Matthew 5:1-12
Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount
1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them.
He said:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
We are sometimes saddled in life with pains and sufferings and they just nag us day in and day out...Sometimes we just need to keep on going on those days and do what we can, the best we can...
In reading the Sermon on the Mount (and the Sermon on the Plain), I think of many things...C. S. Lewis wrote about many things in his book Mere Christianity...Sometimes I think of this passage in his book and how it relates to Jesus' Great Sermon on the Mount...C.S. Lewis wrote that, "If you mistake for your own merits what are really God’s gifts to you through nature, and if you are contented with simply being nice, you are still a rebel: and all those gifts will only make your fall more terrible…The devil was an archangel once; his natural gifts were as far above yours as yours are above those of a chimpanzee...
But if you are a poor creature—poisoned by a wretched up-bringing in some house full of vulgar jealousies and senseless quarrels—saddled, by no choice of your own, with some loathsome sexual perversion—nagged day in and day out by an inferiority complex that makes you snap at your best friends—do not despair...He knows all about it...You are one of the poor whom He blessed. He knows what a wretched machine you are trying to drive...Keep on...Do what you can...One day (perhaps in another world, but perhaps far sooner than that) He will fling it on the scrapheap and give you a new one."...