Why I Both Love and Hate "The Sermon on the Mount"

Before reading this entry, you might take a little time to become reacquainted with this sermon.  It is too long to put in this blog, so I will link it here.  

What I Love About This Sermon:

What I love about this sermon is the implied holiness of God.

You cannot come away from this sermon without realizing that when God says he is holy, that means an exceedingly high thing.  This sermon is a sermon no doubt Jesus followed, for he of all people would want his life to be built on the rock of these teachings.  If God is holy like this sermon, that to me means he is trustworthy, and that relying on him will keep us, each of us, safe.  I love any message that exemplifies the righteousness and goodness of God.

What I Hate About This Sermon:

These expectations are surreal.

No one can follow this sermon completely.  I believe Jesus himself had the strength to follow it, but... no one else.  It is very hard.  Some things in it I've incorporated into my life, like I try not to talk about any good deed I have done- I try to keep those things to myself.  If I do talk about them, it is to make some sort of point, not just to make myself look good.  Also, I've found the prayer in 6:9-13 to be very helpful to know how to pray.  Knowing how to pray is essential to following hard after God.  And of course the whole idea of laying up treasure in Heaven is very appealing to me- it is my life's work to store up as much treasure in heaven as I can.  But much of it is... very harsh.  "But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also."  One of many impossible followings of Jesus.  I have been slapped before.  When it happened my mind was not on this sermon.  I did not retaliate, to my credit.  However, I did not turn the other cheek either.  I immediately reported it to the hospital authorities.  So I proved in that moment that this sermon is very difficult to follow- obeying God in moments like these is extremely difficult.  

If I were to break down every verse that is anywhere from "extremely difficult" to "wellnigh impossible for any mortal"... I would be going on and on.  One moment in particular stands out to me where I arguably dropped the ball- I was driving to a donut shop, ultimately on my way to Idaho from Corvallis (I was in Portland at this point, a place notorious for people who beg who are not really in need), when I missed the shop and had to turn around in this parking lot.  Out of nowhere this woman appeared and asked for financial assistance.  Now... in my defense, she did not seem to be in exceptional need- this was not a "Good Samaritan" moment where someone is obviously in dire straits due to zero fault of their own.  However, scripture is clear that if someone asks you for help you should help them, and Jesus even indicates in one particular passage in Matthew that we will all be judged based on how we treat "the least of these brothers of mine," which I've tended to interpret as meaning the homeless, the imprisoned... those whom life has been nasty and brutish.  However, in that moment I was unprepared.  Usually before someone asks me for help I have a moment to pray and ask God if he wants me to help someone or not, and in this case I had no such moment.  Moreover, my general way of handling the needy is not to give cash, but to go with the person in need and get them what they actually need, whatever that may be.  That is my practice.  And I had a tight schedule- I was meeting someone in Idaho later that day, and I did not want it to be super late when I go there as that was not even my final destination.  So I said no.  To this day I wonder if I sinned in that moment.

It's hard following this sermon.  Jesus did not sugarcoat what it means to be a disciple.  I wish it were easier.  I wish... I wish being a disciple was not... so intense.  Anyone who majors on Paul and the Pauline epistles may think that being a disciple is about grace, about "doing our best and accepting Jesus' forgiveness."  No.  Being a disciple is understanding just how terribly we measure up.  We don't just fail slightly... we are destitute and without hope except surrender to God.  We should put into practice as much of this sermon as we have capacity to- Jesus didn't preach this sermon as just some ideal that we can safely ignore.  We should try to follow it, fail, and wholly latch on to the notion that Jesus and his sacrifice are enough.  This sermon should teach us true humility, not a false pretense that God does not despise the way we live.  This sermon is a wakeup call, that all who call themselves disciples would do well to meditate on the plain teaching of scripture.

This is sermon is a hard word.  May we follow Jesus by following his teachings and learning to be like him.  Let us never take for granted the mercy God gives us.  Never.

Justice Here On Earth?

There is a conflict in scripture that I want to address here- the conflict of whether the wicked will be redressed here on earth, or whether our main hope of justice comes in eternity.

I think, any Christian you talk to is full of hope that justice will happen on earth.  We all want to see the wicked receive their comeuppance...  it's natural to want to see those that grievously sin against the Almighty get what should be coming to them in this life.  If I read Job carefully though, I hear another message.  Oftentimes in life, the wicked seemingly get away with all their sins.

We must learn to trust God with justice.  It's hard!  And frustrating.  I see people who are wicked who never seem to face any consequences for what they do... they have successful existences and seem to do whatever they want without consequences.  It bothers me.  I forget that the peace inside my heart is my own reward for walking faithfully before my God, and that my primary reward for doing good and living right before my maker is in heaven.  We forget so easily that justice does eventually come to everyone!  But hanging on to hope that all the wicked on earth will receive their comeuppance on earth is unrealistic.  Any careful reading of Job shows that one of Job's primary defenses against the accusation that he has sinned and that the trouble currently befalling him is God's justice for his sin, is the fact that even prosperity is no guarantee that one is righteous before his maker.  The wicked often prosper!  And even the times when consequences do befall the wicked, oftentimes those consequences seem minor in comparison to their vast sins.  And the righteous do often suffer, sometimes seemingly unfairly.  We must come to terms with the fact that oftentimes, only in eternity will justice be fully understood.

Don't believe that the wicked will get away with their wickedness forever.  We will all stand before our maker eventually.  God will reward those that gave themselves fully to himself and his will, and will punish those that chose their own way and whose hearts were callous to the plans of God and the needs around them.  I know it's nice to see the wicked reap what they sow on earth, and see the righteous flourish.  Lest we forget, our savior was crucified- if any righteous person deserved a long and happy life, it was Jesus, and they killed him in a really horrible way.  Our craving for justice may go unmet in this life, but it won't go unmet in eternity.  Remember that the next time you make a decision that honors God here on earth, or... the next time you ignore God and go your own way... we all reap what we sow.