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The Powerless, Grieving, and Unimportant (The Beatitudes Pt. 2)

What does it mean to be poor in spirit, mourning, and meek? Jesus uses these words in the opening of the Sermon on the Mount, and the guys examine them in biblical Greek and Hebrew, finding that a better translation may be “powerless,” “grieving,” and “unimportant.” These are the people that Jesus believes will have the “good life.” How can that be? In this episode, Jon, Tim, and guests explore the first triad of the Beatitudes, shedding light on how those at the bottom of society are actually better prepared to receive the kingdom of the skies.

Episode 5
41m
Jan 29, 2024
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Show Notes
Transcript
Episodes

Timestamps

  • Chapter 1: A Kingdom for the Powerless (01:25-13:50)
  • Chapter 2: Comfort for the Grieving (13:50-21:07
  • Chapter 3: Making Space for Grief (21:07-24:15)
  • Chapter 4: An Inheritance for the Unimportant (24:15-35:19)
  • Chapter 5: Portraying a Jesus-Style Revolution (35:19-40:40)

Referenced Resources

Show Music

  • “Defender (Instrumental)” by TENTS
  • Original Sermon on the Mount music by Richie Kohen

Show Credits

Dan Gummel is the Creative Producer for today’s show. Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer; Cooper Peltz, managing producer; Colin Wilson, producer; and Stephanie Tam, consultant and editor. Tyler Bailey and Yanii Evans are our audio editors. Tyler Bailey is also our audio engineer, and he provided our sound design and mix. JB Witty does our show notes, and Hannah Woo provides the annotations for our app. Special thanks to Ben Tertin, Josh Espasandin, Rose Mayer, and Nyssa Oru. Today’s hosts are Jon Collins and Michelle Jones.

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Scripture References
Matthew 5:3
John 11
Isaiah 40
1 Kings 17-25
Matthew 5:5
Matthew 5:4
Genesis 50
Deuteronomy 28:15-68
Isaiah 65:17-25
Matthew 5:3-5
Job 12:10
Job 7:11
Genesis 26:35
Ezekiel 3:14-15
Proverbs 15:4
Luke 19:1-10
Genesis 37:31-35
Ezra 10
Nehemiah 1
Psalms 76
Job 24
Psalms 37:7

Speaker 1: This is BibleProject Podcast, and we're reading through the Sermon on the Mount. We're at the very beginning, nine statements about who is at the center of experiencing God's coming blessings. I'm Jon Collins, and with me is co-host Michelle Jones. Hi, Michelle. 

Speaker 2: Hi, Jon. Okay. So these nine statements, they work in three pairs of three. Three triads. Today, we're going to go over the first triad. “The good life belongs to those who are poor in spirit, because theirs is the Kingdom of the skies. The good life belongs to those who mourn, because they will be comforted. And, the good life belongs to the meek, because they will inherit the land” (Matthew 5:3-5).

Speaker 1: That's the triad. Now, we're going to start with the poor in spirit. 

Speaker 2: Okay. So I grew up with that phrase, “poor in spirit”, and I always thought it meant, like, to be downtrodden, to be having a rough life, to be depressed, to be, just, kind of sad. 

Speaker 1: Hmm. Yeah. That's interesting. I grew up thinking this phrase poor in spirit meant to be humble. 

Speaker 2: So you're thinking humble. I'm thinking humiliated. 

Speaker 1: That's right. Now, Tim is going to talk us through what this word means, poor in spirit. And what we're going to find is it actually means less of what I thought and a little bit more of what you thought.

Speaker 2: Okay. I like being right <laugh>. 

Speaker 1: All right. 

Speaker 2: Here's Tim and Jon talking about the poor in spirit. Thanks for joining us. 

Speaker 1: Here we go. 

Speaker 3: Should we dive in? 

Speaker 1: Dive in. 

Speaker 3: Dive into them? Okay. 

Speaker 1: First one, “The good life belongs to the impoverished in spirit” (Matthew 5:3). 

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Speaker 1: NIV, “poor in spirit.” 

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Speaker 1: “Because theirs is the Kingdom of the skies” (Matthew 5:3). 

Speaker 3: Kingdom of the skies. 

Speaker 1: And honestly, I don't know what it means, “poor in spirit” 

Speaker 3: Ah. 

Speaker 1: To tell you the truth. Yeah. I guess I don't really know what that means. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. We're going to unpack it right now. Yeah. So the Greek phrase Jesus uses, first word, ptokhos, which means poor, which we'll talk about. And then the second word, you know, the spirit or breath — 

Speaker 1: Pneuma?

Speaker 3: Pneuma, pneuma. Yeah. So, poor in relation to their pneuma. 

Speaker 1: Yeah. Which is, in Hebrew, ruakh. 

Speaker 3: In Hebrew, uh, it’s ruakh, yeah. So this is a great example of the Greek words, but this is all about the Hebrew Bible— 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. 

Speaker 3: Where these words come from, and what they mean in Hebrew Bible. So yeah. So man, upload our conversation on the Spirit of God —

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Speaker 3: From years ago. 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: Wow. 

Speaker 1: Maybe three years ago, even. 

Speaker 3: Could that have been, like, hundreds of conversations ago? 

Speaker 1: <laugh> Yes. Hundreds of hours of conversations.

Speaker 3: <laugh> Wow. Okay so, ruakh, the Hebrew word, refers in its essence to invisible energy. 

Speaker 1: Yeah. We came to that together, or did you already kind of have that? I just remember feeling like energy became work.

Speaker 3: No, we, we found that formulation together. 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. Through a lot of talking. Invisible energy, and that can be impersonal energy —

Speaker 1: Like wind. 

Speaker 3: Like wind, or it can be the presence of someone's personal life energy —

Speaker 1: Which we would call spirit. 

Speaker 3: Spirit. Yep. And that's the meaning when it's the ruakh of God. 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And oftentimes, the biblical author will use those two — 

Speaker 3: Yes. Totally.

Speaker 1: Meanings in the same time. 

Speaker 3: Exactly. So one of the standard ways to talk about human life energy is to talk about their ruakh, but because it comes from God, ultimately, it can be called God's — 

Speaker 1: The breath of God. 

Speaker 3: The breath of God. So here's just one classic example in Job. Job 12:10, where Job says, “In God's hand is the nephesh, the being” (Job 12:10) —

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. 

Speaker 3: “Of every creature and the ruakh of all humanity” (Job 12:10). 

Speaker 1: All of the life energy of all humanity —

Speaker 3: Yeah. 

Speaker 1: Is in God's hand. 

Speaker 3: It comes from God. Yeah. Now, it's humanity's ruakh, in that, it's the energy and the vitality that we are animated with — 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: But it comes ultimately from God. So ruakh is one of the standard ways you can talk about — just a person's vibe<laugh>. 

Speaker 1: <laugh>, 

Speaker 3: What makes them go. 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. The ruakh.

Speaker 1: You’re vibing. 

Speaker 3: So that basic meaning of ruakh then can become the basis for a particular kind of Hebrew phrase where you describe someone as “x of spirit” or “x in their spirit”—

Speaker 1: To describe what is that life energy—

Speaker 3: To describe its quality. 

Speaker 1: Quality of the life energy. 

Speaker 3: Yeah, just let me show you examples. Job 7:11, he says, “The distress of my ruakh” (Job 7:11), he's talking about suffering. 

Speaker 1: Hmm. 

Speaker 3: And literally, the word distress means squeezed—  

Speaker 1: <laugh> When you're squeezed. 

Speaker 3: Oh, interesting. The squeezed-ness of my spirit. 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. 

Speaker 3: So it's like his life vitality is in a vice— 

Speaker 1: Wow. 

Speaker 3: And it’s, like, squeezed, stressed of spirit. 

