Today’s chapter is Matthew 5.

Tom writes:

O the awesomeness of these phrases. Jesus calls ‘good’ a lot of things that I like to keep at arms’ length. It says it is a glorious thing to feel the inadequacy of spiritual poverty, to be wracked with the sorrow of mourning, to constantly be feeling like you are wanting and needing more. I don’t want any of those things. I want to sit pretty and smile smugly and be patted gently on the shoulder by one man and his dog. But Jesus seems to be saying that is not how the kingdom works. The rich and succulent pleasures of the kingdom are reserved for those who have struggled and strained and reached the end of themselves. The Kingdom is for the humble - for those who spend their life on their knees, knowing that their help comes not from themselves but flows from their King. As we have said already; the dove of the Kingdom comes after the flood of repentance. And after the flood and the dove, there comes the voice from above. Our King wants us to do what he says. It’s actually a bit embarrassing how strong Jesus is on this point. Jesus is extraordinarily clear that he knows better than us and that being in his Kingdom mandates us trusting him more than we trust ourselves.

Will we trust Jesus that he knows life better than we do? Will we trust Jesus that he knows us better than we do? And will we trust Jesus that his wisdom for life is better than any wisdom we could find anywhere else? I fear that some of us have seen Jesus a bit like a healer-king or a sugar-daddy king who is there to fix our problems and give us some nice perks. Jesus is indeed an immensely generous and powerful King, but what Matthew particularly wants us to realise is that Jesus is a philosopher King; Jesus is a Rabbi-King who demands that his followers actually follow his way of wisdom. So how did this philosopher King sum up the Wisdom of his Kingdom? Perhaps surprisingly, it is about serving others. How we treat those around us is central to the wisdom of Jesus. The Wisdom of Jesus exerts extensive energy on reconciling ourselves to our family, it dreams dreams about carrying others’ burdens, it keeps oaths, it becomes a city on a hill for the sake of others. Keeping oaths isn’t sexy. Praying for annoying people isn’t glamorous. But these are what Jesus’ Wisdom does. If you truly are mourning, if you truly know your spiritual poverty then you will rush into Jesus’ definition of wisdom, because you will see that his blessing is there, and Jesus’ blessing trumps your best ideas every day of every week.

Question for reflection

If you obeyed everything Jesus says in the sermon on the mount do you think you would be happy?

Matthew 5 - Friday 9th August