Welcome to all who have taken up the challenge to study and meditate upon Matt. 5.
I'm looking forward to the journey.
I read through Matt. 5:1-12 a couple of times. Then I picked up a book by Dallas Willard called, The Divine Conspiracy. A large part of his book is devoted to the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7). So, today was a 'study' day rather than a 'meditation' day.
Here's what struck me from the Matt. 5:1-12 passage:
1. Jesus was speaking to his newly chosen, wet behind the ears, disciples (Matt. 4:18-22). The didn't yet have any understanding of Jesus' kingdom values.
2. He was also speaking to a rag tag horde of messed up people. Gathered before him were the formally ill, those recently freed from demon-possession, people who have been in pain for years, and folks who had been paralyzed (Matt. 4:24). Not only had those people just been set free but it's a guarantee that many in the crowd showed up to see Jesus that had not yet been healed or set free from being demonized.
3. This mob was in Jesus mind and eyes as he spoke the words of in Matt. 5-7. Most of them were probably dirty, illiterate, unorthodox in their ideology, and irreligious. They were certainly poor in spirit, mourning, and searching for righteousness. They had very recently been shown tremendous mercy by Jesus (through healing and casting out demons). And they were persecuted. I used to think that the persecution Jesus was speaking about came from people who didn't follow God. But remember who hated Jesus in his time? It was the religious elite. The Pharisees and Sadducees. They spent their life trying to follow God, religiously.
That's scary because I tend to spend most of my time on the religious side of the tracks.
4. So, who would be in that crowd today? Here's what Dallas Willard says,
"The flunk-outs and drop-outs ad burned-outs. The broke and the broken. The drug heads and the divorced. The HIV-positive and herpes-ridden. The brain-damaged, the incurable ill. The barren and the pregnant too-many-times or at the wrong time. The over-employed, the underemployed, the unemployed. The unemployable. The swindled, the shoved aside, the replaced. The parents with children living on the street, the children with parents not dying in the 'rest' home. The lonely, the incompetent, the stupid. The emotionally starved or emotionally dead... Murders and child-molesters. The brutal and the bigoted. Drug lords and pornographers. War criminals and sadists. Terrorists. The perverted and the filthy and the filthy rich..."
Am I telling the people in the above list that the are valuable and loved by God or do I turn a blind eye to them?
Okay, gotta run. I promised my little guy I'd play cars with him.
13 comments:
Love the thoughts today, Brother!! As I read Matt. 5:1-12, I found I had to read it over and over again as I continually held myself to self-examination.
Do I regularly and without conscience thought live out the things that Jesus is teaching on. Am I always merciful, am I a peacemaker, Am I meek? Do I take offense and play the victim when persecuted for following after Jesus?
The answers I have to these hard questions are not neccessarily comforting to hear but what I realize that what I do going forward is what matters most.
Will I course-correct or will I ignore the issues of my own selfish heart.
I can relate to the self examination Corey mentions, as well as 'todays crowd' as Dallas Willard describes it. I struggle not to feel the guilt of falling short and question myself as to why I have not been persecuted? Today I will hold to God's promise that He will comfort those that mourn as I lost a friend to Cancer last night.
Thanks for doing this Jason! I didn't read your reflection until after I did mine, so, my meditating sort of went in a different direction. The verse that struck my heart most was verse 8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." I was impressed with the idea that if I was really pure in heart I would have no trouble seeing God and discerning His will for my life. But too often all the stuff of life and junk of sin get in the way and hinder "my vision". The more I looked at the verses the more I realized that they all follow that same idea. It is not until we strip away all the stuff (i.e our pride, prestige, material posessions, self sufficiency) that God can really speak. That's why He says that the poor, meek, humble, mourning, and lowly are truly blessed...because they have been stripped bare until it's just them and God with out all that other junk between them. Hope you follow my ramblings.
Cory - Thanks for going first. As you know, Jesus calls the first to be last. So, that's your invitation to post another comment at the end of the day. Or, at least at the end of the week.
MzVic - I appreciate your honesty about "the guilt of falling short". You are not alone. May the peace of Christ uphold you as you grieve the loss of your friend.
Susan - If your ramblings sprouted legs I'd be right on their heels! May we all allow God to strip us bare.