Speaker 1: Stress has that same kind of squeezing mentality. 

Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. It does. Genesis 26:35, Isaac has a “bitterness of spirit” (Genesis 26:35). 

Speaker 1: Hmm. 

Speaker 3: What he's bitter about is that his son married two wives that he really doesn't like. 

Speaker 1: Hmm. 

Speaker 3: Ezekiel, after he sees the crazy throne, divine throne, chariot-God-mobile, uh, that tells him to go prophesy to the Israelites—he doesn't, he's super angry and he walks away bitter and hot of spirit. He's ticked off. 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: He's bitter and angry <laugh>. 

Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh, he's got some Hulk energy going on. 

Speaker 3: And then, just one last one, because these are really helpful for understanding the phrase Jesus uses— 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: Proverbs 15:4describes one who is “broken of spirit” (Proverbs 15:4). 

Speaker 1: Hmm. 

Speaker 3: Isn’t that an interesting metaphor? 

Speaker 1: Yeah. Broken of spirit. That's, like, bottom of the well it feels like. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. 

Speaker 1: You can't get back up. 

Speaker 3: I mean, if you're ruakh, if the spirit there, is your life vitality—

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: If that's broken—

Speaker 1: It's broken. You're on life support. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. Which doesn't necessarily mean, in fact, here, let me read the Proverb, just so can get a context for it— Proverbs 15:4, “A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but distortion in the tongue makes one broken of spirit” (Proverbs 15:4).

Speaker 1: Lies. 

Speaker 3: Lies. When you speak kind, healing words to somebody, that's a tree of life. 

Speaker 1: Brings abundance. 

Speaker 3: When you twist reality, it brings a crushing of the spirit. It's so interesting in the parallelism of the verse, when you have a soothing tongue or a distorted tongue—  

Speaker 1: Hmm. 

Speaker 3: You have the tree of life, and the opposite of the tree of life is being crushed of spirit. 

Speaker 1: Crushed of spirit. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. Or broken of spirit. 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. Okay. I'm just now going to fit Jesus's saying into it. He speaks of those who are “impoverished of spirit.”

Speaker 1: Impoverished. 

Speaker 3: Impoverished. 

Speaker 1: What does that word mean? Imp—  

Speaker 3: Oh, poor. In English, we have the words poor, poverty— 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Speaker 3: And impoverished.

Speaker 1: Not having resources. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. Lack.

Speaker 1: A lack of resources. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. 

Speaker 1: When your life energy doesn't have fuel. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. You lack vitality and you lack ability. Right? 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. 

Speaker 3: Because ruakh is what makes you get up and go— 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: And you don't have the power to get up and go.

Speaker 1: Is depressed a good— 

Speaker 3: If ruakh is about this power or energy—  

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: Then what we're talking about is a lack of power. 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Speaker 3: Yeah, so I guess if you're thinking on an individual, psychological level— 

Speaker 1: Okay. 

Speaker 3: Depressed. 

Speaker 1: That's what I'm thinking. Individual. Should I be thinking more corporate here? 

Speaker 3: Oh, well, if you're thinking of what people would observe, and especially where, you know, the next two beatitudes are going, I think Jesus is thinking more on a social level. 

Speaker 1: Mm. 

Speaker 3: I think powerless, without power, you lack the energy to do—  

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. 

Speaker 3: What needs to be done. 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: If ruakh is your energy and ability— 

Speaker 1: Uh-huh <affirmative>. Here’s a crew, and they’re collective, like ruakh—

Speaker 3:   Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Speaker 1: Pneuma is lacking in resources. 

Speaker 3: The word poor is people without economic, social stability and resources. 

Speaker 1: Yeah. And obviously, practically, they don't have a lot of money or resources— 

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Speaker 1: Or influence— 

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Speaker 1: But, metaphorically, then, their life energy— 

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Speaker 1: Is also—  

Speaker 3: Yeah. 

Speaker 1: Lacking— 

Speaker 3: Yeah, that’s right.

Speaker 1: Resources.

Speaker 3: Yeah. Correct. So there's a couple commentaries out there on Matthew that are, like, ten, or perhaps twenty times the length of the actual book of Matthew. 

Speaker 1: <laugh> 

Speaker 3: But one of them was produced by two scholars, W.D. Davies, and then another, um, historical Jesus scholar, Dale Allison. It's massive. It's a three-volume, but dude, it's like no stone unturned. You can find whole pages on just one or two words. 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. 

Speaker 3: It's awesome. What they note is in the history of interpretation, “poor in spirit” has been given what they call a religious meaning. Meaning, those who lack spiritual excitement or energy, the poor in spirit, um, people who aren't spiritually or religiously influential or significant, that's what they call the religious meaning. And then, there's a whole strand in the history of interpretation of this phrase that they call the economic meaning, which is the social-economic meaning of poor. 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Speaker 3: So here's their take on it. They say, "It must be stressed that the religious meaning of poor does not exclude its economic meaning. Rather, for Jesus, the two go together.” 

Speaker 1: Hmm. 

Speaker 3: “With probably the majority of Jesus's audience, the religious state of poverty was matched by an outward condition. They suffered literal poverty—" 

Speaker 1; Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Speaker 3: “And experienced firsthand economic inequities. They knew the meaning of being needy because they were poor in spirit and poor in fact. They are literally without power in the religious structures of their day.” 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Speaker 3: When Caiaphas, the high priest, makes a decision, he doesn't, like— 

Speaker 1: Consult with them. <laugh> 

Speaker 3: Do a poll <laugh>. What do the poor in Galilee think? 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Speaker 3: You know, that kind of thing. Yeah. So the powerless, I like the word powerless. 

Speaker 1: The powerless of spirit.

Speaker 3: The powerless. If the spirit is talking about one's energy or vitality or power. And poor means a lack of powerless. 

Speaker 1: So you think a good translation could be: “The good life belongs to the powerless.”

Speaker 3: That would be an interpretive— 

Speaker 1: An interpretive translate. 

Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. It would be interpreting the meaning of this phrase— 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: To have a poverty of spirit. But I think powerless is a good interpretation. 

Speaker 1: So “the spirit” is lost to me, if you just say powerless. 

Speaker 3: Ah. That's because the word “spirit” has been connected to the word power, powerless. 

Speaker 1: Ah.

Speaker 3: Less of power, poor of spirit, lacking in power. 

Speaker 1: Hmm. 

Speaker 3: Because what does the word spirit mean there? 

Speaker 1: Ah. 

Speaker 3: Some people take it to mean poor in the spiritual realm or in the world of spiritual things. 

Speaker 1: Ah. 

Speaker 3: And that's what I'm saying— 

Speaker 1: Ah. 

Speaker 3: It actually doesn't mean—  

Speaker 1: Got it. 

Speaker 3: The spirit is using—

Speaker 1: Spirit is about my life energy, my power—

Speaker 3: My life energy, my ability to get up and do things in the world. 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: And this is a group of people who—

Speaker 1: They're impoverished.

Speaker 3: They're impoverished—

Speaker 1: In their ability to get things done. 

Speaker 3: Yep. Yep. 

Speaker 1: In the world structure. 

Speaker 3: Yep. 

Speaker 1: And have influence. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. That's right. And that becomes even more probable that Jesus is zeroing in on that in light of the next two. 

Speaker 1: Hmm. What's great about that translation is—what's a better word than the translation, since we're doing a bit of a—

Speaker 3: It's an interpretation as well. 

Speaker 1: Yes. 

Speaker 3: Or paraphrase. 

Speaker 1: What’s good about that paraphrase is it really helps you feel that counterintuitive tension. 

Speaker 3: Yes. 

Speaker 1: The good life belongs to the powerless. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. 

Speaker 1: What?

Speaker 3: <laugh> Yes.

