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There are times when it seems like Jesus doesn’t really know what he’s talking about.  Perhaps that is true nowhere else than in these verses that we call the Beatitudes.  They are blessings.  They are about happiness.  It’s just that Jesus applies them to those who we don’t normally think of as happy or blessed. 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, Jesus says.  But the world around us says, “Don’t bother me with your problems.  I have enough of my own.  Keep them to yourself.  Sweep them under the rug.”  The poor in spirit seem more ignored these days than inheriting anything. 

Blessed are those who mourn, Jesus says.  But the world around us hides death at every turn.  From plastic surgery to the location of nursing homes, the world tries to keep mourning out of sight and out of mind as much as possible.   

Blessed are the meek, Jesus says.  But the world around us is always encourages us to cut in line and take without asking.  Not only does the early bird get the worm, but the bird with the biggest beak always seems to get the biggest worm.  The meek are overlooked than they are lifted up. 

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for what’s right, Jesus says.  But the world around us is so slow to deliver.  There are always excuses for delays.  The timing is not right.  We’re trying to find the best solution.  We don’t want to offend anyone.  Those who hunger often faint before they are filled. 

Blessed are the merciful, Jesus says.  But the world around us say that if someone offends or if someone harms payback is the right answer.  Sue them.  Get what’s coming to you.  Otherwise people will walk all over you. 

Blessed are the pure in heart, Jesus says.  But the world around us doesn’t pay for purity.  Sex sells.  Violence sells.  Scandal sells.  Obscenity sells.  The pure in heart?  Well, save that for Sunday school. 

Blessed are the peacemakers, Jesus says.  But the world around us says that might makes right.  Kill or be killed.  Strike first and strike hard.  The peacemakers are passed off as dreamers. 

The obvious problem with these beatitudes of Jesus is that they just don’t seem to make sense in our world today.  Or, any day for that matter.  Since the time that Jesus spoke them, little seems to have changed.  Blessed the happy, maybe.  Blessed are the proud, perhaps.  Blessed are the profit-seeking, understandable.  But the people that Jesus calls blessed hardly seem to be that in any way that we could recognize.  What does Jesus mean with all of these beatitudes?  Who could he be talking about? 

Well, he could be talking about someone like Moses alone, afraid, and ashamed in the wilderness.  He had moved onto a different life apart from his people and apart from his God.  He was certainly poor in spirit.  It was just at that moment that God showed up, that God sent, and that God saved.  Though he never walked in the Promised Land, Moses saw his inheritance before he died.  

Or, Jesus could be talking about Naomi and Ruth who mourned together at the loss of their husbands.  They should great compassion and generosity toward one another, but, as widows, their circumstance left them without much comfort.  It’s just at that moment that God comes to them through one of his people.  Ruth and Naomi find comfort in the faithfulness of one of God’s people. 

Jesus could also be talking about Esther.  She was an orphan.  As a young girl she always obeyed the rules.  She didn’t have much choice really.  Still, she became queen in a foreign land.  Despite her humble beginnings, God used this young girl to save his people from a plot to destroy them.   

The prophet Elijah might be someone that Jesus was talking about as well.  Elijah just wanted what was right for his people.  Elijah just wanted his people to do what was right.  Despite his power, despite his proclamation the people would not listen.  Elijah was alone on the mountain when God spoke out of the silence.  Elijah would be filled soon after. 

Jesus could also have been talking about someone like David.  Though he was anointed king, he was often on the run.  More than once Saul sought his head.  More than once David had the chance to turn the tables.  Not once, but twice David showed mercy to Saul and spared Saul’s life.  When the time came God would show mercy to David as well. 

As Jesus spoke the beatitudes, he might have been thinking of Moses as well.  Even though the whole world was filled with violence, there was still Noah.  Even though the multitudes were wicked, God still saw the one who was not and found favor with him.  God remembered Noah’s heart and saved him from the flood. 

Jesus might have been thinking about Solomon as well, whose very name means peaceful; to whom God gave the wisdom to settle disputes between mothers and between nations.   

