Matthew 5
1-2 Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up the mountainside
and sat down to teach. In the priestly tradition offering ethics shaped by
God’s word, in the prophetic tradition offering a vision shaped by God’s
future, and in the wisdom-tradition offering a way of being grounded in the
fear of the Lord. Further, as King and Messiah, Jesus invites all who are
willing to realign their lives in step with a new and alternative arrangement
of human affairs; the kingdom of God. All are invited to participate in this kingdom
initiative and experience God’s plan for human flourishing. Jesus speaks first to
the downcast and downtrodden:
3-6 “Flourishing are those so crushed and despondent in
life that they’ve no hope for the future. God’s kingdom is breaking out and
they’ve every reason to put their hope in the Lord as they are on the cusp of
new possibilities. Flourishing are those so incapacitated by grief that any
expectation of ever knowing joy or comfort again seems impossible. God’s love
draws near in Christ; they are moments away from God’s life-giving embrace.
Flourishing are the humiliated, oppressed and powerless – those who’ve been
denied access to basic resource. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness of it
and God’s rearrangement of human affairs will redistribute access to all.
Flourishing are those who’ve been starved of justice and denied a fair hearing.
God’s heart is for every one of his children, that all would have a voice and
would know the satisfaction of being heard and of receiving God’s righteous
rule. Even now God is lifting the downtrodden.
7-10 “Flourishing are those who extend grace,
forgiveness and kindness to the world around them. God will return to them this
same experience of love and compassion. Flourishing are those who have
cultivated an inner disposition that is holy, whole, and wholesome. God’s
presence, God’s voice, and God’s action in the world will be keenly obvious to
them. Flourishing are those whose energy is directed toward initiatives and
activities that bring to pass the shalom of God on earth. As agitators willing
to confront injustice without mirroring injustice, they will find themselves
enveloped in the loving kindness of God the Father; they are in step with God’s
work in the world, they are part of the family. Flourishing are those so
invested in God’s alternate arrangement for human affairs that it challenges
the status-quo around them and results in persecution. The rule and reign of
God’s kingdom will be their ultimate inheritance – breaking into their life now
and experienced in full in the age to come.
11-12 “Remember that, when the world hurls insults at you, tries
to discredit you and crush you, all because of your commitment to live in a way
that embodies my way of being in the world, you have a treasure trove of
blessing in store. Not the trinkets and baubles of this age, but the fullness
of life that is experienced as heaven invades earth. So, charge your glass and
toast the discomfort, you’re walking the path that the prophets walked; death
that leads to life.
13-16 “Be like salt that preserves, enhances, and
flavours, and like light that illuminates and reveals – both distinct and
involved. As you model the way of being in the world that I’m championing, the
impoverished will be lifted to their feet and inspired to honour God. Don’t take yourself for granted, don’t think
you are insignificant, you’re a living expression of what the kingdom of God
tastes like, a beacon of God’s light in the darkness, a living invitation to God’s
alternative possibilities.
17-20 “I haven’t come to undermine, dismantle or expose
the Law or the Prophets as wrong. Rather I’ve come as the embodied fulfillment
of every pen stroke. So don’t discount any of it, every aspect will be summed
up and accomplished in who I am. Everything the Law and the Prophets intended
to bring into being – faithful representation of God, faithful whole hearted
love of God, and faithful and consistent love of neighbour – will be brought to
life in me. Therefore, anyone who sets aside even the most basic of commands
and fails to understand and teach those commands in light of me, will have a
lowly reputation in my kingdom. On the other hand, whoever teaches and
practises my way of living – which is embedded in the heart of the Law – will
be well regarded in my kingdom. Ultimately my invitation is to embrace an
alternative arrangement for human affairs, a more heavenly arrangement, one that
isn’t based on beating the Pharisees and the teachers of the law at their own
game; rule keeping and the ability to tick every religious box of
obligation. My invitation is to embrace a deeper consciousness of what it means
to please God and to cultivate at the core of one’s being a radical openness
and faithfulness to the will of our Father in heaven.
