A Blessing

Are you feeling blessed right now?

​No, seriously, I really want to know. a lot of us are really pissed off right now, angry at the system we've allowed to be put in place in our country. I get your frustration. I am in that category. 

But do you feeling blessed? It sounds like such a silly question considering the loss of lives, the wilful destruction of families and communities, and the economic instability we are facing.

​Yes, I might sound like a silly question. And yes, it might not be the right time to ask. But still I am wondering who among us is feeling blessed?

I'll begin. I feel blessed simply because I woke up this morning on the right side of the grass. I’m blessed to have a heartbeat. And knees that worked well enough to get me out of bed. 

I also feel blessed because I  have a loving wife and family. Blessed to have a community like this to lean on when times get tough.

But having grown up in the south, blessings were everywhere. On t-shirts, wall art, and in the lips of nearly everyone who wore pantyhose. Even as a young child I knew that if someone's mother or memaw said to me, "Well bless your little heart," I was not to take that blessing at face value. 

Despite the fact that the word has become a cliché - bedazzled on oversized sweatshirts, brightly printed on oversize Hydro Flasks and coffee mugs, and proudly framed and hung on walls across America - I still feel blessed.

All I had to do was to take a quick inventory of all the stuff in in my life that  I often take for granted so see them:
 
Clean towels, fresh coffee, food that’s safe to eat. Then there's the extra pairs of socks in my drawer, soft toilet paper on the roll, shampoo, soap, and warm water. There is  ice in the freezer, salt on the table, dish soap, Band-Aids, toothpaste, my glasses. I even have the loyalty of a great dog.

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

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven . . . .
              The Beatitudes, Matthew 5:3-12

You might feel blessed to have a job right now, or a little money in the bank. Maybe you feel blessed to have a car that starts when you want it to. A full tummy, or heat in your home, or heck, just a roof over your head.
 
I overheard a guy in the park tell someone, “I didn’t know I was poor until I had socks that didn’t fit.”

Can poverty be a blessing? What about being persecuted unjustly?  Or having the world as you know it turned upside down?
 
Jesus seems to think so.

​No matter what you’re going through, how tough this moment might seem, Jesus says you’re blessed.

Leave up to him, to reorient the way we see and describe blessings, but to also show us how to truly embody them no matter how they appear to others. And it all begins on the side of a mountain, where Jesus takes his new students to teach them a new way to see themselves and the world around them.
 
The Sermon on the Mount, as it's commonly referred to, is a masterclass in how to live a good life. But before Jesus gets into it, he sets the rhythm of the Kingdom of Heaven by blessing those who are there. 
 
This introduction is called The Beatitudes, a word that comes from the Latin beatus—meaning blessed or deeply well. Yet, these words are more than just being happy or having good fortune. Jesus uses them to describe a way of life rooted in God’s belonging and grace. This is the kingdom he has ushered in (Matthew 4:17).
 
Still, they’re not the kind of blessings we’re used to. They’re not given to the rich and powerful. Or handed to those who are successful and admired. Sorry, not sorry. 

Jesus speaks these blessings over the poor, the grieving, the hungry, the merciful.

Jesus sees those the world overlooks and ignores, and then blesses them. From his lips to their ears, they discover that they belong in this heavenly kingdom. He’s also nodding to us, to let us know that we’ll always find God hiding out not at the center of power but with the one’s abused by it.
 
This was good news for those who have gathered there. For the first time, someone with real authority is looking them in the eye and saying,  “I see you. I bless you.” 
 
Not one day, but now. He tells them you are a child of God, now. You will receive mercy and be filled, now. The kingdom of heaven is yours now. Nadia Bolz-Weber beautifully describes the scene with Jesus “extravagantly throwing around blessings as though they grew on trees.”
 
And again, these blessing are hitting those considered nobodies to the rich and powerful. Folks who knew they were small cogs inside a big system. They’re used to being unseen, stretched thin, living in uncertainty. And now, this new Rabbi says, “You will inherit the earth.”
 
That was probably hard to swallow, simply because being poor, gentle, or meek doesn’t get you very far in a competitive culture that believes winning is proof God loves you more.

