When are we “blessed”?

Blessed are the poor in spirit.  Blessed are those in mourning.  Blessed are those who are persecuted.  Really?  These are positions to be favored?  Even desired? This is crazy talk!

I have been led to begin a new sermon series in August on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  It covers three chapters of Matthew’s gospel (chs. 5-7) which contains Jesus’ words to a people who are out of sync with their political and religious authorities.  Jesus comes to give a way of life that is truly counter cultural.

Consider what Warren Carter says about this first word (blessed) of Jesus’ most famous speech:

Beatitudes express God’s blessing, God’s favor on situations and actions.  That word translated “blessed” has the sense – “God is pleased with, God is pleased when, God’s favor rests on… Esteemed are… Honored are.”  Beatitudes focus on present situations, declare God’s blessings, and promise and anticipate a future transformation connected to how followers live in the present.  That first word meaning ”blessed” or “honored” is a plural term, not a singular.  These beatitudes are directed to groups, to communities, not to individuals.  They concern communal practices much more than they do individual qualities.

I’ll be honest.  All of Jesus’ teaching is pretty radical in these chapters.   Praying for enemies, chopping sinful hands, pulling planks from eyes.  It all seems like pretty wild stuff.  But there is something radical about it which is part of being a community whole-heartedly sold out to Jesus alone.  In what other way could any of this make any sense?

I’m wading into this with fresh eyes and open heart.  How does a community of Jesus followers live today?  Living today in the context of a technological, debt-ridden, war producing, ultra competitive, God-disenfranchised society? (Yes, I could have used even more adjectives).

It is the truest heart of every Jesus follower, “Teach me your way and live within me to do it.”