that we can read about in all four Gospels.
Despite His grief, Jesus returned from the deserted place and started healing ill people who came a long way on foot from the city in order to see Him and listened to Him. Jesus was very sad because John the Baptist was beheaded by Herod’s order. The disciples took the body, buried it and told Him the terrible news. (Matt. 14:10-14 New King James Version)
When the evening came, the apostles asked Jesus to send the multitude away because people were hungry and exhausted and it would take them long hours to get to the nearest town and find a shelter and food. (Matt. 14:15 New King James Version) “But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” (Matt. 14: 16 New King James Version) Jesus knew what He was going do but he wanted to test His pupils’ faith. The disciples had only five loaves of bread and two fish which were brought to Him. Everybody understood that this amount of food was not enough to feed five thousand men excluding women and children.
The Lord commanded people to sit on the grass. Then He took the bread and fish, broke them, looked up to heaven, blessed the food and gave it to the disciples. They distributed the food among the people. After they finished the rest of the food was collected and put into the twelve baskets. Thus, Jesus fed more than five thousand people because there were also many women and children in the multitude. (Matt. 14:19-21 New King James Version)
The core of this event is the word “compassion”. The first time Jesus displayed His compassion when he left His place of solitude and moved with compassion for them and healed their sick.” (Matt. 14:14 New King James Version) The next was His understanding of humans’ needs in food and rest. Jesus appreciated their trust and devotion and worked a wonder of the miraculous feeding.
Jesus’s contemporaries might have understood that event as an act of sympathy and mercy to the sick and starving. In the Church teaching and our present day life understanding, this miraculous feeding can be decoded as God’s eternal mercy and care that He always gives His people from generation to generation during the centuries. This extract from the Bible also teaches us to help others in need and do not give up our hope for Jesus’s help in difficult and desperate situations. ("Matthew 14:16 - But Jesus said to them,", 2016)
Jesus gave the eight Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, which is written in the Gospel according to Matthew in chapter 5:3-10. They are the rules that help people to enter the God’ Kingdom in Heaven and promise the salvation of the humankind.
“Blessed are the poor in Spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt.5:3 New King James Version) “Poor in spirit” means modest and simple. Being poor in the spirit it is open to the God’s word and will. Pride is opposed to humility and considers as the main of deadly seven sins. Pride cause anger and revenge especially when somebody is offended. ("THE EIGHT BEATITUDES OF JESUS", 2016)
“Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.” (Matt.5:4 New King James Version) Morning means our regret about the sins committed or the feelings of sorrow and sympathy to the others who are in trouble and pain. Mourning can be a desire to improve human sinful nature and become better. ("THE EIGHT BEATITUDES OF JESUS", 2016)
“Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt.5:5 New King James Version) People who are conformable usually have the self’- control and obedience to the God’s laws and commandments. Thus, these people bring peace to this world. ("THE EIGHT BEATITUDES OF JESUS", 2016)
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.” (Matt.5:6 New King James Version) Honest and justified people are valuable by God because it is very difficult to live a fair life. A desire for justice and moral perfection eventually leads a person the God’s Kingdom. ("THE EIGHT BEATITUDES OF JESUS", 2016)
“Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.” (Matt. 5:7 New King James Version) Mercy is the feeling of sympathy and desire to help those who are in need. It can also mean forgiveness to our enemies and betrayers. If we help the others we will get necessary help too. If we forgive we will be forgiven in return. ("THE EIGHT BEATITUDES OF JESUS", 2016)
“Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.” (Matt. 5:8 New King James Version) a person who has a pure heart is the one who is not selfish and does not seek for his desires. Such kind of people are able to give the others firm friendship and pure love. ("THE EIGHT BEATITUDES OF JESUS", 2016)
“Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.” (Matt. 5:9 New King James Version) Jesus bring peace in this world. After His resurrection, Christ greeted His friends with the words “Peace be with you.”(John 20:19 New King James Version) People who live peaceful lives and try to bring peace to others help maintain peace between God and humans. ("THE EIGHT BEATITUDES OF JESUS", 2016)
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:10 New King James Version) All of the twelve disciples, excluding John, were cruelly murdered for their faith. The same destiny had most of the other Christian saints. Their deaths were not useless because they showed a great example of devotion
Thus, the eight Beatitudes are the rules, which are simple and difficult at the same time. They are easy because they present us the model of a person that is perfect for God and the other people. They are difficult to follow sometimes because human nature is weak and it is very difficult to resist temptations of life and change one’s personality to better.
“Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt. 7:12 New King James Version) This passage is called “The Golden rule.” This title cannot be found in the Bible. It was presented much later in the 16th -17th centuries be the Bible translators. ("What is the Golden Rule?", 2016) The Golden Rule is actual for all times. We want to have a good attitude to us in the family and at our workplaces, have generous and devoted friends and grateful and helpful children, loving wife or husband and understanding chief. Very often, everything goes wrong and we do not have the desirable relationships and attitude. We think that arrogant, selfish, bad and thankless people surround us. We should think about our behavior first and analyze our personal deeds and relations to the others and in everything do to them, as we want they do to us.
In his epistle to Galatians, Paul, the apostle listed nine fruit of the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” (Gal. 5: 22-23 New King James Version) These nine gifts are the qualities that come from the God himself and all Christian people should do their best to gain them and make them the core of their lives. ("Fruit of the Spirit - Galatians 5:22 -Detailed Bible Study", 2014) Before describing the fruits of Spirit, Paul told about the works of the flesh that almost contradict to the fruits of the Holy Spirit and lead a person to evil and self-destruction. “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outburst of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like;” (Gal. 5: 19-21 New King James Version) “The works of flesh” destroy a human body and mind, they are harmful not only for the person who addicted to those evil deeds but for his or her close.
Nowadays we can give many examples of families that split up because of alcohol and drug addicted, murders in the state of a temporary insanity or wrath, broken hearts and feeling who love devotedly but are betrayed by their closest people.
God does not want it to be so. He gives their beloved children everything for good life on the earth and through the obedience to them people can live happily and be sure for the eternal life in heaven.
References
Fruit of the Spirit - Galatians 5:22 -Detailed Bible Study. (2014). Bible Knowledge. Retrieved
10 April 2016, from http://www.bible-knowledge.com/fruits-of-the-holy-spirit/
Holy Bible New King James Version. (1983) (2nd ed.). Nashville, Tennesse.
Matthew 14:16 - But Jesus said to them,. (2016). StudyLight.org. Retrieved 10 April 2016,
THE EIGHT BEATITUDES OF JESUS. (2016). Jesuschristsavior.net. Retrieved 10 April
2016, from http://www.jesuschristsavior.net/Beatitudes.html
What is the Golden Rule?. (2016). GotQuestions.org. Retrieved 10 April 2016, from
http://www.gotquestions.org/Golden-Rule.html
