By enduring persecution for their faith, Jesus’s followers join the long company of God’s prophets who were similarly persecuted, “from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah” (Matt. 23:35).
There is no true, lasting peace apart from the cross of Christ. Ever since the fall, humans are alienated from God and stand in desperate need of reconciliation with their Creator. This reconciliation, Christ accomplished by dying on the cross in our place.
Who can say he is pure in heart? Looking ourselves in the mirror, we find that we are sinners in need of forgiveness and cleansing. As Paul writes after lengthy demonstration, we “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). We were created in God’s image and likeness and called to reflect his glory.
Mercy presupposes knowing what it is like to be in a position of weakness. Jesus experienced the frailty of being human: “he had to be made like them, fully human in every way.” While being free from sin, Jesus could empathize with sinful humanity’s frailty and vulnerability to temptation.
Perhaps the most surprising and countercultural of all the Beatitudes is the third (not included in Luke’s version): “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5; cf. Psalm 37:11). What does “meek” even mean?
Both mourning and rejoicing are a normal part of life. As the wise Preacher wrote, there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Eccl. 3:4). Similarly, the apostle Paul writes, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15).