Friday 1 October

Matthew 5:11-12 (New Living Translation) “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way. Today’s reading is another portion of the ‘Sermon on the mount’.  Jesus delivered this sermon in the relatively early part of his ministry.  Since then, it has been meticulously analysed by scholars, philosophers and theologians.  Various religious and moral thinkers including Tolstoi, Ghandi and the Dalai Lama have admired the messages contained within it and particularly the elements that advocate pacifism.  Since then, the amount of analysis of the ‘sermon’ is unbelievable.  One gentleman reports there are at least 36 different interpretations of this portion of scripture further sub-divided into headings such as: ‘The Christian existentialism view, Dispensational eschatology, The Anabaptist view and a selection of others, none of which I understand or have any intention of probably ever trying to understand!!!!! Now, what do we know about some of the people that heard the Lord preaching?  There was a man with leprosy, a Roman officer, many demon-possessed people, many sick people, teachers of religious law, a paralyzed man, a tax collector, disciples of John the Baptist, a blind man, Pharisees, the rich young man?  There are other examples, but generally, we are told the Lord preached to crowds or even entire villages. He preached to the uneducated as well as the educated.  He preached to the poor as well as the rich.  He preached to young folk as well as adults.  Jesus preached in a way that should make it easy for everyone to understand what he was saying.  It is only men and women that complicate it and make it impossible to take in. I am not a scholar but I still believe I am capable of understanding what Jesus is teaching in today’s verse.   If I get a hard time in this life because I am a Christian, I will be rewarded in the next life.  That’ll do for me…and not a philosopher in sight! Prayer Ever loving God, we thank you for all the blessings that you give us, some that we welcome and recognise, others that we just expect, and, to a certain degree, just take for granted.  We thank you for the things you taught us when you delivered that famous ‘sermon on the mount’.  Help us to read it more often, learn from it, and apply your teaching in the way we live our lives each day.  Amen