If you see humanity from the perspective of Jesus, you should be able to call them blessed, no matter their gender, race, sexual orientation or circumstance.
This is according to Rev Dr Edwin C Sanders II, founder and pastor of the Metropolitan Interdenominational Church in Nashville, Tennessee in the US.
Rev Sanders was delivering a homily on the Sermon on the Mount to students and staff on a recent visit to SMMS for the CIHA Blog Conference.
He said, “If you have Jesus’ perspective and if you see as Jesus does, you can go anywhere, in any situation and you will be able to know that when you look at a human being, you are looking at the creation of the hand of God, you are looking at someone who has the fingerprint of God, someone who is special and unique in a way that only God can make.
“No matter what they are dealing with, if you have the perspective of Jesus you will be able to say ‘Blessed!’ Blessed if you are the one who has been dismissed because of the colour of your skin. Blessed is the woman who has been dismissed because society has decided that she is a nobody on account of her sexuality or her gender. Blessed if you end up being the one who is set aside and treated as though you are nobody and nothing because society has labelled you like that.”
Rev Sanders added that when Jesus looks at us from that elevated position, he sees us individually, in terms of our particularities and our peculiarities and in ways that do not make us a part of some statistical assessment of who we might be.