followHIM - Matthew 5; Luke 6 Part 1 • Dr. Lincoln H. Blumell • Feb. 13 - Feb. 19

Episode Date: February 8, 2023

How do we obtain lasting happiness? Dr. Lincoln Blumell explores the depths of Jesus’s longest recorded sermon.00:00 Part 1–Dr. Lincoln Blumell01:23 Introduction of Dr. Lincoln Blumell02:51 The Beatitudes in Luke and Matthew06:19 The Sermon’s audiences08:01 The JST and the Sermon in the Book of Mormon10:18 Matthew shows a new Moses and alludes to hundreds of miracles13:16 The First Principles in Matthew and the JST14:14 Calling of the Twelve Apostles17:06 The meaning of meek23:10 Mourning and comfort30:24 Jesus Christ teaches how to be blessed and find happiness32:00 Hunger and thirsting for righteousness34:59 Mercy, compassion, and forgiveness38:15 Temple imagery and the peacemakers42:18 Messianic expectations and discipleship46:52 The salt of the earth52:06 End of Part I--Dr. Lincoln BlumellShow Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.coFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-piano

Welcome to Follow Him, a weekly podcast dedicated to helping individuals and families with their Come Follow Me study. I'm Hank Smith. And I'm John, by the way. We love to learn. We love to laugh. We want to learn and laugh with you. As together, we follow Him. Hello, my friends. Welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name is Hank Smith. I'm your host. I'm here with my happy co-host, John, by the way. John, we are studying the Beatitudes today, blessed are ye. And I've read in my scriptures that the Latin for Beatitude, meaning to be fortunate or to be happy. And I thought of happy, and that's you. You are a happy guy. So take that for what it's worth on most days

when your back isn't hurting. We are studying the greatest sermon in the history of the world today, John, the Sermon on the Mount, and we brought a Bible expert who's with us. Yes, we did. And he's been here before. So our listeners and our watchers might recognize Dr. Lincoln Blumel. And let me briefly reintroduce him. He received a bachelor's degree with honors in classical and early Christian studies from the University of Calgary, a master's from the University of Calgary in religious studies, focusing on ancient Christianity, and a master's from Oxford Christ Church in Jewish studies, a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in Religious Studies,

Early Christianity. And before coming to BYU, he was a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Classical Studies at Tulane in New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans. Will you pronounce that for us? New Orleans, right? New Orleans, yeah. Go Taysom Hill and the Saint. His areas of expertise include the New Testament, Second Temple Judaism, history of ancient Christianity until the Byzantine period. His language is biblical Hebrew, reading, Sahidic, Coptic, classical Greek, Latin, French, and German. So I'm feeling like the dumbest guy in the room today, but that's impressive. And I did want to mention he's the editor of a book called New Testament History, Culture, and Society, a background to the text of the New Testament.

That's a Religious Studies Center publication. We've talked about that before. Go to rsc.byu.edu. So wonderful to have this kind of scholarship, faithful scholars writing about these kinds of things for people who want to go even deeper. Welcome back, Dr. Blumel. Thanks for joining us. It's a pleasure to be back. Thank you so much, John, for the introduction. Hank, it's great seeing you. No pressure at all. You know, the greatest sermon ever. So I know. Yes, I'm already kind of feeling, except I'm like, how am I going to possibly live up to this? I'll do my best.

But yes, it is a great sermon indeed. We're just going to do part of it today. So we're in Matthew 5 and Luke 6. That's what the Come Follow Me manual is having us look at today. And Matthew 5, yeah, that's the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitude. And so you have this Sermon on the Mount, which is the longest discourse that Jesus gives that we have recorded. The second longest is also in Matthew.

It's the Olivet Discourse. When you read Luke 6, you realize, right, beginning around about verse 17, you have what appear to be sections of this kind of that would correspond with Matthew 5, Matthew 6, Matthew 7. But if you all start reading Luke elsewhere in his gospel, like even in Luke 14 or Luke chapter 16, you will find other sayings and teachings overlap with what you have in the Sermon on the Mount. Luke seems to, there's some division of this perhaps. And then of course, we can't forget, we also have a version of this sermon, not exact. There are some

key differences, of course, in 3rd Nephi 12 through 14. And then as you read in the New Testament elsewhere, like James or other works, you can periodically find references back to this sermon or teachings that clearly are derived from the sermon here on the mount. Really remarkable sermon. You know, for Matthew's gospel, it is really front and center. When you read Matthew, it seems to me as I read Matthew's gospel, it is really front and center. When you read Matthew, it seems to me as I read Matthew's text, he presents things in chunks. So you start off with the genealogy. Then we have the birth. And then we have the baptism in three. And then the four is kind of the beginning, calling of some disciples. And then you have, right, start

performing miracles. And now we get into five. And now it's framed with this long sermon. And after the sermon, he details the end of four, just Jesus performing miracles, but not telling us. And then he'll start telling us right away in eight, now here are the miracles. A man with leprosy or a centurion's child, and he'll go into that. He organizes his gospel in that way, where Luke kind of moves things around. And again, that shouldn't really be surprising when you read the prologue in Luke. So when you read Luke chapter 1, verses 1 through 3, he actually says, if you read this carefully, I won't go back into this,

but he says, look, a couple of things. I'm not an eyewitness. If you read carefully saying, he says, but I've consulted eyewitnesses and I've consulted sources and I'm going to put it in an order that I think is appropriate. So Luke's telling us from the start, I'm editing this material and I'm putting it in order. And so it shouldn't surprise us then that Luke might have some things in different places you have in Matthew. Well, you find a bit more spread out in Matthew has it here in this one section. Now, something that's interesting is you start off in Matthew 1.1 and you have, and seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain. And then you go over