Jesus could have been thinking of any one of these people or all of them as he began his sermon with those blessings.  Those of us who have grown up in church and heard their stories know their names well.  We know their blessings as well as their faults and failures.  The reason we would consider them blessed is not because they are heroes in themselves.  They aren’t renowned simply for their own skill and desire.  They are known in Scripture because God made them known, because God was present with them, because God blessed them.  It was God’s blessing that made all the difference in their lives.  That difference is the only way that the message of the Beatitudes makes any sense. 

The beatitudes don’t make sense in the world as it is where only the strong survive and the rich have power and the famous have a voice.  The Beatitudes only makes sense if this world is somehow changing.  That is precisely what Jesus meant when he went about preaching the good news of the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus proclaimed the good news of the kingdom which meant that God would be present in a way not seen in quite some time.  Where God’s kingdom was present, God was present.  Where God was present, the poor inherit, the mourning are comforted, and the meek inherit as well.  Where God is present the hungry are filled, the merciful receive mercy, and the pure in heart see God.  Where God’s kingdom comes, the peacemakers are called God’s children.  There is blessing in God’s kingdom. 

As Christians, we believe that God’s kingdom has come in Jesus Christ.  He has brought about what God always intended through the law and the prophets.  He reminded God’s people of something that they had forgot: that blessing comes from God and not from their own wisdom and might.  We believe that Jesus came to bring God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven and that those who enter that kingdom will be blessed.  That’s a good and happy thing. 

It’s a good and happy thing to be blessed, but it would be best if we know what we’re saying and what we’re not.  One danger is to think that being blessed is something that will happen only in the future.  As if Jesus said, the poor in spirit, the meek will be blessed, but only when they get to heaven.  Yes, there is a reward in heaven, but we know that Jesus said that the merciful and the pure in heart are blessed already.  God’s blessing is present where God is present and God is present here.   

The other danger is to think that being blessed means receiving each and every of our hearts desires.  But Jesus didn’t say that those who are blessed would get whatever they wanted.  The merciful don’t get to see the wrongdoers receive their due, they receive mercy.  The peacemakers aren’t promised safety, they’re promised recognition by God.  God is not a divine butler or eternal ATM, but God is faithful and just.  To be blessed is to know that God is present.  To be blessed is to know God as a refuge and a strength, a very present help in times of trouble.  Jesus was blessed. 

At one time or another in Jesus’ life and ministry we see these beatitudes come to life in his life.  When Jesus began his life meekly in a manger, like Esther.  When Jesus looked down on Jerusalem and saw how they had forgotten God he mourned, like Naomi and Ruth.  When he overturned the tables in the temple it was only because he hungered for what was right, like Elijah.  When Jesus put Peter’s sword in the Garden of Gethsemene he was a peacemaker, like Solomon.  His spirit was poor as he hung on the cross feeling forsaken by God, like Moses.  Still, Jesus was merciful as he asked God to forgive those who had persecuted him so brutally, like David.   

So, it turns out that Jesus knew what he was talking about.  Jesus himself lived this life of blessing and it probably didn’t hurt that he had stories of blessing from his tradition to turn to and to lean on.  The announcement about God’s kingdom is good news because it means that those whose blessing is so often withheld or stolen will finally receive their due.  God’s kingdom is a new world with new rules and it’s all made possible because God is present there.  God’s kingdom is the kind of place where it’s o.k. to be broken, where those who mourn find comfort, where the meek are noticed.  God’s kingdom is the kind of place where those who hunger for what is right finally get a taste, where the peacemakers are honored, and where the pure in heart are congratulated.  The kingdom of God is a place of great blessing. 

The question is, how do we get to that place?  Well, that’s what the next few weeks are about.  Jesus lays it out in the rest of his sermon.  Many of you heard the whole thing last week, so you already know that its call and its commands are easy ones to hear.  They don’t make a lot of sense in our world.  That’s why it’s important to remember these words the rest of they way through.  There is a new world that has broken into ours.  Jesus is its king and God is present there.  Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarded its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.  Amen.