Why all of us need the Beatitudes, Jesus’ words, today more than we need Moses’ words

Beatitudes teach us how to reach that destination

… Beatitudes more important than the Ten Commandments

In my estimation, the major difference between the Beatitudes that Christ gave us in the Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments that Moses gave us on two tablets of stone is this:

The commandments show us how to stay out of hell, but the Beatitudes illustrate for us the way to enter heaven. 

First, I am not certain that I believe in hell or satan. I think that they are symbolic constructs of evil. 

That is why the commandments are so negative, using the word “not.” Yet, Jesus tells us how to live our lives in the Beatitudes by avoiding the use of any of those words,

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 

The message from the Mount is a positive one, illustrating how to live our lives. The commandments tell us what not to do. 

How important was the Sermon on the Mount?

As a minister named Bear Clifton wrote about the Sermon,

We don’t know what the weather was like the day he stood up in front of the crowd that gathered around him. We don’t know exactly what mountainside it happened on. We don’t know the size of the crowd – certainly hundreds, and possibly many more …

In the annals of history, no discourse ever altered the trajectory of the human race for the better than this sermon. Plenty of writers and philosophers had waxed eloquent on virtue over the years, but this one teaching ignited a moral revolution which hoisted humanity on its shoulders, and carried it mountain ranges away from the ethical backwoods it had been inhabiting in that Bronze and Iron Age world.

The sermon, which fleshed out the virtues of the individual Beatitudes – virtues such as humility, forgiveness, compassion, showing mercy, pursuing purity, and working for peace – became the functional mission statement for Christianity. The apostles in their writings refer back to the Beatitudes over and over again as the embodiment of what authentic Christianity looks like.

Furthermore, Christianity’s system of thought and ethics, built on the teachings of Christ, truly became a high blessing to the earth. Nothing like it had ever been seen before.

It transformed the way people thought about the value of human life. Slaves, women, children, the infirm, refugees, even the unborn – the refuse and garbage of society – found meaning and protection in its shelter. Those who scream for “equal rights” today, and who march for “justice”, and demand that we “end oppression”, are using Christian logic to back up their arguments, even while many of them repudiate Christianity.

Bear Clifton, “Why we need the Beatitudes now more 

than ever,” Train Yourself Ministry, March 8, 2019

However, one of the most prescient comments about this came from a man whom many would not associate with Christianity. 

Kurt Vonnegut, Christ-loving atheist

In his book, “Man Without a Country,” Kurt Vonnegut is critical of many aspects of life, but he makes a very prescient comment about many Christians today, 

“For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes (Matthew 5). But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course, that's Moses, not Jesus. 

I haven't heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere. 'Blessed are the merciful' in a courtroom? 'Blessed are the peacemakers' in the Pentagon? Give me a break!”

Kurt Vonnegut, “A Man Without a Country,” 2005.

What he says is true. Why are people so enamored of the Ten Commandments instead of the Beatitudes? They are negative, with the connotations that if we do “Not” follow them, our eternal life will be spent with Satan. 

In essence, many people still believe in the idea of “fire and damnation” that used to be so powerful until the late 20th and early 21st Centuries. 

Today, that construct has driven 40 percent of young Millennials to reject that idea that has been put forth by organized religion. That is why the emphasis should be on the message of the Beatitudes to reach the people who need the message of Jesus today.

The Beatitudes, not the commandments, drove the growth of Christianity in the early years

Many people today say that the Sermon on the Mount was what moved people to Christ and ultimately to Christianity, that it was the most important message in history. 

Today, one minister argues, 

The World Needs The Beatitudes.

In case you haven’t noticed, our world is becoming an increasingly frightful, hateful place. Jesus warned that in the last days, the love of many would grow cold, and it’s not difficult to wonder if these words are being fulfilled in our time.

We’re fractious, we’re angry, we’ve greedy, we’re divided, we’re profane, we’re depressed. (All this, and yet the case can be made that the last fifty years, at least in the United States, represents the greatest half-century of human civilization ever in terms of prosperity and ease of life) …

The first generation of Christians had absolutely no power. Not a shred. Yet following the path paved by the Beatitudes, in just one generation, they caught the attention of the greatest power the world had ever known by then. 

In two generations, they faced down the savage might of that world power and could not be destroyed by it. In three generations, they caused the value system of that world power to begin to crumble from within. And a generation or two later, followers of Christ were found in every corner of the Roman world. And the word on the street regarding these Christians was, “See how they love one another.”

Bear Clifton, Train Yourself Ministry, March 8, 2019

“Love one another”

The message of the Beatitudes is one of love, a positive view of people, even the downtrodden. 

The message of the Ten Commandments is one of fear, and while fright may touch some people, love is what remains with us. 

The Beatitudes place us in a position of vulnerability, and many would rather not be there. 

They would rather not talk about peace, but power. 

They would rather not talk about the poor, but about wealth. 

They would rather not talk about weakness, but about strength. 

However, that is what Jesus wants us to discuss. Not the macho world in which the preachers rail against sin, but about the way to reach peace of mind and eternal life. 

The Beatitudes teach us empathy, and today that is anathema to many Christians. That is what this message means to me today. 

Love, not fear, is what Jesus wants us to preach. 

And that is what we find in the Sermon on the Mount.