4th Sunday after Epiphany

Matthew 5:1-12

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.

There must have been many furrowed brows and puzzled looks

at Jesus preached the sermon on the mount, because Jesus

preached blessing to the apparently unblessed. The spiritually

bankrupt, the weepers, the peacemakers: by all outward

appearances, these were the outcasts, the back-of-the-line, and

the ones who weren’t living their best lives now. But Jesus says,

no declares them blessed.



Why? Because their lives are secretly virtuous? No. But because Jesus declares them to be

blessed. That’s how it works in the kingdom of God.