The Beatitudes - turning us upside down
This
week in our gospel reading we begin a four week journey through the Sermon on
the Mount. This is Jesus’ first big block of teaching (there are five in
Matthew – mirroring the 5 books of the “Law of Moses”.) You would expect him to
begin telling his disciples a bit about who he is and what he is about. Instead
he begins by describing who is blessed, honoured, the most important people
they should aspire to. It is a pretty surprising list. It’s not the deeply
religious, the rich or powerful, nor the ones building great monuments to
themselves. Brian McLaren describes them as, “the poor and those in solidarity
with them; those who mourn…; the nonviolent…; those who hunger and thirst for
the common good and aren’t satisfied with the status quo; the merciful and compassionate;…
those who work for reconciliation and peace…”[1]
In
this short little teaching Jesus turns the normal status ladder upside down.
And he invites his disciples, you and me, sitting with him on that hill, to
base our identities and our understanding of success on these things. We are to
be among the non-conformists speaking from the edge.
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