In this series we are considering the Beatitudes in detail. Beatitudes is the name given to the eight or nine statements of blessing found at the start of the Sermon on the Mount. The first nine verses of this sermon all begin with the word, “Blessed”. Jesus begins, not simply by conferring blessing, but by defining what it is to be blessed.
This style of teaching was not uncommon to the Jews, and so, as we read the Beatitudes, we are supposed to be drawn to the surprising and counter-intuitive list of things he declares to be blessings.