given situations in the lives of some individuals, thus appealing to our empathy or even sympathy. Thereby, they present human quality in contrast to the prevalent role models in the time of Christ – and in ours.
Blessed are:
In Jesus’ time, heroes too often were mighty emperors or warriors, the powerful ones on the world stage and on the battlefield, or in the Coliseum. Jesus completely inverts this value scale by postulating a more “human” culture – or, as we would say today – a world of greater human caring, one which leads to our “social values” and an idealistic structure of society.
The other four Beatitudes (the 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th), indicated only by Matthew, are different – referring not to what has possibly happened to some of us and where we then find ourselves, but referring to what we should proactively do – to our own behavior.
Blessed are:
How can these old words and ideals be interpreted in our modern success-oriented times? What do they mean to us? How can they guide us?
Blessed are the meek:
The contrast to the opposite illuminates this text:
Beware of hubris.
Undesirable are the arrogant!
Beware of your self-assurance – in public, at the workplace, in the family!
Do not become overbearing – speak humbly!
Listen to the modest – with respect.
Every businessman knows that sometimes the humble one among the team members may have the best idea.
More team harmony – possibly even peace on Earth – results from respecting the humble ones among us.
Blessed are the merciful:
Our Western, developed world attempts to excel in social programs.
More so, the wealthy among us are expected to do their special share for the reduction of suffering or for the common good – through donations, foundations, and other forms of charity.
How much of our wealth should we give?
Historic standards were 10 percent -- of income, not of possessions – irrespective of the size of our income – not in a progressive rate. Even the Talmud is largely silent on this point, only once indicating a range of 10 to 20 percent, of income only, not mentioning the donation of possessions. Higher donations, it indicates, could reduce the security of one’s own family.
The tax laws of various Western countries, however, are largely progressive. The tax laws of some individual countries actually do include taxes on property.
No religion or philosophy is ready to suggest the perpetual merciful sharing of property in on-going division with the poor encountered on life’s road (and, through the internet, the whole world can be met daily on “our road”), until nothing is left to yourself.
When, years ago, the founder of Microsoft was found to be of everincreasing personal financial net worth as his company grew, the public voices became ever louder challenging him to do some good with his wealth. He fully complied! So did Warren Buffett. Others did not, claiming that they had too many children to take care of.
So do I.
Quite often, the required charitable support is not a matter of money but a matter of donating time!
How many of our fellow human suffer quite seriously from loneliness – old as well as young ones!
How many young people need more support – emotionally or, in purely practical terms, in learning and progressing. How many charitable organizations of all kinds could use more volunteer helpers. Among those organizations, it is not only a matter of charitable help for humans, but also a matter of care for animals and also of environmental protection – for the natural Creation entrusted to us humans.
How much time should one donate? Also those 10 % as demanded for money – in other words, 4 hours per week? Or should there also be a progression – whoever has much time available should donate more – and whoever has no time, being overburdened by family and work, is excused or may even use assistance in time from others?
The donation of money or time is a burden one should happily assume. In many cases, one finds that donating to others can be a gift in reverse – that one actually receives as much in joy and fulfillment as one had in mind passing on. In that manner, being “merciful” improves this world in its own way.
To be “merciful” should not only apply to individuals, but also between neighboring communities, regions, or nations – from the rich city to the poor neighborly one – as between the rich capital and poor towns hit by industrial decline – or between nations of widely different wealth – as practiced by national charitable organizations or by foreign aide.
Thus, Jesus’ teaching can be perpetually effective in the modern world.
Blessed are the pure of heart:
Our Western culture is criticized mainly for the amount of violence and smut it propagates in its media and public life (the latter is also found in other cultures, though behind the closed doors of the rich).
Our own daily lives fill our hearts with the desire for profit, a gourmet meal, good beer or wine, gaining rank and recognition, or just good entertainment of whatever kind. Too often, not much else is left in our “hearts”.
Should that be all in our lives – should that be all during the few years we are allowed to live in this wonderful world – to perceive its wonders and the people living with us – to perceive the wonders and beauty of nature?
A monk was once asked how he could cope with the temptations of the world. “Do not look at it”, he said.
A neuroscientist or cognitive psychologist – the scientist who can say something about the functioning of our brains and minds – will confirm that the mind’s thoughts and images will progress in sequences according to the strongest, freshest, or most valued (positively or negatively), associative linkages in the brain. Values are provided by “emotions”. We (humans and advanced animals) sense a ranking of “values”. Unselfish sacrifice for offspring or the community, public service, and empathy (or Christian love, the ancient Greek agape, not eros) all rank higher than do gourmet pleasures.
Seeing crime on TV can and does provoke a mental association with crime when similar circumstances occur in our lives – which leads to copy-cat crimes.
Wall Street’s excessive greed became the prevalent value set for people working in that environment – until it was exposed as “bad”.
Our surrounding “culture” forms us.
Our circle of friends form a micro-culture we live in – supporting our own world of ideas and values in our minds. We are then being formed by what we selected as our micro-culture.
Think about what you want your life to be, where you want to see significance in your life, what you want to look back on when the final hours approach. What would you like to have done, what would you like to be remembered for?
To make any progress on a path of “values” in life, you must, above all, keep your mind focused – to pursue the thoughts along the lines you prefer.
This implies that you cannot give mental prevalence to the loudest and most recent impression. “Do not look at it”, as the monk said.
Block the undesirable from your mind.
Fill you mind with the desirable!
Keep a clean heart!
Blessed are the peacemakers:
Most of us do not decide about war and peace in the world. But we do decide about conflict, disharmony, peace, and cooperation in our personal surroundings.
When we have met with some people at length and, finally, walk home, it is all too common a habit to talk critically about the people we just were together with – at worst, to tear them apart.
When talking about the ideas of others, all too often we prefer to find the weaknesses in their argument. Too often, we would rather see no result at all rather than accept the ideas of others.
Office politics is the breeding ground for conflict. So is national politics and international rivalry a breeding ground for conflict in society and world conflict.
Conflict arises especially between people sitting close together in life or as neighbors on the world stage who see themselves as mentally separated from the others and try to prevail.
Simply by putting ourselves in the position of the others, as if walking in their shoes, can we begin to “understand”. Understanding can result in dialogue, and from dialogue can possibly come compromises or solutions.
In the end, the peacemakers are the benevolent forces in society – the finders of common solutions to problems, of constructive approaches toward a better future – toward a better world for all – with less suffering and more opportunities fairly for all.
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