The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey
Week 6: Part Two, Chapter 5 — "The Beatitudes: Lucky Are the Unlucky"
Read Chapter 5 of The Jesus I Never Knew. Key passages: Matthew 5:1–12; Luke 6:20–26.
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The Beatitudes open the Sermon on the Mount with a series of statements so counterintuitive that they have puzzled, offended, and transformed readers for two thousand years — and Yancey wants us to feel that strangeness again.
Discussion Questions
8 questions1.Yancey notes that the Beatitudes declare blessed the very people that the ancient (and modern) world considers cursed: the poor in spirit, the mourning, the meek, the persecuted. How does this list strike you — as inspiring, unrealistic, or genuinely disturbing? Be honest.
2.Yancey contrasts Jesus's Beatitudes with what he calls the "world's beatitudes" — blessed are the rich, the powerful, the well-connected, the cheerful. Where do you see the world's beatitudes operating in your own culture, your workplace, or even your church?
3.Yancey draws on Clarence Jordan's Cotton Patch Gospel, which transposed the Beatitudes into the American South during the civil rights era, as a way of making their radical edge felt again. Has hearing the Beatitudes translated into a contemporary context ever made them hit differently for you? What translation would make them most uncomfortable in your own setting?
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