Sermon on the Mount - Carl Bloch
Most of us have learned the Beatitudes, presented by
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Luke
presents them a little differently than Matthew. Luke includes the good things, then he
mentions the not so good … the “haves and the have-nots”! In the first four, he addresses those who are
without.
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.
When we are without, we are most likely to seek God’s
word. When Joe died, I looked to the
scripture to find solace. I honestly didn’t
find it, and I certainly was not blessed by the knowledge that even though I
was weeping, I would laugh later. What
I did find was the instruction to get back to normal and continue to do what I
was supposed to be doing.
Then Luke mentions the next four in a little different
way. In these second four, he addresses
the people who already have plenty.
Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
We’ve all known people who fit these categories. Sometimes we fit these categories ourselves
and have to remind ourselves that life is filled with hills and valleys. We often talk of Karma, but we are usually
talking about Karma hitting somebody else, not ourselves! Maybe we should rethink that! Don’t laugh now, unless you are ready to weep
later! Your time will come. That is simply life.
If we are lucky, our friends who fit these second four
categories share their good fortune! I
have a good farmer friend who shared his abundance of garden produce with me
last summer. I found myself passing it
forward by delivering it to a senior citizen center in a town where there isn’t
a grocery store. I have another friend
who is considerably wealthy. She gives
plenty of her money away to take care of family and friends. My daddy always said that “charity is silent”
meaning the gifts we give should be given anonymously. She is that way. People who are constantly praised, need to
share that praise with the folks who helped them along their life’s
journey.
This 6th chapter of Luke is filled with
instruction on leading a Christian life.
“Love your enemies.” “Don’t be judgmental.” One of the scriptures reminds me so much of
my husband, Joe. “Lend and don’t expect
repayment.” Joe used to say that he
never made a loan of money to an employee, especially never to student
workers! He would give them the money
they needed and tell them not to worry about it! His philosophy was based on the experience
that you never get that money back anyway … but just as much upon the fact that the
borrower doesn’t need to be burdened with the need to repay!
Jesus had chosen all twelve of his disciples in this
chapter. He makes a statement about
students not being above the teacher, but once they have learned the lesson,
they are equal to the teacher. He is
instructing his disciples to get out on their own and teach the lessons they
have learned.
My take-away from this chapter is so simple. If we all followed the instructions of the
Beatitudes, the world would be a better place.
I want to always surround myself with friends and family who live their
lives that way, but I never want to miss the opportunity to reach out to folks
who don’t live that way. People can
change. They don’t always, but they can.
I continue to grieve for a lost husband, and that is a
burden that after eight years, I deal with daily. At the
same time, I do my best to be positive and share happiness with others. I am super glued to a grand daughter ... and I seize the opportunity to work with groups of
senior citizens (am I one of those people now?) and spread a little goodness in
their midst.
Let’s Cook – And Share It!
This time of year, people share food gifts. We should really do that all year long, but
it is more common during Christmastime!
I’m not sharing a recipe with you, but instead, encouraging you to
search my blog for “cookies”. You’ll
find a few recipes that you might want to try!
Spread some kindness by sharing a cookie try with friends and family!
