All Saints (Observed): Gospel, Matthew 5:1-12                            

Matthew 5:1-12

“I want to be blessed so I try to follow those Beatitudes as best I can.” That is the approach that many take after encountering Jesus opening to the Sermon on the Mount for the first, or the four-hundredth time. But is that what Jesus is teaching?

Consider briefly: Jesus is painting a self-portrait with words. The Beatitudes are an amazing description of the Savior. And blessed indeed is He, and anyone who is in Him. So perhaps these are not instructions nearly as much as they are points of rejoicing at what we see both as we gaze at Jesus, and what we shall see in ourselves because He lives in us.

Just a thought to consider.