Jesus and the Mountains
James Ridgeway Sr., a retired
United Methodist pastor, who had been to the Holy Land more than one hundred
times, tells Jesus’ story through the lens of the mountains[1]:
Following his baptism Jesus was
tempted on a mountain. Upon his entrance into Galilee he prayed all night on a
mountain and then chose his disciples. He gave his best-known sermon on the
mount. He multiplied the loaves and fish on a mountainside. While praying with
Peter, James, and John on a mountain, he was transfigured. Jesus entered
Jerusalem for the last week of his life from the Mount of Olives. He was then
arrested there, taken to Mt. Zion to be tried before the Sanhedrin, and then
crucified on Mt. Calvary. After his resurrection Jesus gave the great
commission from a mountain, then he ascended to heaven.
Apparently the mountains were important to Jesus.
Disciples and Crowds
Today’s scripture is part of Jesus’
best-known sermon, often called the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7). First,
let me ask you this question: “Who do you think the intended audience for
the sermon on the mount?”
There were always two different groups of people who were following Jesus: the crowds and the disciples. Matthew introduces Jesus’ sermon on the mount this way:
When Jesus saw his ministry
drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were
apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet
place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions (vv. 1-2 MSG).
There is no doubt that Jesus climbed a mountain to withdraw from the great crowds, so that he could give more concentrated teaching to his disciples. If you had a chance to read the sermon on the mount, you will soon realize that it is one of the most challenging, radical, counter-cultural sermons in the Bible. So for those conformed to this world and its culture (“the crowds”), this sermon just doesn’t make sense. But as for the disciples, this sermon is like spiritual dynamite, spiritual revolution.
Life of a Disciple
The sermon on the mount is all
about what a disciple looks like in everyday life. It covers from
ethical standard, religious devotion, attitude to money, human relationships, character
to life-style. Basically, it covers every area of our life. The sermon on the
mount can be paraphrased in this format: “You are my disciples when you...” For
instance,
·
You are my disciples when you are meek and
merciful, poor in spirit and pure in heart, mourning and hungry for
righteousness, peacemakers and persecuted.
·
You are my disciples when you are generous with
your lives by opening up to others.
·
You are my disciples when you make the first
move, make things right with your enemies.
·
You are my disciples when you help someone out
quietly and graciously without thinking about how it looks to others.
·
You are my disciples when you actually do what
God wills as well as hear it.
Nicodemus’ Question
The question still remains: Is the sermon on the mount practical? Is it
attainable? Many say that its ideals are noble but unpractical. They say it is
a dream which could never come true. This echoes Nicodemus’ question to Jesus:
“How can this be? Rabbi, you are living everything you are saying. You are
different from our religion teachers, from me. I want to have what you
have.” Jesus says to him, “You must be born again (from above).” Now
Nicodemus gets even more confused, saying, “How can anyone re-enter their
mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus clarifies this way, saying, “No one can
enter the kingdom of God (live a life of a disciple described on the sermon on
the mount) unless they are born of water and the Spirit.” Nicodemus
still doesn’t get it. So Jesus continues, “Think about the wind! You hear its
sound, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it is going. So it is
with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus asks, “What do you mean by ‘born of the Spirt’? How does this happen?” Jesus says, “Nicodemus, you are Israel’s teacher. Certainly, you remember the story of Moses and the bronze snake. In the wildness the Israelites did not trust God and kept complaining, saying, ‘There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!’ By this, many people were dying as they had been bitten by God-sent poisonous snakes. So Moses prayed for the people. God commended him to make a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then what happened?” Nicodemus replies, “Anyone bitten by a snake who then looked at the bronze snake lived.” “That’s right, Nicodemus” Jesus says, “It’s faith. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up on the tree – and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and believing, will have new life, new nature, new heart, new affections and wills. That’s how you are born of the Spirit.”
Climbing Mt. Calvary
By faith. By looking
up to Jesus, who is lifted up on Mt. Calvary, we are born from above, born of
the Spirit. A new birth is necessary to live a life of a disciple. When
we are born again first, then the sermon on the mount becomes
practical, and all its standards become attainable all right to us, by
the power of the Spirit.
So how can we really live out the sermon on the mount? I want to share the following story as an answer to this question. There was a sculptor once, so they say, who sculpted a statue of our Lord. And people came from great distances to see it – Christ in all his strength and tenderness. They would walk all round the statue, trying to grasp its splendor, looking at it now from this angle, now from that. Yet still its grandeur eluded them, until they consulted the sculptor himself. He would invariably reply ‘There’s only one angle from which this statue can be truly seen. You must kneel.’ [2]
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