A Window into the Kingdom
Original sermon given on The Fourth Sunday After Epiphany, Sunday, February 1, 2026 written and delivered by Pastor Jeff Leininger at First Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church.
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“A Window into the Kingdom”
Matthew 5.1-12
In the name of the Living God and the Christ who has appeared to us. Amen.
The “Sermon on the Mount” is our Lord’s most famous sermon. Arguably, it is the most famous sermon ever. Let me share how St. Matthew sets the stage for us: “…the true Son of David and saving Son of God ascends the mountain, surrounded by many crowds and approached by his disciples. With power and mercy, he has begun his ministry up in Galilee. He has begun his preaching, teaching, and healing. Now, the powerfully gracious Jesus has sat down, and opening his mouth, he begins to teach” (alt.; Gibbs, 234).[1]
The way I’d like you to think about Jesus’ Beatitudes, his “Blesseds” is that “They form a sort-of doorway through which we must pass if we are to understand the kingdom.”[2] They inspire us as to what the world should be. They convict us as to what we are not. They comfort us because of what Jesus gives us through these words.
These words inspire us. They inspire all people. That’s why they’re so famous; that’s why they’ve been used as both prayer and admonition before kings and rulers and presidents for centuries at coronations and inaugurations.
Who wouldn’t want to live in this kind of blessed world: where the most hurtful grief is consoled, the deepest spiritual craving filled, the purest of heart run everything, and victory parades and triumphant arches are given not for those who make great wars, but who make great peace? What a world Jesus describes — a great reversal of our bitter, broken, boastful world! And whomever hears these words of Jesus — Christian or not; theist or atheist, pagan philosopher, secular humanist — whomever hears these words must be moved imagining such a vision of blessedness.
These words inspire us, but they also convict us. They convict us, not just because the reality of our world is so unlike the divine reality of which Jesus speaks (although this is so very true). But they convict us because of our own personal reality of sin: how little our lives reflect this blessed life. Here we must be cautious not to first employ the Beatitudes as a weapon against others — those having power who dismay us; those around us who disappoint us. No, we first must enter through the doorway of these words to be convicted by them, ourselves: The times I am haughty in spirit in order to rule my pathetic, little world. The times I hunger and thirst after everything else — things that can never satisfy me — while the things of God I find inconvenient or bothersome. The times I respond in self-protection and resentment over the littlest of offense, rather than in mercy. The times my heart, my motivations are tainted with impurity. The times I work for triumph over rather than peace with. To live blessed is to live as Jesus teaches, and we are first called to repentance, ourselves, before we use them as a club against others.
So, these words inspire us; they convict us; but most importantly, they comfort us. They comfort us because they are spoken by our savior, Jesus; but also because they embody what he is for us and for the whole world. Who more poor in spirit than He, when he sweat drops of blood for us? Who more lowly and meek than he, who, though ruler and creator of all things, was born in a barn for us? Who more merciful than he, who, though suffering the most unjust treatment responded with “Father forgive”? Who more pure in heart than he, whose only motivation was his father’s will and his neighbor’s good? Who a greater peacemaker, he who has reconciled Jew and Greek, Slave and Free, male and female, all nations, tribes, tongues and languages? And who more persecuted than he, whose only crimes were truth and love?
By believing the beatitudes we are believing in Jesus: his life, death, and resurrection for our forgiveness and salvation — though we ourselves fall far short, his blessed life is given to us through faith. But also, his life moves within us for a blessed lived life. It will never be complete in this life — that’s why we live in faith and hope. But one day, one blessed day, we will be with him face to face, and the doorway of these words will be our home forever.
Come soon Lord Jesus. Amen.
[1] Gibbs, Matthew, I, p. 234; alt
[2] Ibid., 235
