Matthew 5:3 - Homilies By P.c. Barker

The blessedness that Christ pronounces.

Amid many ways in which the grand inheritance which Jesus designated by the word "blessedness" may be regarded, and its worth exhibited and its charm enhanced to our mental gaze, all too sluggish, we may now take the following course. This blessedness which Christ pronounces must be the more worthy of regard, in that—

I. IT IS NOT FLAUNTED IN PROMINENCE AND IN BRIGHTEST , LOUDEST COLOUR ON HIS FLAG .

II. IT FINDS A PLACE NEVERTHELESS AND IS EXHIBITED , BUT IS RARELY EXHIBITED . AND THEN NOT WITH ANY HERALD 'S FLOURISH OF TRUMPETS , BUT WITH SUDDENNESS , WITH SCARCELY A NOTE OF PREPARATION ; WITH APPEAL TO THOSE ONLY WHO HAVE EYES OPEN TO SEE .

III. IT IS PROMPTLY ASCERTAINED TO BE BASED ON AN ' UNUSUAL FOUNDATION , AND ONE UNUSUALLY DEEP . AMID OTHER BUILDINGS INNUMERABLE , IT IS BUILDED ON A ROCK .

IV. WHEN CONSIDERED IN ITSELF , IT IS DISCOVERED TO BE WROUGHT OUT OF DISPOSITION RATHER THAN BESTOWED UPON IT ; THE ESSENTIAL AND SURE OUTCOME OF QUALITY AND OF HEART RATHER THAN BOON , PRIZE , OR REWARD CONFERRED UPON THEM BY ANY THEORY OF RECOMPENSE .

V. IT IS IN ITS ENDURANCE AS LASTING , FAR - SEEING , FAR - REACHING , AS IT IS IN ITS NATURE INTRINSIC . Show that these peculiarities of the blessedness that Jesus esteems are illustrated by all the instances following in Matthew 5:3-11 , etc.; and that they entitle it to be said firmly and emphatically that—

VI. IT IS THE " CHIEF GOOD ," FOUND AT LAST AND FOUND SURELY ; THE " CHIEF GOOD ," NOT OF THE PHILOSOPHER 'S QUEST MERELY , BUT OF THAT OF THE UNIVERSAL HUMAN HEART AND LIFE . "The chief good is the only motive of philosophical inquiry; but whatever confers blessedness , that is the chief good; therefore Jesus begins, ' Blessed are the poor in spirit '".—B.