This week we start our new Sermon on the Mount series beginning with the “Beatitudes” (Matthew 5: 3-12) in which Jesus explains who experiences The Good Life or blessed life. By the poor in spirit, those who mourn, and the meek, Jesus draws a contrast to the powerful, comfortable, and important people who the world might think are blessed when power, comfort, and status are not necessarily determinants of experiencing The Good Life. After the “Beatitudes” (“blessed are those…”) recorded in Matthew 5: 13-16, Jesus defines the calling of those who experience The Good Life as “salt and light,” or people who preserve God’s wisdom and God’s best for our world and who witness to God’s reality so that others might experience God’s goodness. These 16 verses are quite a remarkable way to start Jesus’ sermon by defining who experiences The Good Life, a.k.a. “Kingdom Identity.”