Once in a while I’m asked to do a study on a specific portion of Scripture. While we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop in the Middle East, I’d like to respond to one I received recently concerning a portion of the Sermon on the Mount commonly called “The Beatitudes”. It’s found in Matt. 5:3-12 with an abbreviated and slightly different version in Luke 6:20-23. While everyone in the world seems to be talking about other things, it might be refreshing to think about peace for a moment. Not peace in the world necessarily, or even in the Middle East, but peace in our hearts and in our lives. If events are leading us in the direction we think, we’ll want to remember these exhortations from our Lord.
The Sermon on the Mount was given near the beginning of the Lord’s ministry, but already He had achieved widespread fame because of His healing power. In Matt. 4: 23-25 we learn that huge crowds were gathering around Him. They came not only from the Galilee, but from what we now know as Jordan, southern Syria, and Lebanon in the east and north, and from Judea and Jerusalem in the south. Remember, this was in a time when there were no phones or other means of long range communications and nearly all travel was on foot. These crowds gathered by word of mouth and although many were in pain, they had walked for several days to reach Him. The lame, the paralyzed, the sick, those who were demon possessed, afflicted with seizures and such had made long and arduous journeys to find Him and He healed them all, for as He had told the Israelites in the wilderness, “I am the Lord who heals you.” (Exodus 15:26)
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