Matthew 4:18-5:5

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10 Matthew 4.18-5.1-5

March 15th 2026

So last week we spend our entire time discussing both the Kingdom of Heaven and the term repent.

Let’s read the rest of chapter four

18And as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers - Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen. 19And he saith to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

According to John 1:35-42 Andrew and Simon Peter had already become disciples of Yeshua but now they are now called by Him to leave their business and to follow him in ministry full time.

The unknown backstory is probably that Yeshua had known most of those men He elected to be His twelve and that their following Him in most of the cases was in their minds before what we are reading about here.

21And from there he went on and he saw other two brothers – James the son of Zebedee and John his brother - in a boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22And immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

The word disciple refers to a learner or follower. The word apostle means “one who is sent out.”

While Jesus was on earth, His twelve followers were called both disciples and apostles which can make it confusing.

The twelve disciples that followed Jesus Christ, learned from Him, and were trained by Him and were then sent by Him were His apostles but there were also disciples that followed Him to and witnessed all of His mircles.

We know this because two of them were asked to come forward by Peter to replace Judas in Acts and the lot fell on a man named Mathias.

After His resurrection and ascension, Jesus sent the eleven out to be His witnesses (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8).

They were then truly His apostles or the ones sent.

The original twelve disciples/apostles are listed in Matthew 10:2–4, “These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.”

When we compare the twelve disciples/apostles lists in Mark 3:16–19 and Luke 6:13–16 there are a couple of minor differences in the names.

It seems that Thaddaeus was also known as “Judas, son of James” (Luke 6:16) and Lebbaeus (Matthew 10:3). Simon the Zealot was also known as Simon the Canaanite (Mark 3:18). The Gospel of John uses the name “Nathanael” instead of “Bartholomew,” but Nathanael and Bartholomew were undoubtedly the same person.

Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus, was replaced as one of the twelve apostles by Matthias (see Acts 1:20–26).

I happen to believe that Matthias as an “invalid” apostle (the product of Peter following the Spirit of Man when he had them cast lots) and believe that Paul was God’s choice to replace Judas Iscariot as the twelfth apostle.

Then Matthew, leaving the calling of the others out in this account says,

23And he went all about Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every malady and disease among the people.

I want you to take a minute and consider the description here – and he went all about Galilee (doing what?)

teaching in their synogogues

Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom (which He said was at hand)

And healing every malady and disease among the people

Who did Yeshua do this to – the Jews in Galilee.

What did he preach to them? The Gospel of the KINGDOM – which was a new Kingdom to come that would replace the one they were in, which had a government, laws, codes, and a material priesthood, temples, days of rest, prophets and such.

That was a message to them/then and the Gospel he preached to them was specific to them in that day and age – believe and receive the Promised Messiah or you will not be saved from the promised coming destruction.

And here is the seal the deal moment in addition to His teaching and preaching folks – as we read

And healing every malady and disease among the people.

Teaching in the Synogogues

Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom

AND healing every malady and disease.

I’m gonna say something radical here but not one of these activities applied to us in our day and age today – materially.

We are not teaching in the synogogues.

We are not preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom to Jews

We are not physically healing every malady and disease.

All of these things the Mortal Messiah was doing then, to them, for a contextual reason existing then and physically healing all people as a means to PROVE He was who was promised to them – therefore they were without excuse if they witnessed the miracles and rejected Him.

All the way back in Isaiah we read the prophesies about the promised Messiah healing

Isaiah 35:5-6: Explicitly predicts that when the Messiah comes, "the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped," and "the lame man shall leap like a deer".

Isaiah 53:4-5: Foretells a suffering servant who takes on infirmities and carries diseases, stating, "by his stripes we are healed".

Isaiah 61:1: Mentions the Messiah bringing good news to the poor and healing the brokenhearted.

Isaiah 29:18: Predicts a day when the deaf hear and the blind see.

Malachi 4:2: Speaks of the "sun of righteousness" arising with "healing in its wings".

I feel so badly when zealous believers today do a number of things as a means to try and replicate these physical signs to prove they have Yeshua in them. And they have reason for believing this because Yeshua said, again to an audience that is not us, in Mark 16:17-18

And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

For nearly 2000 years we have had Bible reading souls try and replicate these things as a means to show that they are true followers of Him – because He said, and these are signs that shall follow THEM THAT BELIEVE – and there is no getting aound these words if we trust every word of the Bible is written to us today.

The fact of the matter is, my friends, these were all things that pertained to that audience then, as the super-abundance of the Holy Spirit was on earth manifesting to them that their messiah had come and later that they were in fact His followers.

There was little else around at that time to prove the prophesies about Him other than for these healings to occur.

But again, it is so pitiful and sad when believers today attempt to manufacture these signs in an effort to anachronistically meet the narrative now.

