How do you think that Jesus’s words in Luke 6:20-26 would have been received by His audience in the 1st century?

How do you think that His words would be received by people in our culture today?

Why do you think that Jesus refers to poverty, and hunger, and sadness, and rejection as blessings? Why do you think that he refers to wealth, and comfort, and affirmation as curses?

How are we to reconcile this teaching with how we naturally define and think of blessings and curses?

Why do you think that the human heart is so prone to believing that fulfillment and satisfaction can be found in worldly things? Why do you think that it is so prone to forgetting that God is the only one who can and will satisfy us?

What can we be doing to press back against this tendency in our hearts (of searching for meaning in things other than God)? How can we be actively pursuing satisfaction in God instead?

How can suffering, and sadness, and loneliness actually be helpful to our souls? What are some ways that we can leverage these things (instead of running from them)?

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