Beauty and Meditating on the Beatitudes

As part of a series of posts on the book, Beauty Will Save the World, by Brian Zahnd, I plan to go through the eight declarations of the kingdom lifestyle that we call the "beatitudes", the opening part of Jesus' sermon on the mount in Matthew 5.

In the previous post (here) I looked at the final chapter of this book in which Zahnd says that "the Beatitudes are deliberately designed to shock us...They do not yield their treasures to the casual inquirer. They require thought, reflection, and meditation. The wisdom of the Beatitudes will only dawn on us slowly. We have much to learn and just as much to unlearn..."

Some weeks ago I started meditating on the Beatitudes, taking one per week. I've done this by reading that particular beatitude afresh in the morning, praying/asking about it and making the effort to let it sink in with the Spirit's help. And I ask the Lord to remind me of it during the day and to help me know what it looks like to live it out that day. (By the way, this initial reading and praying about it doesn't have to take a long time.) As I've been doing this, as well as reading what Brian Zahnd shares in his book about the Beatitudes, I'm increasingly aware of how counter-intuitive and counter-cultural they really are and of how much I really have been "raised on the received text of a superpower."

So my prayer for myself and us as Jesus' body is that I/we be formed increasingly by His mindset to value things and people in His way.

As an introduction to the posts to follow, in this post I'm writing out Brian Zahnd's paraphrasing of the eight Beatitudes. Keep in mind that Zahnd's main point in writing about the Beatitudes is that they present the way that Jesus intends His people to reflect His beauty in this world: 

Blessed are those who are poor at being spiritual,

For the kingdom of heaven is well-suited for ordinary people.

Blessed are the depressed who mourn and grieve,

For they create space to encounter comfort from another.

Blessed are the quiet and content, the humble and unassuming, 
the gentle and trusting who are not grasping and clutching,

For God will personally guarantee their share 
when heaven and earth become one.

Blessed are those who ache for the world to be made right,

For them the government of God is a dream come true.

                                                  

Blessed are those who give mercy,

For they will get it back when they need it most.

Blessed are those who have a clean window into their soul,

For they will perceive God when and where others don’t.

Blessed are the peaceful bridge builders in a war-torn world,

For they are God’s children working in the family business.

 

Blessed are those who are mocked and misunderstood for the right reasons,

                For the kingdom of heaven comes to earth amidst much persecution.