My friend Paul offered an interesting description of the Sermon on the Mount.
He said it was this unruly Rabbi on the side of a hill. His audience was mostly the poor, the sick, the marginalized.
This unruly Rabbi spent three years saying and doing outrageous things. Talking mostly to the outcasts, while a few of the folks in power stood around the outside and shook their heads, and all he did was change the world.
We started this week talking about inclusive and exclusive. Jesus’ culture was remarkably exclusive, with clear lines indicating who was in and who was out. This unruly Rabbi completely ignored the lines. He talked about a kingdom where everybody was included. In fact, in the kingdom he described, the outcasts somehow became first.
And, he said something even beyond that. He said that kingdom started right here, right now.
Finally, of course, he stepped on too many powerful toes, so they conducted an illegal trial and eliminated him.
They thought.
In the study I’m doing on this amazing Sermon, the teacher posed a rhetorical question: Did Jesus really expect his followers to live like this? His answer, of course, was yes. In fact, he claimed we were MADE to live like this.
Honestly, I wish I had to the courage to be more like this unruly Rabbi I claim to follow. Mostly, I nibble around the edges, afraid to step too far over the lines.
Here’s a good question to ponder this weekend: What are we afraid of?