Jesus was calling and challenging his contemporaries to be the people of God in a radically new way. He solemnly announced God's blessings -- but he blessed all the wrong people.
(Original Jesus, 51)
The popular picture of the Sermon on the Mount today is of rolling hills and peaceful countryside. A calm Jesus delivers a flowery speech about being nice to each other, offering a quietly romantic view of religious life. But in the first century it looked more like a young leader rallying support for a new revolutionary movement.
At the time of Jesus, the hills above the sea of Galilee were a popular hangout for holy revolutionaries, who sought to gain a following. Similarly, Jesus went to the hills to commission his disciples (Mark 3:13-19) and deliver the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7). But his was a revolution unlike all the rest. It was a revolution of heart, calling for a radically different approach to life. Jesus tapped into Israel’s call to be the people through whom God would put the world right, calling all who would listen to follow him and embrace God’s agenda for them to be Israel. He was calling his original hearers, as he is calling us today, to believe that God is God, and let that turn their (and our) priorities upside down.
Jesus called them to follow him and his teachings, which is the only way to build your “house on the rock.” Jesus was declaring himself to be the real thing to which the temple had been pointing all along. Here we are called to take a hard, fresh look at God’s call to serve him in the world.
Biblical Text: Matthew 4:23, 25; 5:1-16, 38-45
Embedded Questions:
- Why did Jesus go up there (the mountains/where revolutionaries went to start rebellions) to instruct his followers?
- Why was there a “chosen people” (Israel)?
- What is the big deal about Israel in God’s plan?
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