Struggling to Live the Gospel
You can listen to this sermon here
Psalm Psalm: 119:1-8
We have spent last few weeks in Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.
The danger is that we read it in little bits
And that we read as unconnected with what comes before and after.
This block plays a central role in Matthew’s gospel
- Gives words to what Jesus has been doing
2. The Story
Jesus returns from wilderness
Where his Identity has been sorely tested
- Which we will hear in a couple of weeks at the beginning of Lent
And responds by returning to Galilee
To the small fishing town of Capernaum
Where he teaches and heals
Crowds come to him
Poor people
Sick people
Invisible and broken people
Crushed by Rome’s empire.
Mourning the deaths of children and family members
Mourning their lives
Longing for another way.
Jesus brings healing and hope in his actions and his words.
Eventually he calls some people who have been listening to him
fisherman and others
He invites them to give away all they are
To let go of who they are
Their family
Those relationships and roles that sustained and defined them
He invites them to follow
To a new identity
To be his disciples
And some follow.
After a short while he gathers them
Up a hill
Overlooking their world
All they had known of life
With its grief and despair
Violence always lurking on the edge
Poverty defining each day
Jesus looks around
At his new disciples
And those others who saw them go
Who tagged along to listen in
Gesturing at this world
Gesturing at the place he has taught and healed
He gives words to his deeds
And says
Imagine a world where the most important people
Are the poor
The broken
Those who have lost hope
How different would this world be?
Can you imagine a world where we look up to those who mourn,
Or where people aspire to be like the humble.
That is what the empire of heaven looks like
I long for people to join me in honouring those who hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness.
and where all have enough to thrive
and hunger and fear are no more.
Imagine a world where the pure in heart receive greatest honour.
Or where children grow up aspiring to be numbered among the peacemakers,
For the sake of all you see out there
All who are listening
All who have come for healing and hope
Hold in the greatest honour those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the empire of heaven.
How different would this world be?
This is not our
world
Imagine this world for a moment
When we imagine THIS world
Live in this world
Help this world come into being
Then we are the salt disc of the earth oven;
helping heaven’s reign to bubble away
When we imagine THIS world
Live in this world
We are light
living the reign of heaven
living so others will see God's goodness.
He continues
Don't think that my teachings replace or reduce the law and the prophets.
Don’t think for a moment this is all new
And don't think you can skip the details.
Details count.
But something more than the details is needed.
You must align your whole self with what God desires
And what does God desire?
This world just described
Held in the beatitudes
This is the empire of heaven
So different from Rome’s empire
This is what the law and the prophets are all about
3. He goes on
But Jesus doesn’t stop there
He goes on
He offers examples of what he has been talking about so far
What he meant by
“I say to you that unless your righteousness is greater than the righteousness of the legal experts and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Only most of the time
Because we cut up the bible into little bits with separate headings and chapters
And because we chop it up Sunday by Sunday
And because we hardly ever read the whole sermon on the Mount in one hit
We miss it
We hear Jesus doing the very thing he said he was not doing
We hear him offering a new law.
But this not a new law
This is a reading of the law
A reading based on everything he has said before
A reading based on the beatitudes
And the world imagined in them
A reading that invites his hearers to not so much obey the law
But to be transformed by the law and the prophets
So that they might be salt and light
Living the world of the Beatitudes into being.
4. Don’t Murder
He begins with a commandment
- “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times,
When we fail to see the other as our sister or brother
When we
fail to see each other as children of God
When we see others as objects of our scorn, derision, hate
- Objects of our fantasies and desires
Then our community is not all that God desires
The beatitudes are not lived out
We open the door to exclusion
Belittlement
Violence
Racism
Sexual harassment
Rape
abuse
Murder
5. Hard work
This is about paying attention to how we see other people
This is about paying attention to our own motivations, desires and needs
Last few years have shown us how desperately we need to do this
- Mosque shooting
But simply as the other.
It’s difficult
Too easily we can put people in boxes
And start the journey of no longer seeing them as people
This election it will happen all the time
- Māori
The empire of heaven as described by the Beatitudes invites us to live another way
To re-evaluate our priorities and motivations
Live with the beatitudes at the centre of our lives.
How do you
respond to all that?
