“These are not your grandma’s beatitudes … In your grandma’s beatitudes, people are happy because their actions have led to some observable reward,” says Carla Pratt Keyes, pastor of Ginter Park Presbyterian Church, in Richmond, Virginia. In Matthew 5:1-12, known to us as the Sermon on the Mount, “Jesus’s beatitudes are prophetic declarations.” Not what we would expect to hear from Jesus! Why teach this way? Listen as Keyes explores Jesus’s teaching and what it means to follow it.

This sermon is from A Sermon for Every Sunday, a series of lectionary-based video sermons designed for use in worship, Bible study, small groups, Sunday school classes or for individual use.

For more sermon preparation help, check out Pulpit Resource, Will Willimon's weekly lectionary-based sermon resource, available online and through a print subscription.