Article December 4, 2006 Issue

'TRIUMPHANT SHOUTS OF BLISS'

BY BETH CAREY

JUST ABOUT every advertisement in the media offers another suggestion of how to find happiness: a sunny beach, a new car, the latest fashions. How about a cruise? We're bombarded with the idea that one more thing would make the difference—then we would be happy.

Look in the Bible, and you'll see Jesus took a completely different angle on happiness. He explained how to achieve this blessed state in the Beatitudes, which are essentially a set of promises about finding happiness—not through buying something, not by going somewhere, not at some future time or place, but right here and now. The New Testament states, "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). It's important to understand here that, while the Commandments and the Beatitudes complement each other, the Beatitudes are not an explanation or a repetition of the Commandments. Therefore, the Beatitudes are not moral laws to be obeyed, but promises of experiencing the kingdom of heaven, true happiness, right here on earth.

To get to the root of what Jesus was trying to teach with the Beatitudes, it's helpful to look at the language. While Jesus spoke in Aramaic, the Bible was written in Greek. The writers of Matthew and Luke open each of Jesus' Beatitudes with the Greek word makarios. One English translation of the word makarios is "blessed," although "happy," "how happy," and "how blest" are also equally legitimate translations.