21-26 “For example, you know that murder is a destructive
and dehumanizing way of living. The Law teaches this, and murderers will be
subject to judgement. But what I want you to understand is that, even if one
isn’t committing murder, inner dispositions of anger towards one another are life-killing
too. To call someone out as ‘useless’ or a ‘fool,’ falls short of the loving
kindness I’m calling you to embody. Expressed or not, hateful inner
dispositions are dehumanizing and destructive in the here and now and will be
subject to judgement and destruction in the age to come. I really can’t
emphasise this enough; you need to make every effort to cultivate holy, whole
and wholesome relationships with one another. Let’s say you’ve flown half-way
around the world to attend some worship festival but then remember you’ve a
relationship that is out of sorts with someone in your life. Get straight back
on the plane, go to your brother or sister and reconcile, then fly back to the
festival and enjoy worshiping God. Or, if you find yourself being taken to
court, do your best to reconcile with your opponent on the way to court. Ring
them up, apologize, come to an arrangement, do what you can to entrust yourself
to the possibility of receiving grace and forgiveness from your adversary. It
is a humbling, healing, and humanizing way of being, and is a lot better than
being thrown into prison where you are to serve every day of your sentence.
27-30 “You know as well that adultery tears families
apart and damages lives. The Law is clear that this kind of behaviour falls
short of God’s intention for marriage. Going deeper though, what I want you to
understand is that anyone who looks at someone with covetous lust is committing
adultery in their heart. Desire coupled with, or emboldened by, narratives of
self-justification and entitlement demeans and degrades one’s actual marriage,
one’s spouse, sex-life and circumstances. It fosters a temptation to bypass the
hard work of faithfulness in marriage – the building, developing, and cultivating
of a healthy relationship– and to instead grasp for that which is not your own as
a fast-track to a flourishing life. But it doesn’t lead to human flourishing.
It is a dehumanizing way to think about your spouse and someone else’s. Whether acted upon or not it is an incredibly
destructive way of orientating your heart. Again, I really can’t emphasise this
enough! Covetous lust is so destructive that - even though I’m not literally
advocating for this - you’d be better to have an eye gouged out or a hand cut
off, than to experience the kind of total destruction that it leads
to in life.
31-32 “In regard to divorce, you know that this is not
God’s ideal and, generally speaking, undermines human flourishing. That said,
if you’ve valid reasons for divorce – adultery, physical or
emotional neglect, abandonment, or abuse – a certificate of divorce must be
provided. In this somewhat primitive and patriarchal first-century world, this
certificate will make it easier for a woman to remarry and find economic and
social security. Keep this in mind though men, if you instigate a divorce
without cause (for example, where there has been no sexual immorality), from
God’s perspective your actions will result in your former spouse and her new
husband being the victims of adultery, not the perpetrators.
33-37 “My alternative arrangement for human affairs even
impacts everyday realities as basic as how we talk. Back in the day the dishonesty and unreliability
of people’s words necessitated laws calling people to keep their oaths and to
fulfill vows made before God. Ultimately though, this simply served to create a
two-tiered system of speech. An
elevated degree of honesty, truthfulness or commitment if words were spoken as
oaths or vows, and then lowered standards of unreliability and potentially
misleading speech at every other occasion. This kind of duplicity in one’s
speech will undermine human flourishing. Therefore, don’t worry about oaths or
vows; I’m calling you to practise uncomplicated, truthful, straightforward
plain speech. No finger-crossing, no innuendo, no subtle manipulation or veiled
messages. This sort of talk is evil. Just let your yes be a yes and your no be
a no.
38-42 “You know the laws that seek to prohibit escalating
cycles of violence and retaliation – that limit recompense to like-for-like,
eye-for-eye – well, my invitation is to a more radical way of living. When you
find yourself in conflict with someone intent on evil, someone trying to get
the better of you; don’t fight back. If someone is seeking to shame or
dishonour you, though it feels like a slap in the face, resist the temptation
to defend your honour, instead turn the other cheek and absorb the insult. If
someone is taking you to court over an issue, give more than is being asked.
Look to settle the matter quickly even if it sets you back. When someone
imposes themselves on you with requests or demands that are really too much,
roll your sleeves up and go further than is expected. Give freely to those who
ask, lend generously to those who are looking to borrow from you. All-in-all,
rather than attempting to achieve recompense through appropriately measured
levels of retaliatory violence, find restoration and reconciliation through
unselfish and uncalculated generosity which prioritises the needs or desires
of other people even at the cost of one’s own resource or honour.
