A SERIES OF DEVOTIONS BASED ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

BLESSED  

Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” 

The Children of Israel lived striving to obey God’s first commandments given on Mount Siani. In order to make sure they kept the ten statements from God they eventually added to them until they had created for themselves hundreds of laws. They were literally prisoners of these laws. They knew they never followed them as they should. 

Jesus came before them with a message radically different from what they had been told by their spiritual leaders. Instead of imprisoned by the Law Jesus told them they were blessed. They must have asked themselves; how can this be? In the opening of His Sermon on the Mount He answers that question through giving them the Beatitudes, the announcement that they were blessed, not condemned.   

Jesus refocused their hearts from the now to the future. His message was one of the now and the not yet. Yes, they were God’s chosen people and He expected them to live according to His Commandments, but He also was their loving Father who was sending His Son into the world to substitute Himself in their place, keep God’s law perfectly for them and pay the debt they accumulated before God because of their sins.   

Jesus’ calling them and you blessed is His announcement that the reign of heaven was already happening in the here and now and would continue for all eternity. Personally, the reign of heaven with its gifts and blessings belonged to them, as it does to you by God’s grace through faith in Jesus.    Nine times Jesus says in the opening sentences of His Sermon His listeners were blessed. Nine times in these words recorded in the opening verses of Matthew 5, Jesus says to that you are blessed. You are blessed because you have the Gospel, the Good News of your salvation, preached to you. You, by God’s grace, know through Jesus your sins are washed away through Your baptism and forgiven through your reception of the Lord’s Supper and hearing the Gospel. Jesus says, “you are blessed. . . “ 

Prayer: Thank You Jesus for freeing me from the burden of the Law by fulfilling it for me and giving me the Good News of my salvation. Amen. 

Blessed are the sons of God, They are bo’t with Christ’s own blood;  They are ransomed from the grave, Life eternal they shall have;  With them number may we be Here and in eternity! 

They are justified by grace, They enjoy the Savior’s peace;  All their sins are washed away, They shall stand in God’s great Day:  With them numbered may we be Here and in eternity! 

They are lights upon the earth, Children of a heav’nly birth;  One with God, with Jesus one; Glory is in them begun;  With them numbered may we be Here and in eternity!  (TLH 391)