Gate Pa – 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time- Year A - 2023
Readings:Psalm Psalm: 119:1-8
What I want to say:
What does
it mean for Jesus to fulfil the law? This week we are given examples of how
Jesus reads the law. It is to create a community where all can thrive, not just
the rich and the powerful. Where the poor in spirit, the meek, those who mourn
etc… are able to be all God desires for them. This happens when we see and
treat each person as our sister and brother, and when we take responsibility
for our reactions to each person.
What does this mean as we approach an election year?
What I want to happen:
People to
reflect on their own reactions to all this.
The Sermon
1. Introduction:We have spent last few weeks in Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.
The danger is that we read it in little bits
And that we read as unconnected with what comes before and after.
This block plays a central role in Matthew’s gospel
- Gives words to what Jesus has been doing
Jesus returns from wilderness
Where his Identity has been sorely tested
- Which we will hear in a couple of weeks at the beginning of Lent
And responds by returning to Galilee
To the small fishing town of Capernaum
Where he teaches and heals
Crowds come to him
Poor people
Sick people
Invisible and broken people
Crushed by Rome’s empire.
Mourning the deaths of children and family members
Mourning their lives
Longing for another way.
Jesus brings healing and hope in his actions and his words.
Eventually he calls some people who have been listening to him
fisherman and others
He invites them to give away all they are
To let go of who they are
Their family
Those relationships and roles that sustained and defined them
He invites them to follow
To a new identity
To be his disciples
And some follow.
After a short while he gathers them
Up a hill
Overlooking their world
All they had known of life
With its grief and despair
Violence always lurking on the edge
Poverty defining each day
Jesus looks around
At his new disciples
And those others who saw them go
Who tagged along to listen in
Gesturing at this world
Gesturing at the place he has taught and healed
He gives words to his deeds
And says
Imagine a world where the most important people
Are the poor
The broken
Those who have lost hope
How different would this world be?
Can you imagine a world where we look up to those who mourn,
Or where people aspire to be like the humble.
That is what the empire of heaven looks like
I long for people to join me in honouring those who hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness.
and where all have enough to thrive
and hunger and fear are no more.
Imagine a world where the pure in heart receive greatest honour.
Or where children grow up aspiring to be numbered among the peacemakers,
For the sake of all you see out there
All who are listening
All who have come for healing and hope
Hold in the greatest honour those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the empire of heaven.
Live in this world
Help this world come into being
Then we are the salt disc of the earth oven;
helping heaven’s reign to bubble away
Live in this world
We are light
living the reign of heaven
living so others will see God's goodness.
Don't think that my teachings replace or reduce the law and the prophets.
Don’t think for a moment this is all new
And don't think you can skip the details.
Details count.
But something more than the details is needed.
You must align your whole self with what God desires
And what does God desire?
This world just described
Held in the beatitudes
This is the empire of heaven
So different from Rome’s empire
This is what the law and the prophets are all about
But Jesus doesn’t stop there
He goes on
He offers examples of what he has been talking about so far
What he meant by
“I say to you that unless your righteousness is greater than the righteousness of the legal experts and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Only most of the time
Because we cut up the bible into little bits with separate headings and chapters
And because we chop it up Sunday by Sunday
And because we hardly ever read the whole sermon on the Mount in one hit
We miss it
We hear Jesus doing the very thing he said he was not doing
We hear him offering a new law.
But this not a new law
This is a reading of the law
A reading based on everything he has said before
A reading based on the beatitudes
And the world imagined in them
A reading that invites his hearers to not so much obey the law
But to be transformed by the law and the prophets
So that they might be salt and light
Living the world of the Beatitudes into being.
He begins with a commandment
- “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times,
When we fail to see the other as our sister or brother
When we see others as objects of our scorn, derision, hate
- Objects of our fantasies and desires
Then our community is not all that God desires
The beatitudes are not lived out
We open the door to exclusion
Belittlement
Violence
Racism
Sexual harassment
Rape
abuse
Murder
This is about paying attention to how we see other people
This is about paying attention to our own motivations, desires and needs
Last few years have shown us how desperately we need to do this
- Mosque shooting
But simply as the other.
It’s difficult
Too easily we can put people in boxes
And start the journey of no longer seeing them as people
This election it will happen all the time
- Māori
The empire of heaven as described by the Beatitudes invites us to live another way
To re-evaluate our priorities and motivations
Live with the beatitudes at the centre of our lives.
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