Jesus
grew up in a spectacularly beautiful region. I never knew that but the scenery
is absolutely stunning. (See Picture # 1 below) Hillsides,
covered with beautiful wild flowers; yellows, whites, and brilliant reds, all
contrasting wonderfully with the green of the hillside grasses. A few trees.Birds, flitting about
gathering food and singing out their praises.And
beyond the peaceful hillside, a splendid view over the lake. (See
Picture #2 below) It's deep blue colour
takes your breath away. The lake is surrounded by hills and in the distance a
snow capped mountain. (See Picture #3 below) (You'll just have to believe me on
that one since we didn't get a picture.) Visitors often call this area the most
beautiful place in the world. Locals call it, “God's Eye”. You know you're
close to paradise in this beautiful place.
This
particular hillside (Picture #1) is remembered as the location of Jesus' Sermon
on the Mount. Of course no one knows for sure the exact location and most
likely the sermon was a collection of Jesus teachings...not necessarily one
long teaching. Yet there's no doubt Jesus would have
taught in places like this hillside, with the spectacular lake...the Sea of Galilee in the background. (Picture # 2)
Somehow
I never quite pictured Jesus' classrooms like this and its
got me wondering about something.
I've
been wondering if the spectacular beauty of this region is evident in the Good
News which Jesus taught.
The
sayings we just heard about the wise and foolish builders... are the final
words of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Hearing those words bring echoes of that
happy and fun children's song to my mind. The wise man built his house upon the
rock, and the rains came tumbling down.
But
if that's all we heard in the scripture this morning, we missed something
pretty important. The sermon on the mount ends not
with a joyful children's song but with a very strong warning. The Message puts
it this way. “Knowing the correct password-saying Master, Master, for instance
isn't going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious
obedience-doing what's God's will. (7: 22 )
Serious obedience?? I don't even like the word
obedience by itself...let alone adding the word serious to it.
A
serious call to obedience, is likely the most
difficult of the Gospel values to understand and to appreciate. We bring so
much baggage to the idea of obedience. And obedience has been so massively
misunderstood and misapplied. The history isn't good.
Women
have been forced to be obedient to patriarchal structures. Men have been
brutalized in the name of institutions and countries. Obedience has been
used to get a mindless kind of conformity in society
and with in the church too. Sometimes this misuse of obedience
was actually well intentioned and sometimes not, but the results are the same:
You end up with wounded human beings who are less than what God made them to
be, less than able to be the salt and light Christ expects them to be. (Bonnie
Thurston, “Freedom of Obedience” in Christian Reflection, BaylorUniversity,
Centre for Christian Ehtics)
But
Jesus' call to obedience is unmistakeable. “Everyone
who hears these words and acts on them hears these words and does them OBEYS is
like a wise builder who builds on solid rock. And the foolish builder is the
one who hears Jesus' words and does not do them. HEARS AND DISOBEYS. I see no
way out of obedience here. And even when it's Jesus' words we must obey...I'm
not sure we like it much better if we're really honest about it. We're not all
that good at being told what to do.
So
what do we do when we come to scriptures like this Scriptures we might not like
very much?
The
easiest thing is probably just to dismiss it. Just say “I have no idea what
this means. Maybe it meant something in the sixteenth century or maybe even for
my grandparents, or my parents...but not for me. Let's just move onto another
part we like better. But there's another way to respond. We might just say, “I
wonder what this means. I trust Jesus words enough to believe there's got
to be more to know here. To what kind of obedience does the Sermon on the Mount
call us?
Legalism
was big in Jesus' day. Carefully following each and every rule was absolutely
important. You earned God's favour by following the
rules. And religious leaders went around making sure you obeyed. That's
likely a bit of an oversimplification but the laws given to the people through
Moses had been studied and debated through the centuries so that by Jesus' day
some things had gotten pretty complicated. The commandment “Keep the Sabbath
holy” for example, had developed into long lists of dos and don'ts. No picking
and few mouths full of grain if you're hungry on the Sabbath. No healing on the
Sabbath. Walk only so far. There were so many rules, there was little time for
holiness, because it was so important to get them right and getting them right
is about us about us doing the right things
“If
only we follow the rules and get it right...then we'll be right with God. Jesus
knew this was very sandy ground. No place for a wise builder to build a life.
Jesus
healed on the Sabbath. His disciples picked grain on the Sabbath. Jesus
actively questioned the rules. He was a rule breaker but before we get too
excited, and start thinking that after all this obedience thing isn't important
Jesus also said: “Do not think that I have come
to abolish the law.” (5:17) He tells everyone they must do better than their
religious leaders. (5:20) “You have heard that it was said, “An
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do
not resist an evil doer.” “You have heard that it was said, “You shall
love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say
to you, Love your enemies. Just in case you thought Jesus threw out the laws he
didn't. He made them more radical. He upped the ante. He didn't throw them out!
The
crowds listening to Jesus had never heard anyone like him. He had authority. It
was the best teaching ever. The sermon on the Mount is
a lot more than a sermon. It's how Jesus lived. Not because the law was out
there somewhere to be obeyed. Not because he'd get in trouble if he didn't but
because the law was inside him written on his heart...as the prophet Isaiah
describes it. He radicalized the law because he lived his life so grounded in
God. What he did and what he said flowed in and through and from the very heart
of God. His life was grounded in grace freely given. A grace not earned by
following rules that had long grown empty and devoid of meaning. The obedience
Jesus demonstrated was lived in response to God's love. The kind of living is
living from the inside out.
Bonnie
Thurston comments that the whole movement of Matthew's Gospel is toward not
only hearing the words of Jesus the teacher and acting on them...obeying them,
but hearing him, his person, who he is, and responding by becoming like him.
That response isn't something that's forced from the outside, but lived from the
inside. To be obedient to the person of Jesus is to be transformed into what he
is:
gentle and humble in heart. In that
transformation...our wills become more and more like God's will. Like what God
wants for our lives. That's when obedience is not a chore at all. It's about freedom;about stepping off the
centre stage of your own life and letting God act and live there.
Jesus
knew legalism was a heavy burden and in compassion he says
“Come
to me, all you who are weary...
and I will give you rest
Take
my yoke upon you, and learn from me;
for I am gentle and humble in heart
and you will find rest for your souls
For
my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Mt 11:28-30)
In
Wendell Berry's novel Jayber Crow, the narrator is a
barber living in a tiny Kentucky
town called Port William. For 30 years the men of the town come to sit in Jayber Crow's barbering chair. They talk to him and visit
with neighbours who are waiting. Mothers bring their
children and he gets to know them too.
In
time, Jayber Crow becomes a very good listener, a
kind of confessor really. He knows the characters and values of Port William
people very well. He goes to church and contemplates the truths of the gospels...which
he does his best to live out.
He
is faithful and honourable in love. He is honest in
his dealings with others. He loves his friends and, with considerable struggle,
learns to love his few enemies. He is gentle and humble in heart.
As
God draws us to become more like Jesus in gentleness and humility, we learn to
love ourselves, other people, and the world as Jesus does. His teachings are no
longer in conflict with our heart and will...or at
least they are less in conflict with our heart and will. Obedience
sounds much different when our desires becomes more
and more lined up with God's will.
When
we stress travelling the narrow road or building on
the rock, we give the false impression that by our faithful obedience we
maintain and progress our Christian standing. Let's face it. We can't make God
love us. But in faithfully responding to God's love we learn to live a life
that comes from the inside out. Maybe the spectacular beauty of Galilee is evident after all in Jesus' teaching...even in
his call for serious obedience.
