February 2017

Many people live very stressful, busy rushing from place to place, trying to make ends meet and worrying about the future. There are many things to worry us if we let them, genuine concerns over health, housing, hope for the future – all these things are real enough and can bear heavily upon us. The Lord is aware of these issues of anxiety and He does not take them lightly. He addresses them directly. We worry about food for the table and clothes for our children and a roof over our head and security for our future. Life is about these things, but as the Lord reminds us today life is also about much more than these things. Life is about where you set your heart. If your heart is centered in the right place, if you focus your energies on right living and on God’s honest truth, then worry will fade away. Our place in the world is to be the children of God and to live according to the spirit of God’s kingdom. When that happens the power of worry fades and faith grows strong. The issues of life are always there for us but now they no longer loom over us as a threat or dark cloud. We will negotiate life on God’s terms, and God’s ways are peace.

In the Sermon on the Mount, which has formed our Gospel readings over the last few Sunday’s, Jesus is explaining what the Beatitudes mean in practice.

When faced with words such as “holiness” or “perfection”, our first reaction may be to distance ourselves from them. Such terms belong to saints. They don’t come into the orbit of our everyday world. It is true that we are not required to live at these heights every moment. Jesus asks us to consider that, if we are His true followers, we all have the potential to respond at this level. We can all follow in His footsteps. The times when we are asked to give ourselves so utterly are few and far between. But we prepare ourselves for such challenges by the way we live through the day-to-day moments of our lives.

The character that emerges from the Gospels is both gentle and strong, peaceable and forthright, calm and courageous. Never in His dealings does Jesus act in a violent manner, nor does He say things to provoke people to riot or revolt. Yet His every word is challenging and demanding. His call asks for nothing else than everything by way of commitment to Him. In His words that we hear today, part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus will not settle for outward observance or superficial fulfillment of God’s commandments. It is not enough not to kill your enemy; you must seek actively to be at peace with the enemy. It is not enough to avoid adultery; you must live a sexually honest life. It is not enough to avoid the big sins; all sins are damaging. There is no need to swear oaths; just use honest and straightforward speech. These are the deep roots of true life, of good life, and nothing less will do, says the Lord. The great wisdom that we are asked to learn calls us to love one another.