I recently celebrated my 45th birthday. Halfway to 90! I enjoyed the annual reminder of the passing of time – a reminder to redeem the time and use it for God’s glory.
On my birthday, many people wished me “happy” birthday, and it got me thinking about what we mean when we say that. By most conventional measures, I am “happy” most of the time. But I also have bad days, some of which I would not describe as happy. We all know there is a deeper sense in which we as Christians have a joy in the Lord that transcends our circumstances, meaning we can have joy even on days that are not happy.
That distinction between happiness and deeper joy made me think about two different ways we use the word happy. Most of the time when we say we are happy we mean we are marked by pleasure in the moment. But sometimes we mean something more like fortunate. I think the second sense is much more like what Jesus was trying to tell us in the Beatitudes.
In Matthew 5:3-12 (ESV), Jesus says:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil
against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in
heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Take verse 10 for example. Anyone who has ever experienced persecution for righteousness’ sake knows that it does not make you happy in the first sense. We do not experience pleasure in the moment. Yet we can know and remember that we are happy in the second sense – fortunate because Jesus promised us that we would inherit the kingdom of heaven. That is a hope that can sustain us through many an unhappy day.
The Greek word Jesus uses in the Beatitudes is makarios, which means blessed, happy, or fortunate, and according to The New Bible Commentary (2010), is “a term of congratulation and recommendation.”
So when Jesus says we are blessed when we mourn, or blessed when we are poor in spirit, he is saying we are to be envied because of our deeper spiritual state. We will be comforted! Our is the kingdom of heaven! We are fortunate. We are in a true spiritual condition that others should envy and emulate. However, as Paul says in Romans 8:25 (NIV), “but if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” There are many aspects of true beatitude that we have to wait for, even as we recognize that we are fortunate to have a hope that does not put us to shame.
Of course, other promises of the Beatitudes can yield something much closer to happiness in the first sense. Being merciful, being pure in heart, or being a peacemaker give us a sense of pleasure in the moment, and also make us fortunate recipients of God’s blessings as we recognize that we will receive mercy, will see God, and will be called sons of God.
As I was thinking about this on my birthday, I responded to one “happy” birthday text as follows: “I’m blessed and therefore happy in all the ways that matter.”
My prayer for you all is that you would experience God’s blessing as you recognize how fortunate you are in Christ, and as you walk in true beatitude on the daily journey through and to the kingdom of heaven.
In Christian Love,
Zack Boren, Elder