Sermon on the Mount II: Mistakes we can make ...

Wednesday, Nov 19, 2014. We are looking into the “Sermon on the Mount”, one of the main speeches which Jesus has given during his ministery. It is recorded in Matthew 5-7 (and other parts of the four Gospels). We have been looking into the Beatitudes, the words about blessings of the Lord … let us stay there a little further!

God speaks …

Please read again, and again, and again. This is a dense text! It is a very good idea to go deep here:

2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5, 2-12)

First, there are really fantastic promises made here by Jesus. And: Being pure in heart. Being meek. Having thirst for justice and righteousness. Being full of mercy. These are all things we can work

Mistakes we can make …

There are two mistakes we can make with terms and phrases in such a text. You can start to use it and make a system from it, with rules and commands. There have been communities and churches in history, who started with good motives, but then were drawn into a dead system of rules, keeping the biblical terms active as a kind of justification. You can be dead in what you do, and still continue to use biblical terms! Do not be dead. Be full of life. Be full of the spirit of the Lord, but deep in your heart, with a serious and open view into the world!

The second mistake is to not take all this serious. It would be a big mistake to not believe, to not follow, to not become a disciple of Jesus. Many people today think that the biblical texts are old, are wrong in some parts, are just reflecting the faith of the early church, and are not to be taken serious. Or they take it serious as historical documents, but not as something which has to do with your life today, in this hour. But it has. It is God speaking today, still today to you and to me, as we are at this very moment.

It would be a big mistake not to be moved by this text, not to open our heart to it, not to start to long for becoming meek, becoming pure in heart, becoming what Jesus is talking about: followers of the Lord, full of mercy, forgiveness and spirit. But we are not bound to make the mistake, we can follow, we are invited to believe, and we can say yes to the invitation and then move on, as children of the Most High, now and forever … (RWEP) ... more texts