On a number of occasions I’ve been privileged to visit a
hillside that gently slopes down to the northern shore of the Sea of
Galilee. The ruins of ancient
Capernaum, the town of Peter, are just below. This is a beautiful and evocative place. Jesus walked these hills, lived with
these people, teaching in their synagogues, healing their sick and casting out
their demons.
And it was here on this hillside that he articulated a
vision for a world very different from the one that either those ancient
Galileans knew or the one we 21st century moderns know today. In this “sermon on the mount” Jesus
said things that still startle us if we pause to consider them. The meek, the poor in spirit, those who
mourn, the merciful, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the pure in
heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted—these are all singled out as the
blessed.
Let’s face it, in the world we live in today, peacemaking
doesn’t seem very blessed, does it?
Neither do those who are poor in spirit, or merciful. Does Jesus know how the ‘real’
world works? Is this all some kind
of ivory hilltop philosophy, disconnected from reality? Or does Jesus know something deeper
still?
Risk for me is living my life as if the Sermon on the Mount
is real. It is believing that Jesus came to fix a broken world; to atone for
our sin and give us life as it was meant to be lived, in communion with God and
our fellow man; to make all things new; and to transform all who believe in him
into agents of this grand work of reconciliation.
In this world the pessimists have all the facts. And might makes right. And self-fulfillment is the key to
happiness. And it’s us vs. them,
with an eye for an eye as the only means to insure our safety. And he who dies with the most toys
wins. These maxims represent a
direct counter to Jesus message, and you can understand why so many believe
them to be true. It’s risky to
believe otherwise, and even more risky to act on that belief.
But once long ago “the Word became flesh and made His
dwelling place among us,” and he enfleshed difficult truths so that we
could see them lived and understand them.
Ever since there have been those who have been willing to risk comfort,
safety, reputation, and life itself in their conviction that Jesus words were
true. And may we, in this day we
have been given, risk such things, too, living as agents of a kingdom in which
the poor in spirit, the peacemakers, and the meek are blessed.
