Theology Time

More on the Sermon on the Mount. Some writer I read once said that the Galilean was almost breathless on that barren mountain. Whoever it was said the reading resonates more with modern audiences if one inserts, periodically, “And another thing …”

Well whatever. If we are to believe the Gospel of Matthew, our hero really “shucked the corn” back then. As they used to say in my day, “It was radical man,” or, just “Rad, man, rad.” (It sounds more meaningful with smoke in the air).

We’ve already beat The Beatitudes to a fine dust. It’s still fun to think of how “rad” it must have been to the conservative Roman rulers, the bankers, and the Temple Vision evangelists to hear a man say that their worst nightmares—the poor in spirit, the meek, the mourners, the merciful, the peacemakers, the righteous, and so forth—were standing by to inherit the next world.

Today’s “out of context” crowd stays busy with all that. Maybe they wouldn't have heard it correctly.

Either He had a mighty fine voice, or it must have been hard to hear that day. That possibility occurs in the film spoof by Monty Python, The Life of Brian. One of those at the fringe of the crowd wonders why He is saying something about “Blessed are the cheese-makers.” That might, in fact, make more sense to men in those Manhattan skyscrapers and their third, fourth, or fifth wives.

Let's take a look at some of the other radical things he said:

"If you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire." (5:22)

"If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away." (5:29)

"Whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." (5:32)

"Do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you." (5:42)

"Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear." (6:25)

"The gate is narrow and the road is hard […] and there are few who find it." (7:14)

Maybe that’s why, in a 2006 speech, President Barack Obama (perhaps the last president we’ll ever have who could quote this masterful work), said, the Sermon on the Mount was so "radical" the Defense Department wouldn't survive its application. Earlier he suggested the economy couldn't get along without it.

Rad, man. Rad.

On the theist side, Augustine called the Sermon on the Mount "a perfect standard of the Christian life."

On the doubting side, Thomas Jefferson thought it was "the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered".

For the young fans of the Harry Potter series, Albus Dumbledore quotes the Bible word-for-word in placing an inscription on the tomb of his mother and sister, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." 6:19-24

Not all of the Sermon is comforting, however. Think of how members of the “Tax Cut Cult,” when dreaming of their latest riches, must find it a bit troubling that the Galilean said, "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."

Rad, man. Rad.

Radical, beautiful, or both?
I report. You decide.