4TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME - A

When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.

Mt 5: 1-12a

The gospel for this Sunday is the Sermon on the Mount. In this section of the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is presented again as the new Moses. Moses went up the mountain to receive the Law. Jesus goes up the mountain to present to his disciples a vision of life for those who wish to follow him. The Law of Moses is contained in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. In this section we find the first of the five long discourses that correspond to the five books of Moses. The five long discourses are:

• The "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5:3-7:27)
• The missionary discourse (Matthew 10:5-42)
• The parable discourse (Matthew 13:3-52)
• The "church order" discourse (Matthew 18:3-35), and
• The eschatological discourse (Matthew 24:4-25:46)

We find in Luke a parallel to the Sermon on the Mount. It is called the Sermon on the Plain. Instead of the 8 Beatitudes, Luke has a list of “4 blessings and 4 curses” (Lk 6: 20-26).

v. 1. When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.

The mountains are believed to be places where God is especially present. It was in Sinai that God gave the Law to Moses. It was in Mt. Tabor that the disciples saw the divine glory of Jesus and heard the voice of the Father.

Jesus sits down. It is a position of authority, in this case of teaching authority. When the Pope preaches, he is seated. When he proclaims a truth of faith and morals with full teaching authority, he is said to be teaching ex cathedra, from the chair.

v. 3. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed” is a combination of being happy AND fortunate. In Greek it is “makarios”. In Latin, it is “felix”.

The poor in spirit belong to the Kingdom of heaven. God reigns over them. For this reason they are both happy and fortunate. But this is not immediately obvious. We would expect that it is the rich who are happy and fortunate. But this is not so. Instead, we find Jesus declaring: “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation” (Lk 6:24). It is precisely for this reason that entering the Kingdom of Heaven requires metanoia, a change in the way of thinking and of looking at things.

The poor are the needy ones of Israel, the anawim They prefer divine service to financial advantage. Their poverty is real and economic but with a spiritual dimension.

“In spirit”. The emphasis shifts from social-economic to personal-moral: hu-mility, detachment from wealth, voluntary poverty.

But the poor in the Bible are not just the materially destitute but all those who in their need turn to God. Poor in spirit are those who clearly acknowledge that they depend totally on God.

v. 4. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Here we think not just of those grieving for a death but those also who feel a deep sorrow for the evils and injustices of this world. They mourn not just for their own pain but are in solidarity with all those who are the victims of "man's inhumanity to man".

v. 5. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.

Derived from Ps 37:11, it means “slow to anger” and “gentle with others”. It is a form of charity. t is the very opposite of arrogance, bullying and violent manipulation.

It is not to be confused with wimpishness, weakness or cowardice. The truly gentle person, the one who can remain gentle and respectful of the other's dignity in the face of provocative violence is a very strong person.

v. 6. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

To hunger and thirst for something is to pray for it. And what do they pray for? Righteousness, that is, obedience of the world to the will of God.

v. 7. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

This is not just pity or sympathy but a deep down compassion and empathy, a real entering into the pain that others are experiencing.

It also refers to pardoning of one’s neighbor (Mt 6:12), to love (Mt 9:13), especially of the needy (Mt 25:31) and even one’s enemies (Mt 5:44-47). All vengeance is excluded.

v. 8. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.

In the OT this refers to ritual and moral impurity being cleansed (Ps 51). In Mt it means justice, covenant fidelity, loyalty to God’s commands, sincere worship.

v. 9. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Peace (shalom) means total well-being. In Mt peacemaking is closely related to love of neighbor and hence, to the beatitude of the merciful.

v. 10. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

They are persecuted because of their obedience to God.