Speaker 1: Uh, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” That's just kind of gotten so flattened out. It's like, okay, I think I get it. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. 

Speaker 1: I'm going to be this, I don't know, <laugh>. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. 

Speaker 1: Like I said, I didn't actually know what it meant. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. But even you have that little reflex of, like, I need to be, or I want to be like—

Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh, right. But you don't get that when you say, “blessed are the powerless,” you're just like, what are you talking about, Jesus? 

Speaker 3: Yeah. This is not a state that you would wish upon somebody.

Speaker 1:   <laugh> 

Speaker 3: But Jesus is saying, the people who find themselves in this state are, in fact, the privileged ones, because they are in a position to receive the Kingdom of the skies. 

Speaker 1: The reign of God is—  

Speaker 3: Belongs to them. There will be other people, like Zacchaeus or Nicodemus, who will enter the Kingdom, and they would not be counted among the powerless. 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Sure. 

Speaker 3: But there is something about being in a powerless position in a society that makes that person more easily grasp and understand the upside-down value system of the reign of God. 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. 

Speaker 3: I think that's what Jesus is announcing here. He's looking out at farmers, fishermen, <laugh>, right? 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: Traders, merchants, beggars, sex workers. 

Speaker 1: This is the crew. 

Speaker 3: This is the crew that he had around himself. And he says, the good life belongs to you, because here I am, offering you, first, the reign of the skies. 

Speaker 2: The good life is for the powerless. You know, that's interesting because when you think about it, those who don't have power in their hands or don't grasp at it, they're actually able to see the Kingdom and their hands are open and ready to take hold of it. We live in a world where the good life is for the movers and the shakers. And Jesus is saying, the good life is for the empty-handed because theirs is the Kingdom. And the next statement follows, if you don't have a lot of inner resources, if your life is on the margins, likely you're experiencing a lot of loss and death and grief. Well, Jesus says, surprisingly, the good life is also for those who grieve. Here's Tim and Jon. 

Speaker 3: The good life belongs to those who grieve, for they will be comforted. Grief and comfort. They mean in English, actually, pretty closely to what they mean in the Bible. Grief is associated with death, primarily, death and loss. These words: to mourn or to grieve. But I think they do in English, too, don't you think so? 

Speaker 1: Yep. 

Speaker 3: And then the phrase “comfort” is particularly paired with grief over loss and death. So for example, this is in the book of Genesis— ah, this is in the story of, um, when Joseph gets sold into slavery and his brothers get his coat and dip it in the animal blood. 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Speaker 3: And so when Jacob sees the coat with blood— this is Genesis 37, Jacob is Joseph's dad— “Jacob tore his clothes, he put on sackcloth.” So here, these are cultural practices—

Speaker 1: Of grieving.

Speaker 3: Of grieving over the dead. “And he grieved for his son for many days. His sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, saying, ‘No’” (Genesis 37:31-35). So, uh, I could put in front of you a slew of passages where these words for grief, and then words of comfort, are paired. And that's the pair that Jesus is drawing on here. 

Speaker 1: Okay. 

Speaker 3: So the good life belongs to people who experience life in a constant state of grieving. 

Speaker 1: Because they're experiencing death and loss. 

Speaker 3: Yes. 

Speaker 1: And to be comforted, then, means to, um, what, exactly? 

Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, okay. So it's these, um, the second line of all the Beatitudes are typically going to be oriented towards the future or present overturning of the age, the arrival of God's Kingdom. So, here, he is standing on the shoulders of the Israelite prophets. Isaiah 40, “Comfort, comfort my people” (Isaiah 40). Exile is over. 

Speaker 1: Hmm. 

Speaker 3: The new Jerusalem is on its way. That will be the comfort <laugh> for those who grieve and mourn.

Speaker 1: The state in which you don't need to grieve anymore. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. Your time of grieving will be over because restoration—   think Job, Job is in a state of grieving, but by the end, his fortunes, his circumstances are all reversed and restored, and that's his comfort. To find comfort after grief means to experience some new, restored, kind of life after a prolonged period of loss and grief over death. 

Speaker 1: Hmm. 

Speaker 3: Uh, I think the standard English translation of this is “mourned.” And again, that just sounds more religious. Whereas, the word grief sounds, I think lands, has a broader usage. 

Speaker 1: The good life belongs to those who experience death and loss. 

Speaker 3: Yes. Yeah. 

Speaker 1: Because they will be comforted. 

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Now, there's a particular layer of meaning here about grief, uh, as it relates to the story of the Bible. The state of the exile, the Babylonian exile, brought about a period of grief. And comfort became an icon, as it does in the book of Isaiah, for the new Jerusalem, the restoration of Jerusalem. A hundred or so years after Nebuchadnezzar took out Jerusalem, and after the people were exiled from Jerusalem, a bunch of people come back. This is what the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are about. And it's cool, but not great <laugh>. 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: It's the narrative.

Speaker 1: It's a reflection of, it's a diminished version of what they had before.

Speaker 3: Correct. That's right. And so, in both stories of the characters, Ezra and Nehemiah, there's moments— I have them marked here— one’s in Ezra chapter ten, where all of his plans to restore Jerusalem and the temple, they all start falling apart, in Ezra chapter ten. And so, um, he starts fasting, eating no food, drinking no water. And he says he's in a state of mourning, grieving, over the unfaithfulness of the exiles. So, now, the unfaithfulness of Israel, living in prolonged violation of the covenant, under oppressed oppression by rulers, is called grieving. And then, same with Nehemiah in chapter one, when he hears about the state of Jerusalem, all broken down and in ruins, he grieves and mourns and prays. So there's also, within the Biblical story, the state of grieving as waiting for the restoration and the fulfillment of God's promises is also identified as a state of grieving. 

Speaker 1: Hmm. 

Speaker 3: So I think there's probably both layers to what Jesus is saying here. 

Speaker 1: Hmm. There's like a social, kind of, political layer. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. Of the people that he is, like, looking at as he says this. 

Speaker 1: Everyone does experience loss, but there's something about when you have power, you can ignore it. 

Speaker 3: Hmm. Yeah. You have distractions.

Speaker 1: You can, yeah. You can distract yourself. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. 

Speaker 1: And, so then, you don't actually have to grieve. 

Speaker 3: Yes. 

Speaker 1: Um, you can skip over the grieving. 

Speaker 3: Mm. 

Speaker 1: It's kind of what modern life is, oftentimes. 

Speaker 3: Yes. 

Speaker 1: We don't want to spend time grieving—

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Speaker 1: And being sad, let's just move on. 

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Speaker 1: Because when you have power, you don't have to grieve, but when you don't have power—  

Speaker 3: Yeah. 

Speaker 1: You're just stuck having to grieve. 

Speaker 3: Yep. Yeah. You have to face it.

Speaker 1: You have to face it.

Speaker 3: Mortality, death. But not just in their existential sense, in their like social sense, of, like, I can't change—

Speaker 1: Yes. 

Speaker 3: The circumstances—

Speaker 1: This, yes. There's no other way out of this. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. 

Speaker 1: I don't have another option. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. It's an appropriate twin to the poor of spirit being powerless—

Speaker 1: Yes. 

Speaker 3: In the first one. 

Speaker 1: Right? Yeah. 

Speaker 3: The good life—

Speaker 1: Is when you—

Speaker 3: Belongs to those who experience the world, and they understand that the world's in a state worth grieving over. 

Speaker 1: Hmm. 

Speaker 3: My city is a state worth grieving over. If you're glibly moving through life and everything's dandy, uh, you're probably not paying attention <laugh>. 

Speaker 1: Right. 

Speaker 3: Wouldn't that be an implication of this? 

Speaker 1: Right. 

