Coronavirus Talk 10
Let’s begin with an Our Father
When I as in graduate school at Fordham University in New York getting a degree in school administration to prepare me to be principal for a Jesuit high school, all my cohort and I learned a process for interviewing potential teachers which involved asking them a specific set of questions, and then listening for certain words or phrases that would predict whether this candidate would be a fair, good or excellent teacher. For example, the interviewer would ask: Do you want your students to like you? A fair or good teacher would say: “No, I want my students to respect me.” An excellent teacher would say: “Yes, I want my students to like me, because if they like me, they will learn from me. Or take the question: “How would you feel if a student fails?” A fair or good teacher would say: “I don’t fail students, they fail themselves.” An excellent teacher would say: “If a student fails, I feel like I have failed.” I have to say that learning that interview technique helped me enormously as principal, not that it always worked, but it did help.
If you think about the men or women who were your best teachers, or parents, or coaches, or directors, or bosses, they probably had these traits in common: they had an impact on you as a person, they continually challenged you to be your best, they made you feel valuable and important, they were people who held the same values in season or out of season, and they practiced what they preached. (Some time tonight, think about some of these and say a prayer of thanksgiving for them.)
As a teacher, Jesus had all these traits and more. In addition to the healings he performed, it was his teaching that attracted attention from those to whom he ministered. In the gospels, it is said about him that he “taught with authority and not like the Scribes and Pharisees.” So, learning about Jesus, which we are trying, with grace, to do during these days means taking a close look at what he taught and at how he taught. What and how he taught will help us get a tighter hold on who He is. We have probably run across everything is Jesus’ “syllabus” before, but perhaps a fresh and more patient approach will help us grow even more in our faith, in our appreciation for the sheer brilliance and the real and doubtless challenge of his teaching.
Every good teacher has methods which work for them: lecture, discussion, group work etc. Very few good teachers employ just one strategy. Jesus employed three main ones: the sermon, the parable, and the power of personal example.
The best example of Jesus’ teaching-through-sermon is the famous Sermon on the Mount which extends over three chapters in Matthew’s gospel, chapters 5, 6. And 7. This is Jesus’ first sermon and it is about what it looks like to live as His follower, what are the major ideals of life as a Christian.
In this sermon, Jesus teaches about subjects such as prayer, justice, care for the needy, judging other people, salvation, and many other things. The two most prominent and most often used portions of this sermon are the Beatitudes and The Lord’s prayer. Throughout the Sermon on the Mount Jesus makes it clear that His followers should live in a noticeably different way than other people because His followers should hold themselves to a much higher standard of conduct – the standard of love and selflessness, the standard He Himself would embody when he died on the cross for our sins.
The Sermon begins with the announcement of Jesus’ values and his worldview. We know them as the Beatitudes.
Seeing the crowds, he went up onto the mountain; and when he sat down, his disciples came to him, and opening his mouth, he began to teach them, saying:
Congratulations to the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Congratulations to those who are mourning – they shall be consoled.
Congratulations to the gentle – they shall inherit the earth.
Congratulations to those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness – they shall be satisfied.
Congratulations to the merciful – they shall receive mercy.
Congratulations to the pure in heart – they shall see God.
Congratulations to those who create peace – they shall be called children of God.
Congratulations to those who are persecuted because of righteousness –
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Congratulations to you when they reproach you and persecute you and falsely talk
all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice, and be glad, because your reward
In heaven is huge. You see, that is how they persecuted the prophets before you.
-Matthew 5: 1-12
It’s clear that Jesus’ way is the way of love and humility rather than the way of coercion and force. It is also hopeful in that Jesus’ way emphasizes that access to God is available in life right now even in circumstances that seem beyond all human hope.
Here are some additional highlights from the rest of the Sermon and it’s interesting to note the many of Jesus’ teachings are instructions to his followers to do better than what society allows or expects:
-“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.’”
-“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moths and vermin destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure, there your heart will be also.”
-“No one can serve two master. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
-“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be given to you.”
-“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put the lamp on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven.”
Even though we hear these lessons often, it seems to me that they might be familiar that we miss the high bar and the incredible challenge Jesus’ teaching present to us. As John MacArthur wrote: “Hell will be full of those who thought highly of the Sermon on the Mount.” Jesus’ teachings are more than lofty ideas; they are invitations to specific actions that will change the world.
A couple of years ago, in the book by Phillip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, I read reflections on the Sermon on the Mount written by some high school students who, without their knowing it, reflected the probable reactions of the people who heard the Sermon on the Mount on that mountain:
-religion is one big hoax
-There is an old saying that you shouldn’t believe everything you read. I think that applies in this case.
-The stuff the churches preach is extremely strict and allows for no fun without thinking whether it is a sin or not.
-I did not like the essay “The Sermon on the Mount.” It was hard to read and made me feel like I had to be perfect and no one is.
-The things asked in this sermon are absurd.
Yancey commented on these reactions by saying: “I find it strangely heartening that the Bible remains offensive to honest, ignorant ears, just as offensive as it was in the first century. For me, that reaction somehow validates its significance.”
Yancey offered this example of the real reaction to what Jesus was saying.
“A low budget BBC production called “Son of Man” sets the Sermon on the Mount against the background of chaos and violence. Roman soldiers have invaded a Jewish village to exact vengeance for they said were offenses against the Roman Empire. The soldiers strung up Jewish men of fighting age, shoved wives into the ground, even speared babies so they could ‘teach these Jews a lesson.’
“And right into that tumultuous scene of blood and tears and wild grief, Jesus comes in with eyes on fire and he says: ‘I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, right? So our forefathers said, right? But I say it is easy to love your own brother, to love those who love you. Even tax collectors do that! You want me to congratulate you for loving your kinsmen? No, love your enemy.
‘Love the one who would kick you and spit on you. Love the soldier who would drive the sword into your belly. Love the thief that robs and tortures you.
‘Listen to me! Love your enemy. If a Roman soldier hits you on the left cheek, offer him the right one. If a man in authority orders you to walk one mile, walk two miles. If a man sues you for your coat, give him the shirt off your back.
‘Listen, it is hard to follow me. What I am saying to you hasn’t been said since the world began.’
You can imagine the villagers’ response to such unwelcome advice. The Sermon on the Mount did not just puzzle those who heard it. It infuriated them.”
That is the challenge for us: to let Jesus’ teaching get under our skin.
That’s enough for tonight, you can think about Matthew 5,6, and 7 until we meet again on Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. and let Jesus teach us through his use of the parables.
Let’s end with a Hail Mary and a blessing.