The Flavor of Righteousness

The Sermon on the Mount doesn’t change. Our perspective does, though. Ever seen a film that meant one thing to you when you were young and another when older? I sure as heck have. My best example comes from The Graduate. A twenty-something me watched it and said, “Yeah!” Now, I’m prone to watch it and think, “That poor child just ran away with an irresponsible goof who hasn’t the vaguest notion of a moral compass.” Some message lost its flavor during a span of 50 years. Life’s events change the way we see things.

We’ve been through a lot as a nation, and as a world, the last few weeks. Our perspectives on many things may change as we cope. Above all, we may yearn for, and seek, things in our world that don’t change, things that represent a stable path.

Maybe that’s what the Galilean was talking about on that Judean hillside. We’re not really sure what he meant about salt losing its flavor. It doesn’t in our world. But he was preaching in the 1st century CE. His audience knew what he meant. If he spoke to us today, he no doubt would speak with different images.

Speaking of moral compasses, he might tell us that if our hand compass ceased to point to the north, we would discard if for a new one. If we programmed our car’s GPS system to take us to Dallas, TX and it took us to Birmingham, AL, we’d probably throw it out the window somewhere along the way. If someone we had lovingly reared and nurtured ran off with a character like filmdom’s Benjamin Braddock, we’d no doubt call out the bloodhounds.

If we could agree that, at least in part, the Galilean was talking about veering off the righteous path, what path did he have in mind?

Some acquaintances would argue that we’ve strayed too far down the sinful path of hyper-tolerance. Some would argue that we’ve strayed too far in the direction of using religion as a hate-tool. What is the poor traveler to think? How can we be happy (blessed) with our moral and ethical choices regarding righteousness? What would the Galilean tell us?

Well, what did he tell us? I seem to remember that he said:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” (NIV)

Those sure as heck haven’t lost their favor after all these years.

Righteousness First

Reading The Sermon on the Mount daily, we might find the Galilean’s treatise on worry a bit, well, worrisome. Reading today’s news, a thinking person will doubtless hope that someone, somewhere in our government, is worrying about tomorrow. Please let them be doing so. Is he really telling us not to?

Now the “out of context” crowd will use the same easy answer they always use: “He didn’t really mean it.” If we take the text as the actual words he is supposed to have said, it’s pretty obvious that he did mean it.

There’s some snippet of the unusual in his words, though. He slips a little deeper thought into what sounds simple. He’s bad about that.

Maybe, just maybe, it is the kind of worry we often employ that he is talking about. Someone said that the word “worry” means to be “torn in two.” There is an old story about the hobo who decided that he wanted to go see his friends in New York and grabbed hold of a northbound freighter. Then he decided it was nice and warm in Florida, so he grabbed the end of southbound and held fast to both. The story goes that he wasn’t the first person ever to be torn apart by indecision.

The Galilean, thought, slips this in about worry:

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. herefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Did you catch that? First seek his kingdom and his righteousness. That is fascinating. How might all our worries take better care of themselves if we first seek righteousness in whatever form is meaningful to us?

Today’s news, once again, offers a prime example. As alluded to earlier, we seem to have real crisis confronting us, one that deserves genuine concern. What we have left out of the process so far is exactly what the Galilean commanded: First seek righteousness.

Blaming the crisis on your political opponents is hardly a righteous first step.

The sermon from that lonely hill still resonates after all those years, doesn’t it?