Speaker 3: And the good life belongs to those who do pay attention. And paradoxically, it will make you sad. The good life belongs to those who will pay attention to loss and grief. And it may be your own, in which case you can't avoid it—  

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: But it maybe you start noticing other people's loss and pain, and that that also will put you into a state of grieving, and that's a fortunate place to be, according to Jesus. That's profound, man. 

Speaker 2: I think we need a bigger vision for the space and time it takes to grieve. So to help me unpack this, I have back in the studio BibleProject scholar Ben Tertin. Hi, Ben. Thanks for coming. 

Speaker 4: Yeah. Thank you. Uh, where should we go first? 

Speaker 2: I want you to walk us through a story of grieving, particularly the one in Genesis where Joseph has to bury his father. 

Speaker 4: Okay. So check this out, in Genesis fifty, um, let me just read it here. “Then Joseph hugged his father's face, uh, and he wept over him, and he kissed him. Um, Joseph instructed the physicians in his service to embalm his father. And so they did. And they took forty days to do the embalming.” And you keep reading. “Then they mourned for seventy days.” And when I say they, it's not just Joseph and company or family, it says, “the Egyptians mourned for him for seventy days.” So there was this whole, like, national communal, um, mourning period. And if you, you know—  

Speaker 2: Months. 

Speaker 4: Tally this up. Yeah. You got forty, seventy. Then, you keep reading and they ask for permission, “Can I take Jacob, my father, back up to the land of Canaan to be buried?” And when they arrive there, there's seven more days. So you get from that story— but just look for different instances of mourning and grieving throughout the Hebrew Bible, and you'll pick up on this all the time— it's public, not just private. And there is a, um, it's this the old phrase of “steering into the skid.” 

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Speaker 4: When your car fish tails out the back, instead of turning away, you go at it. They're intentionally focusing on the pain for extended periods of time, far longer than we would ever be comfortable doing. 

Speaker 2: So Jesus is saying a good life actually requires you to have a capacity for grief. 

Speaker 4: Yes. Yes. And turn toward this King Jesus and participate with his way. Actually, join with him as he says this is actually good for you. This is good for a human being to not just pretend, uh, in the face of tragedy, death, loss, and corruption of life to just pretend it's okay. 

Speaker 2: So that's why we have, uh, Jesus, when he goes to see Lazarus, he knows he went there to raise this guy. 

Speaker 4: That’s a perfect example.

Speaker 2: And yet he still weeps. He still—

Speaker 4: Yes. 

Speaker 2: He still grieves—  

Speaker 4: Yes. 

Speaker 2: About his death. 

Speaker 4: Yes. He is unwilling to minimize what's going on. 

Speaker 2: You know, Queen Elizabeth said that “Grief is the price we pay for loving.” And this feels like that. 

Speaker 4: It totally does. The Sermon on the Mount is about the Kingdom of God, which is a world of people all compelled by love. 

Speaker 2: Yes. The third and final statement in this triad is “The good life belongs to the meek.” What does this word “meek” mean to Jesus? Is meek the best translation? Here's Tim and Jon. 

Speaker 3: All right. The third, uh, saying of Jesus about the good life is most famous or well-known: “For blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” 

Speaker 1: Blessed are the meek. 

Speaker 3: Yes. Now, for a whole bunch of reasons, um, that way of phrasing it in English is going to lead our minds down a totally wrong path, <laugh>, uh, to get what Jesus was trying to communicate. 

Speaker 1: Meek and mild. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. So let me go for this. Um, that's a start. 

Speaker 1: Okay. 

Speaker 3: So the good life belongs to the afflicted, because they will inherit the land. 

Speaker 1: The afflicted.

Speaker 3: The afflicted. Um, another English word that could get us there much more closely than meek would be the unimportant. So there's nothing for it, we just have to know what words Jesus is activating, what's the background around these words. And what's cool is both this word, the afflicted, or the unimportant one, and also the phrase, “they will inherit the land”, they both are hyperlinks to very clear, uh, passages in Isaiah and the Psalms. 

Speaker 3: And when you turn there, then, like, it's not hard to get it. So should we just do that? 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: Okay. Alright. So, uh, the Greek word that gets translated as meek. Uh, it is the Greek word praus, (which is in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible that is a couple hundred years before Jesus, called the Septuagint). Um, this word praus was one of the most common ways to translate into Greek a Hebrew word. And the Hebrew word is ani, ani. And I'm just going to read a few Psalms where this word ani appears. And these are places where this word appears. And if you read this Greek Septuagint version of these Psalms, it's also the Greek word praus, which is the word Jesus uses here. So, um, Psalm 76, “God, you caused your justice to be heard from heaven. The earth was afraid and stood still. When God arose for justice to save all of the ani of the earth—” (Psalm 37:7) 

Speaker 1: The ani of the Earth are saved from God's judgment. 

Speaker 3: No, by God's judgment, God's judgment is what saves them. 

Speaker 1: What did I say? 

Speaker 3: You're saved from God's judgment. 

Speaker 1: Oh, okay. Yeah. 

Speaker 3: That's good. Protestants think. <laugh> 

Speaker 1: <laugh> 

Speaker 3: That's not what Jesus is saying. 

Speaker 1: Okay. 

Speaker 3: Or the Psalm. 

Speaker 1: Sometimes you define judgment as justice. You sometimes just swap that word.

Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: Because of that reason. 

Speaker 3: Because that's what it means <laugh>. 

Speaker 1: <laugh> Oh, that's why you do it. 

Speaker 3: <laugh> Uh, our modern use of the word justice captures much more what the Biblical authors say of judgment. So the point is that whoever the ani are, they're a group of people that need to be rescued. 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. 

Speaker 3: And they will be rescued when God brings ultimate justice. Now, what's unspoken here is, the ani are people who are being abused and taken advantage by the wicked, and God's justice will confront the wicked, resulting in deliverance for the ani. 

Speaker 1: That's the context of this Psalm. 

Speaker 3: Yep. 

Speaker 1: Okay. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. Um, it's appealing to a judgment scene. 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: Where there's, you know, somebody being accused of wrongdoing against the ani. 

Speaker 1: Okay. 

Speaker 3: So the ani are people who have wrong done against them. 

Speaker 1: Okay. 

Speaker 3: So, let's, that's the first category. 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Speaker 3: Ooh. In Job 24, Job describes the worst kind of guy you could imagine. Uh, it's a portrait of the wicked man—  

Speaker 1: Okay. 

Speaker 3: In Job's point of view. And, um, he describes it in vivid imagery. You know, the wicked man is somebody who drives away the donkey of an orphan. He takes the widow's ox for their own debtor's pledge. He's describing somebody who's heartless. 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm <laugh>. Yeah. 

Speaker 3: So he sees the donkey of an orphan, 

Speaker 1: He’s a Scrooge. 

Speaker 3: And he's like, “Nice donkey!”

Speaker 1: <laugh>

Speaker 3: “I’m going to—I deserve that.” 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. 

Speaker 3: You just take it and it's, like, you know, it had a name. The orphan, you know, named it and cared for it. And the rich man is like, “Ah, who? You don't matter.” 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: That's the image here. 

Speaker 1: Yes. 

Speaker 3: Okay. They push the needy aside on the road, the ani of the land hide themselves—

Speaker 1: Mm. 

Speaker 3: When the wicked man comes. 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: So you're getting the idea?

Speaker 1: Because you're vulnerable—  

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Speaker 1: This guy wants to take advantage of that.

Speaker 3: Yeah. The ani are somebody who's in a social position of unimportance, but also you lack, it's very similar to, being powerless to the poor in spirit. 

Speaker 1: It is similar. 

Speaker 3: So, it's, you are in a social position where it's easy for people to take advantage of you. You're a social outsider from centers of the resources and social capital. And that's the ani. 

