Sermon On The Mount 4 - Sermon for Week ending January 23, 2021

Gospel Reading

From Matthew, chapters 6 and 7.
Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 
Do not judge. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?
Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.
In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the law and prophets.

Sermon

Today, we are completing our sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount in the gospel of Matthew with Jewish Scholar Amy-Jill Levine, who reads it as Jesus’ interpretation of Jewish Law. The disciples are Jesus’ audience, and his teachings and insights here are meant to guide them as they live in the new community that they are creating together, a community that Jesus calls the Kingdom or kindom of heaven. I think kindom is a more accurate description as it is nothing like kingdoms, which are both hierarchical and patriarchal. Instead, it is a family, where members depend on one another, where they treat each other with kindness, and where the priorities are equality and justice. The teachings bless, challenge, inspire, comfort, and make uncomfortable. They encourage listeners to take inventory. To ask,   “What’s important? And what’s less important? What do we want to be known for?  What pulls us in different directions? and How better do we focus?” These teachings and insights are also for us, as followers of Jesus, as we seek to create and inhabit the kind of community that Jesus describes. I chose 3 of the 12 instructions and explanations  that Jesus gives in Matthew, chapters 6 and 7, the end of the Sermon on the Mount, which are in our gospel reading. The first is “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.” Levine tells us that Jesus is not attempting to wipe out worry. He is making the point that in this community they are building, there is no reason to worry about not having food or clothes to wear, because they are committed to sharing what they have with each other. They forgive debt and don’t judge anyone on what they wear or how much or little they spend on food. Which brings us to the second lesson, “Do not judge. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” The reason Jesus gives for not judging each other is that we do not know what is in someone else’s heart. Levine says that the importance of these verses was brought home to her from her students at Riverbend maximum security prison in Nashville. They were always there to remind her that their crime was not the sum total of who they are, and ask her, “Would you want to be judged by the worst thing you have ever done in your life?” Judging each other is not our call. Instead, Jesus says, we should attend to our own blind spots, to improve our own thoughts and actions, to heal our own brokenness. Number 3 is “Beware of false prophets.” You will know the difference between real prophets and false prophets by their fruit, by what they do. False prophets preach but don’t practice. They use their power for personal gain. “They substitute charisma for good works And promises for concrete action.” Later in Matthew, Jesus says that False prophets produce great signs and omens to lead people astray. We witnessed a little over two weeks ago how people who are so easily swayed by promises and conspiracy theories followed false prophets who used lies to get them to do their bidding, leading them into a situation of lawlessness that had deadly results and left a stain on our country. The apostle Paul describes good fruit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And we saw and heard threads of them reach into our world this past Wednesday, in the voicing of a vision of hope for a new day, a new world, which prioritizes loving and doing for others. President Biden, in his address, said, “We can treat each other with dignity and respect. We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts. If we show a little tolerance and humility. If we’re willing to stand in the other person’s shoes just for a moment.” Vice-President Harris said, “We not only dream, we do. We not only see what has been, we see what can be.” And no one, in my opinion, expressed this vision more eloquently or with more wisdom than 22-year-old Amanda Gorman, in her poem, “The Hill we Climb.” She said, “We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another. We seek harm to none and harmony for all. We will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one. Our people diverse and beautiful will emerge, battered and beautiful. When day comes, we step out of the shade of flame and unafraid, the new dawn balloons, as we free it. For there was always light. If only we're brave enough to see it. If only we're brave enough to be it.” All of Jesus’ teachings, and the teachings of most religions, have as their basis, The Golden Rule, which we read in Matthew 7, verse 12: “In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you.”
Love your neighbors, all your neighbors, as you love yourself, and love yourself. We are all part of the family of God. We are blessed. We are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. The kingdom of heaven is available to us here and now. May we be co-creators and co-inhabitants of this community in our time, as Jesus and the disciples were in theirs.