message from the mountain (Theva)

A Message from the Mountain!

Matthew 5: 21- 37

Our preacher who preached here last Sunday is a retired United Methodist pastor and so am I. He told us a story of a minister in his first appointment who preached the same sermon for the first three Sundays. I want to begin with a similar story. On his new appointment this preacher preached for 20 minutes on his first Sunday and 30 in his second Sunday and took 40 minutes to complete his sermon on his third Sunday. That was enough for the Staff Parish Relations Committee to summon him for a little chat. To their relief he had a ready explanation. “The Saturday before the first sermon, I had my teeth pulled and my mouth was still terribly sore. But, by the time a week had gone by, I’d gotten used to my new dentures”. Here the minister paused, and blushed deeply. ”And for last Sunday…. Well, I am afraid that I picked up my wife’s set of teeth by mistake!”

          Dear friends! You have been listening to some sermons on the Sermon on the Mount for the last few weeks. This sermon is made up of ethical discourses, moral principles; code of conduct and in brief some very valuable lessons for life. This sermon revolutionized the thinking of many people, including Gandhi and Martin Luther king Jr.  We know that Gandhi never became a Christian and belonged to a church however he lived his life by these words of Jesus. Why? Because Jesus not only preached these words from a mount, but he lived out those words every minute of the day and night. He demonstrated to the world by this sermon that our moral authority is not from Herod or Caesar, or from the high priest or the Sanhedrin, but from God alone. This sermon taught Gandhi the basis of radical faith. This sermon taught him the essence for non-violent living. This sermon gave him the courage for his involvement in the freedom struggle for India. We are dealing today with topics like anger and murder, love, lust and divorce, forgiveness, reconciliation and swearing. I know that Jesus has a message for us today. Perhaps the Sermon on the Mount will inspire us to get closer a bit to Jesus.

       People in Jesus ‘time thought they were chosen people and they had a special blessing from God and could expect special favors as well. With long prayers and fasting, by attending the synagogue on a regular basis and observing the laws flawlessly, they thought they earned the merit of private heaven. With their outward religious practices and almsgiving and of keeping the Sabbath holy, they thought they were entitled for good health and great wealth and smashing success and worldly fame.   Jesus On this mountain, preached, hope to the hopeless, comfort to those in pains and to those in the margin, power. Pastor Margaret reminded us a few weeks ago the words of Prophet Micah: “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness and walk humbly with your God”. Let me say to you today that Jesus echoes the same words of Micah who lived 800 years before his time. If you thirst for justice and find joy in your acts of kindness and reflect humility in your life style, you have already become children of God.  Matthew 5, 6, and 7, is called the Sermon on the Mount and we also have a sermon on the plain in Luke chapter 6. I will speak next Sunday as to why Matthew and Luke are changing these locations.  Jesus was a Jew and his religious text during childhood was the Pentateuch the first five books of the Old Testament. He lived by the guide lines of the Ten Commandments. And now he says that we must be able to rise above and beyond the dos and the don’ts of these guidelines. He is challenging us to learn to live recklessly for God. In the reckless living for God we must learn to turn the other cheek. We must be willing to go for the second mile. We should be ready to lose our life and then gain it back. Who is this Jesus? The more I reflect on his life I see him as a transparent and simple human being. In him there is as an embodiment of divine wisdom. He doesn’t let the praises of people lose his humanness. He doesn’t let the blames and accusations of politicians and religious leaders crush him. Friends! To know Jesus is to know the truth. To follow Jesus today is to live a life of just peace.

        In the story of a woman caught in adultery, she was brought to be stoned to death.  Jesus asked those who accused this woman; let the one who has not committed any sin throw the first stone. There was no one around her at that point. All the men are now vanished. And to the woman who was standing there accused of adultery Jesus uttered with compassion “GO SIN NO MORE”. If you are angry with your brother or sister Jesus said you must make up with them as early as possible. He didn’t know about  anger management seminars those days. Jesus said don’t swear at all for you don’t know how to live up to the promises you have made. You know only how to say with your lips, truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and then quickly turn and twist the real truth to lies to your advantage. Promises and pledges are easy to make but fulfilling them is a stupendous task. All the topics in Matthew 5 deal with relationships, trust and faithfulness. The causes for all our problems whether murder or divorce, adultery or swearing are caused by strife and jealousy envy and dissensions factions and slandering one another. What is the solution? Paul talked about the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians.

        Jesus is calling us to put on a new identity. Jesus is asking us to live counter culturally. The media today is bombarding with commercials after commercials, drawing our attention to an unfounded myth that those who die with many toys win. We just gathered a few weeks ago to watch the super bowl as though we were having a memorial day or the President’s day national celebration. In a world people die in thousands due to starvation and 70 million American people are without health care, we just spent 2.5 million dollars for every 20 seconds of commercials during the super bowl.

          Friends! Are we better off today than 25 years ago? In our space age, with modern technology and advanced medicine, we have more violence, more wars, more guns, more hatred, more suspicion, more pain, more unfaithfulness, more insomnia, more boredom, more depression and more psychotherapists. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is challenging us to radicalize our existing culture. Friends! What we are the world is. Bill Coffin in his book: The courage to live, says “there are people and things in this world, and people are to be loved and things are to be used”. When was the last time we looked at someone and said “we love you” and “we care about you”. An Indian sage and a Nobel Prize winner by the name Rabindranath Tagore said “IN LOVE ALL OF LIFE’S CONTRADICTIONS DISSOLVE AND DISAPPEAR. ONLY IN LOVE DUALITY AND UNITY ARE NOT IN CONFLICT”. Jesus said 2000 years ago, I will give you a new commandment. Love one another. And in this new commandment he summarized all the laws {for the Jewish people had 613 of them} and all the prophetic words together. Why am I

 so anxious? Why am I so afraid? Why am I so down hearted? Perhaps I have not yet figured out as to what is really important in my life. My closing story is from a book by Elie Wiesel,”SOULS ON FIRE” When we die and get to heaven and meet our God, God is not going to say to us “Why didn’t you become a messiah?’ or “why didn’t you discover the cure for cancer?” the only thing that God would ask all of us at that precious and sacred moment is;” WHY DIDN”T YOU BECOME YOU?’ Normal anxiety and every day worry are all part of life. We should be able to face them without feeling guilty. Sickness and death are part of life and we should be able to accept them with vulnerability. Jesus said that in this world you will have trouble. But take heart. I have overcome the world. Be of good cheer.