“When he saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to teach them.” - Matthew 5:1–2
I have a special place in my heart for teachers. They pass on to us knowledge about the world and ourselves that we otherwise wouldn’t know. They help us hone skills and master tools that allow us to navigate our lives. They believe in us. Teachers have shown me where to place my fingers on the fret board of a guitar and how to strum in time. In high school, coaches drilled into me the optimal form of shooting a basketball. Use your wrist. Don’t forget to put your legs into your shot. Follow through. My seminary professors have waltzed me through the maze of church history, Israel’s monarchy, the Gospels, and took the lead through tricky books like Ezekiel.
I will never get over that of all the things Jesus could have done for a hurting, dejected, oppressed crowd, He chose to teach them. This is not an obvious move when you take into account the makeup of the listeners and their needs (Matt. 4:24). This would have been a fine time for multiplying some loaves and fish. A healing service would have really hit the nail on the head.
But Jesus taught . . .
Of course He tended to physical and emotional needs too, but He determined that at the inauguration of His kingdom on earth, one of the most meaningful treasures He could entrust to His disciples and share with the listening crowds was truth. Wisdom. Knowledge. And not only knowledge about how the world works and how the people in the world tend to tick, but even more compelling, how life works in His kingdom and how the people of His kingdom are now empowered to live with new and soft hearts filled with His Spirit. His big reveal on that mountainside, then, was not how you can have entirely different circumstances in five easy steps, but rather, how you can be an entirely new person in the face of any circumstance. We in the kingdom of God can walk through this world differently, namely because Jesus walks with us.
Are you fuzzy as to the purpose of your life? Are you wondering if trials and loneliness mean God has forsaken you? Have years of trying to get even with your ex-boyfriend or ex-boss or ex-best friend left you exhausted and bitter? Has anxiety wound itself around you like a sea nettle because you’re not sure how college will get paid for, or if your wayward child will return, or if the disease is back? Do you pursue God to puff up your ego as people applaud your religious deeds, or have you learned the secret of your prayer closet? Have you constructed your life’s house on sand that gives way the moment the winds roll onto shore, or on immovable, unshakable rock?
Jesus will address this and so much more in His Sermon on the Mount. And this is not used-car salesman speak. With economy of words and power of speech, Jesus will teach us how to live well as defined by our heavenly Father. He will pull forth from His storehouse treasures old and new (Matt. 13:52) that will thrill and amaze.
But, first, one thing. We must hold loosely what we think we know. As we learn from Jesus, it will help to take the posture of a child learning from his mother how to tie his shoe, or from a father how to bait her hook. We must assume that some of what feels innate to us will, surprisingly enough, work against us as we discover the counterintuitive culture of the kingdom of heaven. And some of what would typically seem like death will actually produce life. What we can know for sure is that if we will learn from Him, and obey accordingly, we will be blessed. After all, this is the first word of His beloved teaching.
Lord, prepare my heart for what’s ahead. Make me ready for what you have to say and then help me live out your good and life-giving words.
Excerpt taken from The Blessed Life by Kelly Minter, B & H Publishing Group, Nashville TN. Copyright © 2023 Kelly Minter. Used by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.
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