In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls us to live a life that is radically different than that of the rest of the world, resulting on one reaction: persecution. It is when we are persecuted for our faith that Jesus calls us blessed.
We live in a world that often seeks to address conflict through peacekeeping; that is through avoiding conflict at all costs. Jesus calls us to be more. He calls us to be peacemakers; that is to be a person that seeks a resolution to conflict, both between God and man and among mankind itself, through a ministry of reconciliation.
One of the most difficult challenges for the believer is serving an invisible God. Despite God being invisible, Jesus promises, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”. Here Jesus tells us how we can see the invisible God.
A true heart response to God results in a heart in action. Jesus continues his Sermon on the Mount by declaring, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” His call for us is to reflect God’s mercy in Christ to all those we meet in an often merciless world.
We are what we eat, and we eat that for which we have an appetite. Although this axiom refers to food and our physical bodies, it is also true of our souls. Jesus makes this point in the Sermon on the Mount when he declares “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”