Yesterday we saw Jesus kick off his Sermon on the Mount by making authoritative statements about what kind of person is truly happy/fortunate/living the good life. It’s not the first time in Scripture that such statements were made… Jesus was taking up a tradition from the Bible’s wisdom literature. For example: “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit is no deceit” (Psalm 32:1-2); “Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him” (Psalm 41:1); Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose hearts are the highways to Zion” (Psalm 84:5); “Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law” (Psalm 94:12); “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding” (Proverbs 3:13).
There are many more instances, but two that I really want to highlight are found in Psalms 1 and 2. I’m growing more and more aware of just how much of the whole Bible is, in a sense, hidden away for us right here in these first two psalms, which function together as a joint introduction to the whole book.
We can instantly note some parallels between Psalm 1 and the Beatitudes. It starts out, “Blessed is the man…”, and then continues to list what he is NOT like: the wicked, sinners, scoffers. Instead, “his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” We know that Jesus is delivering the Sermon on the Mount as a meditation on the law of the LORD. And he says that those who live out the characteristics of righteousness will be comforted, satisfied, will inherit, will see God, will be given an exalted identity. Psalm 1 likewise says that such a person “is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” So Psalm 1’s emphasis – flourishing as the result of being hungry and thirsty for righteousness and shunning/mourning unrighteousness – thematically flows quite smoothly into Matthew 5:1-12.
What’s missing in Psalm 1, though, is the talk of kingdom, the voice of the Anointed King (Jesus), and the demand for loyalty to His person (“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account”). But this is precisely where the background of Psalm 2 comes into play. It gives another picture of the world – not from the vantage point of our daily lives and what we seek, but rather from the vantage point of heaven, considering the lack of peace in this world, and the questions of loyalty that are ultimate. And so, whereas Psalm 1 started with a “Blessed is” statement, Psalm 2 closes the other bookend with the declaration, “Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.”
As we proceed in the Sermon on the Mount, there will be many sections that, like Psalm 1, show us how good it will be for us as we delight in the law of the LORD. We will be given courage and vision to live much differently than comes naturally in this jaded and sin-sick world. We’ll also be confronted time and again by how short we have often fallen. But the Good News of the Psalms, Matthew, and of the whole Bible, is that there is a man who has perfectly delighted in the law of the LORD and has flourished as a firmly planted tree. And this is what Jesus ultimately shows us: Himself – the royal peacemaker who is the true Son of God. Only under his reign and in receiving his mercy are we heirs of the earth, citizens of the kingdom, and children of God. May we come away from the Sermon on the Mount living quite differently, precisely because we’re declaring to ourselves and to each other: “Blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”