A common perception about our faith and discipleship in the modern church is the idea that when we experience smooth sailing in our life, it means we are ‘blessed’. This notion that God’s favor is somehow inextricably linked to the state of our life is a misconception that people of faith have held for millennia…Unfortunately, it inevitably led to the marginalization of and othering of people who experienced all manner of challenges to their lives. Jesus’ work of healing and restoration of persons who through illness or disability were pushed out of the community to keep their ‘sin’ at a distance. Through the healing work, he restored these persons.

We need to revisit this important distinction as we consider Jesus’ teaching piece we refer to as the Beatitudes. This teaching is a series of statements that begin with the statement “Blessed are the…” In common interpretation we default to making them conditional statements: We will have good lives if we live like Jesus teaches. In fact, this teaching doesn’t really concern itself with the ‘happiness’ of our life. Jesus, instead, is making a statement about geography. It is a statement about where we are, physically and spiritually, in relationship to God and one another. The Beatitudes are all about the character of our relationships. What Jesus is saying is more along the lines of “you’re in the right place if you choose to…”