Mazeltov! You are suffering! – All Saints

Matthew 5:1-12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

I suppose it is somehow significant that since my sublime school days I have seemed a sucker for alliteration.
What is it in the way those similar sounding consonants cascade that makes them most memorable?
It also seems an easy way to get people to remember things. I will often be asked, “What was the third “P” in your sermon last Sunday?”

So forgive me if in my digging over of the text of the gospel for All Saints, I was intrigued by the alliteration in the Greek text of the Beatitudes.
According to the classic Matthew five text, Jesus says to the disciples who come to him when he has sat down on some raised ground, “Blessed are the…

Ptochoi (poor), Penthountes (grieving), Praeis (meek/humble), Peinontes (hungry)

More modern translators suggest Makarioi not be translated “Blessed” but rather that “Congratulations!” would be more in order. Who knows perhaps in the spoken moment it might have been “Mazeltov” that came from the Rabbi’s mouth?
Also quite recently (a decade ago), the Jesus 2000 Seminar decided that the most authentic core of this teaching is probably “Congratulations, you poor!… Congratulations, you hungry!… Congratulations, you who weep now!…”
Congratulations? Blessedness? You must be joking!
These are the very conditions that evoke commiserations. To congratulate poor, hungry, grieving people is surely only to mock them? It is an affront to all that is decent and polite.
Yet that seems to be what Jesus says. What could he possibly know that we can’t see, which makes him say something so counter intuitive?
Is it possible that Jesus knows what Buddhists have also observed? That acknowledging sufering can lead to a place where suffering can end. In the life of the Gautama Buddha he experienced old age, sickness and death as what he later named, “the heavenly messengers“. Those confrontations with the less than perfect events of life which, if skilfully understood and held, may in fact lead to a perfection far greater than the false perfection that we focus on so obsessively in trying to avoid suffering at all costs.
Congratulations! Mazeltov! You who are experiencing the anguish of humanity stand at the doorway of God’s domain.
Step inside your frailty and you will find a greater freedom and perfection than any avoidance behaviour can promise.

• Ptochoi
• Penthountes
• Praeis
• Peinontes

Why, that might just be perfectly liberating!
All the Saints I have ever known or read about knew this secret.

Now you do too.