In Matthew 5:1-12, Jesus opens the Sermon on the Mount with a series of blessings that turn our expectations upside down. Instead of praising the powerful, wealthy, and successful, He speaks favor over the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the mourners, and the persecuted.
In this teaching, we explore the Beatitudes and discover that God’s kingdom does not operate by cultural standards of success. Jesus invites us into a life of dependence, humility, mercy, righteousness, and peacemaking—a life lived against the grain, yet full of grace.
This passage challenges our assumptions and reorients our hearts toward a kingdom that is both now and still to come.
