Crazy Happy, Part 2 - A Deeper Dive
Message Recap
This week we continued our series, Crazy Happy. You’ll recall the purpose of this series is to consider the crazy places God leads us to find true happiness. In Part 1, we dispelled the myth that we can find happiness in “things.” Certainly, we receive temporary satisfaction in a new thing, like a new car, the latest iPhone, or an exotic vacation. However, worldly possessions and experiences cannot sustain true happiness, so we find ourselves on a hamster wheel, constantly chasing one new thing after another. Part 2 of the series focuses on unpacking the first five Beatitudes recorded in the Gospel of Matthew.
In this message, we looked at how the Beatitudes, spoken by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, can lead us to true happiness. Each Beatitude consists of two phrases: a condition and the result. In each case, the condition begins with “Blessed are….” Remember, in Part 1, we learned that the Greek word makarioi used in the New Testament is translated to “blessed” or “happy.” So, while most Bible translations use blessed for each Beatitude, an alternative translation would be “Happy are….” Seemingly we have a roadmap, directly from Jesus, for finding true happiness. But, upon closer inspection, this roadmap seems unusual - maybe even crazy.
Jesus tells us the blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. If we apply our modern understanding of each condition, we might believe that only weak people experiencing poverty and loss can be happy. This interpretation is a case where our modern understanding of language causes us to confuse the underlying message of scripture. And that is the subject of this week’s Deeper Dive.
When the Bible Says Something Different Than We Think
Scripture can be complicated. We must remember that what we read today was translated from ancient languages. In some cases, the translations are word for word, while others are not as much translation but a paraphrase. There is also a cultural context that affects how we understand scripture. Culture changes over time, so what might have seemed “normal” or “acceptable” when written might now seem strange and even offensive in our modern worldview.
Sometimes the biggest mistake we can make when reading scripture is to take a passage out of context, especially one that we really like. Also known as cherry picking, this approach to understanding what the Bible is saying causes us to lock in on a specific verse or group of verses and pay no attention to the words before and after. In this week’s message, we considered an example of this as we read Jesus’ words from the Gospel of John:
“7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
Taken at face value, this passage suggests that as followers of Jesus, all we have to do is ask for something, and our request is granted. Some might call this the “magic lamp” gospel. We reduce God to simply a genie who grants all of our wishes. But if we also consider what John later writes in his first epistle, we would see this promise of getting what we want in a different light.
“21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.”
Do you see the second part of verse 22? We receive what we ask for only if “we keep his commands and do what pleases him.” There is a condition that completely changes our understanding of what Jesus was saying.
There are other scriptures that are commonly misunderstood. For example, in Luke’s Gospel, a ruler asks Jesus what else he has to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responds by telling the man to immediately sell all of his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor (Luke 18:18-25). So does this mean we should all be selling everything we have so we can give to the poor? We can probably agree that’s not the point of the instruction. As we said in Part 1 of this series, God doesn’t oppose us from having things. But when those things become your priority instead of God, you probably need to adjust your thinking.
So, how does this apply to the Beatitudes? If we read the words of each condition without considering how those words were used in biblical times, we risk misinterpreting where Jesus tells us true happiness is found. He was not suggesting only the poor and hungry are blessed, but we must all have humility. We all go through times of mourning, but the blessing comes when, with God’s help, we emerge from our loss. The meek do not find happiness because they are weak; they are rewarded for their self-control and gentleness.
What a crazy idea! True happiness is found by demonstrating humility and gentleness, extending comfort to those who mourn, and by remaining obedient to God’s commands. Next week we’ll talk more about God’s plan for our crazy happy life. We hope you’ll join us!