One of the things you cannot escape these days is advertising. It’s on our TV’s newspapers, online news feeds and is even slipped into our subconscious thoughts through product placement. Most adverts follow a similar line of thought, that you are fortunate if you use this product. Or, alternatively, if you don’t use this product, look at how fortunate those who do use this product are. You are given a glimpse of how good life is for people who have this thing and you want some of that for yourself. By giving you this glimpse into life on the inside, you realise you are on the outside and you want to change this state of affairs. Readers of Matthew’s gospel will find this strategy somewhat familiar.

Jesus is beginning to teach the disciples about what life is meant to be like through His sermon on the Mount. He begins by outlining nine characteristics that we have come to know as “The Beatitudes” (and no, there’s not one about cheesemakers). They follow this familiar pattern that those who live in a certain way are blessed. We have come to think of them as a checklist of behaviours we must exhibit in order to gain entry to heaven but I’m not sure this was Jesus intention. He uses the present tense meaning that there are some who are already doing these things who are already seen by God as blessed. When we look at His own life, we see Jesus readily exhibiting all these characteristics and He is one we would think of as blessed from the beginning.

I think what Jesus is saying is that those who already live a kingdom life already exhibit these things and as such are already blessed. It’s not that we have to do these things to become accepted by God, or blessed, but rather because we have been accepted by God, or blessed, we will do these things. If we have a heart for Jesus we will hunger and thirst for righteousness, we will mourn injustice, we will actively work for peace and so on. When we see how Jesus lives, we see that these characteristics are the evidence of this way of life. We are blessed because we see how life is meant to be and we long for it ourselves. We are blessed because we don’t simply accept the way things are, we long for all to see this new reality. We accept this new way of life and start living it through the power of the Holy Spirit. Through our lives, we show others this same thing so they can also see how life is meant to be and long for it as well.

(Image from Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” and their unique take on the Sermon on the Mount)