Reading 6
Blessed are
The reading
Matthew 5:1-12
Seeing the multitudes, he went up onto the mountain. When he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He opened his mouth and taught them, saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
The companions
Psalm 1 (selected)
Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the LORD’s law. On his law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper. The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.
Isaiah 61:1-3 (selected)
The Lord GOD’s Spirit is on me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor; to comfort all who mourn; to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
The note
Read it as a list, because that is what it is, and then notice what kind of list. Every ranking you appear on rewards something you did. This one names conditions almost nobody would choose: grief, poverty of spirit, being hounded for doing the right thing.
He does not say these people will be fine eventually, as consolation. He says blessed are, present tense, now, about people still in the middle of it. The comfort is coming. The standing is already here.
The last one changes person. It stops saying they and starts saying you. Blessed are you when people reproach you and lie about you.
That is not a category any more. That is the crowd on the hill, who had already had it happen.
Nothing here is a strategy. You cannot pursue mourning in order to be comforted. It is a list of who already counts, read out to people who had been told their whole lives that they did not.
This week
Find the ranking you check most often. Sales figures, engagement, a support queue, a leaderboard, a class list. Look at the bottom of it, the rows nobody reads. Then find out one true thing about one of them.
Where they are, what went wrong, what they were trying to do. Not to fix it and not to report it. Just so that the bottom of the list stops being a number to you for the rest of the week.
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (public domain). The divine name is rendered “the LORD” and “the Lord GOD” in the companions.
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