Today we read one of my favorite scriptures. While we were in the Holy Land we spent some time up on the hillside above the sea of Galilee known as the Mount of the Beatitudes. As I read these scriptures again my mind went back to place, and I thought of what Jesus had said there. In today's reading I was disappointed to find the word happy having replaced the word and the notion of blessed in other translations. I would have preferred a word like honored which might better convey the meaning today. The people or the situations that Jesus speaks about do not conjure up images happiness but rather a sense of purposefulness in the outcome or consequences of those situations..
Since I have preached on these texts many times I find this familiar territory. We find Jesus calling the disciples to supersede the law of the Old Testament and the traditions defined in law. Although not explicitly addressed here, Jesus is really teaching about the law of love. In chapter 6 Jesus teaches them to pray. Note how the words in this prayer differ from what we say when we pray the Lord's Prayer on Sunday. As you read it here does it help you to understand the meaning behind what we pray?
In chapter 7 there were words I had memorized of scripture that now are different. Judge not has become don't judge. Search has become the new word for seek. Which verses have you memorized? Which ones from this translation will you now memorize? Go ahead and underline them and remember them.
This whole teaching section ends with an impression. Jesus teaches like someone with authority or I might say like someone who knows what he or she's talking about. Doesn't it make you want to read more tomorrow?
No comments:
Post a Comment