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5:1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them. He said: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:1-12 NIV)
Friend, a most marvelous of Mondays! May it be filled with mystery and marvel and mighty blessings of the Lord for you and all those around you! I am so thankful to have made yet another revolution around the sun accompanied by my precious granddaughter Eliana who shares this happy day with me. So, Happy Birthday Eliana! Prayers for me (again) as I received my long-awaited eyeglasses only to find they don't help at all! Sigh. I don't know why that is, but I hope to get in to see my eye surgeon soon to see if my vision changed or the eyeglasses company messed up. I need to be able to read my laptop computer to make my living and when the glasses don't help then it's frustrating! "Give me patience, Lord!"
When you hear the word “saint,” who comes to mind? Maybe a stained-glass figure with a golden halo, someone impossibly good who lived centuries ago. Or maybe, if you’re like many of us on All Saints Day, a name and a face come to mind that are much closer to home: a grandmother who prayed over every meal, a pastor who showed up at the hospital at 2 a.m., a friend who loved Jesus quietly and stubbornly until the very end. Or, a kind and quiet soul who blessed you when you went to see them in a depressing nursing home. This devotional gets us ready for this coming Sunday's All Saints Day celebrations that many churches will be having in their worship.
Those are the saints Matthew 5 has in mind. Jesus sees the crowds, climbs the mountainside, sits down as a teacher would, and begins what we call the Beatitudes. And right from the first line, He turns our expectations upside down. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Not the self-sufficient. Not the impressive. The poor in spirit, the ones who come to God with open, empty hands and say, “I can’t do this without You.”
Then He keeps going, and the list gets even more surprising. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers. Read slowly, it sounds almost backward. These aren’t the people the world applauds. They’re the grieving, the gentle, the overlooked, the ones who keep choosing mercy when revenge would be easier.
And that’s exactly why this passage fits All Saints Day so well. The saints we remember today were rarely celebrated by the world’s standards. Many of them mourned deeply and still kept the faith. Some were gentle in a harsh world. Some hungered for justice and never saw it fully come. Some were mocked or even persecuted for following Christ, just as Jesus says in verses 10 through 12. Their lives weren’t marked by perfection. They were marked by dependence on God and a steady, sometimes weary, determination to keep following Him.
Notice, too, how many of these blessings are promises about what God will do. They will be comforted. They will inherit. They will be filled. They will see God. The Beatitudes aren’t a checklist for earning God’s favor. They’re a portrait of the kind of people God draws near to, and a promise that nothing about their faithfulness is wasted. If you’ve buried someone you love who walked with the Lord, there is real comfort here. The One who blessed them on this earth hasn’t forgotten them, and their story isn’t over.
There’s also a gentle invitation tucked inside this passage for those of us still on the journey. You may not feel like saint material. You may feel more poor in spirit than anything else, tired, grieving, or unsure of your own faith. Hear this: that’s precisely where Jesus says blessing begins. The saints who’ve gone before us didn’t start out polished. They were ordinary people who leaned on an extraordinary Savior, and now we’re the ones carrying the story forward.
Verse 12 gives us a final word of encouragement: “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” We belong to a long line of faithful people. When we show mercy, make peace, or hold onto hope in a hard season, we’re walking a path worn smooth by those who came before us, and we’re leaving a trail for someone else to follow.
So today, give thanks for the saints in your life, the famous and the unknown. And ask Jesus to make you a little more like them: humble, merciful, and steady in love.
PRAYER: Lord, we thank You for the saints who have gone before us and ask that You shape us into humble, merciful, and faithful people who point others to You, in Christ’s strong name we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! OUR CALL TO ACTION: Take a few minutes today to thank God for a saint who shaped your faith, and, if you can, write or speak a word of gratitude to someone who is carrying that legacy forward.
I love you and I thank God for you! You matter to God and you matter to me! Let's win the world for Jesus with our unconditional love for all people!
Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.
