Posts
Here it is, the Sermon on the mount.
one of the most famous readings in the lectionary.
quoted and misquoted here and there,
appropriated by many to prove a point or another.
We are all very familiar with it and we all feel that we know what it means. Right?
Well no. Not really.
First of all this is no Sermon on the mount.
See, most people have Matthew's version of the discourse stuck in their minds,
but this is Luke’s version so I’d like to clarify a few things, like the where, when, who and why of this passage.
Bear with me.
On one fine evening, Jesus went out on a mountain to pray.
He spent the night in prayer and when the day came, Jesus called his disciples
(all of the disciples who had camped right around there) and chose 12.
And those 12 he named Apostles.
This is very important: of all the disciples (the followers) around him,
Jesus picks 12 and names them Apostles which means messengers, those who are sent forth.
A huge change in job description if I’ve ever seen one.
And then, he comes down with them and stands on a level place-
I am not making it up, I am quoting Luke!
I told you it was not on the mount: this is the Sermon on the Plain.
AND he is surrounded by his brand new 12 Apostles AND a great crowd of disciples (followers)
and a great multitude of people coming from all over the place
Judea, Jerusalem, as far as the coast of Tyre and Sidon
and this multitude is eager to hear him,
and also (probably especially) to be healed of their diseases.
We need to see in our minds where we are and who is there
b/c through all these details Luke is alerting us to the fact that
what is going to happen now is supremely important.
Before major events Jesus prays - that’s our first indicator.
And here we have a multitude of people and they come from really far - another indicator.
Imagine concentric circles around this amazing man-God
who then looks up at his disciples and speaks.
he is talking to his disciples, the ones he is training,
those men and women who had already made the choice of following him,
who had already dropped everything to make Jesus a priority,
who had already found themselves in difficult places,
unexpected even dangerous places b/c of him
and who will soon find themselves in places even more painful,
more overwhelming and difficult to understand:
the passion, the cross, the death
And this is what he tells them:
Love your enemies.
Do good to those who hate you.
Bless those who curse you.
Pray for those who abuse you.
Give to everyone who begs from you
and if anyone takes away your possessions, do not ask for them again.
In other words: do to others as you would have them do to you.
This is what it means to be a disciple - a follower.
You can take it or leave it, but here it is.
And Jesus also says, as you do all this, remember
that you who are choosing to be poor with me are blessed.
you who are choosing to be hungry with me are blessed
you who are choosing to weep with me and to be excluded, reviled, and defamed with me, you are blessed.
Because you have ME. Because you are following ME, because you are becoming like ME.
And for emphasis, he adds that if you instead choose otherwise as is your prerogative -
if you choose to focus on your needs and desires,
to accumulate riches for yourself, in simpler words,
if you put not to put Jesus at the center of your life -
then you will be in trouble, you will not be blessed.
Because you will not be following ME, you will be separated from ME.
It is not a threat.
Not everyone is cut out to be a disciple.
But if you say you are one, if you choose to be one,
don’t say that Jesus didn’t tell you how it was going to be.
It’s right there, spelled out with extreme clarity.
Love your enemies.
Do good to those who hate you.
Bless those who curse you.
Pray for those who abuse you.
Give to everyone who begs from you
and if anyone takes away your possessions, do not ask for them again.
In other words: do to others as you would have them do to you.
Now Jesus is not expecting immediate perfection.
Jesus is not telling us
Woe to you if you don’t give to every single charity that sends you an envelope in the mail
or if you ask your neighbor who borrowed your toolbox two months ago to kindly give it back.
Jesus understands that when pledge time comes you want to take some time
to think about how to allocate your money
and that when someone hurts you it may take some time to forgive them.
Jesus understands that. And more.
That is why we have community around us.
The community of the Church, of all the baptized all around us,
men and women like us who struggle as we do to be disciples.
That’s why we have the Saints who have gone before us, to be role models of discipleship.
That’s why we have the Sacraments - tangible, visible signs of God’s constant presence in our lives.
Of how the Holy Spirit protects, empowers, and readies us for discipleship.
In his sermon on the plain,
Jesus is not expecting immediate perfection.
Jesus is defining discipleship.
WE don’t have to be disciples.
We can be like those who showed up on the plain to be healed and then once they got what they wanted went back to Tyre and Sidon to live regular lives of selfish behavior and personal gain.
But if we do that, we miss the blessing.
The joy of discipleship.
The amazing reward of a struggle conquered,
of a job well done,
of the love of God given freely,
of knowing that by loving our neighbor we love God first.
Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment