Matthew 5-7
October 18, 2014


One of the many topics and events recorded in today's reading is the Beatitudes.   Jesus taught them to his disciples and the crowd that followed Him onto the hill beside the Sea of Galilee.    The hills around the sea are fairly steep, and everywhere that the ground does become level (or close to it) there are small villages.   In Jesus' day they would have been fishing villages.
Today, there is a church built at the top of the hill called the Mount of Beatitudes.   Every day thousands of people come to see this famous place, and walk around on the very ground where Jesus walked.     I visited there myself some years ago, and as I wandered off the beaten path I sat and looked out over the sea of Galilee and wondered if Jesus might have done the same thing.    From where I sat you could see a grove of banana trees not too far below.   Capernaum was to my left as looked out over the water.  It looked like it was a mile or so away, not far at all.   And it was built right up to the water's edge.   Many of the building are constructed with a white stone common to the area, so they really look very attractive, even though they are quite plain.
I think about how many people flood through this place every day, and I wonder how many of them could recite more than one of the beatitudes.   I don't have the memorized myself....and from what I saw of the people milling through the site, they aren't living them out.

No one could have imagined at the time that Jesus was teaching how insightful and how challenging His words would be.   Imagine the one who spoke us into existence saying to His creation "remember to be humble, and be meek, and put the needs of others ahead of your own".    He went on "don't worry about what you will wear, or what you will eat..I will take care of all that".      It was in this area that Jesus took a little boy's lunch and turned it into a meal for thousands.    Just proving that we don't need to worry about food.   He's got that covered.

Obviously we can't all quit working and sit overlooking the sea for the rest of our lives.   We do have to work, and prepare for the future.  There is some fair amount of thought that goes into planning for what we will eat, and what we will wear, etc.      But don't you think it's possible that too much time and energy is being invested?   The food and clothing industries are multi billion dollar behemoths that exist because we are obsessed with them.   Pride, envy and jealousy are the foundation on which many of the clothing companies exist.

Of course, Jesus wasn't talking about clothing when He spoke here.  He was talking about relationships.    Don't be angry with one another, don't resent each other, you know...that sort of thing.       How much more peaceful the world would be if we could just do the few things listed in Matthew 5.


PR