When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 He began to teach them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. 6 Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Jesus sees the crowds and goes up the mountain, then sits down. In Matthew, that posture signals a formal act of teaching. The disciples “came to him,” and he teaches them first. The crowd is present in the scene, but the instruction is directed to those who are choosing to draw near and learn what life under God’s reign requires. Mark and Luke show the same pattern: Jesus forms disciples for mission, and others listen in and react (Mk. 1:21-22; Lk. 6:17-20).
The word “Blessed” is not a casual compliment. It is a declaration that certain people are in a favored position because God is acting and will act. That is why the promises lean toward the future: “will be comforted,” “will inherit,” “will be satisfied,” “will see.” These are statements about what God will do. The first and last beatitudes (“theirs is the kingdom of heaven”) frame the whole set, keeping the focus on God’s kingdom rather than on human achievement.
“Poor in spirit” does not mean timid or lacking personality. It names a humble dependence on God. In Israel’s Scriptures, God repeatedly shows special care for the lowly who rely on him rather than on power, status, or self-sufficiency. Matthew’s wording steers the reader away from treating poverty itself as a virtue. Want is a hardship to be relieved, not admired. Yet the disciple is called to a spiritual poverty that refuses to make wealth, comfort, or control into a substitute god. Luke’s beatitude speaks more directly of the materially poor; Matthew highlights the interior stance that must accompany any outward condition (Lk. 6:20).
Those who mourn are not called blessed because grief is good. They are called blessed because God’s comfort is real. Much of the Bible’s hope is shaped by the conviction that God sees affliction and will set things right. The beatitude assumes that the world is not as it should be, and that the disciple does not pretend otherwise. The promise is not escapism; it is the assurance that God will not abandon those who suffer.
“The meek…will inherit the land” echoes Psalm 37, where the meek are not the weak but those who refuse the violent path and wait for God’s justice (Ps. 37:11). In Matthew, “land” can no longer be reduced to a plot of territory. It means God’s kingdom and the final restoration God intends. The disciple’s meekness is therefore not passivity; it is strength under God’s rule.
“Hunger and thirst for righteousness” speaks in the plain language of need. Righteousness here is not self-righteousness or public image. It is the longing for what is right in God’s sight: a life aligned with God’s will and a world marked by justice. This is one of Matthew’s recurring concerns. It also connects with the prophets’ vision of God’s future setting-things-right, a vision that Jesus brings to the forefront in his own preaching and deeds.
Mercy, purity of heart, and peacemaking name dispositions that shape how a disciple lives with God and with others. Mercy is a readiness to act for the needy and to forgive, because the disciple knows he stands in need of mercy himself. Clean of heart does not mean mere outward respectability. It points to an undivided interior life, where the will is not split between God and competing idols. “They will see God” is a promise of communion with God that goes beyond temple access and beyond ritual proximity. Peacemakers are not simply people who dislike conflict. They are those who work for real reconciliation, seeking shalom—right relationship with God and neighbor—in the ordinary brokenness of life. This is why they are “called children of God”: their action reflects the Father’s own work of reconciliation. In the New Testament, this peacemaking reaches its deepest form in the way Christ reconciles and gathers (cf. Jn. 14:27; Mt. 5:23-24).
The final beatitudes are blunt about cost. Those who seek righteousness and live as Jesus teaches should not be surprised by resistance. Matthew links this suffering to the prophets, showing continuity with Israel’s long history of rejecting God’s messengers. But he also makes the persecution explicitly “because of me.” The disciple is not only enduring generic hardship; he is sharing in the pattern of fidelity that culminates in Jesus himself. Luke’s parallel makes the same point: opposition is a mark of belonging to God’s prophetic line, not proof that God has failed (Lk. 6:22-23).
The Beatitudes describe the inner shape of a disciple’s life under God’s reign. They are not sentimental slogans. They are a sober portrait of the people God is forming—people who trust God, face suffering without surrendering to bitterness, refuse the violent path, desire what is right, practice mercy, seek an undivided heart, pursue reconciliation, and remain faithful when it costs them.
Lord Jesus, form in us the heart you declare blessed. Teach us humble trust, a true love of what is right, and the mercy that comes from knowing our own need for mercy. Keep us faithful when the path is hard, and bring your peace to what is divided in us and around us. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The Holy Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition.
- Faculty of the University of Navarre, The Navarre Bible: Matthew, 59-61.
- Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, 14-15.
- The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 640 (para. 24).
- José Enrique Aguilar Chiu et al., eds., The Paulist Biblical Commentary, 918-920.
- The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century, 1252-1253.
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