I'm looking forward to hearing more!
I too read these verses many times this morning hoping to extract a small tidbit of wisdom. The verse has been marinating in my mind and heart all day.
I'm left with this challenge: to be bolder in living and sharing my faith.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of Him
To be honest that has scared me since grade 2. I was made fun of regularly for being a 'Bible Thumper'. I guess its time to get over it :)
As Paul and I read this passage over Verse 3 spoke to us. In our culture we are taught that we can do 'it' ourselves. If we work hard and perservere, we will succeed. When things are going well, are we as in touch with God? Interesting that in Verse 4 God blesses the mourners. How many times have people called out to God in times of loss? We will continue to discipline ourselves toward realizing our need for Him!
These verses should be very reassuring...but somehow I find them very painful. I realize that that in many ways I have to get to a place where I'm currently not in order to be blessed! I've been reflecting on "The Message" version of the passage. "You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. You're blessed when you're content with just who you are-no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought". Why do I resist like crazy getting to the end of my rope? Why is my tendency to assert myself rather than pull away and let God work? Why do I struggle to be content with who I am and where I find myself? Clearly...I need to keep meditating. Today I encountered someone whose intent was to curse me. I'm trying to figure out how to return a blessing. My natural inclination is to fight back or just remain silent.
I've always thought the beatitudes were just a random list of blessings, and pick out the ones you like the best.
However, one of my study bibles(NASB, editor Spiros Zodhiates) suggest there is a progressiveness to the beatitudes that every Christian's journey follows.
The jist the commentary goes something like this.
We all start out as "poor in spirit", or spiritually helpless. Next we "mourn" our sins. We then become "gentle or meek", a better translation might be humble, (God gives grace to the humble)
We seek God's forgiveness "hunger for righteousness" and are given it "satisfied". A sure sign of the new Christian is that he now shows "mercy" and is gradually becoming more "pure in heart" and is proclaming to others the "peace" that comes from knowing God. Oh, and you should expect some "persecution"
Anyway, this does make some sense to me , at the least it is easier to remember the beatitudes if there is some order to them.
There are some great thoughts here. Thanks for participating!
Erika - sounds like your beatitude marinade left you with some chewy morsels of truth. I look forward to being shaped by them too.
Marcia - That part about doing it ourselves is so true. Maybe we need to re-evaluate our 'measurements of success'.
Heather - What can I say. You've enabled me to peer a bit further into the depths. It's frightening yet mesmerizing.
Paul - Interesting thoughts from your commentary. I've never heard that angle before. It's good food for thought.
I have really enjoyed reading each of every one of the entries submitted so far. What wonderful thoughts and insight. I stand in awe at what others may think, when asked their opinion.
I especially liked the entry submitted by Paul M - what a fascinating take on verses that many of us have read/heard many times. Thanks for sharing - now I have more upon which to meditate.
My thoughts and prayers are with you, MzVic, and I'm sure many of us will lift you before Christ as you walk through the next few days and weeks.
The beatitudes speak to me about the character of Jesus. Being like Jesus is teaching, being poor in spirit, mourning for the lost, being meek, hunger and thirsting for righteousness, being merciful, being pure in heart, being a peacemaker, and being persecuted because of righteousness, being insulted, and evil things said against me. Do I like any of these things to happen to me? truthfully NO. But when I do these things a piece of me dies and more of Jesus shines. It is still is my choice!!!
When reading the passage as a family, my dad/mike came upon verse 9 and figured he was especially blessed because he has a pacemaker. And now he wants us to call him "a son of God". Upon rereading the verse, he realized his error. peacemakers. NOT pacemakers :P.
These verses cemented the fact that unless we think less of ourselves and our wants and needs, and more of others, we will be missing out on God's blessings.
We also realized that if we never come upon persecution for our faith, than we must not be living God loud enough. Easier said than done. :S
Over and over again I find myself making the mistake of underestimating a piece is scripture. As I look through the comments, and then back to the scripture, I realize how much “food” the Bible really does hold! I’ve always thought of this scripture sort of like a test. Or maybe more like one of those things where you check off all that apply…
I know realize there is much more to it. I think I need meditate on this scripture a little longer to come up with some concrete thoughts!
Post a Comment