Paradox People: Learning to Live the Beatitudes
by Jonathan Landry Cruse
P&R Publishing | 2025 | 160 pages (paperback) | $16.99
Jonathan Landry Cruse’s "Paradox People: Learning to Live the Beatitudes" is a fitting title that aims to enhance our understanding of the often-quoted but little-understood opening verses of the Sermon on the Mount. These passages have become so famous that they are known in part even by many unbelievers, and authors throughout the ages have wrestled with their meaning. Although only ten verses long, these words contain the core of the Christian life, and exploring their depth offers both comfort and practical guidance for believers.
The Beatitudes are complex because they are paradoxical. We tend to see them as commands, but Cruse emphasizes that they are, in fact, promises tied to the inevitable life of a Christian. What may seem at first glance like a dichotomy and therefore a challenging few verses to understand, in themselves, they demonstrate how the spiritual and material worlds interweave to create reality. The blessings offered in the Beatitudes cannot be earned through our efforts, yet we are also not entirely passive in receiving them. The author explores this tension between the Christian life and Christian hope—a struggle we increasingly face the deeper in and the further up we go in our faith, to paraphrase C.S. Lewis.
Cruse emphasizes that Christians should focus first and foremost on their own willful spirits and hardened hearts—on admitting and understanding their own spiritual depravity and struggles—so they do not see others as the only problem in this world. Christians, Cruse writes, should view themselves as the primary problem. They should recognize that they are the ones in need of salvation, help, and mercy. They are the ones who cause the biggest problems in this world. Without this shift in focus, Cruse argues, Christians cannot properly understand the Beatitudes or benefit from them.
We must connect an understanding of our depravity immediately and directly to a proper understanding of God. Cruse does this almost poetically at times, offering the reader great comfort as he offers the tonic that stings and brings healing, but doing so with an extra "spoonful of sugar,” as Mary Poppins might say. Instead of feeling browbeaten or cajoled when faced with how we should view the world or behave as Christians, the reader finds that the author is caught up with them in the same dire situation, and that his words are simply words of truth and comfort.
Christ offers a very different perspective in the Beatitudes compared to our natural view of life experiences. God perceives suffering, sadness, and poverty of spirit through his eternal lens, while we as sinful humans see the same experiences through blurry, material-focused lenses—ones centered on power, joy, admiration, and pleasure. Jesus’ outlook on the world is an “upside-down, inside-out” one, to quote Cruse. Everything we consider to be the point of life and the goal of our actions is turned upside down when we listen to Jesus. This is especially clear when we carefully examine the Beatitudes. For example, when we think that meekness is an evil of sorts and something we should avoid at all costs, Christ says to receive it as a blessing because the meek are willing to do God’s will. They already understand how this life story ends, and therefore, they have nothing to prove to anyone. They have no pride to defend, no possessions or dreams to hold with a deathly grip. Similarly, when the world tells us to numb ourselves to things like sorrow, we as Christians know we can give our sorrow to Christ, asking him for comfort. We remember that Jesus himself was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). This takes sorrow and grief from being something unexpected and avoidable to something we accept as inevitable because we still live in this world where sin and death reign, and we know that this godly sorrow will draw us closer to Jesus Christ.
When Jesus speaks about hungering and thirsting for righteousness, Cruse explains this is because all Christians have a God-sized hole in our hearts that only God can fill, and there is great comfort in acknowledging that emptiness. We long for the Lord, for heaven, and for our eternal home. All of these Beatitudes then, offer an other-worldly view of the world, and change our perspective, shifting our focus heavenward.
Cruse uses short examples from his life to help the reader better understand his points. For example, when discussing the beatitude “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted,” Cruse shares how going to college was very difficult for him. He spent the first week or two crying because he was homesick. He knew where he would be loved and cared for, and he was not there. Connecting this to the beatitude about weeping, he writes that we cry out because we are not at home here in the world, and we know where we belong. We know where we will ultimately be completely safe, loved, and cared for. We long to be in heaven with Jesus Christ. Our hearts ache for no more sin, death, and the devil. This weeping keeps our hearts soft and our minds open to the reality of eternal life with Christ. Cruse’s stories, then, serve not to distract the reader or fill space on the page, but to deepen the reader’s understanding of God’s promises and make the blessings clear to our minds through a powerful visual example.
Questions for reflection and discussion are found at the end of each chapter and greatly assist the reader in self-evaluation and internalization of the chapter’s contents. These questions could easily be used in a group setting, such as a Bible study or small group, or for individual reflection.
I wish Cruse had highlighted more about the importance of gentle challenge and respectful debate in evangelism and apologetics. While he rightly emphasizes modeling Christian character and faithfulness, it’s also valuable to consider how engaging in thoughtful discussion can be part of our witness. Throughout history, the apostles often debated and discussed within society, and without active outreach, many could be lost. We hold the truth and know how to help others, so we can use that knowledge kindly and wisely, addressing societal concerns with humility, patience, and awareness of our own flaws. As we go out into the world, speaking the truth in love, we understand that this world is not our true home, and that brings the Christian great comfort.
I found this book edifying, encouraging, and enlightening. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to better understand Christ’s important words in the Beatitudes and who is looking for a skilled guide to help them do so.