to Luke 16.17 and it says, and he came down with them and stood in the plain. And people have wondered what is going on here. There's clearly some overlap with the material. Do Matthew and Luke have completely different understandings of the topography of the region? Don't think so. What I think is going on here, and what I would say is when you think of the Sermon on the Mount or the material in the Sermon on the Mount, I would imagine that Jesus gave this sermon or versions of this sermon in multiple places. Like to pick up Dr. Seuss here, he gave it on a mountain, in a plane, on a train, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And what you have now is Matthew says, I want to make sure I focus on the one that was given on a quote-unquote

mount. That's important for him. And why I think that's important for Matthew to accentuate here a mount is when you read Matthew's gospel, I think what he's trying to do is, I think it's pretty clear it's written primarily for a Jewish audience, right? You start a genealogy. It's the gospel. This loves quoting passages from the Old Testament. And it will do that just repeatedly, more than any other gospel. It tends to get into Jewish legal issues more than any other gospel. We might pick up on that a little bit later today. And what's pretty clear here with this is he wants to accentuate parallels, I think, with Jesus and Moses. For example, Moses, as a child, his life's threatened. They're in

Egypt. He's taken out of Egypt. You find these things that are going on. And I think now with Jesus and Allah, well, Moses receives Allah on a mount. Now Jesus will be giving Allah, expanding Allah on a mount. And so I think that's why Matthew wants to select that. And then of course, Luke, that's not a focus, right? To try to parallel or accentuate a life of Moses, I think, for his readership. And so, okay, you can now have this here. I think the best evidence that Jesus is giving this multiple occasions is the Book of Mormon, because he has the Book of Mormon, and now you have another version of this given. And so, when I served a mission, and probably when you did, we had missionary discussions. And in discussions, you'd find

sometimes we would give a quick discussion on somebody's doorstep, or don't give a full discussion, but we hit three or four key points of that discussion. And we do that again and again. I think with the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew's given the fullest version of this. But these teachings could be taught. They don't have to be taught as an entire unit. They could be taught individually. And I think Jesus would be doing this on multiple occasions.

And that would account for some of the differences here, certainly, between Matthew's and Luke's account. And at least initially with context of why a plain and why here you have it on a mount. And I think Matthew wants to emphasize that they're right at the start. Now, what's interesting with the Sermon on the Mount is you do get a fair amount of JSTs. More so, I would say, in chapter 7. There are, of course, some in chapter 5 we're looking at today. And something I'll just mention, because I don't think we have time to go through all of the JSTs, we'll certainly mention some of them, is it seems to me when you look at the JSTs,

is that in a number of cases, what they do is actually parallel what you have in the Book of Mormon rendering of this. For example, you start off in Matthew 1-2, and he opened his mouth and taught them saying, blessed are the poor in spirit. In Matthew 3, but what the JST does is it actually has, blessed are they who believe on me. And again, blessed are they who shall believe on your words when you shall testify that you have seen me and that I am. And it goes on and talks about, blessed are they who believe on your words and come down to the depth of humility and be baptized in my name and shall be visited with fire with the Holy Ghost and shall have remission of their sins. And so if you actually go over to the Book of Mormon, you'll find the parallels here are quite close. Here, it's about starting off the Beatitudes. We'll talk about what a Beatitude is here momentarily. It really frames this with believing,

hearing the words, really listening. And in fact, there's interesting here, it's like where he says, even more blessed are those who believe on your words. Kind of an echo here of John 29, where you have him talking to Thomas. You've seen me, but more blessed are those who have not seen me yet will believe. It's picking up this language then really frames it. Well, what I would say with the doctrine of Christ in the JST book, there's baptism, you'll be the fire and the Holy Ghost. And I think that's important to consider as you're reading this. This just kind of frames it in this way with this emphasis here on, again, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, much like you find in the Book of Mormon there that the GST kind of

parallels there end of verse 1 and 2 and 3 Nephi 12. This is really helpful stuff, especially that parallel to Moses. I can absolutely see that. I can see Matthew starts out with a man named Joseph who has many dreams. Then you've got like the Pharaoh who goes after the children and you've got Herod going after the children and God protects him in Egypt. Then God parts the Red Sea and you have God speaking at Christ's baptism. Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness. Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness. And then the Sermon on the Mount comes about the same time in Moses' story where he'd go up on the Sinai and receive God's law. So, we're getting a second Moses here, as it were. And do you think Matthew

was after that? I think for his readers, it's not here's a new Moses, but I think the readers start reading this and saying, aha, oh, this sounds like Moses. Oh, this sounds like Moses. This sounds like Moses. And oh, we're now giving a new law. You have this expansion of law. And so I think the careful reader would see this. And Matthew does these kinds of things. So just for example, just jumping ahead in Matthew.

You have in Matthew 4, before we begin the sermon, it said Jesus is performing all these miracles. But again, we're not told which miracles he's performing. And then all of a sudden, we're being told now in Matthew 8 to 11, well, now this is what he's doing. We're having leprosy. We're having centurion's child. We're going to have the dead raised up. And you get to the episodes, you read a couple chapters beyond Sermon on the Mount, and all of a sudden the disciples of John come. And they want to know, well, who are you? And Jesus starts saying, well, go tell John this is happening. The poor are having the good news preached to them. The dead are being raised up. The blind are having the sight restored to them. And Matthew's just narrated all those miracles previously. And I

think it's pretty clear here. It's going back to expectations of when the Messiah comes based on what you have in Isaiah, these are the things he's going to do. And I think a careful reader would be like, oh my goodness, we're expecting this. And look what Jesus is doing. I think there are dozens and dozens, probably hundreds of miracles Matthew could have picked, but he's selective saying, I'm going to pick these ones because the careful reader will begin seeing this as opposed to, I'm going to tell you, you will come to your own understanding. Just like Jesus told the disciple of John, we'll go back, tell John these things are happening. For the reader, like, okay. If you know your old Testament, all of a sudden things are coming out to you that someone who doesn't know their old Testament very well, their Hebrew Bible,

they wouldn't see. But Matthew was speaking to those who have read that book. I think very much so. Assuming people have a knowledge of Israelite history and the old Testament where Luke doesn't take that for granted as much, nor does Mark to some extent. And you'll even find this in stories. So in Luke 6, before you even get into the Lukean material, you have a story of the disciples going and taking grain from a grain field on the Sabbath. And that story also appears in Matthew 12. And it's really worthwhile at some point to go and read the Lukean version 6 and then the Matthean version 12.

