The present Blog Post is an unusual one for me.
Jesus's Sermon on the Mount is one of the most well-known parts of scripture, and is, for that very reason, apt to be overlooked. Familiarity, as they say, breeds contempt. The Beatitudes are a striking case in point, for they invert our whole ordinary way of looking at the world, and yet they have become so familiar to us that we seldom take in their meaning
In my own reading of Matthew 5:1-11, I resolved upon a little exercise and inverted the blessings into curses. Where the text says "Blessed are the Merciful," I wrote down "Cursed are the Unmerciful." This naturally required a bit of interpretation, and I tried to write out my own versions colloquially, but I invite you to take this little journey with me and consider what these teachings might mean for us today.
1. Cursed are the proud. They are not members of God’s Kingdom.
2. Cursed are those who are happy in the present world system. They will not be happy in the world system that is coming.
3. Cursed are the go-getters, for they shall get nothing.
4. Cursed are those who are satisfied with their current level of righteousness. That’s as far as they’ll get, and it’s not that far.
5. Cursed are the unmerciful, for God will be unmerciful toward them.
6. Cursed are those with mixed motives. They will not see God present and active in their life.
7. Cursed are those who stir up fighting. They are not God’s children, but children of the Devil.
8. Cursed are those who get through this life without ever having had to suffer for doing right. They are not members of God’s Kingdom.
9. Cursed are those who get through this life without ever having to suffer for following Jesus. They are not members of God’s Kingdom either.
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