43-47 “It’s very normal to love your neighbour but hate
your enemy, that’s the way broken humanity operates. My way of orientating your
life flips this on its head though. I want you to love your enemies and take
the time to pray for God’s blessing on those who are set against you. Cultivate
a heart that seeks the well-being of others, is willing to embrace the
vulnerability of naked
humility and to suffer the loss of one’s personal rights for the sake of another. Living
like this you’re reflecting God’s family values as a true child of God. Whether
corrupt or whether living in total denial of God, people love their own – loving
those who love you is easy – you wouldn’t expect a reward for that would you?
God’s loving kindness extends to everyone! Good or evil, righteous or
unrighteous, the sun and the rain bring God’s blessing to all.
48 “Be holy, wholesome, whole: even as your heavenly
Father is holy, wholesome and whole.
Matthew
6
1-4
“When it comes to the core spiritual disciplines of
giving, praying and fasting, make sure you’re not working the angles, putting
yourself in the spotlight to garner the kudos of others. This kind of behaviour
– fake piety on display for the world to see – doesn’t impress nor bring any
reward from your Father in heaven. When you are giving to those who are in
need, don’t broadcast it to the world around you like some do; it’s not true
generosity nor true love. These kinds of folks are actors in their own religious
play who are performing for the applause of others and their own
self-congratulation. It’s hypocritical. The only reward they’ll receive will be
the esteem of those who are fooled into thinking they are devout. Instead, when
you give to those who are in need, make sure it is unannounced; an uncalculated
generosity that comes from the heart. Your heavenly Father sees this kind of
giving done in secret and will reward you; his rule will be established in your
heart rather than the rule of money; your priorities will move beyond
self-interest to the world around you; you’ll experience the joy of being a
part of God’s redemptive work in the world as resource is redistributed to meet
needs; your ego will shrink; and you’ll begin to live free and light.
5-8 “As
well, when it comes to prayer, don’t use prayer as a way of impressing others.
Praying out loud and at just the right moment, in order to be noticed by others,
is an exercise in missing the point. When you pray like this the reward is
nothing more than the high praise of folk who don’t realise they’ve been fooled
by a self-indulgent piece of theatre. Instead appreciate prayer as an
invitation to walk a path of faith, trust and mystery. Find a secluded place to
pray, and in prayer open the secluded places of your heart to God. You don’t
need any special techniques nor an impressive vocabulary, blabbering on and on
doesn’t achieve anything. Simple prayers are fine as prayer isn’t something you
have to “get right.” Rather, prayer is something that “gets you right.” God is
a loving Father who hears and knows what you need before you even ask. Though unseen, God hears every prayer and
will reward what is done in secret. Every time you pray you’ll experience a
realignment of your heart as you are continually reformed into the image of
God. Prayer will re-shape you, your eyes will be opened to see beyond that
which is overwhelmingly obvious and into God’s realm of faith, hope and love.
9-13
“When you pray
then, pray straightforward prayers like this: God
of heaven who is loving kindness, the source of all life, the concerned
caretaker over all things; let the holy, wholesome and whole realities of your
dimension invade, energise, captivate, heal, and be established in our lives
and world. Let us revere who you are and take your call to righteousness
and shalom seriously. Let your rule and reign be established in our hearts,
lives, families and communities. In all things may our allegiance be to you
alone and may your alternate arrangement for human affairs come alive for all. Let
us always be mindful that you are the one who sustains our lives, the source of
every good gift; your words are life to us, fresh bread your blessing. Tempted
as we are to stockpile, teach us to trust that provision for today is enough,
and to appreciate that to give and to share is holy. Forgive us when we trample
over others and fail to represent you as loving kindness in the world. And when
a corrupt and damaging ordering of this world is imposed upon us, let us be
quick to forgive. In all things, protect us from narratives that would beguile
us into thinking we can find our own paths to human flourishing.
14-15 “Remember, forgiveness is essential
to a holy, whole and wholesome life; so fully entrust yourself to the
forgiveness of God! This will mean forgiving those who’ve wronged you in life.
Receiving forgiveness from God and extending forgiveness to others goes
hand-in-hand. There is a flow and a rhythm to forgiveness a little bit like
breathing. Breathing in God’s forgiveness enables you to live free and light.
Breathing out or extending forgiveness to those who’ve wronged you does the
same. If you don’t get the flow right you’ll feel suffocated in life; you
certainly won’t be flourishing.
