Issue 201
Three chapters, one hundred and nine verses and two thousand three hundred and thirty five words and yet they have changed the world; just one sermon, but it has been woven into the fabric of our societies, cultures and histories so completely that many today are unaware of its influence or the origin of its wisdom which has become folklore, proverb and saying. It is quoted in management books, over pints of beer and in corridors of power. Often misunderstood or abused, it outlasts most critics and endures onslaughts; it describes not any old way, but the authentic way to be, to do, to live, to love, to work and to die.
Its existence gives you the first nugget to take to work. Jesus of Nazareth is laying out his vision, his manifesto and his terms of reference. Firstly to his team, but also to the crowd, he is describing what it will mean to get involved with him. It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard, read or thought up until now, this is what this Leader is teaching. If what you have heard before fits with it then fine, but if it doesn’t (and the chances are that it will not) then he is telling you the way that it is.
At around thirty years of age this Jewish carpenter and son of a carpenter is spelling it out. It is not tentative or patronising; it is neither easy nor elitis;. it is uncompromising, and at first sight impossible. However, it is not designed merely for ‘first sight’, soanyone who thinks they can figure this out without effort (such as seeking, asking or knocking) will miss the point,not just of the sermon, but of everything. This is a high stakes challenge which you are invited to take seriously because there are also high stake rewards. Jesus is not proposing a version of a game to be played if you fancy it. This is the game of life and here are the rules. Winning is as surprising as playing, once you look deeper.
You may have heard that there is such a thing as a faith and work movement. Some Christians are taking faith into the workplace and integrating their lives, while others just go to work. The Sermon on the Mount does not allow for such options. Once you have opted in you are in and everything applies all the time.
So if you want to catch the Carpenter’s vision you will find that he is laying out choices. Once you start however, you have to carry on as you started.
So the first big question of the Sermon on the Mount is “where will you enter?”
A carpenter knows all about gates, doorways and entrances. He has built many in his time. His point and his starting point is a narrow entrance. Only a few find it in life and in the sermon, but it is there towards the end (Matthew 7:13), signalling a beginning. Through the narrow entrance is life, and the invitation is to enter through it. This message comes from the same person who called himself the Door and the Gate.
If you are ill and want to get well you usually go to a doctor. If you are unfit and want to train then you would do well to go to a trainer. If you are in trouble and stuck, then you would be wise to go to a counsellor.
If you want life, then you have to go through Jesus of Nazareth. If you choose to go through him, everything else follows. Once the choice is made, the rest of the sermon, and the rest of life, makes sense. The alternative is to self-destruct.
The choice is a stark one: it is this way or the broad way; there is no third option; either you and I live and work through Jesus, or we don’t. There is no optional up-grade from being an ordinary Christian to a faith at work Christian. Once you enter, you are in, and the whole sermon applies. It’s all about choice, so he will spell it out further for you if you choose to read next time…
Matthew 7:13-14
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
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Work well
Geoff Shattock
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