Our problem, in reading these stories, is twofold.  Firstly, the images and pictures don’t mean much in our world.  We aren’t farmers, or there isn’t a temple, or our weddings are conducted differently.  They don’t connect with us, in the way they would have done in first century Israel.  Secondly, the stories themselves are so familiar to us, that they lose their impact.  We have heard them so often, listened to explanations, or sometimes they have been incorporated into popular culture (eg. the Good Samaritan), and the surprise is gone, and with it the uncomfortable feelings that might just persuade us to act, to do something, to step out of the status quo.

So when Jesus said…

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.  (Mt 5:23-24)

…his original hearers would have understood exactly what he was saying.  And they would have been shocked, surprised, and possibly annoyed.  But we don’t necessarily ‘get it’ because we don’t have a temple, offer animals as sacrifices, nor know the geography of the land in which they lived.

Jesus was speaking in Galilee, some 80 miles from Jerusalem, where the temple was and gifts were offered.  So, says Jesus, if you people of Galilee are in Jerusalem, about to offer some gift as a freewill offering to God in the temple, and you remember someone who is offended with you, you are angry with, and your relationship is distanced or broken down, then you leave your animal with the priest, and go home.  Go back to Galilee (where almost certainly this offended person would reside).  Walk those 80 miles, to go meet with that person, to try to be reconciled with him.  That would be around 3 days travel, just to get back to Galilee.  Then another 3 days back to Jerusalem to offer you gift.  Oh, and another 3 days travel to return home again.

That is to say nothing about the gift.  Gifts in those days weren’t nice presents wrapped in colourful paper, with a bow on.  No, gifts offered at the altar were mostly animals: birds, lambs etc.  What were they supposed to do with this gift?  What happens if they returned a week later to find the gift had gone?  Walked off?  Flown away?  Been used by someone else?

Why didn’t Jesus just say, if you remember you have a broken relationship, well offer your gift and then rush back to build a bridge with your friend or neighbour who is offended?

I think Jesus didn’t say that because it wouldn’t have communicated how important building bridges in relationships is to Jesus.  I think Jesus didn’t say that because it would have left his hearers nodding wisely in agreement, but not doing anything about their wronged brothers.  I think Jesus didn’t say that because it wouldn’t have motivated his hearers to make that incredibly hard journey to reach out to someone to try to resolve differences.

So Jesus invited his hearers to take an incredibly difficult 80 mile journey home, to build a bridge in a broken relationship, and then another 80 miles back again to offer their gift at the altar.  So really this post should be have the title:  A one hundred and sixty mile journey to build a bridge!

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Often these verses have been used to encourage individuals in “personal evangelism”.  However, we need to bear in mind that Jesus has in mind here a community, a Kingdom Community, who demonstrate to the world there is a different way to live.

In our English this is masked by the the world “you” which can be either singular or plural.  The Greek is clear: it is plural, you could translate “you folks”.  You folks are the salt of the earth.  You folks are the light of the world.  The community of people, who live out the sermon on the mount, are salt and light, in the way they live together.  In the way they sort out their differences.  In the way they are faithful to each other.  In the way they are people of integrity, doing what they say will do.  In the way they don’t retaliate and love each other. 

They show a world that is watching, there is a different way to live.  A world that is so often characterised by grudges, bitterness, unforgiveness, revenge, unfaithfulness, lying, hatred. 

It all seems so reasonable.  If someone offends you, get your own back.  Or at very least, don’t let him do that again.  And probably a few judicially placed words to others, to make sure (of course) that they can’t do the same to others. 

Stay married.  Until it is better for you to separate.  Feeling stifled?  Feeling unfulfilled? Arguing all the time? Found someone else?  Well then go on, its OK, start again…

Look out for yourself.  No one else will.  So its good to be honest, until you find yourself in a situation where lying is a better option.  To cover up indiscretion and incompetence.  To climb the ladder.  Dog eat dog is justified as that’s the way the world works.

But Jesus calls his followers to a different way.  To live it together.  And to live it in such a way that others who aren’t followers of The Way, can see there is a different way.

Most commonly, though, they have been presented, as ideal or virtues that “good” Christians should aspire towards.  Hence they are sometimes called the “be-attitudes”!  To read them this way, does require some gymnastics with the mean of the words, which are invariably spiritualised.  So “blessed are those who mourn” is taken from it clear meaning of people who have suffered some kind of bereavement or loss, to people who mourn or grieve over their Sin.

