The Beatitudes (A Contemporary Rendering)

You're blessed when you're spiritually bankrupt,

when your bank account and your ego have both flatlined,

when you've got no résumé to hand God.

The kingdom belongs to people with empty hands.

You're blessed when sorrow has flattened you,

when you've wept yourself dry over what's broken,

when you carry the weight of what's been lost.

A comfort is on its way that will meet you in the depths.

You're blessed when you've stopped grabbing for power,

when you've stopped clawing your way to the top,

when you've quit the exhausting game of self-promotion,

when gentleness has replaced your need to control.

The earth is your inheritance. The violent will lose their grip on it.

You're blessed when righteousness consumes you,

when you're starving for things to be made right,

when injustice makes you physically sick,

when you can't scroll past another headline without your gut turning.

God will fill you. The hunger itself is a sign you're alive.

You're blessed when you show mercy to the undeserving,

which is everyone, including you,

when you absorb the cost instead of passing it on.

Mercy will come back around. It knows your address.

You're blessed when your heart is undivided,

when you've stopped living a double life,

when you've stopped performing for an audience.

The pure in heart get to see God. Everyone else is squinting.

You're blessed when you make peace in a world addicted to conflict,

when you build bridges in an age that burns them,

when you sit with the tension and refuse to take sides that dehumanize.

You look like your Creator. The resemblance is unmistakable.

You're blessed when they come after you for doing what's right,

when your integrity costs you something real.

The kingdom of heaven is yours. Celebrate. The prophets were mocked by respectable people too.

Your Christ was executed by a coalition of religious leaders and politicians.

You're walking the same road.

This is the path, and you're on it.