1. Jesus not only claims our present moment, but He does so with the grace of eternity. The beatitudes are filled with promises of future blessing.
  2. This is the heart of Christian theology: The Gospel is the word of the cross, and the word of the cross is the Gospel.
  3. Doing better is the only way to get those covenant blessings back. Since this is impossible there is seemingly no gospel in this text at all. That is, unless we remove ourselves from the picture.
  4. Jesus comes for those who are affected by the long darkness of sin and destruction. Jesus breaks the power of this present darkness with His Word, more specifically His preaching.
  5. In the middle, the thrill of extremes settles into the boredom of routines. For followers of Jesus, this can lead in several problematic directions.

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