The next blogs will be about Jesus' famed Sermon on the Mount--specifically about the beatitudes. Many people refer to the first portion of the sermon as the beatitudes because Jesus begins the text with the term blessed and then espouses a reward for a specific character attribute.
The backdrop is that there were expectations on Jesus that he had come to "rescue" the Jews. He was being heralded by some as a military leader so this sermon was probably quite frustrating and confusing to those who saw him in that capacity.
In this sermon Jesus talks about being humble, about being empathetic and meek, about longing for righteousness, being merciful and making for peace, about being being pure in heart and being persecuted. The sermon talks about being an example and a light and not breaking away from the law but fulfilling it. He talks about loving your enemies and blessing those who curse you as the reward is in loving those that do not love you. Chapters 6 and 7 show Jesus sharing how to pray and how to not be judgmental but to show compassion and mercy. Jesus instructs not to worry but to seek the kingdom of God first. It is especially notable in Chapter 7 that Jesus takes the time to thoroughly explain the importance of relying on God and to beware of false prophets.
One can see that this sermon is Jesus pouring out of himself and into us the very reason that He came and principles to adopt and to live on. To accept teachings from this sermon begins to make us disciples in deed as we take on the mind of Christ and put away our own way of dealing with these practical and day to day real life situations. These lessons are an important piece of understanding Christianity as a philosophy and as a way of living naturally and spiritually. If we write this word on the tables of our hearts and refresh this word in our minds it will help guide us in our Christian journey.
For the present we are only covering the Beatitudes portion of the sermon. However, Chapters 5, 6 and 7 should be read and studied in their entirety to enjoy the complete Sermon on the Mount. The sermon is encouraging, uplifting, refreshing and renewing. We will begin tomorrow with Chapter 5 verse 3.
No comments:
Post a Comment