Week 3 Sunday

The Sermon of a Lifetime

Today’s scripture selection: Matthew 5-7

Key verse: Matthew 5:1-2

     He had stepped out of obscurity into a very public ministry.  He had told the people that the kingdom of heaven was much closer to them then they realized.  He had called his first disciples, promising these simple fishermen that soon they would have a very different kind of catch – men and women seeking God.  And now, it was time, to begin to teach them what this new life was all about.

     So Jesus sat down on a hillside and starting talking.  He talked about what real blessedness was all about.  He talked about salt and light; law and grace; how to treat your friends, and more importantly, your enemies; about giving and receiving; prayer and fasting.  And finally, he told them how they could stop worrying so much.

     It’s called the Sermon on the Mount – and it’s Jesus’ Master Class in kingdom living.  And while, on the surface, it seems pretty straightforward, people have been learning for centuries just how hard it can be to live according to its principles.  Still, when we manage to live even a little bit according to this ageless teaching, we become – literally – the salt and light of the world.

     As a preacher I have always marveled at the succinct beauty of this hillside sermon.  Sometimes I wish I could organize my thoughts so well, and cover so much important territory in such a short time.  But then I remember something.  Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount isn’t meant to be digested in one twenty-minute session.  It’s meant to be lived out one day at a time over an entire lifetime.  It’s meant to be a marathon, not a sprint.  It’s meant to give us ideals for which to reach, knowing that many days we won’t accomplish that very well.  But the sermon gives us a vision of who, with God’s help, we can become.

     I doubt that when the Lord put this little instruction book on life before that first, rag-tag, bunch of illiterate fisherman disciples – he expected them to immediately understand what it was all about.  But I wonder if he hoped that they would just dream a little bit; get just a glimpse of what he was promising that could be theirs one day, if only they were faithful.  They didn’t have to be perfect – just willing to learn and follow.  So it is for us.  It’s so much to learn in so little time.  But – keep at it – and you might just find that one day, to your surprise, you’ve brought a little salt and light into the world, just where it’s needed.

 

Prayer: Lord, help me to sit at your feet and just listen.  Help me to open myself to all the possibilities of joyful, kingdom living.  Show me what it means to lived a truly blessed life.  Then guide me to be a blessing to others – in your holy and blessed name.  AMEN.