Jesus sees the crowds, goes up on the mountain, and sits down as teachers did, and his disciples come to him. He opens with 3"Blessed," which translates a Greek word that names a settled state, closer to favored than to a passing feeling. The feeling comes later. At the end of the list Jesus says, 12"Rejoice and be glad." Blessedness is the status. Rejoicing is the response.
The list keeps favoring the people the world overlooks: the poor in spirit, the mournful, the meek. The word for "poor" describes someone reduced to begging. To be poor in spirit is to come with empty hands and to know it, and that is the door into everything else on the list. A crowd gathered by miracles hears first about who is favored, before it hears a single command. Many of the beatitudes take something ordinary life treats as a liability and name it as the condition God's favor rests on.
Look at how it is built. The first beatitude and the eighth end with the same line, 10"for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," and both are in the present tense. Everything between them is future: 4"they shall be comforted," 5"they shall inherit the earth," 6"they shall be satisfied," 8"they shall see God." The kingdom is already possessed, bracketing the list like two gateposts. What it will mean for those inside is still unfolding.
The peacemakers 9"shall be called sons of God." The Father who named Jesus his Son at the Jordan now names ordinary people who make peace in a hostile world as family.
This was recent history for the crowd. Matthew has just told us John was arrested for preaching this kingdom. When Jesus says 11"Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you," he describes what has already happened to the man who prepared his way, and what some of the people on that hillside will live through.
Then Jesus turns to what they already are. 13"You are the salt of the earth." 14"You are the light of the world." Both are stated as fact, in the present tense, before he says a word about what to do. The danger he names is salt that has lost its taste, an identity emptied out while the shape remains. Light works the other way. 14"A city set on a hill cannot be hidden," and a lamp is lit to fill the house, not to sit under a basket. 16"Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." The good works point past themselves to the Father.
Everything here runs in one direction. Blessing comes before achievement. Identity comes before obedience. The poor in spirit already have the kingdom, and the salt is already salt. The remaining question is whether it will still taste like anything by the time it reaches the table.
Prayer
Father, thank you that your favor never waited for us to become impressive enough to deserve it. Thank you for calling the poor, the grieving, and the overlooked blessed, and for calling us your sons and daughters. When hardship comes, remind us that we are living what your Son and his forerunner lived before us. Keep our saltiness true and our light visible, so that everyone who sees it looks past us to you. In Jesus' name, amen.