The values of the Beatitudes rule

You can figure out what Jesus was up to
by noting whose happiness he was concerned about

How the churches can condone war
and aid and abet conflict is not hard to figure out

From the start the temptation was
to view all this as wimpy impossible

It was easier to turn Jesus
into the figure Satan evoked in the temptations incident 

and endow him with mystery and miracle and authority
and have done with it

And that is essentially what the church did
and still does via creed 

and priestly prerogative and showy evangelical Jesus talk

But now as with Gutenberg the door is opening to truth 

now spoken not by those who have the official stamp of certification

But by the faces and chants of those around the world
who seek to make peace by
facing down the principalities and powers 

and understanding that is finally values that tell 

and that the values of the Beatitudes rule

Charles Sanders Peirce - Thinking in Threes