The Sermon on the Mount is indeed revolutionary in the best sense of the word. It is a true game changer on how the disciples ought to behave. And it was counter-cultural then, and it still is now in this all too violent world, including all too violent America. It was bad enough that we had crazy people with multiple round weapons killing our children in schools, but now we have government officials ignoring the law which says U.S. citizens have a right to due process under law, and instead falsely branding them as terrorists so they can justify killing them on the streets of America. On top of that, only 8% of the people we initially deported to El Salvador’s death camp had a criminal record, again a violation of our own laws. We were supposed to welcome the refugees and immigrants, being an immigrant nation. Watch Ken Burn’s documentary on the American Revolution. We would not have won without the help of the French and others, and there was not even a sense of what it meant to be an American before 1774– we were just English, Scottish, Irish, German, Swedish, African people living in a British colony, which actually was chiefly populated by American Indians. But I digress.
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and other teachings, caused the creation of whole Protestant denominations— the Quakers, the Amish, the old order Mennonites, various of the Brethren groups from Switzerland and elsewhere. They took seriously the commitment to non-violence, to turning the other cheek, to even loving their enemies and praying for those who persecuted them. They took seriously the book of the martyrs, by which I mean the Book of Revelation which plainly teaches Christians to leave justice and especially vengeance in the hands of the Lord— he will repay. In fact what being a victor, and a witness for Christ means in that book is persevering in the faith even if one is pressured, persecuted, or even executed for one’s beliefs and behavior. Victory doesn’t come from conquering other people, or stealing their land. And of course this was a hard sell in Jesus’ own case, when he told his disciples he was not the kind of messiah who came to kill in order to free his people, but rather the kind that came to die for the sins of the world, and free them from the root cause of human evil— namely human sin. I realize that following Jesus’ dictates in the Sermon on the Mount, which says blessed are the peacemakers, not blessed are the war mongers, or even those who resolve differences with guns. It’s not natural its supernatural, requiring God’s grace to live this way. Jesus insisted that the way to resolve conflict, even between Christians was forgiveness, continual forgiveness (see Matt. 19 and Jesus’ response to Peter). Forgiveness is not natural, it requires the grace of God, especially if the sin against you is huge— like murder. I remember vividly while we were living next to Amish territory in eastern Ohio (and Western Pa.) the horrific story of how a young man entered an Amish school and killed a bunch of Amish children. And what did their parents do about that? Several of the Amish parents went to the family of the man who did the killing and forgave them. Forgave them!!! Only forgiveness stops the cycle of violence and reprisals and more violence.
Think on these things.
English (US) · 