Jesus When the Church HurtsSample

Have you ever struggled to consider yourself actually blessed? Like you could count your blessings all day long and find yourself with a long, long list - but there’s still this feeling of pain and disappointment when you look at your life?

If that’s the case, you’re not alone. It’s so hard to focus on God’s provision in one aspect of your life when things are seemingly caving in all around you in other areas.

But to Jesus, blessing wasn’t just material. In fact, blessing to Him looked incredibly different, incredibly unique, incredibly counter-cultural. Yet, in our cultural moment, and sometimes because of well-meaning Christians, we have come to believe that we should be ashamed for not recognizing our own blessings.

There is some truth in this; that we are called to be a people who are marked by our love and contentment in Christ. However, there is no room for shame inside the Kingdom of Heaven. And more than that, Jesus is willing to sit with us in our sadness and our frustration over what we feel like we are lacking.

At the beginning of the most famous sermon of all time, Jesus’ “Sermon On The Mount”, He begins with something that we call “The Beatitudes”. This is where He says, “Blessed are those who ___” and continues on with declarations of those blessed in His Kingdom. The word used at the beginning of each line in Matthew 5 is “μακάριος” or makarios, which literally means “blessed is, or supremely blessed.” In our English language, we cannot quite capture this word - instead, favor, blessing, and happiness are all used.

If your community or church had a list of Beatitudes, what do you think they would look like? Feel free to pause and write down your own! But here is what we think ours would say:

“Blessed are the ones who always have a happy spirit, for God will be more proud of them.”

“Blessed are the ones who mourn but only for a specific amount of time, for their community will only comfort them for a few weeks.”

“Blessed are the busiest in the room, for they will accomplish the most.”

They sound ridiculous when you read them like this, right? And yet, aren’t these some of the norms that we see created in our churches and communities? Haven’t we begun to believe that the “happiest” people, the least “emotional” people, and the “loudest” people are blessed in our culture?

We have. In fact, we have probably even played into this narrative sometimes: believing that God’s hand works best on those who don’t have any messiness in their life at all.

But this is not the truth of Jesus. In fact, our human “beatitudes” - the ones above, the unspoken ones, or the ones you wrote yourself - are far from the words of Jesus in Matthew 6.

Instead of happiness, Jesus tells us, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (5:3).

Read it again: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Your “blessedness” is not dependent on the joy, security, or happiness that you feel. In fact, the poor in spirit are first to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

Instead of happiness, Jesus tells us, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (5:4). Your “blessedness” is not dependent on how fast you get over that loss, that breakup, or that deep, unrelenting grief. In fact, Jesus tells us that those who mourn will be comforted by Him. He records every tear on His scroll (Psalm 56:8). The Lord is not afraid of your emotions. He is blessed by them, as are you.

Instead of busyness and achievement, Jesus tells us, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (5:5). Your “blessedness” is not dependent on your trophies or resume, but instead your willingness to bear through the hard times with a soft and gentle Spirit. The Lord’s Kingdom is different from the one of this world.

Just like the Pharisees, we can create our own rules or ways to live that have nothing to do with the truth of God’s Kingdom. It’s in those moments that the Church can deeply hurt.

If you’ve been there before - in a space that elevates happy people, easy to care for people, and those with the biggest following - we grieve with you. While we can create kingdoms like this all day long, that was never the Lord’s intention. And more than that, this is not His expectation. Instead, He is a God that says the poor in Spirit are blessed. Those who mourn are blessed. The meek are blessed.

What a gift it is to be part of His Kingdom, not our own that we try to create. His way is better! May we let this truth guide our decisions, convict our hearts, and refresh our souls today!