We often look at the Beatitudes as a moral code. We see it as an ideal that no one can really live up to. Perhaps it is a goal that we strive to achieve so that God will grant us entrance to heaven some day.

As we head into another presidential campaign, we see politicians come out of the woodwork to announce their run for office in 2024. A big question is asked: “What is your platform? What issues are important to you? What will you do for the American people?”

Jesus came not running for a political office. In fact, He said His kingdom was not of this world. Yet, He had a platform. He had a plan for how His government would function. Sadly, the majority of his listeners did not sign up for his program.

Sadly, even today, we refuse to really take his ideas seriously.

“The work of the kingdom is in fact summed up pretty well in the beatitudes. Blessed are the poor, the mourners, the meek, those hungering for justice, the merciful, the pure-hearted, peacemakers, and the persecuted. These people are not only blessed, but more than that, even in their vulnerability and weakness, they are the ones precisely through whom Jesus intends blessings to flow to others. These sayings are about the type of people through whom Jesus intends to transform the world. When God wants to change the world, he doesn’t launch missiles. Instead, he sends in the meek, the mourners, and the merciful. When God wants to put things to right, he doesn’t scramble combat jets, he calls people to love and do justice. Through those kinds of people, the blessings of God’s reign began to appear in the world.” N.T. Wright

Oh that God would grant us a man/woman who would not mouth religious statements, but really live by God’s platform. Oh, that we would be a nation that would support such a candidate.