Speaker 1: Hmm. 

Speaker 3: Ani. So David calls himself an Ani when he is out in the wilderness fleeing from Saul. And there's poems in the Psalms where David describes himself as the ani. 

Speaker 1: Hmm. An outcast.

Speaker 3: Yeah. And he's not poor. He's, like, connected to the royal family <laugh>, but he is a social outcast in that season of his life. 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. 

Speaker 3: And so, he's got to pull together his own community of support. He's on the run and he's got an oppressor. 

Speaker 1: Hmm. 

Speaker 3: So yeah, that's the ani, and the praus in Greek. 

Speaker 1: Hmm. 

Speaker 3: Okay. Now, that’s step one. Step two is they will inherit the land. So when we're talking about land inheritance, we're on one level. There's a hyperlink here that we'll look at. But, um, the land inheritance is about wealth and the ability to have—

Speaker 1: Dominion. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. Economic means to generate wealth, which makes you a contributing, valuable member of the community. And this was a culture where land ownership was the primary way to generate wealth. 

Speaker 1: Hmm. And it's probably the, one of the very clear things the afflicted will lack. 

Speaker 3: Yes. Yeah, that's right. Yep. Land. Yeah. 

Speaker 1: Be a landowner puts you in, kind of in, a class that—

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Yeah. 

Speaker 1: Would not be considered the—  

Speaker 3: Yep. 

Speaker 1: Ani.

Speaker 3: Yeah. And that's true in most societies, throughout human history that, you know, have set up systems of private property and so on. So that, that's one piece. 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: Another piece, on the ground, in first century, you know, Galilee and Judea, in the land of Israel— these are their ancestral lands that Israel inherited, you know, in the days of Joshua— and it's very clear that they do not have independent freedom on their land because it’s occupied territory. And, um, and you think about how so many of Jesus's parables are filled with images of landowners or managers who hire servants to work on the land. And he's, just, he's reflecting on real life. Like the land was being bought up by non-Israelites who don't live nearby. They live in Italy, they live on Cyprus, they live up on the coast. And so, you've got, like, Mosha and Esther, um, who are now day laborers on the very land that their great, great, great grand, uh, father and mother, like, owned as part of their tribal inheritance. That's the tragedy here. 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 3: So to say they will inherit the land is pretty explosive—

Speaker 1: Politically.

Speaker 3: Political language. 

Speaker 1: Mm. 

Speaker 3: Yeah. That's one layer of what's going on here.

Speaker 1: Well, that's the second layer. 

Speaker 3: Oh, you're right. Second layer <laugh>. So now here's another layer, “they will inherit the land,” is straight up a quotation from Psalm 37. 

Speaker 1: Hmm. 

Speaker 3: So, shall we read it? 

Speaker 1: Yes. 

Speaker 3: Alright. Psalm thirty-seven, verse seven. “Be still before the Lord. Wait patiently for him. Don't be anxious when people succeed in their ways and carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger, turn from your hot anger. Don't be anxious. It will only lead ra’ (the Hebrew word badness). For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in Yahweh will inherit the land. A little while, the wicked will be no more. You will look for them, they will not be found. But the ani, they will inherit the land and enjoy shalom and tov” (Psalm 37:7). Goodness, peace and goodness. 

Speaker 1: Okay. Now, this hyperlink is to that second layer of Israel being— was, was this written in exile?

Speaker 3: So what we're tapping into in a poem like this, is if Israel is no longer in a position of having Eden freedom and responsibility over their land, we're definitely in the realm of the covenant curses of Deuteronomy, and God has handed Israel over to foreign oppressors. Um, and when you're living in that scenario, it's very, over generations, it's very easy to think, this is just how it is and the wicked are winning, and it's how it's going to be. And so, Psalms 37 is one of many, many poems that hope for Israel's restoration to the land, uh, as the time of comfort. 

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. 

Speaker 3: And the time of inheriting the reign of the Kingdom of the Heavens here on Earth, or in this case, inheriting the land. So the, the position of the Psalm is very much within the larger Biblical story of Israel and so on. 

Speaker 3: Alright. So that's the role of the afflicted inheriting the land. So Jesus is speaking in very real terms to Galilean Israelites who are poor, who don't have any land, who are grieving over the state of Israel, oppressed by foreigners and by their own people who are in league with the foreigners. And, you know, they were, whatever, edged out of their land holdings generations ago or recently. And that's the context for Jesus saying, “Uh, how good is life? The good life belongs to those who are unimportant, to those who are on the outside of centers of power and influence.” Because something is happening here when the reign of God arrives that is going to bring about the new creation, which will be the ultimate land inheritance. 

Speaker 2: Okay. So before we sign off, we want to give you a little behind the scenes look at a video we made here at BibleProject about these statements of the good life. Here is our producer Dan, talking to some of our artists. 

Speaker 5: Okay. Dan here. And, uh, I'm going to walk downstairs to the animation studio and talk with our friends, Josh and Nyssa. You guys ready to do this?

Speaker 6: We think so. 

Speaker 5: Uh, okay. I was really excited to talk to you guys because the scene that stood out to me the most in video number two was centered around the idea of blessed are the meek, or as Tim and Jon say—

Speaker 1: “Blessed are the unimportant for they will inherit the land.”

Speaker 3: “And these people are not powerful or important, but just wait, Jesus says, because one day, it will be you all who are ruling the world.”

Speaker 5: I'd love to hear the creative process behind that. What's happening, like, right here?

Speaker 6: This portion of the scene, we are moving from the mountaintop where Jesus is given his sermon to this inner world portrayal of a throne room that has an elevated throne with a, a little king on it. And then, right at the moment when they're talking about the blessing of the unimportant, then he switches places with this farmer who has been sitting kind of heads-down at the foot of the throne. 

Speaker 5: So Tim says, this is the movement of people who are going to serve. 

Speaker 8: Yeah. And so, the king and the farmer switch places, and when she goes to take it off, to put it on the humbled king, it produces a second crown, leaning into the abundance over scarcity mindset and reversing the role again, where, even though she's elevated, now she's coming down to the former king. 

Speaker 1: You know, it kind of sounds like Jesus is trying to start a revolution.

Speaker 3: Kind of, but it's not a revolution for those who are hungry for power or influence. This is a movement of people who are going to serve. 

Speaker 6: Uh, so, Rose is joining us now. You were the director of this video. Is there anything else that you guys wanted to communicate in this scene? 

Speaker 9: Everything I'm drawing is about trying to get people to flip their perceptions. If people can, after seeing this, think about how they relate to power— maybe they're unimportant and they get to have this crown, and that means that they get to share that same thing with everybody. That'd be incredible. Yeah. 

Speaker 6: Thanks y'all. I'll talk to you later. 

Speaker 2: These first three statements are all about the surprising backwards nature of God's Kingdom. How the good life starts in the margins with the poor, the afflicted and the downtrodden. 

Speaker 1: Next week, we look at the second triad. If the first triad is about the place God finds us in, the second triad is the type of character God calls us to. 

Speaker 3: The pure of heart is the entry card to returning to Eden in the storyline of the Bible. So God's on a mission to make us pure of heart. It's possible, it's important, to recognize the Biblical authors, and God really thinks humans are capable of this. They're capable through God's new creation, power, and presence. It's what we are made for. We're made to be pure of heart. 

Speaker 1: BibleProject is a nonprofit, and we exist to experience the Bible as a unified story that leads to Jesus. And everything that we make is free because of the generous support of thousands of people just like you. 

Speaker 2: Thank you so much for being a part of this with us.