And you can see how you have a much larger story that is constantly engaging with the Old Testament. It's quoting Hosea. It's talking about the temple in Matthew. Again, it's like, well, it's not needful to put in all these examples. Yeah, we'll mention the reference to David going and taking shoe bread, which wasn't lawful, but because of expedient circumstances, it was okay. And then drawing a parallel saying, well, in like manner, what Jesus is doing because of expedient circumstances, it's okay what they're doing. But Matthew is at more pains to say, well,

there's this, it's something greater than the temple has come, and cites additional passages, which I think clearly have to appeal to a Jewish audience, where for Luke, it's like, I've made my point, okay, in this story, and I can now move on. And I think it becomes clear when you compare sometimes the stories, or you could say pericopes, little pericopes of Jesus between Matthew and Luke. And so that's how I read this here is that there's a framing of you're thinking Moses when you see Jesus and Matthew. Yeah. Up on the mountain. I really like that. I'm so glad you mentioned the Book of Mormon and baptism. Sometimes when I'm in Matthew 5, I ask my students, hey, where's the first principles of the gospel? Where are they? The answer is always, they're there in the JST and in the third Nephi version, where

perhaps even the first beatitude, blessed are those who will come and be baptized. They're there. And maybe that's in verse one here of Matthew 5, his disciples, if they were disciples, can we say that they may have been baptized already? And that's maybe implied because first principles are really first principles. Well, where are they? Yeah, they're there, especially in third Nephi. And then these other common Beatitudes to both begin. Yeah, this has been a fantastic start.

When some people picture the Sermon on the Mount, they picture thousands of people there. But I wonder, does he have that many disciples at this point? What do you picture in your head, Lincoln? Do you picture a few or a lot? A couple of things. When you read the Gospels, the way I read the Gospels anyway, is it always focuses primarily on the 12. And in the Luke version, it actually mentions the 12, the calling of the 12. You get that in Matthew 10, but here in Luke 6, he mentions that. And then all of a sudden he starts to teach. What's very clear though, I think,

is the gospel kind of focused on the 12 and occasionally somebody else has mentioned, but there must be more that are there. And I think the evidence here is in Acts 1, right? They're going to call a new apostle because Judas has taken his life. And Peter says, well, the qualifications here ought to be this person, first off, should have been there from the baptism up until basically the death and then be witness of the resurrection. So there's other people there, definitely. They're there, like Matthias, who yesterday an apostle, apparently has been there all along, but he's never mentioned a single time in the gospels. So I think there are other disciples there. And this word you have in Greek, it'll empirically mention oklos, like crowd. And the

crowds were there. I've looked a little bit of this, youically mention oklos, like crowd. And the crowds were there. I've looked a little bit of this, you know, how big is a crowd? And when you look at Greek literature, you're looking anywhere from dozens even into the hundreds. Of course, it could be somewhat bigger than that. So it's hard to say. So I would just be inclined this is more than just the 12 are there. But there are other disciples and others there. But in terms of numbers, other followers, people that are

listening. And it's interesting because in the Matthew 4, which precedes this, again, it says, there are great crowds coming to him. Well, something to consider here, our chapter divisions we have are completely artificial. These are not put in our New Testament until the 13th century by the Archbishop of Canterbury. So you just kind of read this right through. And so sometimes I think it gives us an artificial break. Oh, it ends. Oh, it's something new is happening. And it doesn't have to be that case. It could be he's healing, there's crowds, and now he starts speaking. Yeah. And so that's just worth just considering sometimes. It breaks it up and gives an artificial gap that doesn't always kind of bear out in the text. I do take there's more than 12 here,

that there are certainly others who are there and are listening. It sounds in verse one, like he saw the multitudes and left. And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain. When he was set, his disciples came unto him. It's not the entire multitude that's there, but it's the disciples. That's what we've been talking about. How many disciples is that? The 12 plus more. 12 or more is a great question. I just wondered what I see in my head versus what you see in your head and see if I had the right picture. See if I have the right head. Yeah. Oh man, that could be argued. Just how many are there? It's impossible to know, but I like that Matthew 4, 25, there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, from Decapolis, from Jerusalem, from Judea, and beyond Jordan. And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain,

and when he was set, his disciples came unto him. So it doesn't sound like everybody went, but it sounds like those serious disciples went with him up on this mountainside. And Hank, you used the word followers, which I like. Some followed him when he went up into the mountain. All right. So let's jump in, Lincoln. What do you think about these beatitudes? Well, we start off, of course, in the Book of Mormon. Blessed are those who believe on me. And if you think of a beatitude, the Latin beatus, blessed, happy, fortunate, what you're getting here is the Greeks makarios. This person is blessed. I like even happy. But what you're finding here is it's not just some kind of is blessed. I like even happy. But what you're finding here is it's not just some kind of just, well, you're happy if you do this, you're happy

to do this. It's saying you want to be blessed. You want to be happy. Go and do these things. It's an injunction to go and do. Where you're getting this from is if you go back and read the Psalms, the Psalms actually begin that Psalm 1.1, blessed is the man or the person that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. So the Psalms, you will find a number of places where you have effectively beatitudes. It's an injunction to go and do. Who doesn't want to be blessed? Who doesn't want to be happy or fortunate? And so this is what you go and do saying, if you want to be blessed or fortunate, happy, here's what you ought to do saying, if you want to be blessed or fortunate or happy,

here's what you ought to do. I think it's very appropriate with the JST is, first of all, believe on me. That's the source. Faith in Christ. First principle, right? Faith in Christ. First principle.