See, the material healings, because of Christ, have advanced in the world since this time as our world of medicine, sanitation, technology, literacy rates, women’s rights, psychological advances, surgical techniques have all lent to more healing in the human realm but here is the thing – the ONLY place that remains unhealed and untouched is the heart of a broken soul unable to walk in faith and it is in this realm where the miracle of Yeshua remains alive and active on earth.

Do you get it? The great physician and the sign that we believe on Him is in the healing of our hearts as broken people because nothing can give new life, a new identity, new power, and new love like the healing He brings.

This is what believing on Him today is proven through – changed lives – from the heart, from an invisible source of power called the Spirit of the Risen Christ.

I so look forward when the sooth-saying, sign-seeking, snake handling, floor writing, tongue-speaking, faith healing, leg lengthening b.s. dies off and the real healing Yeshua does in the world is elevated to it’s rightful place.

24And his fame spread throughout all Syria: and they brought to him all sick who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, and demons, and those which were psychotic, and those that had palsy, and he healed them.

Because His chosen apostles will do similar healings Bible readers again have often believed they should do the same.

Now understand, this is NOT to even remotely suggest that God cannot or does not heal people physically today or does not perform miracles – I am convinced He can does and will.

But I would be very cautious about public healers and such that make their rounds making a name for themselves in these arenas and I would be very cautious of groups or gatherings that focus on such things.

God can do all things but remember, He is the one doing it, He does it in His own time, and His genuine miracle in the world today is not physical but spiritual and on the human heart.

25And great masses of people followed him from Galilee, and the Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judaea, and from beyond the Jordan.

What Matthew has done is he has established the growth of Yeshua’s ministry for us in this last chapter. And we know that for a time His popularity grew to the point that He would be thronged by the crowds wherever He went.

This was the reason that early on He would tell people He healed not to tell anyone – because His popularity in that age was going to BOOM the moment anyone heard a genuine healer was among them.

It is at this point where Matthew now steps back in from describing the grand narrative of Yeshuas popularity growing in all those areas and takes us inside a particular setting here Yeshua is teaching.

Let’s read the first two verse of chapter five where it says.

Matthew 5:1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

And we will wrap today up teaching what people have nicknamed the Beautitudes. But first, let’s get the audience and the setting down so we understand context.

In Matthew chapter 5-7 we have what is called the Sermon on the Mount and we will return to this wide teaching in more detail next week.

But the first 11 verses of this Sermon have been nicknamed, the Beautitudes. Where did that come from.

Taking the Greek manuscripts of the Apostolic Record a man known as St. Jerome (created a Latin version of the Bible between 382 and 405 AD and this version served as the Catholic Church's official Bible for over 1,000 years.

Just some interesting facts about Jerome. He lived between 347-420 AD and has been characterized as brilliant but famously hot-headed scholar known for his prickly personality, sharp tongue, and extreme penance.

Want more strangeness?

He was born to a wealthy family and educated in Rome, he later embraced extreme ascetism, often, as depicted in art, wearing almost no clothes, with his cardinal robes cast aside while studying.

According to legend, Jerome removed a thorn from a lion's paw in the desert, and the lion became his loyal companion, living with him in his monastery and helping to guard a donkey.

Known for his uncontrollable rage and fiery temper, Jerome spent years as a hermit in the desert, where he would beat his chest with a rock as penance to subdue his temper and sexual temptations.

A pope reportedly told him upon seeing a painting of him doing penance: "You do well to carry that stone, for without it the Church would never have canonized you".

He was a hermit who lived in a cave in Bethlehem, often portrayed with a lion he supposedly befriended and a skull to contemplate mortality.

After a severe illness in 375, Jerome had a vision where he was accused of being a "Ciceronian" (a follower of pagan philosopher Cicero) rather than a Christian. He was dragged before a tribunal and whipped, leading him to vow to stop reading pagan literature.

Jerome didn't just fight heretics; he frequently engaged in bitter, public arguments with other major church figures, including St. Augustine.

Despite his harsh, antisocial nature, Jerome had a close, respectful circle of wealthy, educated women who supported his work in the Holy Land and helped tame his temper.

He lived spent 30 years translating the Bible, often working through the night.

Because of his immense scholarship and work in the Holy Land, he is the patron saint of librarians, archivists, and archaeologists.

In his private letters, he admitted that even in the remote desert, his mind was often filled with memories of dancing girls from Rome.

The Latin Vulgate unified various older Latin translations (Vetus Latina) into a single, cohesive text based on original Hebrew and Greek sources.

"Vulgate" comes from versio vulgata, meaning the "common version," as it was intended to be the standard, accessible edition for the Western church.

Ironically, because of the high price of copying the Bible, illiteracy rates and religious control, the Vulgate was never available as a common version accessible to the masses until after the development of the printing press so “common version” is a bit misleading.

