Who do we choose to honour?
On 8 June 2026, the King’s Birthday Honours List was announced. This list recognises people who have made a significant contribution to the nation and includes politicians, military personnel, scientists, sports stars, community activists, charity workers, artists, businesspeople and the like. It led me to think about what sort of honours list Jesus might make.
So, I looked to the Beatitudes. The word makarios, which we often translate as ‘blessed’, indicates those whom the gods clearly favour. Makarios was used to describe a person who was healthy, rich, successful and powerful. This way of thinking is still prevalent, including in churches which preach the prosperity doctrine (also known as the ‘health and wealth’ gospel).
But if we turn to Matthew 5, we see Jesus using the word to describe a very different type of person. While there is some overlap with the King’s List – the gentle grounded justice-seeking Ro Allen springs to mind!* – for the most part it’s rather different.
First up on Jesus’ list are those who have no sense of entitlement. We all know people who are arrogant and proud. They grab at anything and anyone who goes by, yet they are never satisfied. Some political leaders, newspaper barons and mining magnates spring instantly to mind. On the other hand, there are those who know that life is a gift and that the world owes them absolutely nothing. They are constantly delighted by God’s goodness and eager to share what they have, and so they are honoured in God’s culture.
Next, Jesus recognises those who experience grief. You might have noticed that those who shy away from pain become brittle and hard. Those who face up to suffering, however, have their hearts cracked open. For their grief is a sign of love; their pain shows that they care. This openness makes them receptive to God’s presence and God’s comfort: and so they are honoured in God’s culture.
On Jesus’ list, we find people like Ro: those who work for peace and who hunger and thirst for justice. Such people have caught a vision of a life much greater than their own. This gives them the courage to extend themselves for the sake of others: the very definition of love. It also gives their own lives great meaning and purpose, and so they will be deeply satisfied. Thus they are honoured in God’s culture.
We also find the pure of heart. These are the people who hide nothing from themselves or from God. As Jesus elsewhere reminds us, we cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). In renouncing Mammon (money), status, power, success and every other false god and focusing only on Jesus, the pure of heart glimpse the One they seek: and so they are honoured in God’s culture.
Of course, the people Jesus honours are not those who are most celebrated by our society. While the King’s Birthday Honours List includes some diversity, it’s heavily skewed towards the already privileged: the white, the male, and the militaristic. In fact, two thirds of this year’s Honours went to men and ten percent to people in the ADF, despite less than half a percent of the wider population being in military service. Honoured are the peacemakers? The shipbuilders, the bombmakers and the cyber technicians more like.
More broadly, where Jesus honours the humble, the compassionate and the just, we tend to reward the arrogant, the wealthy and the hard-hearted, placing them into positions of corporate and political leadership and remunerating them greatly. On unreality TV and social media, we raise up the shallow, the grasping and the glib, as conventionally attractive influencers leverage their beauty to generate ratings and sell stuff. And as anyone who has been persecuted for speaking out knows all too well, we reward everyone who stays silent in the face of injustice and upholds the status quo.
It takes courage to relinquish privilege and turn our lives towards others. It takes courage to do the hard work of grief. It takes courage to turn from the values and practices of our grasping society and choose gentleness, generosity and patience. And it takes courage to work for peace and stand up for justice, especially when others mock and even attack you for doing so. Yet we are called to live this courageous way, shaped not by and for the privileged, but shaped by God’s culture and working for those who are poor, sick, suffering and in chains.
And we can take heart. Looking around, I see lots of courageous people who are loving, praying, grieving, serving, tending, giving and justice-seeking: the very activities honoured by Jesus.
Indeed, Jesus tells disciples that the kingdom of heaven, aka God’s culture, is very near. Even now, it is sending shoots and sparks into our world. And like yeast in the dough, like salt in the soup, God’s culture is what gives this world vigour and flavour. So let’s keep living courageously in ways which are honoured by Jesus, that all whom we touch might be blessed. Ω
*Ro Allen, now AM, is the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner. Ro has spent 35 years working to protect and uplift vulnerable populations, and is not only appreciated but beloved by many.
Where & when: Wurundjeri country, Waring (Wombat) Season. It’s a time of crisp mornings, cool days, evening shadows, and the rains have finally come.
A reflection on Matthew 5:1-11 written for the MUC Magazine, Issue 156, adapting The Honour’s List as shared with Sanctuary on 29 January 2017 © Alison Sampson, 2026. Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash.
Alison and the whale 