- In the 1st century, an Israelite rabbi began a movement that he said fulfilled the Torah and Prophets, which were his ancient Scriptures. - Jesus of Nazareth announced this movement among the powerless, the sick, and the poor, who hungered for a world set right. He called these people to radical peacemaking and generosity, and he called this movement the arrival of the Kingdom of the skies.
- So remind me, what does Jesus mean by the Kingdom of the skies? - Well, in the Bible, the skies are the ultimate image of God's realm, where life and justice prevail. And so Heaven arriving on Earth means God's goodness overcoming death and violence here on the land.
In fact, the biblical story begins with this kind of Heaven on Earth place. - Oh yeah, the garden of Eden. - Yes.
Walking with God in the garden, sustained by his love, building a home together, this is the way of life. But there was a gate and a path out of the garden that led away from God's life. - Why would anyone ever choose that path?
- Well, a deceptive creature appeared in the garden who told the humans that God couldn't be trusted and that the good life could also be found by taking this easier way. - But this path leads to violence and death. - Right.
And so the Torah and Prophets tell the story about God choosing one family, Israel, and then giving them his Torah, his instruction about how they can return to God's presence once again, how they could build homes and communities where God can come and live among them, how they could even demonstrate to the rest of the world, the way back to God's life. - But even with God's instruction, Israel was also deceived, and they took another path. - Yeah, they were deceived by their own prophets and leaders who claim to speak on God's behalf.
The prophet Ezekiel called them wolves, people who not only take the wrong path themselves, they get others to follow them. - Okay, but now Jesus is claiming that God's Kingdom has arrived with him. - Right.
Jesus is creating a new group of Israelites who will take the right path. They'll reject deceivers and build something that lasts, if they accept this calling. And so in this closing section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus presents a choice.
- "Enter through the narrow gate. Because wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to ruin, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow is the gate and how constricted is the road that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
" - Jesus wants to be clear: The path to life is not easy. It can feel confining at times, and you're likely to face difficult trials. But in reality, it is the way to true freedom.
- So there'll be people who will try to lead you off the path of life? - Yes. Or as Jesus continues, - "Watch out for illegitimate prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inside they are wolves who snatch.
" Okay, but if they're disguised, how can I recognize them as wolves? - Well, pay attention, Jesus says, to how they live, whether their choices produce life and flourishing for themselves or other people or not. - "By their fruits you will recognize them.
" Fruit meaning the outcome of someone's decisions, their way of life? - Right. If you're the kind of person whose actions produce diseased fruit, you won't last in God's new reality.
- Okay, but life is more complex than that. I could produce enough good fruit to fool a lot of people, even fool myself. - Maybe, for a while.
But you won't fool God. As Jesus says, - "Many will say to me on that day, 'Master, master, didn't we prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty acts in your name? ' And then I will declare to them, 'I have never known you.
'" So someone could imitate the actions of Jesus but never be known by him? - Well, remember, Jesus warned about doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. If our motives are disconnected from our actions, we miss out on the life-giving intimate connection that Jesus offers with himself.
- A connection with Jesus himself? - Jesus isn't just presenting a choice about our behavior, the choice is about how we respond to him. Will we let him transform our ways to be more and more aligned with God's ways?
Or, as he puts it next, where are we going to build our house? On the sand or on the rock? - Well, that's a memorable image, but kind of random.
- Not really. In the Hebrew Scriptures, "the house of God" is the most common phrase to describe God's temple up on the rocky hill of Jerusalem. It's an image of how God's followers can build a community where God's heavenly presence can reside here on Earth, just like the garden of Eden.
- "So then everyone who hears these words of mine and does them, they will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain came down and the rivers came and the wind blew, and they fell upon that house, but it did not fall because the foundation was on a rock. And everyone hears these words of mine and does not do them, they will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
And the rain came down and the rivers came, the wind blew, and they fell upon that house. and it fell, and its falling was huge. " So build places where God can reside and where Eden can spring to life because, ultimately, those places are the only ones that will last.
- Yes. And just like Jesus said at the very beginning of the sermon, "A city on a hill cannot be hidden. So let that light shine for everyone to see.
" Jesus is describing a new humanity who lives together by God's wisdom and love, creating communities of peace and justice in the midst of violence and death that surrounds on every front. In all the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has given us a bold vision for what this can look like. And through the rest of his own life, Jesus lived out that vision.
And he offered his followers the choice to do the same. And now, that choice is ours.
