For Theirs is the Kingdom
Elaine Poproski Download: Audio
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Scripture: Matthew 5:1-12
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. Read more…
Looking to Sunday
by Elaine Poproski
When you look around, who would you say is blessed? The person with a great house? The person who landed the job of their dreams? Maybe the couple with a great marriage and great kids? Or the friend whose cancer unexpectedly went into remission? Have you ever thought to yourself, “I feel so blessed,” or exclaimed, “What a blessing!”?
I remember a conversation with a man after a worship service at a different church one Sunday. He started by saying that the day before he’d had the best day ever; he felt so blessed. The thing that capped his blessed day? Someone gave him a free sandwich. I loved this conversation because of how extraordinarily excited and happy this man was over a free sandwich.
Dictionary.com defines a blessing as a special favour or gift bestowed by God, thereby bringing happiness. Merriam-Webster defines it as a thing conducive to happiness or welfare. The Greek word translated as blessed in the New Testament is also often translated as happy.
In Matthew’s gospel, the first of Jesus’ teaching we read is something called the Beatitudes, which is a word that comes from a 1,600-year-old, Latin translation of the Bible and means blessed are. It’s a list of statements that follow a simple formula: Blessed are the ______; for they will ______. You can read them all at Matthew 5:1-12, which is the passage of Scripture we’ll be reading together this Sunday.
Often the things Jesus taught were unexpected. They tend to be less unexpected to us, particularly if we’re familiar with the things he taught, but those hearing Jesus speak for the first time, the things Jesus taught are unexpected and often surprising. Here in Matthew 5, those Jesus lists as the blessed ones include those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. These aren’t the kind of people we normally identify as blessed. If we take a step back from our over-familiarity with the text, we’d probably agree that when we’re mourning, we don’t feel blessed; when we are desperate for some good in the world, we don’t feel blessed. But Jesus, sees things differently.
As you prepare for Sunday, perhaps take a bit of time to look at your own life. What are your blessings? How have you been blessed in the past? Is your understanding of a blessing consistent with the dictionary definitions above? Are there areas in your life in which you haven’t been blessed? What does that mean? Is there a word that captures what it is to not be blessed?