But Jesus—who sees the world with God’s eyes and loves others with God’s heart—breaks that paradigm. And blesses those who don’t make it to the top of the ladder.
 
Remember, Jesus did not come to create a new religion. He came to us, to awaken us to a new way of seeing everything. Especially how we see ourselves. His words to give us hope, just as they did on that mountainside.
 
While we’ve been trained to associate blessings with strength, success, certainty, and control, Jesus reorients our focus—pointing to another direction. He says you are blessed because you are stripped of power. You are blessed not because you know everything. But because you are gentle. And hunger for something more than what the world offers.

As Eugene Peterson translates this in the Message, “You are blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there’s more of God.”
 
The beatitudes awaken us to see God in our lives, in both the suffering and in the joy. This isn’t to say suffering is good. Jesus is saying, you’re blessed because God refuses to abandon you there.

This is the hope-filled promise of our faith. God isn’t waiting for us to get through our mess. Instead God’s in it with us—blessing us right in the middle of it. To paraphrase Barbara Brown Taylor, this is “where God works without applause.”
 
As we look around at all that is happening on our streets and all over the world, it’s hard to believe this mess is blessed. And yet Jesus insists that it is. Seeing that you’re a part of this world, officially makes you a participant in this blessing. You are a beatitude all because God loves you. 

But here's something to consider. Jesus blesses you not to make you better than everyone else. Jesus offers us his blessings, so we will go out into the streets of our communities and be a blessing to others. This is how "thy kingdom comes, thy will be done" happens. 
 
Immediately following the beatitudes, Jesus begins to teach us how to participate in the kingdom of heaven right now. Be the salt and the light. Turn the other cheek. Go the extra mile. Uphold the heart of the laws, and not merely the letter of them.

​You see, his blessings aren’t about possession. They’re about taking a posture, in the way you love God, love others, and serve both. This is how the kingdom comes alive in real ways, in real time.
 
I hope this speaks to your heart. Because most of us are carrying more than we let on.  We've got anxiety about money. Our relationships are being strained by politics and ethics. The shear exhaustion of trying to stay human in systems that reward our numbness.
 
Jesus still turns our world  upside down. He offers us a kingdom where God stands on the side of compassion, with those who still feel deeply for their neighbors; with those who refuse to give up on love, even when love feels costly.
 
In these nine blessings, Jesus reveals a kingdom where grace is not rationed but scattered—like seed flung wide across every kind of soil, without fear of waste or loss or who is worthy to receive it.

“Grace isn’t about being worthy. It’s about being included.” (Bolz-Weber) That’s what these beatitudes do, they include those who have never been blessed.
 
The kingdom of heaven has come near, and it’s for everyone and anyone who wants it. That’s the promise of God who sees your true worth beyond money, status, or achievement. A God who comes to us, in whatever state we’re in, to meet us in the richness of love.
 
Jesus shows how love is the way God’s Kingdom breaks into the world and flips the script we’ve written for ourselves. A Kingdom where the last are first. The hungry are fed. The merciful receive mercy.
 
The world powers push back on this notion. They try to silence us, and tell us to comply.

It's here, as you move through this world in the name of Christ, where these blessings Jesus throws at you hit our heart, that we must remember they don’t stop with you and me. They spread through us. They’re meant to be shared—scattered like seeds.
 
So whenever someone chooses mercy over might, love can take root. Whenever someone stays in a hard conversation instead of walking away, love can grow bigger. Whenever grief opens a heart instead of closing it, … more love begins to bloom.
 
So this week, don’t ask whether you’re blessed. Ask Jesus to show where you can be a blessing. At work. With a friend. In the quiet courage of choosing compassion and mercy, even when no one is watching.

Better yet, look where Jesus is blessing the world—and step there. Because wherever he stands, the kingdom of heaven comes near.


Work Cited:
Adapted from How Blessed Are We (Really) by Ian Macdonald on Feb 5, 2023.
Bartlett, David. L. and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 4 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011).
Bolz-Weber, Nadia. Accidental Saints: Finding God In All The Wrong People. (New York: Convergent, 2015).
Macdonald, Ian. $h!t Jesus Says: Reclaiming Love in the Kingdom of Heaven. (New York: Apocryphile Press, 2025)