The Blessing of the Beatitudes

Read them and let them read you.

We could take a day to spend on each beatitude. Or actually, even a week. They are deeply rich and their implications well worth consideration for a lifetime, let alone one day. Maybe in future year, we will take more time with the whole of the Sermon on the Mount.

For today, read them as slowly as you can and let them work.

Are the beatitudes prescriptive or descriptive? (Or both?)
Is Jesus describing the world as it already is—or the world as it should become?
Can they be attained or reached for?
Do we lean into the beatitudes?
Do we live out of them?

The beatitudes are, without a doubt, a challenge to the status quo and generally-held assumptions regarding the way the human experience works.

They are also a blessing. We can read them as such.

Matthew 5:2-12¹

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Psalm 34:17-18

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

Prayer

God,
Teach me the spirit of your Beatitudes, that I might walk humbly, love mercy, hunger for justice, and endure when life persecutes me because of your name.

Let these words not be distant ideals, but the ground for daily living: in how I speak, how I serve, how I suffer, and how I hope.

Shape me into a life marked by your kingdom—where the poor in spirit and the peacemakers truly find rest.

By your Spirit and in Christ’s name,
Amen.

1. Today’s gospel passage is shared from the NRSV.