16-18 “When you go without food in response
to the circumstances of life where feasting wouldn’t be appropriate – loss,
grief, angst, heartache, despair – don’t put on a lugubrious face. The point of
fasting is not to gain the attention of others by looking dismal, doleful and
glum; the point is to be fully present to moments in life you’d rather escape. So,
keep a straight face but don’t try and bury your heartache. Fast and be present
to the difficult season you are in and discover that God is present to you. Like
prayer it is an invitation into mystery. Your Father in heaven sees and having
put one faculty of your senses to the side, you’ll begin to encounter God in
other life-giving ways. Rather than derailing your life in situations where you
may be tempted to make poor choices in an attempt to mask over heartache and
loss; you will experience the life-giving reward of God’s sustaining presence.
19-21 “Don’t
orientate your life around the acquisition of wealth or possessions and the
status, security, power and control that money supposedly offers. Ultimately
you are pursuing a counterfeit kind of freedom and self-governance that is
contra to that which God is calling you into. More than that, it is an
illusion. Wealth and possessions are temporary and fleeting, as is the freedom
to be your own man that they supposedly promise. They’ll eventually be lost to
you, or you lost to them. Instead, orientate your life around the mystery of
the Kingdom of God. Pray, fast, give and forgive your way into all that I am teaching.
Let my way become your way of being in the world. Living like this, you’ll be
storing up heavenly treasure that has a way of showing up in the here and now;
God’s good and righteous rule in your life; a restoration into the fullness of
the image of God as you experience holy, wholesome and whole growth in life; a
deep trust and confidence in God; a flourishing life; an inheritance prepared
before the foundation of the world. The kind of treasure that you seek to
orientate your life around reflects the kind of person you are.
22-24 “In life, how you see things determines whether you're living
in the light or living in darkness. If your perspective is wholesome and
generous, anchored in a revelation of God’s generosity towards you, you’ve a
good eye and will live in a place of enlightenment. If your perspective is evil
and stingy, supposing that God has been stingy towards you, you’ll be
surrounded by darkness. To suppose that God is stingy – to carry this as some
sort of illuminating revelation – is to have misread the situation; this kind
of revelation is actually darkness. You’ll be tempted to make money your
master, thinking it more generous than God and a sure pathway to a flourishing
life, but God’s invitation to human flourishing is found in a different
direction. You need to choose either God or money to be the master in your
life; you cannot serve both. You will end up devoted to one and despising the
other.
25-34 “Therefore, on account of your willingness to live into my
way of being in the world, and on account of your faith in God as the concerned
caretaker over all things, don’t make the everyday things of life – what you
eat, what you drink, or what you wear – your number one concern. Rather,
orientate your life around my invitation into a holy, whole and wholesome way
of living. Seek as your first priority the rule and reign of God in your life,
the kingdom of God, God’s alternative arrangement of human affairs as an
invitation to human flourishing. As you do this, watch how the things of life fall
into place – God will take care of you! God knows exactly what you need in
life. Look how God provides for the birds of the air, they are not anxious to
store up supplies and yet they are fed. Look how God clothes the flowers, they
are spectacular in their beauty and yet they are here today and gone tomorrow.
You can entrust your life to God; you are more precious than the birds and the
flowers and God will look after you. So, don’t worry about how it is going to
all work out down the track; worry won’t prolong your life. Instead, with all
the wisdom, insight and faith you can muster, make the best decision you can to
walk my way in this moment – that’s worry enough for today.
Matthew 7
1-6 “Don’t get your knickers-in-a-twist
all stressed out about your brother and sister and how they are going in their
walk with God, that’s their concern. Make the central concern of your life your
own faithfulness to God. Why are you so quick to knit-pick, keen to point out a
speck of dust in your brother’s eye, when you yourself have a log wedged in
yours? It’s hypocritical, you don’t even realise how poor your vision is and
you’re in no position to address your brother’s short failings. Address your
own issues and then you might be able to lend a hand. Don’t be all judgy-judgy,
criticizing and finding fault with everyone around you. That’s nothing more than
personal insecurity masquerading as false piety. It’s another manifestation of
worry about yourself, expressing itself as ‘worry’ about others. It doesn’t
help anyone, and all you are doing is inviting that same sort of dehumanizing
and sharp criticism to be levelled at you. It’s no path to human flourishing.
