Blessed are you

A big church with eight windows can be found on a hilltop in Israel.

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The windows represent the eight beatitudes spoken by Jesus to the crowds as narrated in Matthew’s Gospel. In Luke’s version, only four beatitudes are included, but Luke adds four woes. There is no crowd reported in Luke’s version, except for Jesus’ group of disciples.

Most of Jesus’ disciples include the poor, the hungry, those who weep, and those excluded from the mainstream of society. Here, Jesus reaches out personally to his poor followers and describes to them the plight of a genuine disciple. In describing genuine discipleship as a life fraught with difficulties rather than an easy or comfortable life, Jesus succeeds in shocking his listeners. They are forced to think deeper and allow the Beatitudes to confront them. Jesus challenges his disciples about their understanding of the life of a disciple. What is God and his Kingdom all about? What endures unto life eternal?