(thank you to Sue Kravits for the meme)
This blog post is based on my sermon from February 10, 2019. To listen to an audio recording of this sermon, please click here.
"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And anyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on the house, and it fell--and great was its fall!" Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teachings, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes." --Matthew 7:24-29, New Revised Standard Version"Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching." That is the first recorded reaction to the teaching of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. The word "astounded" in the original New Testament Greek carries the meaning of "bewildered, stunned, or struck with a powerful force."
Have you ever had an intense conversation with someone and almost felt that he or she had struck you with a fist? Their words were that forceful. Perhaps someone delivered an order or gave you an ultimatum, or simply spoke a truth that left you defenseless and utterly vulnerable.
That must have been what happened when Jesus finished speaking. The crowds were astounded, stunned.
In the words of my friend and mentor Roland Perdue, a retired Presbyterian pastor, it is almost as if the "Word became flesh and punched them in the face!" (from a sermon by Roland Perdue, "Oh My Goodness!," preached at the First Presbyterian Church of Charlotte, North Carolina, February 20, 2011).
What would it take for Jesus to astound you?
What would Jesus have to say in order to astonish you?
That the one who begs or borrows is never to be refused?
That if someone strikes you on one cheek, you are to offer the other cheek as well?
That if you hate someone it's just as bad as murder?
That if you call someone a fool you're liable to the hell of fire?
That if you have lustful thoughts it's just as bad as adultery?
That if someone compels you to walk a mile, you should voluntarily walk a second mile?
That not only are you supposed to be non-violent, but more than that, you are supposed to love your enemies?
That the meek, of all people!, will inherit the earth.(As Garrison Keillor once said, "it may be true that the meek will inherit the earth, but so far they only have North Dakota!")
Suppose for a moment that the Gospel writer Matthew had never collected different sayings of Jesus and assembled them into the Sermon on the Mount. Suppose that a preacher like me simply said them one morning from the pulpit:
That the one who begs or borrows is never to be refused.
That if someone strikes you on one cheek, you are to offer the other as well.
That if you call someone a fool you're liable to go straight to hell.What would you say after the worship service? "Thank you, pastor, your sermon really made me think" ?
I think not! I suspect that you would be utterly astounded, like I had punched you in the face!
Through the years there's been a debate among Christians about how best to interpret the Sermon on the Mount. Did Jesus really expect us to live out these teachings, or did Jesus' teachings represent some kind of ideal that we could never attain in this lifetime, and thus serve primarily as a reminder of our need for grace?
It seems to me that Jesus, according to the Gospel writer Matthew at least, answers that question for us:
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise person who builds a house upon the rock.Jesus did not say, "Well, if you're a truly wise person, then you would know not to take my words too literally, and you could pat yourself on the back for being so sophisticated."
No, instead, Jesus says "everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise person who builds a house upon the rock."
In the words of preacher and scholar Tom Long:
Jesus calls those who hear his message to put his words into practice, because the Sermon on the Mount expresses God's will not just for the church but also for the world. The commands of the sermon describe what it means to be fully human, not just what it means to be religious. Only a life based upon the vision embodied in the Sermon [on the Mount] can stand firm and true when all the storms of life have done their worst.
The house of greed washes away when the rains of economic crisis come.
The house of power collapses when the political climate changes.
The house of pragmatic living-for-the-moment slips off the foundation when life opens up with a mystery like birth, deep suffering, or death. (Thomas G. Long, Matthew, Westminster Bible Companion, pp. 84-85).But a house built upon the vision that Jesus gives us in the Sermon on the Mount is sturdy enough to stand through any storm of life.
When the Gospel writer Matthew sets up the scene for the Sermon on the Mount, he invites us to imagine Jesus speaking to two different groups--first, to the disciples, who have come near, and then, secondarily, to the crowds, who are close enough to overhear.
Jesus, therefore, is speaking symbolically through the disciples to the world, anticipating the mission of the church to teach all the nations to obey everything Jesus has commanded. (Long, p. 46)
You could say that Jesus is creating the church, giving birth to a separate reality in the midst of the crowds. The disciples are being made into a new community, the ecclesia--the called out--the word that Matthew uses for "church."
And the church is called to embody these teachings of Jesus, to show--primarily through their actions, not simply their words--that these teachings are indeed God's will for the whole world.
From time to time, I invite us to look at a statement that is printed on the Announcements page in our bulletin. It's a statement that was first used in our bulletins when Bruce White was pastor (1971-2000). Each week the statement is included in the very first paragraph. It reads:
What does it mean to be a Christian church in our time? We believe it means that we have decided to take seriously the teachings of Jesus about the Way of Life. It means that we have made a commitment to be open to the power of God's love.
As a church we have decided to build a house on rock. We have decided to take seriously the teachings of Jesus about the Way of Life. This means that we will not fit into "a crowd that seeks its security in prestige, property, or propriety." (Roland Perdue) Instead, we will be part of a group that looks to the birds of the air and considers the lilies of the field, knowing that our ultimate security lies with God.
These days our Monday morning study group has been reading short stories by Flannery O'Connor. She once wrote, "the Bible says, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. It should have said, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd."
When we talk about the meek being blessed, or about the command to love our enemies, we will indeed seem odd.
I invite you sometime soon to read through the Sermon on the Mount. It's found in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. It takes about eight or nine minutes to read through silently. Read through it and let it sink in how odd it is, but also how life-giving it is.
As a church, we--the members and friends of Katonah Presbyterian Church--have said that we intend to take seriously the teachings of Jesus, which means that we are called to do this work together.
Together, we do our best to apply the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount to our own lives and the life of our community.
We learn to talk about each other in ways that honor the child of God in each one of us. When Jesus says that if you say "you fool" you'll be liable to the hell of fire, he is engaged in a bit of word play. That word translated hell is gehenna in Greek, and it refers to the place outside the city walls where trash was burned. Don't trash-talk anyone, Jesus says, or you might be taken out with the trash yourself.
As a church, we do our best to interpret the hard sayings and difficult commands in the Sermon on the Mount. When, for instance, Jesus spoke very strict words prohibiting divorce, he was speaking primarily to a situation in which men would attempt to abandon their wives on a whim while relying on the technicality of obtaining a certificate of divorce. (see Long, pp. 58-60).
So how do we apply Jesus' words about divorce to our own day and time? As a church we should do everything we can to support couples who are doing their best to honor the commitments that they have made to each other. At the same time, the church should support those who have concluded that the most loving, most honorable path available to them is to sever the marriage ties. In both instances, we are taking the words of Jesus seriously, and doing our best to figure out what it means to follow Jesus in our own day and time.
As we take seriously Jesus' teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, we realize that the famous Golden Rule--do unto others as you would have them do unto you--is not simply another way of saying that if you scratch my back, then I'll scratch yours. Instead, in the words of Tom Long, we learn to interpret the Golden Rule in the context of the entire Sermon on the Mount.
What do the children of God want others to do to them? They want to be recognized as who they are, God's very own people, and they want to live in a world where mercy, meekness, and peace prevail. So, Jesus now calls them to treat the world in the same way, to treat the world as if it were already restored, as if it were already what it one day will surely be, a place were the merciful God is all in all and humanity is gathered at the great and joyous banquet. (Long, p. 81)Are you astounded yet?
I know I am.
All glory and praise be to our God. Amen.
Please feel free to use comments section below to post observations or ask questions.
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