While St. Jerome is the primary translator, he was assisted by a team, and the work evolved over centuries, incorporating edits from figures like Pope Gregory the Great.

Unlike previous Latin translations based on the Greek Septuagint, Jerome translated the Old Testament directly from the original Hebrew, while the New Testament was revised from Greek manuscripts.

It was declared the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church by the Council of Trent in the 16th century, holding this status until 1979.

The Vulgate deeply influenced Western art, literature, and culture, and was the text used by key reformers like Martin Luther before he translated the Bible into German.

Before the printing press, the Vulgate was painstakingly hand-copied by monks, often featuring, or "illuminated" with, intricate decorations.

In 1965, after the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI commissioned a new edition to align with modern textual criticism while retaining suitability for liturgical use.

As an aside, the Catholic Scholar Erasmus, who remained devoted to the Catholic church throughout his life and argued well again the founder of Protestantism, Martin Luther, translated the Vugate from the original Greek Manuscripts to create another version was super disparaging of the Vulgate. He claimed

the Vulgate contained numerous errors and that his own Greek-Latin translation was needed to restore the original meaning.

He described the Latin of the Vulgate as "barbarous" or lacking in proper, scholarly Latinity and he criticized specific renderings, such as ave gratia plena (full of grace) in Luke 1:28, arguing that his translation, Ave gratiosa (favored one), was more faithful to the Greek.

He also argued that the Vulgate's translation of logos as verbum was inferior to sermo, a change he defended in his Apologia de 'In principio erat sermo' in 1520.

It was this very Erasmus who noted that the Vulgate included the Comma Johanneum (1 John 5:7) even though it was missing in nearly all Greek manuscripts that he consulted but he included it anyway, proving that he bowed to the Church due to intense pressure from conservative Catholic theologians of his day.

Back to Matthew 5 , the Latin word beatitudo, which refers to the blessings in Matthew 5 stems from each verse from 3-12 beginning with beati (blessed).

Blessed or bountiful in our day is a bit different than beautiful but oddly both can be used literally and significantly.

Blessed refers to being favored by God and finding true happiness in him, regardless of circumstances.

In contrast, bountiful often implies an abundance of material goods or a plentiful harvest, which misses the point of Jesus praising those who are "poor in spirit" or "persecuted".

The Beatitudes describe the inward state and character of Jesus’ followers, not their external prosperity. "Blessed" highlights that those who are meek, mourn, or are persecuted possess an inner security and joy but bountiful could imply that if you follow the Beatitudes, you will become materially rich.

Yeshua is actually teaching the opposite—that the poor in spirit are rich in the Kingdom of Heaven.

While bountiful refers to God's generous nature, it is more commonly used in Scripture to describe God's providence or gifts (e.g., a "bountiful harvest") rather than the inward, spiritual state of the person receiving the blessing.

So in summary, “blessed” correctly conveys divine favor, spiritual prosperity, and deep, inner joy which seems to be what Yeshua intended, why beautiful or bountiful narrowly implies material abundance and misses the spiritual depth of the Greek term used in the text which is makarios.

A word makarios that implies a state of being "envied" or deeply fortunate due to God’s grace.

It is a word that encompasses being "happy, fortunate, and blissful" all at once, making it a comprehensive term for the spiritual state of a believer that is much much better that the terms beautiful or bountiful.

It’s subtle, but significant. So, again,

Matthew 5:1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

Because multitudes are what Matthew says He saw and then adds that He went up into a mountain and sat down and then Matthew distinguishes multitudes from the disciples that came to him it seems this was a teaching setting for them alone and not the masses.

The substance of this discourse is also recorded in the sixth chapter of Luke and it is believed that it was repeated on different occasions and to different people.

Therefore we have slightly different accounts from each recording.

It is believed that the location of this teaching as somewhere in the vicinity of Capernaum as a hill or mountain is still a short distance to the northwest of the ancient site of Capernaum, which tradition says is the place where this sermon was delivered, and which is called on the maps the Mount of Beatitudes.

But this could be a contrivance. Matthew writes, and when he was set meaning when He sat down and we know that this was the common way teachers taught in that day – they sat. (Luke 4:20; 5:3; John 8:2; Acts 13:14; 16:13).

And this is what He said,

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Some things to note – and the first is the irony even the paradox that Yeshua’s first real teaching tells His disciples that they would be blessed by being poor in Spirit.

We have done several teachings on the Sermon on the Mount where we flesh these nine statements out in far greater detail but just know that we tend to believe that Yeshua teaches a process here – almost like a loosely knit formula.

And He begins with describing the heart the soul the overall mindset of a person when they first come to Him in faith – they are Poor in Spirit.

The better Greek is they are paupers in Spirit.