Speaker 10: Hi, this is Cooper here to read the credits. Dan Gummel is the Creative Producer for today's show. Production of today's episode is by producer Lindsey Ponder; managing producer, Cooper Peltz; producer, Colin Wilson. Stephanie Tam is our consultant and editor. Tyler Bailey is our audio engineer and editor, and he also provided the sound design and mix. For today's episode, JB Witty does our show notes. Hannah Woo provides the annotations for our app. Yanii Evans and Tyler Bailey edited today's episode. Original Sermon on the Mount music is by Richie Cohen, and the BibleProject theme song is by TENTS. Special thanks to Ben Tertin, Josh Espasandin, Rose Mayer and Nyssa Oru, and your hosts, Jon Collins and Michelle Jones. 

Speaker 11: Hi, I am Julie and I'm from Seattle, Washington. 

Speaker 12: Hi, this is Ricko. and I'm from South Africa. I first heard about BibleProject back in 2016. I used BibleProject for quiet time with the Lord and various studies. 

Speaker 11: I first heard about BibleProject online. I used BibleProject for my devotional time. 

Speaker 12: My favorite thing about BibleProject is the Read Scripture series. 

Speaker 11: My favorite thing about BibleProject is how it brings the stories to life for me. We believe the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus. 

Speaker 12: We're a crowdfunded project by people like me. 

Speaker 11: Find free videos, study notes—

Speaker 12: Podcast classes, and more—

Speaker 11: At bibleproject.com.

