Disciples to the End: Beatitudes
Be More Like Jesus
Matthew 5:1-11
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. Nov. 1st, 2026
The mission of The United Methodist Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. While our denomination’s mission statement is easy enough to rattle off it’s harder to explain. What is a disciple? What is a disciple of Jesus Christ? Transform the world into what, exactly? And how does making disciples, whatever those may be, lead us to transforming the world?
A disciple is a particular kind of student. A student is a learner, a person who studies, usually in a classroom context with a teacher or professor. A student listens to facts and ideas, internalizes them, and then repeats those same facts and ideas to the teacher to show they have learned the subject matter. They listen to lectures, do projects, write papers, and take tests.
But a disciple is not only looking to hear facts and ideas. A disciple wants to take on the way of life of their teacher. As much as Jesus’ disciples listened to him expound the Law and talk about the Kingdom of God, they also ate with him, and imitated him. One time Pharisees asked Jesus why his disciples ate with unwashed hands. They were worried that Jesus might be leading them astray by his own example. What a disciple does reflects on the teacher. If the disciples are not washing their hands before they eat it must be because Jesus does not wash his hands before he eats. As it turned out his disciples did mimic his practice of not doing ritual washings and Jesus went on to explain it’s because it’s not pots and pans and hands that need to be made clean, but the heart.
But I digress. The point is a disciple is not a passive student taking in information. A disciple is an active student wanting to be as much like their teacher as they can. A disciple of Jesus Christ, then, is someone who spends their life trying to be as much like Jesus as they can be.
So what is Jesus like that we may imitate him? Everyone agrees that a Christian should be like Jesus, but not everyone agrees on what Jesus is like. What Jesus am I supposed to imitate? Someone might note that if I’m called to imitate Jesus overturning tables is not out of the question. Or someone else might note that if I’m called to imitate Jesus I may have some harsh things to say about religious authorities. Or perhaps the Jesus I’m called to imitate is a rascal who makes his friends among the outcast and the sinners.
There are all sorts of ways we might depict Jesus, and it can have something to do with our own dispositions. Some of us might tend more toward the rebel speaking truth to power while others might be more attracted to the one who says “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus is a person, not an idea, and people have different sides to them. People are complicated.
At the same time, there are aspects of who Jesus is that all of us must take on if we are to pretend we are even remotely trying to imitate him. I think those aspects are summarized in our gospel reading this morning commonly called the Beatitudes. Jesus has gone up the mountain to teach his disciples, like Moses who went up the mountain to receive the Law. And as he opens his famous Sermon on the Mount he does not go straight into the moral teaching. Instead, he declares blessing, but blessing on a particular sort of people. Blessing on people whose life imitates Jesus’ in many important aspects.
First, Jesus says, “"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.” The Beatitudes are already off to a strange start, because who can say the poor in spirit, the sorrowful, the meek, and the hungry are blessed? How can anyone be happy in such a state? But Jesus declares blessing for such because of what God is willing to give to those who know their need and are willing to ask.
The Kingdom belongs to the poor in spirit for much the same reason that Jesus justifies none other than the ungodly and the sinner. Only those who humble themselves, and acknowledge their need can hope to be made right with God. But those who do not have poverty of spirit, who think they are doing well, will never turn to God in need. Those who mourn will be comforted because those who are comfortable have no need for comfort. The meek will inherit the earth because God takes the side of the lowly and poor. And those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will receive it because God is eager to give such gifts to those who earnestly desire them.
Jesus goes on to say, "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.” If the first few blessings have to do with afflictions we suffer, these blessings have to do with who we are and how we act. The merciful know mercy from God. The pure in heart, those who acknowledge their sin before God and guard their hearts from evil, will see God. And the peacemakers will be known, in the kingdom, as children of God.
Finally, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, 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.” These are certainly the oddest blessings of the Beatitudes. How can someone say they are blessed in persecution? Blessed when they are reviled? Blessed when people make up stories about them? That is hardly an occasion for happiness.
But, truly, these final beatitudes are what bring them all together and help us see the full picture of what Jesus means. Because when we are persecuted, reviled, and lied about then we are sharing in the suffering of Jesus. He who was brought to court on false pretenses, he who was reviled by the leaders of his people, he who was persecuted for who he was and what he did. Sharing in such affliction is to imitate Jesus.
Jesus is the humble one, pure in spirit. Jesus is the the mournful one, weeping before Lazarus’ tomb. Jesus is the meek, who does not say a word before his killers. Jesus hungers for righteousness, he says he comes to bring fire to the earth and wishes it were already kindled. He, too, is the merciful one who forgives his murderers on the cross. He is the pure in heart who is never far from his Father. And he is the ultimate peacemaker who by his death overcomes the enmity between God and humanity.
If we want to know what it means to be a disciple we need to meditate on the Beatitudes first. We are to be humble, sorrowful, meek, earnestly seeking righteousness. But at the same time doing acts of mercy, guarding our hearts from evil, and making peace insofar as it is in our ability. And if we do these things we may be mocked, we may be reviled, we may even be persecuted. But that only means we have imitated our master.