thought, ‘If you only knew what it was really like to be me.”? Sometimes

we look at people and think their lives are enviable, but it is likely

that stepping into their shoes would cause us to think differently.

Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount with what we call the Beatitudes.

And in these, He tells us who is ‘lucky’ – only He uses the word

“Blessed”. The genius of this opening to His sermon is that He attaches

types of people to this word that remains stunning to us even today.

What does Jesus mean when He deliberately calls people blessed who are

poor in spirit, who mourn, and who hunger and thirst? Maybe we are too

easily convinced that blessing is connected to those who are rich, those

who laugh, and those who get to overeat. Whatever He means, it becomes

clear very quickly that the kinds of people invited into the kingdom are

very different from what His audience expects.

Topics:The Beatitudes