Before the Beatitudes

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bible reading challenge
Welcome to Whimsical Wednesday! Bloggers, I hope you’ll grab the graphic below and join up for the first week of moving our usual link-up from Mondays to Wednesdays. I’m excited to have you and can’t wait to see all the encouraging posts  you have on your blogs! For this first week, I’m not going to tell the story behind the name of the linkup, but give you the chance to guess what it’s about. 😉 So be sure to leave a comment with your guess, ok?


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Familiar with the Bible passage in Luke 6 known as “The Beatitudes.” They begin in verse 20, as Jesus taught:

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh…”

But today I was thinking about what happened before the Beatitudes.

In other words, the back story of The Beatitudes.

And the verses before the Beatitudes came alive as I attempted to picture the crowd sitting around Jesus.

A mixed multitude of people, that consisted of disciples and people from various cultures and villages.

The Bible says they came to “hear him and to be healed of their diseases.”

I have to wonder what that must have been like in person. Both to hear Jesus speak. And to be healed of their diseases. Maybe I’m wrong, but I always think of a “disease” as being much worse than an “illness.” An illness seems temporary.

Luke goes on to describe the people:

And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.

All this happened just before Jesus began to explain to His disciples that life is not always as it appears to be.

The happiest of people often own the least.

Refills can only happen once you’re empty.

once you are empty

Joy accompanied by sorrow produces more than joy alone can produce.

I try to imagine the total healing that every single person in that place obtained and I grapple with the thought.

You see, before the blessings…

before the beatitudes…

the back story is:

brokenness.

Doesn’t that make you want to cry? or shout? or just sit in awe?

Because the back story of The Beatitudes…

gives all of us hope.

What does the back story of brokenness before the Beatitudes mean to you?

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3 Comments

  1. The back stories are often times the most interesting. All those people sitting unaware that they were in the presence of GLORY! How awesome is that 🙂 Thank you for sharing and have a wonderful day!

  2. Thanks for the reminder to come for the refill! My guess for Whimsical Wednesdays is that you like alliteration??? 🙂

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