“The beatitudes make natural good sense to the poor.… Jesus’s words fit his life and therefore, the meaning of his words appear to be obvious to us. He spent his life with the poor, the sick, the outcasts, the powerless people. He attacked the wealthy and the powerful. He is with us! We feel that he is our friend, our advocate, our leader. (Of course it is for that reason that we expect the Church of Jesus to be with us.) It may be too simple to say that Jesus is on our side; but we tend to feel that way and perhaps his identification with the oppressed is so clear to us because we do not have to rationalize our wealth and possessions and fit Jesus’s deeds and words into the world view of the powerful and the affluent.

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The beatitudes make natural good sense to the poor and oppressed. They come through to us as Good News: ‘Blessed are you poor,' ‘Blessed are you meek.' It is a message unlike anything we have heard from a society that sees poverty and color as signs of weakness and inferiority. Jesus turns society’s standards upside down. His words point to a whole new way of looking at life. He seems to be saying: ‘Forget what those with earthly power have taught you. This is the way life really is: those who think they have it made have missed the point of life. The rich and the powerful will have their reward; but true happiness is reserved for those of you who are poor, who are merciful, who are peacemakers!' That is good news indeed, especially for those who have been treated with contempt by the powerful structures and the ‘successful' people of this world."