The Blessed

Here we see Jesus begin His famous Sermon on the Mount. He begins His introduction with a series of paradoxical statements, famously known as the beatitudes. While many have thought this is a sermon on ethics, it is a sermon on salvation. It is a declaration of who is in His kingdom and who is not. In these four statements (or beatitudes) Jesus gives us an opportunity to self-reflect. They are four marks of a converted soul. Are we of Him and among the blessed, or are we not of Him and among the cursed? This is the question He wants His audience to wrestle with, and it is His question to us. These are the indicators of a redeemed heart, and therefore, who is blessed.