I am taking a break from laying out some of my thoughts on the gospel as participation to share a little about what’s been going on in me while studying the Sermon on the Mount. I started doing it by accident and now I can’t stop (ahhh, the blessing of ADD).
The Sermon on the Mount starts with what is commonly called the Beatitudes where Jesus lays the foundation (I realize this is a very non-pomo/emergent/missional/cool word but I couldn't come up with anything else) for the whole sermon. Jesus takes a little bit of time to talk about who is really well off in the kingdom of God; Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. Sign me up for that club; I bet they throw the best parties!
I was listening to a teaching by a Theologian named Stanley Hauerwas. He had a lot of interesting things to say but one simple thing I can’t shake and that is “the sermon on the mount is Jesus.” The teacher and the teaching are one. When we separate the teaching of Jesus and the work of crucifixion and resurrection we make discipleship an afterthought. To live the Sermon on the Mount is salvation. Jesus said several times but in different ways those who know and love him (and his father) will follow his teachings and commandments. If the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus and we aren’t radically engaged in learning to live it then there’s no way we can “know” Jesus. To live the sermon is to know him. WOW. Hauerwas said that strikes a dagger into the heart of piety or into the heart of Jesus-being-my-personal-savior-and-I-try-to-be-a-good-person-and-will-go-to-heaven-someday-Christianity.
DANG.
More thoughts to come.
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