41 Episodes

Episode 38
This Isn’t the End
When Jesus finishes the Sermon on the Mount, his first audience responds with astonishment. What will our response be? And where will that response lead us? In this episode, Tim, Jon, Michelle, and members of our audience reflect on their journeys through the sermon. Listen to how meditating on Matthew 5-7 has changed them and how these words of Jesus are guiding them to seek God’s wisdom moving forward.
49m • Sep 23, 2024
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Episode 37
A House on Rock and a House on Sand
The final teaching of the Sermon on the Mount addresses the most important aspect of the choice Jesus presents to his listeners. Where does the path that we choose lead us? Jesus describes two builders—a foolish man who builds his house on sand and a wise man who builds his house on rock. When the storm comes, the house on sand is destroyed, while the house on rock remains standing. This seems straightforward, but unpacking the biblical themes of houses, cities, and floodwaters reveals deeper implications for Jesus followers in every generation. Listen in as Tim and Jon conclude their discussion of the sermon by exploring how Jesus' teachings equip us to weather storms outside of Eden, just as Jesus' life ultimately overcame the floodwaters of death.
54m • Sep 16, 2024
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Episode 36
True and False Prophets
In the second part of the final section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus emphasizes the tension present in the choice between two paths. How do we know if someone is leading us toward the path to life, and whose voice should we listen to? Jesus uses the images of a sheep in wolf’s clothing and trees bearing fruit to emphasize the wisdom needed to identify those who truly represent him. In this episode, Tim and Jon wrestle with the challenge of discerning God's words and recognizing the true destination of someone's path, regardless of the direction they claim.
44m • Sep 9, 2024
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Episode 35
If We Don’t Forgive Others, Will God Not Forgive Us?
Can Jesus’ riddle about the good eye and the bad eye also apply to Genesis 3? Does the Bible offer conflicting views on the topic of testing? What is the connection between asking God for our daily bread and Jesus calling himself the “Bread of Heaven?” Does God forgive us only after we forgive others? In this episode, Tim and Jon respond to your questions from episodes 22-28 in the Sermon on the Mount series and share some of the Lord’s Prayer song submissions. Thank you to our audience for your thoughtful contributions to this episode!
1hr 5m • Sep 2, 2024
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Episode 34
The Narrow and Wide Gates
Jesus closes the Sermon on the Mount by presenting his listeners with a choice, illustrated in three parts. He first describes two gates and two paths. The narrow gate is difficult to enter, but it opens up the way to life. The wide gate is easy to navigate, but it leads to ruin. In this episode, Tim and Jon explore the choice we all must make after listening to Jesus’ words and how the decision to live out our true calling as humans is challenged daily by paths that appear easier.
46m • Aug 26, 2024
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Episode 33
What Makes the Golden Rule the Greatest Command?
The final teaching in the main body of the Sermon on the Mount is commonly known as the Golden Rule: Do to others what you would have them do to you. Jesus says that all of the Law and Prophets—everything he has come to fulfill—are contained in this one statement. How? In this episode, Tim and Jon unpack what many consider Jesus’ most famous teaching. Join us as we examine how the Golden Rule fits into the intentional design of the Sermon on the Mount, reinforcing the central theme of how God’s desires reshape our own.
56m • Aug 19, 2024
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Episode 32
What Does Jesus Mean by Ask, Seek, and Knock?
In his fourth teaching on relationships and conflict in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus encourages his listeners to ask God for what they need. Because the three previous teachings don't directly tell us how to respond in specific situations, Jesus emphasizes that the challenges of relationships require wisdom that comes from a deep dependence on God. In this episode, Tim and Jon discuss Jesus’ invitation for his followers to relate to God as a loving and generous Father who delights in giving us good gifts.
55m • Aug 12, 2024
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Episode 31
Why Does Jesus Talk About Pearls and Pigs?
Is it possible to evaluate the behavior of others in a healthy way? Jesus offers two parables that illustrate the wisdom needed to evaluate someone else's behavior. The first parable invites us to examine ourselves before others, and the second parable reminds us the necessary discernment for this happens only in a community of faith. In this episode, Tim and Jon discuss Jesus’ teachings on how and when to speak into the lives of others.
52m • Aug 5, 2024
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Episode 30
Is There Ever a Time to Judge Others?
After the four-part section on our relationship to money, Jesus turns to addressing our relationships with each other. He begins with the command to not judge. But judging can mean condemnation—or it can mean evaluation. So when is it acceptable to judge someone? And what does that mean for how we will be judged? In this episode, Tim and Jon unpack a challenging command that calls for a deep understanding of God’s generosity to compel us to respond generously to each other.
49m • Jul 29, 2024
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Episode 29
What Does Jesus Say About Anxiety? (Studio Conversation)
Sermon on the Mount E29 (Uncut) – In Jesus’ fourth and final teaching on money, he offers his listeners an antidote to the worry that accompanies life’s daily troubles. Jesus teaches that the path to a peaceful mindset is found in what we focus on—or seek. Seeking the Kingdom of the skies leads to investing in what is permanent and trusting in God's abundance. In this uncut episode, join an uninterrupted conversation with Jon and Tim about how understanding God’s character can help us live without worry, knowing that even death does not separate us from God’s generosity.
1hr 12m • Jul 22, 2024
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Episode 29
What Does Jesus Say About Anxiety? (Featured Episode)
Sermon on the Mount E29 – In Jesus' fourth and final teaching on money, he offers his listeners an antidote to the worry that accompanies life’s daily troubles. Jesus teaches that the path to a peaceful mindset is found in what we pay attention to or seek. And seeking the Kingdom of the skies leads to trusting in God's abundance. In this episode, Jon, Tim, and Michelle explore how communities who understand God's character can live without worry, knowing that even death does not separate us from God’s generosity.
1hr 4m • Jul 22, 2024
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Episode 28
What Does Jesus Say About Money? (Featured Episode)
In his third teaching on money, Jesus issues a warning about elevating wealth to the position of God in our lives. To describe wealth, Jesus uses the word “mammon,” which can be translated as “the thing in which you trust.” What happens when we put our trust in our wealth? And what can it look like to be free from the love of money? In this episode, Tim and Jon and special guests explore the power we give our possessions and the upside-down wisdom that sharing, not hoarding, gives us the security we’re seeking.
1hr 2m • Jul 8, 2024
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Episode 28
What Does Jesus Say About Money? (Studio Conversation)
In his third teaching on money, Jesus issues a warning about elevating wealth to the position of God in our lives. To describe wealth, Jesus uses the word “mammon,” which can be translated as “the thing in which you trust.” What happens when we put our trust in our wealth? What does Jesus mean by “unrighteous wealth?” And what can it look like to be free from the love of money? In this uncut episode, join Tim and Jon in a long-form dialogue exploring the Parable of the Shrewd Manager and how we can only have one ultimate allegiance—God or money.
43m • Jul 8, 2024
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Episode 27
How Is the Eye the Lamp of the Body?
Jesus continues addressing our relationship to money and possessions with a riddle about the eye being the lamp of the body––a reference to a common cultural metaphor in which “having a bad eye” meant someone was stingy. By saying that the eye is the lamp of the body, Jesus highlights how our relationship with our possessions reflects our true character. In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Michelle explore how generosity creates possibility while clinging tightly to our stuff causes us to lose everything.
40m • Jul 1, 2024
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Episode 26
What Kind of Treasure Is in Heaven?
The third section of the Sermon on the Mount's main body opens with a call to examine how we think about our stuff. Jesus makes it clear that how we relate to our money and possessions reveals how we relate to God and neighbor. He urges his listeners to not store up their treasures here on Earth but in the sky. But what is sky treasure? In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Michelle explore the differences between our earthly values and the values of God’s Kingdom in the skies. When we sacrifice our present pleasure and security to better love God and each other, we invest in the coming new creation which contains everything we’ll ever need.
1hr 1m • Jun 24, 2024
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Episode 25
Do Jesus’ Teachings Conflict With Old Testament Violence?
What does Jesus mean when he describes people entering the Kingdom of the skies? Are the promises in the Beatitudes possible now, or do we need to wait for the new creation? How did Jesus respond to other perspectives on how to treat our enemies? How do we reconcile Jesus’ teachings on creative nonviolence with violence in the Old Testament narratives? Why does Jesus tell his followers to be perfect when the Bible repeatedly mentions that all humans fail? In this episode, Tim and Jon respond to your questions from episodes 15-22 in the Sermon on the Mount series. Thank you to our audience for your thoughtful questions!
54m • Jun 17, 2024
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Episode 24
Does God Lead Us Into Temptation? (The Lord’s Prayer Pt. 5)
Many of us first learned the King James translation of the final, personal request in the Lord’s Prayer: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” But does God actually lead us into temptation? In a motif that weaves throughout the Hebrew Bible, we see God allowing tests to strengthen his partnership with humans. When this motif picks up in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is the one experiencing testing. In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Michelle explore the theme of testing and temptation throughout the Bible and in the life of Jesus. From his own experience, Jesus teaches us to pray for protection from temptation and for rescue when it comes.
57m • Jun 10, 2024
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Episode 23
What Forgiveness Is and Isn't (Lord's Prayer Pt. 4)
The second half of the Lord’s prayer contains four requests on behalf of the person praying. The second personal request is for God to forgive us. But forgiveness is not just a transaction between individuals or between God and humans. Forgiveness plays a central role in the arrival of God’s Kingdom. In this episode, Jon, Tim, and Michelle explore what forgiveness is, what it isn't, and what it looks like to set each other free.
1hr 6m • Jun 3, 2024
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Episode 22
What Does Jesus Mean by “Daily Bread”? (The Lord’s Prayer Pt. 3)
The first half of the Lord’s Prayer features three requests on behalf of God and his Kingdom: he is our Father in the skies, whose name we recognize as holy and whose way of life we want to see on the land. The second half of the Lord’s prayer focuses on four personal requests, where we seek to align our needs with God’s wisdom. In this episode, Jon and Tim discuss the first request of “daily bread” and its connections to stories and wisdom in the Hebrew Bible.
44m • May 27, 2024
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Episode 21
What Does “Hallowed Be Thy Name” Mean? (The Lord’s Prayer Pt. 2)
Prayer is at the center of the center of the Sermon on the Mount. And it’s in this section of teaching that Jesus gives us a simple prayer that we can participate in. It’s only 12 lines long, but it contains a universe of ideas that center us with God. In this episode, Jon and Tim discuss the first half of the prayer: “Our Father who is in the skies, may your name be recognized as holy. May your Kingdom come and your will be done as it is in the skies so also on the land.”
41m • May 20, 2024
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Episode 20