You see it right there in the JST. And then as you, of course, get into the Matthean text with this, the very first one we have, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And this is interesting, again, going back to the JST. We take poor in spirit as humility, humble, but the JST adds who come unto me. And that might be interesting here in light of our previous conversation. There's a lot there, but then the real disciples actually come and listen. His disciples came unto him. And so he might be giving them a shout out, blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me.

Come unto him. And I think that's important. Yes, I guess humility is a good attribute, but I think being humble and then coming unto him. I think this is kind of saying, come unto me. You want to be blessed? You want to be happy? The source of happiness is Christ in all things. Come unto me, all you that are heavy laden. I'm going to give you rest. Here it's like, I will bless you. So I like the JST, how that adds that in there. And maybe kind of thematically for a second here, if we kind of think of verse three in terms of the issue here of humility, and then you just jump ahead just to five for a moment. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. I've once heard the difference between meekness and humility is meekness might be more of a voluntary humility, perhaps. So they are kind of similar here in this.

And by the way, this beatitude right here is taken right from Psalms 37, 11. But the meek shall inherit the earth. He's picking up on some of this in the text and something that I find interesting, at least from the Greek word meek, it means, you know, gentle, right? Meekness. But here's something that may be worth considering a facet of this word, right? It's the Greek word prouse, and it can also mean fashionable. And what's it mean by fashionable is that you can be molded because you're gentle, you're soft. And so I think something, you know, the disciples are blessed as if, you know what, Lord, I will let you fashion me. You can mold me. I can be instrument in your hand. And this is really, I think, appropriate as we get to the crescendo here of this chapter in 548 being perfect. We'll talk about that,

you know, what that means. But I think it's being fashionable. God can mold you. You can do this. You will inherit the earth. A little different, but also quite similar there with a three and five, with poor in spirit and then with being meek. Moldable. Blessed are the moldable. Blessed are those who will be shaped. Yeah. You can find a principle like this, right? Whether it's in Proverbs or in Hebrews, God chastens those whom he loves. He will mold you. And it might be hard sometimes.

You might be kind, you know, there might be a lot of rigor mortis in you, spiritually speaking. But that's a no, I'm going to move you. If you're moldable, I can make something more of you. I think there's something really beautiful in the Beatitudes in that verse. What was it that Joseph Smith said? I am like a huge rough stone rolling down from a high mountain. And the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else,

striking with accelerated force. So Joseph Smith saying he's moldable. He says, thus, while I become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the almighty becoming moldable. I like that. My son, Andrew, came to me once. Remember, he's maybe 15 or 16. Dad, I think the church is trying to turn us into a bunch of meek little choir boys. So I punched him as hard as I could. I don't think that's what meekness means. And it was a really good kind of an adventure for us to try to figure out what does it mean to be meek? Because the dictionary.com definition is not, I think, what Jesus was saying. It says a spiritless, tame, overly compliant, submissive. And that does not sound like Captain Moroni, that if all men

would be likened to Moroni, the very powers of hell would be shaken. It didn't sound like Moroni was, okay, well, go ahead and attack us. I guess that's okay. That's not what Captain Moroni did. And it was a really fun thing for us to go through that. One of my favorite definitions I found was from S. Michael Wilcox, who we've had on the program. He tells a story in an Ensign article and says, meek is great power under complete control. He quotes someone who says that in the article, which I really liked. Meekness is great power under complete control because Jesus was meek that way. And then Elder Bednar came out and gave this whole talk on meekness and said, it's not weak. It's not passive. It's tough to be meek. I can't give you a perfect paragraph

right now, but Elder Bednar totally answered our question about what meekness is. I love that discussion because I don't think Jesus was meek the way the world defines it as spiritless and tame, and neither was Captain Moroni. But fashionable, that is a great definition. Not in really into high fashion, but what you're saying fashionable is, is able to be fashioned. I'm willing to be molded and changed by Christ. That's a facet of the meaning that can be worked with.

Yeah, really beautiful beatitude. Of course, we go back to four, right? Because we kind of jump from three to five. This is a really beautiful one. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. And here there's nothing directly quoting a psalm here like you have in 5. But something I find interesting here is this word for those who mourn shall be comforted. And just a little note on this, the Greek.

I'm always going back to these Greek words, and there's some interesting things here. You have this Greek word for comforted. It's from this verb parakaleo. And you have this parakletos, which means comforter advocate. They're related. And so, you're reading Greek, you, of course, see this. And it's interesting that the two people in the New Testament that are called a comforter are the Holy Ghost in John 14, 26, and then Christ in 1 John 2, 1. The advocate.

The advocate or a comforter, using your related word that's used here. And we've talked about seeing Christ in the Old Testament. Well, can we see Christ more in the New Testament? And here, right, this idea of comforting. You will be comforted. If you look at a root here, relying on the Spirit and upon Christ can bring real comfort and peace. And so it's not obvious in the English of it.

In Greek, you read that and say, oh, this is really related to this word. And both these people are called this in the text. I think we can see the peace and comfort that comes from having the Holy Ghost, relying on Christ. So, the word comforted is a noun, comforter, which would draw me close to Christ and the Holy Ghost, both who have been called comforters in the New Testament. With a related term, we have the verb with a related noun, the Holy Ghost, both who have been called comforters in the New Testament. With the related term, we have the verb with a related noun, the Holy Ghost is called the comforter in John 14, 26, and the Jesus is called the comforter in 1 John 2, 1.

