Matthew 4:23-5:12
As Jesus starts his famous Sermon on the Mount, he looks out on the crowds, and begins to announce blessing on all the broken and beat-down people of the world. In particular, he sees so many people carrying heavy stories of sadness — grievers, mourners, and the brokenhearted. Jesus doesn’t recoil from them, as if the weight of their grief is some sort of liability to be avoided. He doesn’t look past them to in hopes of finding more put-together and well-to-do people. He hasn’t come searching for people who have managed to avoid sadness, loss, and grief (as if that were possible!). Jesus looks right at brokenhearted people, with the full weight of their sadness, pain, loss, and makes a remarkable declaration: The Kingdom of God is for you! God’s deepest peace and his comforting presence — his free gift of salvation — is for you! And Jesus looks at us, with all our grief and pain, and says, I’m glad you are here, and your sorrows are welcome to come right in with you. Jesus invites us to feel and grieve our losses, to bring them to him for comfort, and to watch how he transforms them.
COMMUNITY DISCUSSION
1. What are some of the less than healthy ways you tend to handle your losses, sorrows, and grief?
2. In this Beatitude, Jesus invite us to an alternative way to engage our broken hearts. What does he offer?
3. What sadness or loss do you need to hand over to Jesus? What makes that challenging for you?
July 18, 2021 - Steve Hart