Sermon on the Mount
I have lately (the past year) been working through the Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5ff and Luke 6ff) Many of you know that best way I know to get a passage of scripture or an idea down into my soul is to let it percolate in my mind and my life for a while. When I do this, I study every angle and idea associated with it. As I do and as I figure out how to incorporate it into my life, that's where it takes up residence in me and the Word becomes a part of me.
I preached on this passage a few months ago (you can listen to it here), but there's only so much you can do in 30 minutes. I wanted to take the time to dissect it a little more closely.
I've always been drawn to the sermon on the mount, particularly the Beatitudes. For some reason, they seem to resonate with me and I'm not sure why. In many ways, the Beatitudes are speaking to people who are very much unlike me. I've lived a pretty charmed life for the most part-great family, I couldn't ask for a better wife, my kids are a good as I could expect being raised by me, I've never been in the hospital and I've only broken one bone (and I'm not even sure about that!)
The people Jesus is speaking to and about here are very much unlike me. I can see how the Beatitudes could be "good news" to them, but what about me? What do the beatitudes have to do with me? Isn't that the question that's in the foremost of every individualistic Christian's mind?
I've always been told that when we read the Beatitudes that we should read it that Jesus was saying this should "be our attitude." As I read this section it's hard for me to believe this is what Jesus was intending. Is Jesus really saying our attitude should be "poor in Spirit" (which I don't think translates as simply "humble." Are we supposed to be "meek" or should our attitude always be that of "mourning?" I don't think that was how Jesus lived life, so apparently that's not the case.
I do think the key here is in the blesseds. Remember that the single greatest message of Jesus was the "Kingdom." The counter-cultural, counter-religious, God-centered Kingdom of Heaven. I believe we need to read the beatitudes in light of the Kingdom. The idea of the Kingdom of God goes way back into the Old Testament and is especially poignant in the prophets. For a more in-depth discussion of this, you can listen to this podcast from my "Exploring the Kingdom" class.
Israel saw themselves as God's chosen people or in essence, the "kingdom of God." Of course, they weren't content with God as their King, so they asked for a human king to rule over them. God reluctantly agreed, but the Israelite kings were not always cooperative with God's plan and led the nation astray. Because of this, God sent prophets to Israel to warn them of the consequences of going astray.
So we see passages like Isaiah 10, where the prophet pronounces judgment on the nation of Israel and warns them that if they don't change the way they do things, God will judge them (by sending another nation to conquer them). Of course, this would be devastating for Israel's self-image. After all, if they are really "God's Kingdom" He would never send a pagan nation to take them over. Surely God would do everything to protect them. But the prophets told otherwise. Israel didn't want to hear it, didn't listen to them, and subsequently were dragged off to Assyria.
However, in the middle of each warning from the prophet, there was always hope. So we see in Isaiah 11, for instance that Isaiah promises a "shoot from the stump of Jesse." Of course, David was the son of Jesse so Isaiah is saying that God promises to bring about someone from the line of David (and Jesse) to be the one who sets things right again. That's why Matthew goes to such great lengths to trace the lineage of Jesus back through Jesse. Matthew wanted to make sure the Jews knew that Jesus fit the image of the Messiah (even though He wasn't what most Jews expected of the Messiah).
In the next post, I'll get into the actual Beatitudes, but here let me just point this out, because I think it's instructive for us and should change the way we look at righteousness and salvation. In the evangelical church today, we often see righteousness as this personal holiness thing. We don't do certain sins--like drinking, or swearing, or lying, or looking at porn, we go to church and read our Bible, and believe the right things--usually that "Jesus died on the cross for my sins," and whatever other pet doctrine we have. While there is an element of truth to these things, they are not ultimately or completely what the prophets or Jesus defined as righteousness.
Go back to Isaiah 10 for instance (this is only one example, but I guarantee that if you look though any of the prophets, you'll see these same themes running very strongly through them). What does Isaiah 10 mention are the sins of Israel?