So I think that's interesting here that these are some titles they bear. And so you may be able to think about, you know, how do I get comfort? Well, through Christ, through feeling the Spirit, through feeling that peace. We might say they shall be comforted by the comforters. Think about it in that way. There may be something there. And it's interesting, of course, when you go over to Luke, when he does this, he says, you know, blessed are ye that weep or cry. He says, for ye shall laugh. He's trying to say, for those who are in mourning, there will be days of rejoicing ahead. So a little bit different,

but it's the closest parallel that we have. It's not exact. Jesus may have mentioned that or Luke's rendering of this a little bit different, but yeah, the idea of comforting and bringing the spirit, at least in Christ here in the Matthean version, I think is certainly worth considering. Okay. I have a question about mourning because I think most of us, when we see the word mourn in English, we're thinking about a death, a funeral, those who are mourners. I have read both that we are mourning our own sinful state. Perhaps that's what the beatitude means. And I think it can apply both ways, but I don't know what's the Greek on the word mourn. Does it help us? Is this like a death

of someone or is it our own sinful state, our own spiritual death perhaps? It's this Greek word pentheo. In the Lucan version, it's a different word. It's actually for crying or weeping. You can have lament. When I think lament, a death or something bad has happened. I think that's kind of implied in this word. A death, the sickness, or something saying even when these hard things, whether it's a death, a sickness, or something saying, even when these hard things, whether it's a death, a sickness, you can find comfort. You're not left alone. We've all experienced periods of real mourning, real loss. I know that I have profoundly. And the thing that brought me the most comfort was the gospel. In some ways, almost inconsolable at times. But now, the one thing I know is I'm a

son of God. I know Christ loves me, and I feel his peace. And I don't know why all this other stuff's happening, but I know that and I'm gonna get through this. And so I felt comfort. President Boyd K. Packer used to say this little poem, and I'm not remembering the author. I walked a mile with pleasure. She chattered all the way, but left me none the wiser for all she had to say. I walked a mile with sorrow and not a word said she, but oh, the things I learned from her when sorrow walked with me. I've always liked that when I see that beatitude there. Some of our greatest lessons come from difficult times, not just our happy times.

And that's what's kind of fun about these beatitudes. Happy or the sad. Jesus sounds like he's saying happy or the unhappy. Can you imagine Hank and Lincoln, a reporter down there, if I mix my time zones a little bit, before Jesus gets up to speak. So who are the happiest people to you? Oh, they're well off. They're secure. They're employed.

They are self-confident. And Jesus gets up and it's welcome to opposite world. Blessed are the poor. And so what? Blessed are they that what? Blessed are the meek and turns ordinary ideas about happiness just upside down. That's why I just I love this because it was, I think, so different than what your average folks would think happiness is.

Yeah. First century. This is not an easy life. Life is short. Life is hard. For many people, it's hand to mouth your food. You're not really living ahead. You're living day to day for many people.

So I think people had a very tough existence, certainly a physically tough existence. And so I think the things he's saying, people can say, yep, you'll do this, but you will find real peace, could have been, well, it's really appealing. And you look at this, that poem you mentioned, I don't think Jesus engaged in other philosophies, right? Whether it's Epicurean, Stoicism, or others, but there are other answers out there that try to offer, well, this is what you do. You seek pleasure. This is what you do if you really want to do this. Or there's others, you know, like, so you seek, you know, no emotion. And Jesus is not saying get rid of emotion.

You're going to have this, but you will find peace and comfort in hard times and be blessed. I think there's a very powerful, it would resonate with them and really timeless, right? Resonates today, of course. I think our challenges can be certainly different. Probably, certainly not as physically challenging. We might say spiritually, emotionally very challenging. But yeah, I think that would really resonate with the audience that he's speaking with, given life circumstances. We read a verse, and there was a famine in the land. We just go right

past it. But imagine a famine, the insecurity, the what am I going to eat today? What am I going to feed my children today without refrigerators and preservatives. And I'm glad you just said that we're in the first century. What's life like back then for these people? Yeah, that's a good, try to put yourself in that frame of mind. That's a tough life. Like you said, short too. I don't know what the average lifespan is in the first century. Demographically, the best evidence we have from like inscriptions, tombstones, once you hit your thirties, 40s, you've lived a pretty full life, you know, in your 40s. And again, of course, for women, infant mortality, a lot of people give birth, will die. And again, just things like us, you know, we just take for granted,

oh, let's go to the doctor. Infections, they have no idea. We get an infection, like, no big deal, take some penicillin, you'll be fine. These are life-threatening. People are surrounded by death in that world. You see it. You know, for us, we're kind of shielded from it. Yes, you go to funeral here and there, but it's much more there. And so I think these things about really being comfortable when you mourn, because I think there's certainly some lamentation mourning. People really knew that. I think feeling that it would really recognize the power in that. Yeah. Thank you. This reminds me of the Come Follow Me manual.

It says, everybody wants to be happy, but not everyone looks for happiness in the same places. Some search for it in worldly power and position, others in wealth or in satisfying physical appetites. Jesus Christ came to teach the way to lasting happiness, to teach what it truly means to be blessed. What do you learn about obtaining lasting happiness from Matthew 5, 1 through 12?

How is it different than the world's view of happiness? It seems like that's exactly what we've been talking about today. Is this, what'd you say, John? Welcome to opposite world where he gives his, here's what happy people are and do. And it doesn't probably seem like those things that you would automatically think of. Like conventional wisdom.

Yeah. Yeah. I would think happy people have a lot of money, have big houses and things. And he doesn't say anything like that. Yeah. He's happier the unhappy. It's fascinating. And just to pick up, I know we're jumping ahead.

We'll cover this. But Matthew 6, you really get this, right? Well, what do you do? Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Where that, right, kind of thief break in, nor rust doth, you know, corrupt. That's what you do. Having this kind of otherworldly gaze, having your priorities. Who are you going to put first? So it's beautiful. You won't get that today, but as you go through, it kind of goes from this. And then you start saying in 6, okay, where really your heart ought to be if you want to find this blessed or happy or fortunate state.

Here's what you should do. And so it's beautiful. It's kind of built on as you get into 6 and then into 7 in this discourse. Speaking of 6, I guess, you know, verse 6 is another verse that we have a really important JST, which again will parallel what you have in the Book of Mormon. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. And the JST and the Book of Mormon add,

what will you be filled with? With the Holy Ghost. This is why I kind of like that reference in verse 4 with comforted. You will have the Holy Ghost. That's what you'll be filled with. Psalm 107.9 does kind of hint at this a little bit. Let me mention Holy Ghost, but you will be filled with goodness. So we'll be picking up on this a little bit. Let me make sure it goes, but you will be filled with, you know, kind of goodness. So we're picking up on that a little bit.

Hunger and thirst. That's such a common feeling. I'm sure for these people, hunger and thirsting is most of their lives. But he says hunger and thirst after what? After righteousness. If it was after ice cream, I would have been translated by now. It's hunger and thirst after righteousness. That's was after ice cream, I would have been translated by now. It's hunger and thirst after righteousness. That's a hard one. How hungry are you for the things of the Spirit?

This is my favorite of the Beatitudes. At least it is today. I might learn some more things, but because it doesn't say blessed are the righteous. And I love to explore that idea because it may be technically none of us are. We all need the Savior, but we can hunger and thirst after it. Where's our heart? The other thing is, how often do hunger and thirst have to be addressed? Frequently. Every day. And to hunger and thirst after righteousness, we never get to that point where we arrive

at this, I don't think. Yeah, where you're like, I'm done eating. Okay, I'm done. I'm're like, I'm done eating. Okay, I'm done, right? I'm righteous now. I'm done eating. I think of the same thing with scripture study. If we're supposed to feast upon this, I don't think anybody in the world has ever said,

you know, I don't think I've had a bite to eat since last Thursday. They just forgot. You don't forget and hunger and thirsting. I love the idea because it has to be addressed every day. Jesus doesn't say, bless her, are the righteous because none of us are, but we can hunger and thirst for it. And that gets into that. What are the desires of our hearts? We're trying to do better and we stumble and we fall, but we just keep trying. So I love that particular beatitude. And then the Book of Mormon, and as you said, Lincoln, they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.

And striving fills us with the Holy Ghost. Not perfection, but striving fills us with the Holy Ghost. Love that. Doesn't it remind you a little bit of Enos? My soul hungered. And then towards the end of his chapter, what does he say? My soul was at rest because of what he was filled with. And maybe he went hunting because his body hungered, but then his spirit started to hunger.

And suddenly he lost all interest in hunting and prayed all day. It's a great story. I think to speak of examples is John 4 and John 6 about water, living water. You're going to be thirsty. Or the bread of life. I like that as hunger, but you can be satiated. But the directive there is the same imagery with water and bread. By the bread of life and by living water, you can be filled. What's next, Lincoln? Verse 7. So it's blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. When I think about this beatitude, what this is kind of

makes me think of some initial thoughts. I think in Matthew, I tend to pose to my students, we talk about what's your favorite scripture or what scripture means a lot to you. And you look at Matthew, I sometimes say, in the gospel of Matthew, what's Jesus' favorite scripture? Because there's one scripture he actually quotes more than any other, and it's actually Hosea 6.6. And he quotes it in Matthew 9, also Matthew 12. And it says, I will have mercy, not sacrifice. Desire the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. That part's not quoted. But this emphasis on mercy is a theme in Matthew. Or you can even try it as compassion. Blessed are those who have compassion, they will be shown compassion or

merciful. It's interesting for me that he quotes this more than any other passage. Just quote it twice. Otherwise, scriptures are singly quoted. I don't want to read too much into that. Well, it's his favorite scripture. But for me, it's interesting that, yeah, this emphasis of mercy here. And it's a theme here. And it's picked up again in the following chapters.

And so it seems appropriate. Again, there's not an obvious psalm that talks about the Lord is merciful. But it's obviously directly echoing. But, yeah, this is important. that you will receive mercy or compassion as you give it away. I've heard it called the doctrine of reciprocity, like a reciprocal. If you want mercy, give mercy. And kind of in the Lord's prayer, there's that forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Forgive our debtors. Forgive our debtors. That's one of those that when I realized the level of mercy forgiveness that I want, it helps me motivate me to be sure to give out what I'm seeking. If I need forgiveness, I've got to be more forgiving.

In Matthew, this is beautifully illustrated in the parable of the unforgiving. It says servant or steward in Matthew 18. The story of the 10,000 talents. The point is an unpayable debt has been paid for him. So whatever debts are owing him, he ought to be merciful in those because somebody's paid for him an unpayable debt. And I think you think of Christ there, we've had an unpayable debt made. And so whatever smaller debts are against us ought to be forgiven. But kind of, again, ties in with the rest of the prophecy,

and certainly here with being merciful, really showing that. It's interesting, again, with this emphasis on mercy, certainly, in Matthew. As you get into 8, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. What's interesting here is, it seems to me what's probably behind this is Psalm 24. I'm just going to read a couple of verses from that. It's Psalm 24, 3. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or you say the mountain of the Lord, i.e. the temple. Or who shall stand in his holy place? And then it goes verse 4. He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. And it then

tells you, well, who are those who have, you know, clean hands and pure hearts? A little bit of a definition here. Those who don't have their soul lifted up to vanity, i.e. empty things. We kind of talked about earlier on having your things up on things that are not ephemeral, maybe that aren't valued just in the world, and has not sworn deceitfully. And then you get to verse six, and then you have, this is the generation of them that seek him. And then it says that seek thy face. So you go and you could read some temple imagery in here, certainly, because clearly picking up on this Psalm, though the pure will see. And so I think you could have an application here of based on Psalm 24 and this beatitude of the idea of the temple. You have clean hands,

