“BEATITUDES or PLATITUDES?“
[By Brad Turner]
Platitude – A remark or statement, especially one with a moral content that has been used too often to be interesting or thoughtful.
“Well, you know, it rains on the just and the unjust.”
“Oh, that’s good. Now where is that from?”
“The Bible. Jesus said it.”
“Oh, yeah right.”
That was a small portion of a conversation that I had with a colleague several years ago after the events of 9/11. We were just talking about life, and the bad things or misfortunes that can happen to people every day around the world. This individual was familiar with that statement, or somehow knew that it “sounded good”, but was unsure of its origin.
Portions of scripture are quoted or referenced all of the time in popular culture. Whether in literature (“The Grapes of Wrath”), music (Bono uses passages of scripture in a lot of U2 songs), political rhetoric, or just about any other form one can think of. On one hand, that is fantastic – it proves the universality of the scriptures, and reinforces the fact that the Bible’s presence can be felt, or at the least, acknowledged the world over. On the other hand, many passages from the Bible are misused, or perhaps maligned in the same way to try to prove an ungodly point of view. The Beatitudes, unless thoughtfully studied as we have done this year, can almost seem innocuous. A “broad-brush”, non-invasive type of Bible passage that can make anyone feel good about themselves because they sound pretty and moral, but the application can be a bit nebulous, and therefore they are not really offensive to others. Nevertheless, those words of Jesus carry the same weight as these words of Jesus (NKJV):
Mark 16:16 – “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
Mark 10:6-9, 11-12 – “But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” So He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
Luke 11:23 – “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.”
How many times have these words of Jesus been used positively, if at all, on home decor, bumper stickers, in books, movies, or music?
As we wind down this year and finish the year long series of lessons on the Beatitudes, I must confess that “Walking In Your Footsteps” by The Police, especially the line “They say the meek shall inherit the earth” has popped in my head several times this year! But let’s ask ourselves if we have truly absorbed their meaning, truly ingested them for the desired effect, or are they simply nice pretty words and phrases that are from the Bible. Sayings that seem moral and “sound good and pious”, but used so often, or without thought, that they are now not interesting or meaningful.
Have the precious words of our Lord and Savior become to us, just platitudes?