If you were raised in a small town or a rural setting, moving to a big city can be a big deal. The intense, fast pace of urban life can seem disorienting and overwhelming. But the reverse is also true. If you are a born and bred city dweller, and move to a scarcely populated, yet closely knit small town or rural community, the rhythms of that lifestyle can appear utterly foreign. For an urban dweller, small town life runs on the rails of a mysterious train of relationships. In both cases the newcomer must learn to adapt. In new places, life is lived differently.

In today’s gospel text Luke presents his version of the Beatitudes, a sermon in which Jesus startles the religious imagination with new realities and relationships that characterize a new place, the impending kingdom of God. Unlik…