Beatitudes, Matthew 5:8 Wall Art

The teacher and his listeners

Seated on a large boulder under an olive tree, Jesus leans slightly forward in a cream robe, blue cloak and rust-colored sash. His left hand rests on his knee and his right is lifted, palm up, in the middle of a sentence.

Around him about a dozen people sit or kneel in the grass: bearded fishermen in brown and green, a man in a round cap, women with head coverings in cream and soft blue. We see the front row from behind, which places us among them. Far off, a lake and a small town sit at the foot of blue hills. Above the scene: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God”.

What does “pure in heart” mean?

The Beatitudes open the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up the mountain and sat down, the usual posture of a teacher in his day, and his disciples came to him. He then gives eight sayings that begin with “Blessed”, each turning ordinary expectations upside down: the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek. Pure in heart is the sixth.

In the Bible the heart is not just the seat of feelings but of thought, will and choices. To be pure in heart is to be undivided, to want God without a hidden second agenda. Jesus is echoing Psalm 24, which asks who may stand in the LORD's holy place and answers: the one with clean hands and a pure heart.

The promise is the boldest in the list. Elsewhere Scripture says no one can see God and live; here seeing him is the reward. Christian tradition, East and West, has read it as a promise that reaches its fullness beyond this life.

For a church, a pastor or a confirmand

The teaching scene makes this a good fit for a pastor's study, a church hall or a classroom. It is also chosen as a confirmation gift, when young people are asked to make faith their own, and for anyone who likes to keep the Sermon on the Mount in sight.