The Beatitudes for Today
A Devotional for Wilderness Times
They are going after Misan Harriman, the prolific UK-based photographer who documents the global struggle against oppression in hues of black-and-white. Four traditional UK press organizations recently published pieces that took Mr. Harriman’s words out of context and twisted them to frame his commentary as antisemitic. The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, GB News, and The Daily Express are fueling a virtual lynch mob to destroy this Nigerian-born British man whose gentle spirit, soft heart, and sharp eye have documented anti-genocide protests across the globe.
Why do this? Because Mr. Harriman’s lens has amplified the cries of a world held captive to hegemonic forces that have hog-tied the International Human Rights apparatus, framing genocide as good, protest as a crime, and accountability as antisemitism. His work has arguably fueled a global shift on the issue of Palestine, helping us all to reconnect with the human implications of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and its ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. He has helped us connect with our own humanity, our own hearts, our own fragility, and our own strength.
Harriman’s is not the first voice they’ve attempted to silence in our mounting global authoritarian storm. I visited the Columbia University encampment in 2024. It was the day before the president of my Alma mater ushered police onto the campus—arresting more than 100 students, many of whom were Jewish. The reason for their arrests? They called for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the genocide.
Rev. Jennifer Butler, author of Who Stole My Bible?, wrote on her Substack:
Authoritarian power depends on rewriting reality—deciding who is dangerous, who is legitimate, who belongs. January 6 insurrectionists become heroes. Civil rights laws become ‘discrimination.’ And those who expose violence become criminals.
This is not just about policy. It is about control over truth itself.
So, I’ve been thinking: What might the Beatitudes have to say to Misan Harriman or the students of the encampments? What might the Beatitudes have to say to the people of Gaza who are being told that their erasure is not a genocide. Or the people of Lebanon or the West Bank or the Northern Jordanian Valley when their ethnic cleansing is being completely ignored—as if it isn’t happening at all. What might the Beatitudes have to say to the people of Iran?
The Sermon on the Mount in Context
Theologian and Ethicist Glen Stassen clarifies the context of the Sermon on the Mount in A Thicker Jesus. At the time of the Sermon on the Mount, Pax Romana, Peace through oppression, was the law of the land. Jewish anger against Roman occupation and domination was building. Rebellions are common. The year Jesus was born, the historian Josephus tells us a Roman legion squashed a rebellion in Northern Galilee by crucifying 500 people per day until the uprising was eliminated. No one in the region would have gone unscathed by that violence. A major war of rebellion was brewing. Jesus prophesied several times in the Gospels that the temple itself would be destroyed. The War of Rebellion began in 66AD—only 33 years after Jesus’ crucifixion. The Romans destroyed the temple four years later, in 70AD. Matthew’s Gospel was written shortly after that destruction. So, the original readers of the Sermon on the Mount would have felt like they had no power at all—as if they were helpless.
How The Beatitudes has Resonated over Time:
Kevin Meyer explains on SacredEditors.com that the first-century theologians read the Beatitudes as “survival strategies and sources of hope” in the context of imperial persecution.
“To be poor in spirit is to renounce the world. The Christian is not called to power but to peace.” —Origen
Liberation theologians like Gustavo Gutiérrez, Meyer says, understand the “poor in spirit” to be the materially poor—the ones God sides with in history.
“The Beatitudes do not bless resignation but resistance, not suffering in itself but the hope for justice.” —Gustavo Gutiérrez, A Theology of Liberation, 1971
Feminist and Womanist theologians, like Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and Delores Williams, see Jesus’s affirmation of marginalized bodies—bodies usually excluded from traditional power structures.
The Beatitudes Today
I see all of this as a survival guide and cause for hope in the face of imperial rule.
So, please allow me a moment to imagine Jesus spoke the words of Matthew 5:1-11 to us today in this context, at this moment in world history:
When Jesus* saw the crowds on every continent clambering under the weight of rising fascist rule, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
3 ‘Blessed are the poor in (Gaza), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 ‘Blessed are those who mourn in Lebanon, for they will be comforted.
5 ‘Blessed are the meek in Palestine, for they will inherit the earth.
6 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for equity in Iran, for they will be filled.
7 ‘Blessed are the merciful in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, for they will receive mercy.
8 ‘Blessed are the pure in heart on college and university campuses, for they will see God.
9 ‘Blessed are the peacemakers who struggle for the political, civil, social, and economic sovereignty of all peoples, for they will be called children of God.
10 ‘Blessed are Francesca Albanese and Misan Harriman, who are being persecuted for the sake of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 ‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on account of your choice to follow the Jesus Way in the world. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Jennifer Butler continues in her Substack piece:
To understand this moment, we have to go deeper. The early Christians faced a similar test under the Roman emperor Domitian, who demanded worship as a god. Refusal was not just dissent. It was treason. It is in that moment that John of Patmos writes the Book of Revelation. Not as a prediction of the end of the world as Christian nationalists often believe, but as a guide for surviving an empire. Writing in code, John unmasks how domination works: through fear, spectacle, and the demand for total allegiance. The “mark of the beast” is not a mystery. It is a metaphor of the pressure to conform, to give loyalty to a ruler or beast who claims what belongs to God.
And John offers a counter-command: Do not comply. Do not be deceived. Do not worship what is not God.
Rather, the Beatitudes—our survival guide for living under authoritarian rule—say: Focus on God and God’s kingdom—God’s kin-dom!
Amen.
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Gods “kin-dom”, I’ve always loved that. We are all relatives. Thanks for sharing. I look forward to seeing you soon.
I'm saving this to re-read when I need it. My heart seems perpetually broken that we followers of the teachings of Christ - who are speaking up for the least of us - are no longer welcome in so many so-called Christian churches in the U.S. Perhaps we're not welcome in most of them. I'm no theologian. I have re-read the Beatitudes many times over the past few years to find inspiration and comfort during the times I struggle with the rejection and hatred I see around me. I stand with you.