REFLECTION

Whether in the context of religion or simply in the context of life, the idea of being “blessed” is usually linked to something desirable: a graduation, a wedding, a new job, a healed body. Rarely do we call someone blessed when they are in the middle of heartbreak, after a miscarriage, a house fire, a breakup, or the death of a loved one.

Sometimes, our conscious and subconscious pursuit is to only experience the circumstances and emotions that feel good or appear favorable. But Scripture often presents something far more layered.

In Deuteronomy 2:7, we see a complex example of God’s blessing: “The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.”

This blessing is twofold. There is provision—they lacked nothing. But there is also labor and wilderness. They were working. They were wandering. And still, they were blessed. Not because their circumstances were ideal, but because God was with them. His presence redefined their reality. His nearness transformed hardship into holy ground. The blessing was not just about what they had; it was about who they were becoming in the process. Their needs were met, but more than that, their hearts were being reshaped and their awareness of God was being deepened.

The Beatitudes follow this same pattern. In them, Jesus does not just redefine what blessing looks like; He redefines who is considered worthy of being blessed.

Before we go deeper into the Beatitudes, it is important to understand a few contextual details that help us grasp the weight of Christ’s words. The Beatitudes serve as the opening to the Sermon on the Mount, much like a thesis statement. This sermon, recorded in Matthew chapters 5 through 7, is widely considered Jesus’s first public teaching. In that sense, the Beatitudes are the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount, and the Sermon on the Mount is the introduction to Christ and His ministry. The words spoken in the Beatitudes set the tone for the entire sermon, and the words spoken in the sermon set the tone for the rest of Christ’s ministry on Earth. Another key detail is the demographic of the crowd. In Matthew 4:23–25, we learn that Jesus traveled to various cities, not just teaching in synagogues but healing those who were sick, paralyzed, and afflicted with diseases. Word spread, and large crowds began following him. These were likely the very people sitting at his feet during the Sermon on the Mount. The crowd was not made up of high-ranking officials, religious elites, or prominent synagogue leaders. Instead, it consisted of fishermen, farmers, the poor, the sick, and the spiritually curious or people who were often overlooked or outright dismissed by society. 

This was no accident. Jesus did not mistakenly deliver His first public message to the so-called ordinary and unimportant. His audience was part of the message. He intentionally chose this group to make it clear that His target was not just the healthy, wealthy, or religiously esteemed. He came for those who had been left out of the conversation. The people Jesus chose to address were not incidental; they were central. They were not only the recipients of healing and teaching but also meant to become conduits of the Gospel itself.

Christ’s message was as intentional as His audience. Jesus began his sermon by pronouncing blessings over people and circumstances that most would never consider blessed: the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and the persecuted.

His opening words were revolutionary. In a world where blessing was tied to power, prosperity, and status, Jesus redefined the narrative. He gave dignity to those who had been denied it. He affirmed the humanity of those who were hurting. For many on that mountainside, it may have been the first time they had ever been told they were seen—and not just seen, but blessed.

The Beatitudes were not just a new way to understand divine favor; they also challenged assumptions about who had access, not only to know Jesus but to show Jesus to the world. This sermon marked the beginning of a revolution, one that would follow Jesus throughout his entire ministry and ultimately lead him to the cross. Christ was not concerned with upholding the systems and traditions of the day. He came to lift up the very people those systems had left behind.