Hello my friends,

Today, many Christians around the world will be hearing Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in their worship services. So I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on it with you and see its radical implications for our world today.

Before we get to that, Lent begins February 18th, so I wanted to quickly tell you that I am re-releasing my daily Lent devotional, "When Love Gets The Last Word." I have revised it and added prayers at the end of every day's reading. Those of you who have purchased the devotional in the past with receive this as a free gift. I am also excited to tell you that I am currently finishing up turning this devotional into an audiobook version. So, more details on that soon.

The new re-release is available below.

​

Sermon On The Mountainside of Empire.

Matthew 5:1-12

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.

He said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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,
for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

​
​The Context, The Audience.

Jesus preaches what has become his most famous sermon, not in the halls of power, not in the temple courts, and not from the throne of political authority. He climbs a hillside, gathers the weary, and speaks first to those who are battered by the world.

As we read this, our minds are asked to reflect on Moses going up a mountainside to bring God’s instructions to a people who were also battered by the world, from oppression in Egypt, and wandering through the wilderness. We are asked to see the similarities between Moses’ prophetic work of leading people out of an oppressive empire into the ways of God, and how Jesus is now preaching and leading here in Matthew's gospel. Just as God had to bring Israel out of Egypt and also had to get the ways of Egypt out of Israel, Jesus is also seeking to bring people out of empire logic into the way of God's kingdom.

From the very beginning, the Sermon on the Mount announces that God’s kingdom does not mirror the logic of empire. It emerges from the margins, takes shape among the suffering, and is revealed most clearly in communities that refuse to worship domination and insist on living in the way of self-sacrificial love.

Matthew tells us that Jesus had just been healing the sick, restoring the broken, and touching those whom society had cast aside (Matthew 4:23-25). Only then does he sit to teach. I find this order of events profound. It shows that Jesus sees grace precedes instruction and compassion precedes command. The sermon flows out of wounded lives already being repaired and being made whole by love.

In the shadow of Roman power, an empire that concentrated power and wealth, extracted resources from the earth, exploited the poor, and maintained “order” through fear and violence, Jesus speaks a radically different vision of reality. Rome called its arrangement Pax Romana, “peace of Rome.” Jesus saw it for what it was, a system that ground the many beneath the feet of the few.

So when Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” he is not praising passivity or romanticizing hardship. He is naming those whose spirits have been crushed by economic injustice, political coercion, and social humiliation and declaring that God’s reign is already moving toward them. He is stating that in the kingdom of God, the poor are blessed rather than exploited and crushed.

Likewise, when Jesus blesses the meek, he is not celebrating weakness. He is echoing Psalm 37, where the meek are the landless poor, people dispossessed by violence and greed. Jesus promises that the earth belongs not to the grasping but to those who have been robbed of it. This is a breathtaking reversal.

The first half of the Beatitudes exposes what God is doing in the world. God is moving to overturn systems that impoverish, to heal those broken by them, and to make room for justice to flourish again. God is not neutral toward oppression. As we see from Pharaoh, to Nebuchadnezzar, to Caesar, God is actively at work to undo it.

The second half of the Beatitudes describes what this new life looks like in human practice. Mercy becomes the community’s language. Purity of heart means undivided loyalty to God and neighbor rather than power. Peacemaking is not maintaining the current status quo, but rather, it is courageous, creative reconciliation that refuses both violence and complacency. And those who pursue justice should expect resistance, ridicule, and even persecution.

In other words, Jesus sketches the identity of a people who live as if God’s kingdom were already fully established, right in the midst of Rome. Jesus is calling them to embody the kingdom of God themselves.

Now consider our own moment.

We live in a nation marked by deep division, fear, and growing authoritarianism. Power is being centralized. Accountability is slipping away. The rule of law is treated as optional by those who enforce it. Courts are ignored. Human rights are violated. Journalists are detained. Families are torn apart. Lives are treated as expendable, especially when they get in the way of those in control.

In such a time, silence becomes its own form of support.

The Church does not have the luxury of neutrality when the vulnerable are crushed. We are not called to seize political power or to wield the state’s sword. But neither are we called to retreat into private piety while public cruelty goes unchallenged. Separation of church and state does not mean separation of Christian conscience from public life. It means the Church must remain free to speak, free to lament, free to resist idolatry, and free to stand with those who suffer.

