Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. Matthew 5:1-2
We’re about to start discussing the Beatitudes, a word that means “blessings”. Or “happy,” “rich,” or “blessedness.” Recall from the end of chapter 4 that large crowds came to Jesus after He returned from the desert; after He began to call His disciples. They were crowds from unlikely places: Syria which was hostile to Jesus’ faith; the Decapolis, which was a Greco-Roman settlement and, like Syria, hostile to Jesus’ faith; Jerusalem, the center of Judaism; Judea, the area in southern Israel, which was all that was left of the ancient kingdom.
People came from everywhere, of all colors, from all backgrounds, in all vocations and languages and hopes and dreams. What they had in common was Jesus, namely their desire to experience Him. To see and receive His healing. To hear these powerful words of repentance, love, restoration, and hope. To hear Him who might just be Messiah, and see what He would say and do next.
They wanted to be a part of it all. Jesus saw that, so He went to a place where a large crowd could hear Him and He started to teach. He didn’t ‘Benny Hinn’ their diseases with a ‘thwap’ of his white coat. He didn’t unleash fire and brimstone pulpit-invective about what damned dirty sinners they were. He didn’t tell them about new gimmicks and ways they could self-heal, forgive themselves, and come to their small group night. Jesus taught.
That’s what Jesus does with me and you, too. We come to Him. The experiences of our lives create situations where His Spirit prompts us to want to know. To want to know more about Him. To want to know more about Him so we come to Him. And, when we do, we find it’s actually the reverse, that He’s already come to us. Jesus always first reaches out to us before we ever reach for Him.
But when we do finally come to Him, He teaches. He speaks to our hearts, through conscience, through knowledge, through revelation to us. What He says He says to educate and grow us. Sometimes that teaching is harsh, telling us things don’t want to hear. That turns off many people, but I wonder if it actually means that they’re more ready for teaching than they might otherwise be. Jesus’ teaching can hit a nerve.
If we let Him, Jesus’ teaching can move us to repent, to want to change and turn from the things we do and ways we live. When that happens, His Spirit fills us to crowd out our sinful nature. When His Spirit fills us, we’re ready to learn even more, and what we learn is happy, rich, blessed, and beautiful.
For more reading: Matthew 5:3
Lord, fill me with Your Holy Spirit today, then teach me once again Your holy lessons
Practical Proverbs 