One translator suggests that the best way to understand these verses is by imagining Jesus saying, “The good life belongs to the ones who mourn…”
It is hard to understand why Jesus would say that life is good for the people who are unimportant and overlooked and oppressed. I can understand why he would say that God loves those people, or why he might promise God’s justice to them in the end, or why he might express compassion for their plight.
But why would he say that their experience, here and now, is a good one, one that embodies the way of blessing, one that points to the realm of God?
My desire to return to a sweaty campsite, surrounded by people who have experienced all the rejections and sorrows this world has to offer, has helped me to better understand Jesus’ message.
- I want to be at camp because there’s an honesty, humility, and hopefulness embodied within the community.
- I want to be there because it connects me to a deeper reality than my everyday existence.
- I want to be there because I experience what Jesus describes when he says that the kingdom of God has come among us.
- I want to be there because it is a place where social dividing lines start to disappear, where status ceases to function as currency, where everyone is lifted up.
I listened to a great conversation between Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and social-scientist Adam Grant this week, and I was so taken by Grant’s answer when Dr. Murthy asked him how he defines success. Grant said:
“I used to think it was achieving goals. Now I see it as living values.”
The Beatitudes, and the Sermon on the Mount, are Jesus’ way to live the values of love and joy and peace and kindness. For me, a week at Hope Heals is a chance to live those values too.
Jesus’ Beatitudes describe the people who are overlooked and unappreciated and ignored. And then he says:
“You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world.”
I didn’t connect the dots until very recently. The meek, the poor in spirit, the mourning, the persecuted. They are the ones who shine light into dark places. They are the ones who change the world. We—and even the broken and hurting parts of us—are invited to be God’s people on this earth, living out a spiritual reality that, in the words of U2 “has to be believed to be seen.”
Most of you who are reading this message won’t be joining me at camp this year (though I hope you’ll check out Hope Heals and consider coming next July). But all of us can participate in the spiritual reality Jesus proclaims. Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Enterprises and author of Tattoos on the Heart, says that the Beatitudes are not so much a spirituality as they are a geography. They are words that “tell us where to stand.”
Next week, at Hope Heals Camp, it will be easier than usual for me to stand in my own poverty of spirit and meekness. It will be easier for me to stand with those who mourn and those who hunger for righteousness. But for all of us, in our day to day lives, that’s the invitation…
To stand in the places of hurt and sorrow.
To stay with the parts of ourselves and the parts of those around us who need to be comforted, who cry out for mercy.
To imagine Jesus pronouncing a word of blessing on the ones who you most want to ignore.
To wonder whether there is peace and joy and love for you if, instead of walking away, you enter in.
`When our daughter Penny was born and diagnosed with Down syndrome, our imagination was shaped solely by fear. But over the past 18 years—through other parents, doctors, therapists, friends, and our faith—our imagination has instead been shaped by possibility. I want to share what I’ve learned with you!
I offered the first live, virtual workshop in May, and the response was so encouraging that we’ve been working behind the scenes to make this workshop available to more people!
- Workshop (live, virtual) – Next cohort begins on September 18
- Online Course (self-paced)
- Video Teaching (group use)
I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment.
Read more posts like this over on my Substack.
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