Mark Scandrette - The Ninefold Path of Jesus: Hidden Wisdom of the Beatitudes

On a summer evening in 2015 I was having drinks in a London pub with my friends Danielle and Steve. I asked Danielle about the most recent bombing in the city. She told me that ten young people a month are reportedly recruited and radicalized into terrorist organizations. Meanwhile, she exclaimed, church participation in the UK continues to plummet. We simply arent giving young people a compelling vision for life!

I mentioned what was happening back home in the United States. A series of highly publicized police shootings had galvanized the newly minted Black Lives Matter movement. In San Francisco, where I live, Id recently been to the funeral of my twenty-year-old neighbor who had been shot six times in the back by two undercover officers.

Steve said, Its clear that our systems are broken.

And we are that system, I added. What we need is a whole new way of being.

Steve and Danielle worked for a historic British Bible agency. With the prevalence of smartphones and Scripture apps, fewer people need printed Bibles anymore. What does seems scarce, Steve said, is a meaningful connection between Scripture and everyday life. Young people today have little interest in church, but that doesnt mean they arent spiritually curious. Many would resonate with themes found in the Beatitudesjustice, peacemaking, nonviolence, etc.

Has there ever been a moment when weve needed the message of the Beatitudes more? Danielle exclaimed.

That night, Danielle and Steve invited me to join a project based on the Beatitudes called NINE BEATS Collective. My life passion is helping people apply the teachings of Christ to everyday life. So immediately I said yes.

I told Danielle and Steve that the project made me think of the haunting conversation Id had with Shinko years before.

Danielle could see where the story was going. So are you suggesting that the Beatitudes might be like the ninefold path of Jesus? She asked.

Exactly, I said. Dallas Willard used to say that the Sermon on the Mount is the best example we have of a curriculum for Christlikeness. The problem is that there are one hundred ten verses in those three chapters. If most of us find it hard to remember a ten-digit phone number, no wonder we struggle to keep the teachings of Christ at the forefront of our minds. Maybe the Beatitudes can function as a thematic guide to the teachings of Christ.

I grabbed a napkin and Danielle handed me a pen, and we began to brainstorm. Blessed are the poor. That seems like an invitation to the way of trust. Blessed are those who mourn. That sounds like an invitation to lament whats broken in our world and inside of us. Blessed are the meek