How Does Jesus Teach Us to Pray? (The Lord’s Prayer Pt. 1)
We are now halfway through studying Jesus' most famous sermon, which brings us to the Lord’s Prayer. What’s the significance of a prayer being right here at the center? And what’s the purpose of regularly reciting a short prayer like this one? In this episode, Jon, Tim, and others kick off a five-part series on the Lord’s Prayer, exploring its structure, core ideas, and historical background. Find more information about writing and sharing your own Lord's Prayer song [here](https://bibleproject.com/singtheprayer/).
1hr • May 13, 2024
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Episode 19
Why Say “Kingdom of the Skies” Instead of “Kingdom of Heaven”?
How do we reconcile Jesus’ words about the Law with other New Testament teachings? How is God’s justice with gehenna different from karma? And why does the BibleProject translation of the Sermon on the Mount refer to the Kingdom of Heaven as the Kingdom of the skies? In this episode, Tim and Jon respond to your questions on the first four case studies about righteousness (episodes 9-14) in the Sermon on the Mount series. Thank you to our audience for your incredible questions!
57m • May 6, 2024
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Episode 18
Jesus’ Surprising Warning About Religious Practices
In Matthew 6, Jesus turns his attention to religious practices of his day, specifically generosity to the poor, prayer, and fasting. But Jesus gives a surprising warning about these practices: if you do religious practices to get praise from people, then you're missing the point. In this episode, Jon and Tim discuss these three religious practices and reflect on the pitfalls of making religious devotion about yourself.
55m • Apr 29, 2024
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Episode 17
What "Hypocrite" Means to Jesus
In Matthew 6, Jesus transitions from sharing a vision for righteousness that fulfills the Torah and Prophets to talking about how true righteousness impacts religious practices. Religious practices—like prayer, serving the poor, or generosity—are meant to align our hearts with God. But Jesus noticed that many people in his day were doing religious practices to promote their own name and status. He called this behavior hypocrisy, which meant something different to him that it does to us today. In this episode, Jon and Tim discuss the original meaning of the word “hypocrite” and the differing motivations people can have for doing right by God and others.
32m • Apr 22, 2024
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Episode 16
Why Does Jesus Want Us to Love Our Enemies?
In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus shares his sixth and final case study based on the wisdom of the Torah, and it may be the most challenging one yet. The first three case studies focused on treating others as sacred image-bearers of God. The fourth and fifth case studies offered guidance on how to handle conflict. And in the final case study, Jesus concludes with wisdom on how to respond to people who not only dislike us but even desire our harm. In this episode, Jon and Tim discuss one of Jesus’ most famous teachings: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
52m • Apr 15, 2024
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Episode 15
What Jesus Means by “Turn the Other Cheek”
In Matthew 5:38-42, Jesus offers wisdom from the Torah about retaliation, justice, and nonviolent resistance to injustice. He references a series of laws in Exodus 21, Leviticus 24, and Deuteronomy 19, all of which contain the familiar language of “eye for eye, tooth for tooth.” Jesus reveals the surprising wisdom within these laws, using real-life scenarios that would have been familiar to oppressed Israelites living under Roman occupation: turning the other cheek, giving your cloak, and going the extra mile. In this episode, Jon, Tim, and Michelle discuss how these actions can open up our imaginations for boldly standing against injustice in creative, nonviolent ways.
1hr 1m • Apr 8, 2024
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Episode 14
Why Does Jesus Say Not to Swear Oaths?
In Matthew 5:33-48, Jesus offers three case studies about how people can work together in spite of conflict. The first case study focuses on the ancient practice of oath keeping. By the time of Jesus, ancient Israelites no longer spoke the divine name of Yahweh out of respect, but they would still swear oaths by things closely related to God—like the sky, land, temple, etc. Some people used these oaths as a loophole because they felt less serious to break (“I only swore by the temple!”). In this episode, Jon and Tim discuss Jesus’ teaching on oaths, which demonstrates God’s wisdom on the integrity of our words and the danger of even small deceptions.
47m • Apr 1, 2024
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Episode 13
How Jesus Responded to the Divorce Debate
In Matthew 5:31-32, Jesus offers a quote from the Torah about when it is lawful to divorce, and then he shares his perspective. But what is the context of these words, and how would Jesus’ original audience have heard them? It’s easy for modern readers to miss, but Jesus is entering a longstanding debate concerning a passage about divorce in Deuteronomy 24—and his take is surprising. In this episode, Jon, Tim, and special guest Jeannine Brown discuss the story surrounding divorce in ancient Israel, the Bible’s ideal of covenant loyalty, and the wisdom we can find in Scripture to navigate divorce in our culture today.
45m • Mar 25, 2024
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Episode 12
Jesus' Vision for Sex and Desire
In Matthew 5:27-30, Jesus references the Torah’s command to not commit adultery (Exod. 20:14), going on to say that any man who lusts (or “goes on looking”) at a woman commits adultery with her in his heart. So what is his solution to avoid lust? Cut off a hand and gouge out an eye! Whoa—what is Jesus talking about? In this episode, Jon, Tim, and special guest Lucy Peppiatt discuss the meaning and impact of lust, the Bible’s original ideal for men and women, and Jesus’ countercultural vision for sex and marriage in the Kingdom of the skies.
48m • Mar 18, 2024
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Episode 11
Why Do the Beatitudes Matter for the Overworked and Hopeless?
Why do we not find the Sermon on the Mount in the gospels of Mark or John? Why is “blessed” not a good translation of the word *makarios*? And if Jesus says that mourning, powerlessness, and poverty are the key to the good life, should we pursue those things? In this episode, Tim and Jon respond to your questions from the first seven episodes of the Sermon on the Mount series. Thank you to our audience for your incredible questions!
1hr 9m • Mar 11, 2024
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Episode 10
How Is Anger the Same as Murder?
In Matthew 5:21-48, Jesus reveals the divine wisdom of Israel’s Old Testament laws through six case studies. In the first case study, he expounds on one of the Ten Commandments, “Do not murder” (Exod. 20:13). After acknowledging this command, Jesus takes it further by saying that anyone who is angry with his brother or publicly shames someone is also guilty of murder. What does he mean? In this episode, Jon and Tim discuss Matthew 5:21-32, exploring key concepts—such as murder, contempt, and divine justice—and what they tell us about the value of human beings.
57m • Mar 4, 2024
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Episode 9
What Does Jesus Think of Old Testament Laws?
What did Jesus mean when he said he came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets? In Jesus’ day, the laws from the Torah were over a thousand years old. And the Jewish people under Roman occupation weren’t able to follow all of the laws perfectly, leading to countless interpretations of how the people could observe the Torah. So what made this rabbi from Nazareth’s approach to the law any different? In this episode, Jon and Tim discuss Matthew 5:17-20, unpacking its historical context, most perplexing phrases, and the greater righteousness that Jesus is introducing to his listeners.
48m • Feb 26, 2024
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Episode 8
The Salt of the Land and the Light of the World
Why does Jesus call his followers salt and light? In the Hebrew Bible, salt is a metaphor for God’s long-lasting covenant with Israel, connected to priestly sacrifices, ritual purity, and social bonds. And the Hebrew word for light, or, shares a wordplay with torah, meaning God’s wise instruction. God’s wisdom given in the Torah is a light for Israel that they are called to share with the nations. In this episode, Jon and Tim discuss the meanings of salt and light, showing how Jesus applies these covenant words to his new community of followers.
47m • Feb 19, 2024
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Episode 7
What Does It Mean to Make Peace? (The Beatitudes Pt. 4)
What will it cost us to live like Jesus in our world? In the third and final triad of the Beatitudes, Jesus declares that the good life belongs to the peacemakers. But making peace Jesus-style will mean conflict, pain, difficulty, and even persecution. In this episode, Tim, Jon, and others explore the cultural tensions surrounding Jesus, his audience, and the four ancient groups who tried to make peace and how Jesus’ teachings created conflict with all of these groups.
45m • Feb 12, 2024
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Episode 6
The Type of People God Is Forming (The Beatitudes Pt. 3)
What does it look like to have our desires and actions completely aligned with God’s will? In the second triad of the Beatitudes, Jesus paints a picture of the kind of people God is forming in the Kingdom of the Skies. In this episode, Tim, Jon, and guests break down the biblical words for righteousness, justice, mercy, and purity throughout the Bible, leading up to Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount.
47m • Feb 5, 2024
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Episode 5
The Powerless, Grieving, and Unimportant (The Beatitudes Pt. 2)
What does it mean to be poor in spirit, mourning, and meek? Jesus uses these words in the opening of [the Sermon on the Mount](https://bibleproject.com/articles/what-is-the-sermon-on-the-mount/), and the guys examine them in biblical Greek and Hebrew, finding that a better translation may be “powerless,” “grieving,” and “unimportant.” These are the people that Jesus believes will have the “good life.” How can that be? In this episode, Jon, Tim, and guests explore the first triad of the Beatitudes, shedding light on how those at the bottom of society are actually better prepared to receive the kingdom of the skies.
41m • Jan 29, 2024
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Episode 4
What Does "Blessed" Mean? (The Beatitudes Pt. 1)
What does Jesus mean when he calls people “blessed” in the first section of the Sermon on the Mount? The Greek word translated as “blessed” is makarios, and its Hebrew equivalent is ashrey, which means “the good life.” But there’s another Hebrew word for blessing, barukh, which refers to blessings from God. In this episode, Tim, Jon, and guests unpack what it means to be blessed according to Jesus’ counterintuitive message as he ushers in the kingdom of the skies.
34m • Jan 22, 2024
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Episode 3
The Sermon on the Mount's Place in the Gospel of Matthew
The Sermon on the Mount is one of five major speeches Jesus gives in the Gospel of Matthew, and there are many similarities between these speeches. What is Matthew doing in his gospel that is unique from the other gospels? And how does this shape his portrayal of Jesus? In this episode, Jon and Tim discuss how the Sermon on the Mount fits into the larger context of the Gospel of Matthew.
41m • Jan 15, 2024
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Episode 2
The Hebrew Bible’s Connection to the Sermon on the Mount
As a Jewish rabbi, Jesus was immersed in the Hebrew Bible, or what Christians often call the Old Testament. The Hebrew Bible tells the story of God working with ancient Israel to bring about his Kingdom. And in the New Testament, Jesus claimed that God’s Kingdom was at long last arriving in him. In this episode, Tim and Jon walk through the three parts of the Hebrew Bible, showing how they connect to what Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount. Plus, Michelle, Dan, and Aaron go on a field trip to look at a Torah scroll to better understand how the Hebrew Bible is designed.
44m • Jan 8, 2024
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Episode 1
Kicking Off a Year With Sermon on the Mount
Most of us have probably heard sayings from Jesus’ famous teaching, commonly called the Sermon on the Mount. It's only 100 verses, but the sermon has created an enduring legacy that has shaped countless lives throughout history. In this first episode of a yearlong series on the Sermon on the Mount, Tim and Jon introduce some new voices and share stories of influential people who were inspired by Jesus’ words. Then the team lays out the basic facts of the Sermon on the Mount and the different ways it’s been interpreted over 2,000 years.
57m • Jan 1, 2024
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