The Greek has pneuma there and I would say that their poverty in spirit suggest a poverty of the Spirit of Man in them, as they have realized that all they one bet on and believed has been ruined and that the living Spirit of Christ within them is just coming alive, is small and impoverished.

To us this speaks to humility – what we maintain is an internal condition chosen and received and embraced by each individual when they honestly embark on seeking Him, receiving Him, believing on Him and is the state of mind that remains with all who have realized His presence in them.

In our series the Four L’s and the Four Traits we explain the importance of people choosing to humble themselves (which is what the Bible says we should all do) and we believe that being poor in spirit is another way to describe this.

We also maintain that to be poor in spirit is the first step a disciple of Christ takes in the genuine relationship they have with Him.

Why?

Looking back over the course of our lives, some of us realize, the moment Christ rises up from within, what a waste of time we have spent chasing rainbows and windmills. We are literally made poor in spirit of man and cannot help but see our lives up until that point as almost meaningless.

That is a poverty of spirit based on our material lives lived before. That said, we also realize that we are bereft of the Spirit of Christ and how little we really know about Him spiritually – so we are paupers in the spirit of the Risen Christ within us too – and that is a state of absolute spiritual impoverishment – we are nothing in this world and we see ourselves really as nothing in the kingdom – least, as the scripture commonly describes it.

We also note what Yeshua says about such a pauper of Spirit – theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

We will note that in seven of the statements Christ will make about the heavenly condition of the person being described He will say that their blessings are in the future, saying, they shall, they shall, they shall . . . but here in the very first description he says that those who are poor in spirit theres IS the Kingdom of heaven, proving that we become members and citizens of that Kingdom by coming to Him humbly, impoverished in Spirit, but that ours IS the kingdom of heaven even in that impoverished spiritual state.

This was the state of the thief on the cross – right then, humbling himself before the dying King next to Him, He was told, “today you will be with me in paradise.” He had do no works, his life up to that point was a mess – so much so that he wound up on a cross next to the Christ as a robber and insurrectionist – he was truly poor in spirit in his Spirit of Man capacity as he had done nothing of value.

Simultaneously though, he was poor in the Spirit of Christ too having nothing truly substantive in his Spiritual person to boast of.

But Yeshua told him that His IS the Kingdom of heaven.

This is where and why there is no difference in a believer who is really knowledgeable, and fruitful, and full of great works of love and the Spiritual pauper – when each of us come to Him – impoverished of works and labor, poor in the Spirit of Man and His reputation and poor in the Spirit of Christ OURS IS the KINGDOM of heaven then because our citizenship is NOT predicated on our efforts – but on faith in His.

I cannot tell you how many people that I have met who regret the lives they lived before receiving Him in themselves.

And I am not only talking about people who have been super sinful but also people who have been super religious.

Why? Because all of them are impoverished of spirit and can see how much of life they have wasted on sin and being righteous by their own efforts instead of being righteous by Him alone.

But Christ says, here blessed, happy are the poor in spirit because they know and they realize amidst the poverty of Spirit they live in at that moment, it is enough for the Kingdom of Heaven to be theirs fully and at that time.

Their’s IS the kingdom of heaven.

Then he supplies them with the next blessing and says, again paradoxically,

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Here we begin to read of future promises to people who have first been poor and impoverished of Spirit and who’s IS the Kingdom of heaven – if they are allowed to live (unlike the thief on the cross who was promised paradise then and there) the next thin they ought to see as a blessing in themselves is the mourning that exists.

The Greek term translated mourn here is pentho and it means grieve, to wail to experience remorse.

In the Septuagint this term is most frequently assigned to the dead and sinful.

I would suggest this is the continued state of genuinely being poor in spirit before the promise of the Holy Spirit of Christ was given. We look at the joy within and cannot help but grieve over our failures and shortcomings piled up before. Yeshua offers a future promise to such by saying,

Blessed are they for they shall be (future tense) comforted.

The word translated to shall be comforted is paraklayo and best means, shall be invited. In other words, if you are poor and spirit and mourn wait – you shall be comforted.

It is not a mistake that Yeshua before being crucified promised to send to the apostles and the world, the paraklaytos, translated the Comforter in scripture and this teaching is telling the disciples that if and when they are poor and Spirit wait, they will be invited by the paraklaytos who would help them.

Bottom line – this statement by Yeshua on the Mount bore with it a future promise of comfort by the falling of the Holy Spirit when those believers who mourned would be comforted.

Finally, the third blessed state that Yeshua describes here that seems like a double edged sword is

5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are the poor in Spirit

Blessed are those that mourn, and now

Blessed are the meek?

What is up with all of this paradoxical language? The world preaches that cursed are the poor in anything, cursed is the state of mourning and weak are the meek.

But Yeshua says, that “the meek shall inherit the earth.” (Again, not the future tense).

We will build on this third promise of nine next week!

Thanks for joining.