I preached on this passage a few months ago (you can listen to it here), but there's only so much you can do in 30 minutes. I wanted to take the time to dissect it a little more closely.
I've always been drawn to the sermon on the mount, particularly the Beatitudes. For some reason, they seem to resonate with me and I'm not sure why. In many ways, the Beatitudes are speaking to people who are very much unlike me. I've lived a pretty charmed life for the most part-great family, I couldn't ask for a better wife, my kids are a good as I could expect being raised by me, I've never been in the hospital and I've only broken one bone (and I'm not even sure about that!)
The people Jesus is speaking to and about here are very much unlike me. I can see how the Beatitudes could be "good news" to them, but what about me? What do the beatitudes have to do with me? Isn't that the question that's in the foremost of every individualistic Christian's mind?
I've always been told that when we read the Beatitudes that we should read it that Jesus was saying this should "be our attitude." As I read this section it's hard for me to believe this is what Jesus was intending. Is Jesus really saying our attitude should be "poor in Spirit" (which I don't think translates as simply "humble." Are we supposed to be "meek" or should our attitude always be that of "mourning?" I don't think that was how Jesus lived life, so apparently that's not the case.
I do think the key here is in the blesseds. Remember that the single greatest message of Jesus was the "Kingdom." The counter-cultural, counter-religious, God-centered Kingdom of Heaven. I believe we need to read the beatitudes in light of the Kingdom. The idea of the Kingdom of God goes way back into the Old Testament and is especially poignant in the prophets. For a more in-depth discussion of this, you can listen to this podcast from my "Exploring the Kingdom" class.
Israel saw themselves as God's chosen people or in essence, the "kingdom of God." Of course, they weren't content with God as their King, so they asked for a human king to rule over them. God reluctantly agreed, but the Israelite kings were not always cooperative with God's plan and led the nation astray. Because of this, God sent prophets to Israel to warn them of the consequences of going astray.
So we see passages like Isaiah 10, where the prophet pronounces judgment on the nation of Israel and warns them that if they don't change the way they do things, God will judge them (by sending another nation to conquer them). Of course, this would be devastating for Israel's self-image. After all, if they are really "God's Kingdom" He would never send a pagan nation to take them over. Surely God would do everything to protect them. But the prophets told otherwise. Israel didn't want to hear it, didn't listen to them, and subsequently were dragged off to Assyria.
However, in the middle of each warning from the prophet, there was always hope. So we see in Isaiah 11, for instance that Isaiah promises a "shoot from the stump of Jesse." Of course, David was the son of Jesse so Isaiah is saying that God promises to bring about someone from the line of David (and Jesse) to be the one who sets things right again. That's why Matthew goes to such great lengths to trace the lineage of Jesus back through Jesse. Matthew wanted to make sure the Jews knew that Jesus fit the image of the Messiah (even though He wasn't what most Jews expected of the Messiah).
In the next post, I'll get into the actual Beatitudes, but here let me just point this out, because I think it's instructive for us and should change the way we look at righteousness and salvation. In the evangelical church today, we often see righteousness as this personal holiness thing. We don't do certain sins--like drinking, or swearing, or lying, or looking at porn, we go to church and read our Bible, and believe the right things--usually that "Jesus died on the cross for my sins," and whatever other pet doctrine we have. While there is an element of truth to these things, they are not ultimately or completely what the prophets or Jesus defined as righteousness.
Go back to Isaiah 10 for instance (this is only one example, but I guarantee that if you look though any of the prophets, you'll see these same themes running very strongly through them). What does Isaiah 10 mention are the sins of Israel?
- Making oppressive laws
- Depriving the poor of their rights
- Making widows their prey
- Robbing orphans
Labels: Isaiah, Jesus, justice, luke 6, matthew 5, mercy, Old Testament, prophets, sermon on the mount
posted by Kory at
6:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home