There are many difficult passages in the bible. Jesus teaching his disciples the beatitudes is one of those passages for me:

Matthew 5:3-12

"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 sons 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."

It is difficult for me because it exposes my weakness of following society's doctrine rather than Jesus'. In this passage, Jesus shows how the blessed life is often so very different from the life perceived to be blessed by the western world. We chase after "quality of life" as defined by social status, opportunities, wealth, food, education etc. Jesus is saying that we should be chasing after a totally different suite of characters (and note that His definition of the blessed life has nothing to do with possessions and everything to do with character).

"Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." - I think this means that the kingdom is available to those who are poor is spirit. It is a difficult verse for me to interpret and I think I will always grapple with it.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." - It truly is a blessing to be comforted in mourning ... both by God and by people.

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." - This is topples the dog-eat-dog and survival-of-the-fittest attitude so pervasive in society.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." - Yet again Jesus shows how our hearts matter ... not so much where we are in the journey, but whether we are at least headed in the right direction.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." - I think that this relates not only to the reward for this character, but also to the blessing of actually being merciful (feeling God's pleasure in becoming more like Him).

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." - Again this could be the ultimate reward of worshiping God in heaven, but I think the pure in heart also see God in their daily lives because of the lens they see life through (what there focus is as they do often mundane things).

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." - I interpret this against the background of centuries of human history in which societies associated war mongering with strong kings. Those kings often had their sons lead their armies into battle and they were central to troop morale (just note the furore over Prince Harry's evacuation from Afghanistan recently). God had used tactics like this in securing land for the Jewish nation, so they fully expected Him to continue saving them like that. Jesus denounces the perception that war mongering = strong kings - in so doing also denounces the perception that the Messiah would free the Jewish nation through military action.

"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." - We consider ourselves to be blessed in that we are not persecuted. This is another one that I struggle with.

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me." - Again we bemoan days when it is more difficult to be a Christian in the face of societal persecution. We are horrified when people lie about us and mislead others about us.

"Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." - This goes back to being thankful and joyful in all situations ... hmmm seems to be a common thread over the last few days.

These are some tough pills to swallow. I know that my perception is skewed too much towards the things and 'perceived blessings' of society rather than the blessings Jesus clearly explains. Perhaps next time, I will think differently about what it means when someone says "God bless you" to me.