you have pure heart and you see, or you feel God very palpably in the temple. You have clean hands, you have pure heart, and you see or you feel God very palpably in the temple. So, I think there's certainly, he's extending that more as you're in a blessed state, keeping your covenant so you can go and do that and encounter God and the Spirit in the temple. I should point out that some later Christian authors didn't like this so much, you know, the icon of seeing God. So, some render this as blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God in their heart, but didn't like the idea quite so much. Anyway, yeah, really a beautiful, you think of the kind of some temple imagery behind this proverb, pretty sure from Psalm 24. That's fantastic. I was going to mention something and I'm not sure if it's still there, but when I was in the Mesa temple last, and it was a while ago, there's a big gold sign,

blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. I remember that being so big and striking. And I like how you've tied that back to the temple for us. I think that's picking up on that. So I think this kind of brings more meaning into this beatitude. As we kind of get near the end here, right, we have, you know, in verse nine, blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. Those who want to make peace. Interesting because this word doesn't actually appear elsewhere in the Bible, this word peacemaker, one who actually brings peace. But as I was thinking about this, you really are the children of God, those who want to bring peace.

Of course, I thought back to Isaiah 9, 6, right? Talk about the Prince of Peace, talking about Christ. Let's be like our Prince. Let's bring peace. Let's try to establish peace. It's kind of a gathering Israel missionary work to teach people of the Prince of Peace to extend peace that way. It hits me that way that this could be a missionary scripture. Go and teach people about the Prince of Peace, to extend peace that way. It hits me that way that this could be a missionary scripture. Go and teach people about the Prince of Peace, like you just said.

Yeah, you go and do this. Kind of picking up on that, John. In a few verses, it'll be very clear. Okay, here's your state. Now go and do these things. Be a light. Really go out. You bring this up.

Now there's an injunction to really act even beyond what we just have in the Beatitudes. As we get to the end here right really kind of this unit from like verses 10 down through 12 here talks about persecution things are going to be tough so you have verse 10 blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven and here jst adds again with the kingdom of heaven. And here JST adds, again with the Book of Mormon, blessed are all they that are persecuted. Here it has, for my name's sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This idea that it's not going to be easy to be a disciple. It certainly would be challenging at times. I like, was it from General Conference back in, it was October 2021, where it's talking about

waiting on the Lord. He gave that great line where he talks about Christianity. It's not comfortable, but it is comforting. We'd have a lot of hard times, and it takes some tenacity. And even hinting out there's going to be some persecution, some derision. But it is well worth this, right? So the reward there is monumental. So as I was thinking about this kind of, you are blessed when you're persecuted for righteousness or for my name's sake. yours is the kingdom of heaven.

Probably can all relate to it various times experiencing some of this, certainly. And I think saying it's disciples, yeah, you're going to see this. And he's going to build on this saying, the prophets before you had this. So you should rejoice, be exceedingly glad. You're lining up with the prophets of old. Yeah. And it's funny in Acts where you have the apostles are brought before the Sanhedrin. It says there in Acts four and five,

right? They're brought in, they're threatened saying, stop teaching about this Jesus guy. And if you don't stop teaching about him, bad things are going to happen. And this is basically they flogged them and then sent them out. And then right after it says the disciples prayed to God and thank God that they were worthy to suffer shame on account of his name, which I don't think for many people is the first thing that comes to mind. Yeah. But here we're seeing this. Well, I'm so grateful.

I'm worthy to suffer shame or persecution, derision for your name's sake. Be saying you're blessed when this happens. I look at these 12 verses. You have to wonder if this is what they expected to come from the Messiah. Maybe they did. Maybe being serious disciples, they is what they expected to come from the Messiah. Maybe they did. Maybe being serious disciples, they knew what they were getting. But if I wanted a Messiah who was going to throw off the yoke of Rome and say, let's go to battle, this would be the exact opposite of what I would hear.

Happy are they that are meek. Happy are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, not revenge. Happy are the peacemakers. You're going, well, this isn't maybe the Messiah I thought I was going to get. Well, I think when you read the Gospels, the Messiah, you don't think you're actually going to get, right? Because when you think about the Apostle of Matthew, right? Let's just say you only have the Gospel of Matthew. And of course, we all, hindsight's 20-20.

We already know what's going to happen. We know the Gospel stories. But you're reading Matthew. You're going through this and saying, huh. And then you get to Matthew 16. They're up in Caesar of Philippi and Jesus said to the apostles, well, who are people saying that I am? People say, you may be Jeremiah, maybe one of the prophets. He says, but who do you say that I am? And then Peter says, well, you know, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. It's interesting.

The first time in Matthew, then what does Jesus say next? Well, among the things he says next is, he says, well, we're going to go to Jerusalem. I'm going to be handed over. I'm going to die, but I'll be raised up in three days. And then Peter's like, well, this can't happen. And of course we know, right? He rebukes and get behind me, Satan. But there's this learning going on. But I think for all disciples, it's this learning experience, kind of line upon line, precept on precept. And once they kind of get this down, he says, okay, now I'm going to tell you, this is what's going to happen. Because up to that point in Matthew, if you don't know the end of the story, you really don't know what's going to happen. You don't say, oh, is this going to be crucified?

Of course, we know that because of hindsight. But when he finally says, okay, here's what's going to happen, again, there's this new learning, level of learning. They don't seem to pick up on it until, I think it's John who admits, they knew not the saying. Yeah, when it happens, he says, we didn't quite know what he was talking about until after the fact. Yeah, the gospel is written after the fact. Yeah, he did say that thing. I mean, he did say that he was going to suffer. It's like, oh, yeah.

Right up until the trial, Peter's like, all right, gets out his sword. Let's see if I can take off somebody's ear. Let's go to fight. He's here. The fight begins. No, no, no. It's not that kind of a Messiah. It's interesting.

