Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
‘Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
‘Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
‘Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
‘But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
‘Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
‘Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.
‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
Luke 6:20-26

Is it really true that the poor really are "blessed"? In the Original Greek, the word is "makarios" which is usually translated as "happy." I'm not sure that helps us much. Are the poor really happy?

And if the poor really are "blessed" or "happy", then what does it mean for our lives - what does the Good Life really look like? What on earth is Jesus talking about?

We eat together at 7pm - bring your own dinner, or buy something from one of the many takeaway options on the street - and the “serious bit” begins at 8. We’re done by 9:15

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Image: JESUS MAFA. The Sermon on the Mount, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48284 [retrieved February 2, 2022]. Original source: http://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr (contact page: https://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr/contact).