Jesus’ Beatitudes make clear where God stands. God stands with the poor, the grieving, the gentle, the merciful, the peacemakers, the persecuted, those who hunger for food and for justice. When authoritarian systems rise, these are always the first people harmed and they are often harmed the most. A church that refuses to advocate for them is not being “apolitical.” It has chosen a side, quietly, perhaps, but decisively, it has chosen the side of the empire.

The Sermon on the Mount, therefore, confronts American Christianity with a piercing question: Whose world are we trying to embody, Caesar’s or Christ’s?

Authoritarian power thrives when people lose heart, doubt their conscience, and accept cruelty as “just how things are.” It depends on fear, obedience, and moral outsourcing. But Jesus begins his kingdom by restoring moral agency. He blesses those who still feel, still care, still hunger for justice, still mourn what is broken.

To be “poor in spirit” is not to be spiritually empty, it is to be honest about one’s brokenness in a broken world and remain open to God’s healing work.

To “hunger and thirst for justice” is not a private virtue, it is a communal vocation. It means longing for a world where the hungry are fed, the stranger is welcomed, the prisoner is treated with dignity, and power is exercised in service rather than domination.

The Beatitudes are not a list of merely spiritual traits. They are a manifesto for a countercultural people who refuse to mirror the empire and instead embody God’s alternative vision for human life and creation.

In times like ours, this calling is both costly and life-giving. It will bring grief. It may bring conflict. But it will also bring clarity, courage, and a deep peace that no regime can grant or revoke. We are not asked to save the world by force. We are invited to witness to another world by faithful love. And that witness begins with lament, continues with nonviolent resistance, and is sustained by a hope that refuses to die.

Concrete Ways to Live the Beatitudes Today

1. Practice truthful lament: Name injustice in prayer and conversation. Don't let it be normalized. Grief is a moral act. Express it.
2. Stand with those who are vulnerable: Show up for immigrants, refugees, the poor, the imprisoned, and the targeted. Presence matters.
3. Cultivate mercy as a public posture: Resist dehumanizing language whenever it arises, even toward those with whom you disagree.
4. Seek justice, not just charity: Support policies and movements that address root causes of suffering, not only its symptoms.
5. Refuse fear-based obedience: Keep your conscience awake through Scripture, prayer, and community discernment.
6. Commit to nonviolent action: Protest, organize, and advocate without hatred, cruelty, or vengeance.
7. Build resilient community: Isolation breeds despair; shared prayer and action sustain hope.
8. Hold power accountable, especially when it claims Christian legitimacy: Remind leaders that authority is measured by care for the least.

​
​A Prayer

God,
you spoke your kingdom into a world ruled by empire.

We come before you weary, grieving, and sometimes afraid.
We see cruelty rewarded and compassion punished,
and our hearts ache.

Bless the poor in spirit among us,
those crushed by injustice,
those emptied by loss,
those overwhelmed by fear.
Let them know that your reign is near.

Make us gentle in power and fierce in mercy.
Give us hunger for justice that will not fade.
Keep our hearts undivided,
our hands open,
our courage steady.

Teach us to make peace without making peace with evil.
Form us into a people who tell the truth in love
and act with love in truth.

When we are mocked or opposed,
remind us that we walk with the Crucified One,
whose victory came not through the sword
but through self-giving love.

Guard us from despair.
Keep hope alive in our bones.
And through us, let your justice roll like waters
and your righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

In the name of Jesus,
who blesses the broken
and stands with the least,
Amen.

Now I'd like to hear from you! Did you find this helpful? What thoughts came to your mind as you read? Feel free to respond to this email and share your thoughts with me. I look forward to reading them. A 30 Day Devotional: I recently wrote a daily devotional in hopes to provide a companion for people seeking to follow Jesus in our world today. You can read more about it here: $20.00 Following Jesus In A World Obsessed With Empires: 30 Days of reclaiming the hope, compassion, and justice of Jesus. Today, our world can often feel overwhelmed by darkness, division, and despair. I created this 30-day devotional to... Read more Get it now! ​ Ways to support: If you'd like to support this project, you can do so through one-time-gift of any amount you feel is right. You can also subscribe through a $5/mo, $15/mo, or $25/mo. Several others have also asked for a recurring gift option that is different from the ones offered here, like this one. If you'd like me to set up a different option for you, please just send me an email with the word "support" in the subject line. As always, I really want to thank all of you for reading and for all the ways you support me and this project every single week. I'm thankful for the ways we are building this together and hope it creates a lasting, positive change in our world along the way! I sincerely appreciate you all, Ben Remember, you can now view this and all previous newsletters as well as invite friends to join through this link: https://benjamin-cremer.ck.page/profile.

​