To understand the Matthew passage, we must also keep in mind Luke’s version of the beatitudes (Lk 6:20-23), which invariably make the blessing more gritty and earthy:  blessed are the poor (instead of Matthew’s poor in spirit); blessed are the hungry (rather than those who hunger and thirst after righteousness).  Further insight in gleaned when we consider Isa 61, which has many echoes of the people that Jesus is referring to in the beatitudes, but Isa 61 it clear that the Holy Spirit is to break in the lives of these people to bring deliverance, to set them free, to comfort them, to bring hope instead of mourning.

All this pushes us to reconsider the beatitudes.  It seems to me that they speak, not so much as virtues to aspire for, but they say more about what God blesses.  He blesses people, that the world around us considers not worthy of being blessed.

You don’t have to be like these to people to be blessed.

But if you are like these people you can be blessed by God.

The “poor” being refereed to here, are the lowest of the low of society.  The unclean and the expendable.  The drop outs, the dregs, the failures, the won’t be missed, not noticed, irrelevant of society.  The ones that are hidden away, an embarrassment, shunned, pushed, trodden down.  And Jesus says that even they can be blessed by God.   The Kingdom is theirs.   The values of the Kingdom are turning everything upside down. 

We live in a world (and often a church) that blesses the successful, go getters, rich, powerful, attractive, those people who have got it together.  But Jesus blesses people in spite of their inadequacies.  Not because they are virtuous.  But in spite of their brokenness and failure.

And we are called to be like Jesus, and do the same.

I will write in a later post my view of the other blessings in Matthew 5.

Over the next year in our church, I am speaking on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).  Over the last few months, I have been reflecting on the famous inaugural speech from Jesus, as he seems to outline his manifesto.  It is gripping, scary, and very enticing.  Imagine a world where everyone lived this sermon?  Where we loved our enemies, sorted out our differences, remained faithful to those we loved in heart and action, where we resolved our anger towards others, didn’t worry about tomorrow but trusted God, where we didn’t judge others, and weren’t consumed by the pursuit of money, but served God?

Sounds a bit like heaven on earth.

And so, this last Sunday, I opened the series, primarily looking at the context for the sermon.  Here is a summary.  You can listen to it here, once it is uploaded in a day or two.  Your thoughts and comments would be appreciated, as we learn together, and discern what God is saying to us.

The Context

Jesus came announcing the Kingdom had come, and was here (Mt 4:17).  Now.  Not some future hope (although it was surely that too).  But the possibility of living in the Kingdom on earth, now.  Here.

To demonstrate that the Kingdom had come, Jesus  travelled throughout Galilee, healing people who were sick and ill, setting people free, and preaching about the Kingdom (Mt 4:23-25).  Crowds followed him, as this revival spread.  And we come to Mt 5:1-2 …

Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying:

Jesus left the revival (as good as it was) because it was too small a vision.  I believe he had seen something about the Kingdom, that was wouldn’t just change a few people’s lives, but change the world.

A New Community

Jesus saw a community of God’s people, who would live out the Kingdom life, on earth.  Groups of people, who would realise the instability of the worlds system, that one day will eventually pass away, and would live with a different set of values.

For ages, I have always thought of the sermon on the mount as an individual ethic.  But it isn’t.  It is how we can live in Christian community.  A community that will embody the Kingdom.  Jesus leaves the crowds; his disciples follow (not the 12, as they weren’t all together yet – but a group of people who were willing to follow Jesus).  Jesus has a vision of them forming a visible Christian community, that would show people there is a different (and better) way to live.

A Missional Community

This community is at its heart, a missional community.  Not necessarily in what is does, but in who it is.  We are salt and light.  We reveal the nature of God, by the way we love, and forgive, and trust God, and don’t judge, and don’t rely on power, manipulation, status, or position.

We don’t form community that is hidden or removed from the world in which we live.  We live this out, in the midst of the world around.  But we aren’t of the same system.  As Hauerwas says in the title of his book, we are “resident aliens”

Turn the world upside down

Jesus invites us into this kind of community.  It isn’t a question of are we saved or not.  Or will we go to heaven.  But to go beyond faith in Christ being for our personal needs, to living and incarnating the Kingdom with others.  And this will turn the world upside down.  When Paul & Silas were in Thessalonica, they upset some of the Jews and people were becoming Christians (were they worried about their diminished influence?) and they went to get them questioned, shouting “these men have caused trouble all over the world!” (NIV).  Which doesn’t sound that attractive to me!  But it is more helpfully translated “these who have turned the world upside down have come here too“. (NKJV).

Jesus left the revival, because he has a vision of a Kingdom and a Kingdom people who would turn the world upside down.  He invites us, to move beyond our allegiances to this system and values that characterise so much of this world, to turn the world upside down. 

Now I think that is worth giving our lives to.

What do you think?

I will write some more on the background, and include some of the quotes later in the week.  But in the meantime, here is some food for thought and discussion.