Blessed

"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 16)

I don't know about you, but when I hear "blessed are you," my inclination is to think it's a pat on the back, a "good for you!" But let's pretend that we like to diagram sentences. What does that verse actually say?

Look at the main clause. We don't usually put the adjective first. We usually have the subject, then the linking verb, then the predicate-adjective. So let's flip the word-order of the first three words.

Now look at the subordinate clause: FOR flesh and blood.... "For" is like "because." What if we put the subordinate clause first in the sentence?

Isn't this what it says?
-- Because My Father has revealed to you that I am the Christ, you are blessed.

Now, I don't know about you, but for me, this makes it oodles easier to see that "blessed are you" isn't praise from God, but rather it's all about the wonnnder that we have received from God His good gifts (trust in Him, dependence on Him, knowing that Jesus is the one whom He has sent to save us) and these gifts HE gives is what has blessed me.