Ever think about why there are so many trilogies? Why three all the time? Why are there three Star Wars movies in each chunks? Why are there three Lord of the Rings books? What is it about that number that works? Well, I think it's a structure that has become very familiar for our narrative-consuming brains. And we expect that those trilogies are gonna kind of follow the rising and falling action rhythms and beats of basically what we got in the first Star Wars trilogy, right? We're gonna meet the hero, they're gonna discover their powers, they're gonna meet a mentor. We get into the second one, they're using their powers, they're going through internal turmoil trying to figure out what their new life is about and what they value and who they're going to be, maybe tempted by destructive things. It looks like we're moving toward a victory for the bad guys. And in the third installment, we see main characters overcome some of their internal problems, which enables them to work together to overcome external problems and good prevails. It's a rhythm that isn't just a familiar story beat, but it communicates truth, but it also offers an interpretive matrix for understanding the little details of the trilogy and the individual events and character decisions in the trilogy as we watch that unfold. Likewise, Sermon on the Mount, same exact deal. In fact, the Beatitudes, this first chunk of the Sermon on the Mount that we're looking at, same exact deal. So, what I want to do here is step back from the really deep dive, hang on every single beautifully crafted word approach that we've taken over the last whatever, 10 conversations. And I want to step way back out to the 10,000-foot level and see if there might be any interpretive clues when we consider the structure of the thing. Interestingly, and unsurprisingly, there are a few different theories on how the structure of the Beatitudes is best to be understood. Now we've talked about one of these a while back, but option number one for how to think of the structure of the Beatitudes would be the Ten Commandments structure, that somehow it mirrors the Ten Commandments. I think it requires some pretty intense shoehorning to make it work, but some have tried to make a case for each of these beatitudes corresponds to one or two of the Ten Commandments. And so this is kind of a uh Jesus New Testament new expression of the Ten Commandments, fulfillment or completion of the Ten Commandments. I suppose that could be the case. It is a really minority position, so I'm not going to spend much more time on it, but I wanted to acknowledge that there's some smart people who think that the Beatitudes are a New Testament Ten Commandments. A second way to consider the structure of the Beatitudes is as one progressive thought. I think you can make a little stronger case for this one. And I want to try to be really fair to it and lay out how people think about this. So let me just read to you the Beatitudes once again. This is the very, very opening shot from Jesus' first big public speech, The Sermon on the Mount, starting in Matthew chapter five. It goes like this Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they'll be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they'll inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they'll be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they'll be shown, for they will be shown mercy. I can do this. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they'll be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And then the next thought really dovetails with the persecuted because of righteousness thing, but we're just going to treat that chunk as the beatitudes proper for the time being. So the progressive thought would go like this one beatitude leads to the next beatitude, and it all kind of works together as the individual encounters the first of these, they get kind of put on a spiritual conveyor belt, and then the rest of these come into focus. It goes like this the poor in spirit recognize that they just don't have anything, that what they thought was valuable isn't valuable, that they're in a position of great need and there's nothing they can do about it, which too causes them to mourn, making them sad about the position that they're in and the pride that maybe they had before about thinking that they knew what they were doing, but now they don't, which then prompts them toward humility and meekness, understanding they know what it is to think they were right. They know what it is to think that they were rich and now they understand that they are none of those things, which then puts them in a position to hunger for that which is actually valuable, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to desperately, viscerally need something that actually is of value and that can meet their needs, which causes them upon receiving that righteousness that they hunger and thirst for, it causes them to say, I gotta give this away to other people. I was in a position where I needed mercy, I was poor in spirit, I mourned, I was humbled, I became hungry, God filled me, and that was an act of mercy. I've got to give that mercy away. So then they become merciful. And as a result, it consumes all of this person's thought. And then all they can do is focus on being an agent of this righteousness and this mercy. And so they become pure in heart, singular, focused on just one thing. And the result of that is that they're willing to wade into seemingly impossible situations, just like God waded into their seemingly impossible situation to bring about resolution, to make peace where it would seem that peace could not happen. If you wade into those kind of situations, even with this beautiful message of mercy, even after coming off this very natural, rational, honest continuum, you are still gonna get beat up for that because there are others who are all the way back before step one, who are in a place where they would say, I am not poor in spirit. I have everything that I need, and you coming at me like this is irritating. And the result is that you've got this one really neat continuum. You know what? Even though I don't think that is necessarily the best read on this passage, I can't write it off. And then sometimes we get in this place where we're like, oh, well, it's got to be this one thing or this one thing or this one thing. But I don't know. I mean, the document holds itself out as having been authored by a being who's unbound by time. So you, you know, all the time in the world, more than all the time in the world to structure this out amazingly. Maybe it does mean more than one thing. Let's consider option number three. So option number one is it's a new Ten Commandments. Option number two is that it's a procr uh progressive continuum of thought. Option number three is that the first half is one thing and the second half is another thing. So the first half is entirely about the relationship between the potential kingdom citizen and God, poor in spirit before God, mourning before God, meekness before God, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, wanting God to provide. And that then the second half is what people do in response to that horizontally with other people. So they become merciful, they become pure in heart with an eye toward others and life in this world, singularly devoted toward the things that are redemptive in the same way that that individual has received received redemption. Peacemakers, that's horizontal and persecuted. Obviously, that's not something that happens between people and God, that's something that happens between people and people. So this third case, I mean, you can't argue with it. It does seem to break down that way. Maybe it's a little bit of a stretch on pure in heart, but you know, I could see it. But then there's a fourth option that I want to talk about, and I do think this one is the strongest. This would be the rising and falling action structure. And ha! We're out of time. So, well, that's awkward. No, we're just gonna cover the fourth option for the possible structure of the Beatitudes tomorrow. And what I will say is this to tease it. I think this fourth structure, though maybe not quite as compelling to a modern audience like you and me, would have been the structure that the original audience would have naturally thought in. It would have been the rhythms and the beats that they were used to, the same way you're used to a trilogy. And so they would have had their antenna out for this. And I think it's most likely, given that we know who the audience was, that this one that we're gonna talk about tomorrow would have been what is really going on and what they were anticipating. Maybe it's just so genius that it's meant to resonate across all ages and to all different kinds of brains. I don't know, but it's fun to kick it around. So we're gonna do more of that tomorrow. As always, on the way out the door, I cannot possibly express my thanks enough to the people who support this program because I get to do this every day because of you. So gigantic internet high five to everybody who supports on patreon.com slash the tmbh podcast. And I got my other hand here for a gigantic high five for everybody who doesn't, because that is cool too. Looking forward to breaking down more on this structure stuff with the Beatitudes Maniana. I'm Matt. This is the 10-minute Bible hour podcast. Let's do it again soon.