In the Gospel of the New Testament, there are some blessings spoken to very specific groups of people by Jesus - the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the ones who hunger and thirst for what is right, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted for the sake of the right, those whose reputation is slandered for Jesus’ sake. When we look at them from our 21st century perspective, the blessed look like a bunch of losers according to today’s values.  Yet of all the crowds and classes of people Jesus knew, he chose these specific ones to speak blessing to.