Travel back in time to the first Good Friday and the Via Dolorosa ("The Way of Suffering") in the holy city of Jerusalem. This spiritual journey leads to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the most influential man in the history of the world. Nearly two thousand years after this beloved young Nazarene was beaten, whipped, humiliated, abused, crucified, and buried, no one, absolutely no one, including his disciples, expected to see him again, but they did. Today more than 2.18 billion human beings, nearly a third of the global population, believe he was resurrected and is alive....

We must not think of the Beatitudes as requirements for gaining grace, mercy, love, salvation, and new life. The point of the Beatitudes is not to qualify us. The point is not to eight steps toward unfaltering faith. The point is not steps to a perfect theology which qualify one for divine blessings. The point of the Beatitudes are gifts from God freely given. The good news is that you just don't have to earn what God freely gives. Heaven, comfort, the earth, righteousness, mercy, seeing God, and status as children of God are free gifts. You can't darken the kingdom with your failure. You...