Hey Bible Readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

This three chapter section is called the sermon on the Mount and it's the most famous

sermon Jesus preached. It is meaty. I'm not going to recap every detail. I'm just going to lean

into some things that might help with

grasping deeper meanings or themes. Let's get to it. Jesus sits down on the

rolling hillside around the sea of Galilee surrounded by his disciples and

teaches them what life in the upside-down kingdom of God looks like.

The launching point of the sermon is a list of eight blessings granted to God's people,

except much of what he says doesn't sound like blessing at all.

Lots of scholars believe these 8 beatitudes at the start of Chapter 5 are actually not just a list.

They're cumulative, like a building he's constructing,

and that this first blessing is the foundation of everything else he says in the sermon.

Here's why. It all starts out with poverty of spirit. It all starts with recognizing that we're spiritually poor.

We have nothing to offer God. no reason for him to choose us or love us.

And if we want to get really honest about it, we aren't just empty-handed. We don't show up with zero. We're in debt. And God says that's the starting point. Can you see how this idea stands in stark contrast to the attitude of the Pharisees who think they're nailing it? Can you see why their attitude is an affront to God? They're waiting for

everyone else to take note and catch up. But Jesus tells his followers that

the foundation for life in the kingdom is recognizing your desperate need for God.

And if these postures and blessings are in fact cumulative,

here's what that might look like.

When we realize our spiritual poverty, we will mourn it, and that will produce a meekness in us as we engage the world.

And by the way, meekness isn't weakness.

It's having the wisdom and discipline to restrain your strength while you seek the good of others.

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