This would have been surprising to some, but as they ponder and think about it, say, okay, here's what discipleship is. If we really want to be disciples, it's going to require some hard things. But, wow, just think of the blessings. Again, kind of Romans 8, you know, kind of picking up on this, where it talks about really becoming children of God. We're going to go back and think about verse 9, you're the children of God. He says, to the effect of summarizing here about Romans 8, about 12 to 14, he says, well, basically nothing you can experience here and now is possibly equivalent to what God has in store for those that truly love him and serve him.

And I think we're seeing this here that, yeah, it's going to be tough. There'll be some challenges, but yeah, you do this. Well, yours is the kingdom of heaven, if you will endure. So I think, yeah, really preparing them for what is ahead. And as we're seeing, there's going to be real hardship moving forward in the gospel at time, but really beautiful, these Beatitudes. You're probably all familiar with what the work by Harold B. Lee, he calls the Sermon on the Mount, a constitution for a perfect life. You don't get to perfect, but yeah, if you really want to be a disciple, and it's not easy, here are things you ought to really start implementing. The cost of discipleship. I think that's really illustrated beautifully.

I've heard people suggest that there's a sequence in them. The poor in spirit, I realize I need something. I mourn my sinful state. I'm meek. I realize I can't save myself. I hunger and thirst after righteousness. I come to Christ. And as I'm extended mercy, I extend mercy to others. I see others differently. I'm more pure in heart. I want to extend peace to them.

And I don't know if it's a sequence, but I'm fascinated by that idea that we all go kind of through this sequence that's in the Beatitudes. You ever heard that before, that it could be a sequence? It's in A Guide to the Scriptures, Beatitudes, a series of teachings that Jesus gave in the Sermon on the Mount that describe a refined and spiritual character. The Beatitudes are arranged in such a way that each statement builds upon the one that precedes it. And then it talks about the more comprehensive and accurate record being found in 3 Nephi 12 in the Book of Mormon. So Lincoln, I've heard the salt of the earth statement my entire life. And I don't know if I've ever truly understood it, but someone will tell me about a town or part of the planet that

they've been to in this. Those people are the salt of the earth. And I've always thought, I know it's a compliment, but I'm not quite sure why it's a compliment. So can you tell us why? Yeah, clearly it's going back to what you have here in Matthew 5, 13, where he tells his disciple basically to be like salt. So you are the salt of the earth. But what's interesting here is, again, going back just to kind of pick up what John said

earlier, JST is important. It doesn't say you are. It says, I give unto you. I'm asking you. To be the salt of the earth. Yes, I'm asking you. So you're not righteous. You're thirsting after it.

I want you to strive to be like salt. Okay, really? What does this mean? And it says this, reading the second part of the verse, but if the salt lose its savor, or wherewith shall it be salted, it is then forth good for nothing, but to be cast out and be trodden under foot of men. Saying you want to be like salt, right? I'm giving unto you to be this. So when you think of salt in the ancient world, there's this famous Latin writer in the first century, his name is Pliny the Elder. He writes this large book, Natural History, very well known. He ends up being killed at the

eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Oh, wow. Well, he was very curious. What's going on this mountain? I better hike up the mountain, see what's going on. And it didn't end so well when it erupted. But he has this great phrase. It's very eclectic in this writing about things you should do.

And he has this Latin phrase. It says, totus caporibus nihil esse utilius sale et sole. And the line is this, he says, nothing is more useful to the entire body than salt and sun. Of course, today we think, oh, you avoid salt, don't have sun. Yeah. But when you think of, you know, this is the opposite. We're like, well, what's he doing here? But you think of the ancient word with salt. What salt does, of course, it's a flavoring. You can add this. But one of the principal use of salt is to preserve or save things. We're living in a world before modern

refrigeration, dehydration, all these things. And so you want to preserve stuff, you salt it. Being like salt, I think in one way, I guess you can add flavor. It's a secondary thing. You're to go out and don't be like everybody else. You're different. You're going to add this flavor to this. But I think part of it, you got to go and you got to save or preserve things. I think over time it evolves into this. You're just good people. You're the salt of the earth. But I think originally it's you bring flavor, but you preserve, you save things.

And how do you do it? Well, you do this by keeping the commandments, not losing your savor. Here's the question. How does salt lose its savor when it gets intermingled with impurities? And don't think of, you know, a salt shaker, they're shaking out salt. You're dealing with large clumps of salt. You're probably breaking off, rubbing, things like this. And you drop your salt on the ground or a block of salt repeatedly.

And all of a sudden, like all these impurities get worked into it. It doesn't work anymore. It cannot preserve. And so as a preservative, I think he's saying, this is what you ought to aspire to be. You can preserve and you can save things. I give unto you to be salt. This is one commentary. These words are spoken to the disciples in their ideal character as the germ of a new Israel called to a prophetic work, preserving the earth from moral putrescence and decay. Putrescence and decay. So kind of the antiseptic action of salt. Prior to my mission, I don't know how old you were, Hank, in 1980, but Elder Carlos E. Acey

made this great comment about salt in a general priesthood conference. He said, a world-renowned chemist told me, salt will not lose its savor with age. Savor is lost through mixture and contamination. Similarly, priesthood power does not dissipate with age. It too is lost through mixture and contamination. Flavor and quality flee a man when he contaminates his mind with unclean thoughts, desecrates his mouth with speaking less than the truth, and misapplies his strength in performing evil acts. I just thought it was a fascinating idea that it won't lose it unless it gets mixed or contaminated. Well, you guys have probably heard that one before from Elder A.C., but it's always in my margin here on Matthew 5.13. I like, was it D&C 101.39? but no i like that it's always in my margin here on matthew 5 13 i like was dnc 101 39 and 103 talk about savor yeah yes yeah it talks about this it talks you say with the everlasting covenant

and when they have this are accounted as the salt of the earth and the savor of men keeping covenants doing that you can keep that savor please join us for part two of this podcast.