Matthew 5:1-12
The Beatitudes
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.
Jesus Sermon on the Mount takes me out of my comfort zone...
People naturally like to do what is most comfortable for them...And when we want to be comfortable, we want things to be the way we want them to be (we want to be happy and comfortable)...We want things to go our way...This is our nature, and the nature of man...But is that always in line with the way of God, me always wanting to be comfortable?...What makes it wrong for me to be uncomfortable?...Is it harder for me to find my Father, when I am comfortable?...
Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote: "If it is I who determine where God is to be found, then I shall always find a God who corresponds to me in some way, who is obliging, who is connected with my own nature...But if God determines where He is to be found, then it will be in a place which is not immediately pleasing to my nature and which is not at all congenial to me...This place is the Cross of Christ...And whoever would find Him must go to the foot of the Cross, as the Sermon on the Mount commands...This is not according to our nature at all, it is entirely contrary to it...But this is the message of the Bible, not only in the New Testament but also in the Old Testament."...
We like things according to our ways and our ways of thinking...So throughout our lives we build and make our own comfort zones...We like things comfortable...Trying to get one out of their comfort zone and changing and doing something different and new can be difficult...But we seem to constantly seek comfort and our personal comfort zones...We seem to be more satisfied and complacent, when we are in our comfort zones...And it seems each of us have our own personal comfort zone...Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is not a comfortable sermon...It does take us out of our comfort zone...Jesus' Sermon on the Mount reminds us that the way we see things and do things are not the way He sees things and does things...When Jesus is in our lives things can be more unsettling...Jesus moves us out of our comfort zone to strengthen us and our faith...But we are blessed when we are poor in spirit, when we are mourning, when we are meek, when we are merciful, and when we search for righteousness...