That said, don’t throw discernment out the window. There are times when the
instinctive generosity I’m calling you to needs to be stewarded with care. Your
life is sacred and precious, as is the heavenly treasure I’m entrusting to you,
this good news I offer. Don’t attempt to present it as a gift to people who are
quite obviously set against you and the life I offer; they are likely to walk
all over you, trampling you to pieces.
7-11 “Ultimately
the antidote to worry is a deep-seated trust in God’s willingness to take care
of his children. My invitation in all things, is to ask of God – to search and
enquire – to knock, so to speak, trusting that God will open a way for you.
Earthly fathers, as flawed as they might be, know how to give good gifts to
their children. If their child asks for something to eat, a burger or fish
perhaps, they wouldn’t even think to offer them a stone or a snake. How much
more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those that ask of Him! Trust
in God who is loving kindness, overflowing generosity, and the concerned
caretaker over all things. The energy you are tempted to exert in worrying will
only serve to offer an illusionary sense of comfort. Rather, direct your energy
towards God in prayer, attentiveness of heart, and small steps of trust, then
watch as God guides you, provides for you, and births all kinds of newness in
your life.
12 “In every facet of your life, in the little things and the big, in
the ways you engage with the world around you; treat other people in the way
you would like to be treated. This sums up the Law and the Prophets. Everything
else is commentary.
13-14 “All-in-all
then, I’m calling you to a way of life that’s not always the popular choice.
The majority route sparkles as a wide road of easy-going self-centred living.
Many suppose it to be the sure path to the good life and hurry down it without
hesitation. At the end of the day though, it’s a way of being that leads to
destruction. Instead, I’m calling you to walk through a narrow gate and along a
narrow path where you’ll need to pay attention to every step you take. As you
walk slowly, stepping carefully and embodying my way of living, you’ll
experience an inner transformation that leads to a holy, whole and wholesome
form of human flourishing.
15-22 “Of course, there will be no shortage of teachers offering
counterfeit alternatives to the way of living I’m calling you to. Watch out for
these folks. They may appear genuine, reverent, godly perhaps, but even though
they look the part on the outside, on the inside they’re as dangerous as
wolves. If what they teach doesn’t align with the way I’m calling you to live,
it’s a forgery. No doubt they’ll have an audience, of course they will, but
grapes aren’t found on a gorse bush and figs don’t grow from thistles; the
fruit they produce won’t be healthy. Ultimately it won’t nourish, it won’t
sustain, and it won’t lead to a flourishing life. It’s nothing more than a
seductively pious invitation to the easy-going self-centred way of living I’ve already
warned you about. Take no notice. Cast this sort of teaching aside. Trees that
don’t produce healthy fruit are cut down and destroyed. Not everyone who
professes allegiance to me is actually aligned to me. Some people know all the
right things to say and all the right things to do, they declare me Lord, they
prophesy, they cast out oppressive spirits, and they pray for miracles in my
name; but they don’t actually know me. They are so close and yet they are so
far. They’ve missed the heart of the matter; the kingdom of God and God’s
righteousness. They ministered in my name, but the objective was the establishment
of their own name and reputation. At the end of the day I will tell them
plainly, ‘I never knew you, away with you, this kind of ministry is evil.’
24-27 “Ultimately, in offering a way of living that leads to a
flourishing life I am extending an invitation to wisdom: practised, Christ-centred,
kingdom-shaped, neighbourly, future orientated, enacted wisdom. Embodied in one’s
daily life, my words offer a sure foundation upon which to build a life and
those who do so are wise. While it is possible to build a house that looks the
part on a foundation of rock or a foundation of sand, what’s beneath the
surface will be put to the test when the rains fall, the streams rise, and the
winds blow. Those who are wise will embrace my way and their house will stand strong.
Foolish are those that disregard the wisdom I offer as their house will come falling down around them. My way of living is a sure foundation, anything else is
destined to collapse."
28-29 When
Jesus finished teaching, he stood up and walked back down the mountain. It was
no longer a small group of disciples that followed him though, large crowds
were now walking with Jesus. People were amazed by what he taught and how he
taught. Unlike other teachers of the law who simply passed down the established
traditions of earlier teachers, Jesus spoke with an authority that brought to
life God’s intention for human flourishing in new and surprising ways; an interruption to the status-quo and a paradigm shift for all of humanity.
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