To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah; a love song.
1 My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe. 2 You are the most handsome of the sons of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever. 3 Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and majesty! 4 In your majesty ride out victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness; let your right hand teach you awesome deeds! 5 Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; the peoples fall under you. 6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; 7 you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; 8 your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad; 9 daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor; at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir. 10 Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear: forget your people and your father's house, 11 and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him. 12 The people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts, the richest of the people. 13 All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold. 14 In many-colored robes she is led to the king, with her virgin companions following behind her. 15 With joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the king. 16 In place of your fathers shall be your sons; you will make them princes in all the earth. 17 I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.
The 45th Psalm is a psalm composed for a royal wedding in Jerusalem. It’s fun to imagine what it must have been like to see one of the descendants of David take his bride and ascend to the throne.
Marriage is everything—we are who we are because of the marriages of the people who came before us. Some were happy and some were unhappy, but all shaped us.
The 45th Psalm is a psalm composed for a royal wedding in Jerusalem. It’s fun to imagine what it must have been like to see one of the descendants of David take his bride and ascend to the throne.
Marriage is everything—we are who we are because of the marriages of the people who came before us. Some were happy and some were unhappy, but all shaped us.
What Jesus says in Mark 10 about marriage is a hard teaching, and harder to live by. In this post, I am not going to offer a comprehensive theology of marriage and divorce, and there are lots of questions I'm not going to try to answer; what I will try to do is explain what I think Jesus is saying in this particular passage. Don't shoot the messenger!
10 Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them. 2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
Mark 10:1-2
Jesus has now begun his journey to Jerusalem. He's left the Galilee in the north, and has come south. Unsurprisingly, he has drawn a crowd. And, equally unsurprisingly, the Pharisees--who hate Jesus--have come to try to trip him up. Some things haven't changed; even today, talking about marriage can get you crucified!
The question about divorce is not an earnest, truth-seeking question, because the Pharisees who ask it are trying to set a trap for Jesus. Why is this question so controversial? In the time of Jesus, there were two rabbinical perspectives on divorce: one perspective (from Rabbi Hillel) said that men could divorce their wives for any reason, and the other perspective (from Rabbi Shammai) said that divorce should be reserved for cases of adultery. In both cases, it was understood that only a husband could seek a divorce, and not a wife. Unsurprisingly, the Hillel perspective was the popular one in the time of Jesus.
As he always does, Jesus throws the question back to his interrogators:
3 “What did Moses command you?” he replied. 4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”
Mark 10:3-4
The Old Testament does contain provisions for divorce, as the Pharisees rightly point out. In response, Jesus explains why there had to be divorce, and then goes on to talk about God's design and purpose for marriage:
5 “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. 6 “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
Mark 10:5-9
As he always does, Jesus uses scripture to frame his answer. In fact, he goes back to the very beginning of the Bible itself: Genesis 1-2. (Specifically Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:24.)
Note that Jesus doesn't actually answer their question about divorce directly, but implies that divorce is necessary because people are sinful, and then goes on to talk about the purpose of marriage, as designed by God. I think there are 4 interesting implications to his answer:
Our identities as male or female are not an accident, but part of God's purpose for our lives.
Marriage makes new families. The husband comes from one family, the wife comes from another, but when they get married, a brand-new family is created through them.
The marriage union is meant to be total: in the biblical language, "one flesh." Marriage is a complete union: emotional, of course, but also, in some mysterious way, bodily as well. The physical result of that bodily union, obviously, is a child. A child is the "one flesh" that results when a husband and a wife come together through sexual intercourse. A child is one, though it comes from two: a mother and a father. Even at the molecular level, this is true: the child has one DNA sequence, but that sequence has been made from the DNA of two parents. There are billions of us on this planet, and every single one of us--without exception, and whether we know them personally or not--has a biological mother and a biological father. The fact that each of us is the fruit of our parents' union is really astounding, but because it is commonplace, we overlook it.
The marriage union is meant to be lifelong.
Later, when they are alone with him, the disciples ask for more clarity, and Jesus provides it:
10 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11 He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
Mark 10:10-12
It is important to point out that since it is only men who were able to divorce their wives in the time of Jesus (and not vice versa), then the practical effect of Jesus's comments is that they protect women, who, without clear divorce laws, could be cast aside for any and every reason. Jesus's words sound harsh, but they are actually helpful to women whose husbands wanted to divorce them for any and every reason.
The entire passage is extremely counter-cultural for twenty-first century Americans, as it flies in the face of our divorce culture. Since Governor Ronald Reagan signed the nation's first no-fault divorce law into effect in California in 1969, we have come to accept (not only in law, but in our understanding) that marriage is something that either party can end for any reason whatsoever, and once divorce papers are filed, then the marriage is over. Jesus says that, in effect, marriage is more durable than that, and that regardless of what the papers say, marriage can't be ended as easily as that. This is a radical teaching.
I am not trying to give a comprehensive Christian understanding of divorce in this post, but I also know that if you've read this far, you likely have many questions about grounds for divorce. Remember that this is just one scriptural passage in which Jesus is replying to a specific question put to him about a particular Jewish controversy. So, drawing from the rest of the Bible, here is one answer to the following question.
What behaviors break the marriage covenant and are grounds for divorce?
Adultery (Matthew 19:9);
Abuse (Exodus 21:10-11);
Abandonment (1 Corinthians 7:15).
As for other conclusions, I will let you think on these issues yourself. This is just one passage in all of Mark's Gospel, which is but one book in the entire Bible--on marriage and divorce, we need to take the whole counsel of scripture. But, what do you think--is Jesus right? Is marriage meant to be lifelong, or can it be ended when either spouse wants to end it?
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I heard Tim Mackie make two points about today's reading that I found helpful.
First, the Sadducees were the religious elite who controlled the chief priest's position in Jerusalem. (They were not natural allies of the Pharisees.) Tim Mackie compared them to Scientologists today: a relatively small group made up of wealthy people.
Second, what about Jesus saying there is no marriage in heaven? That seems sad--does that mean we'll have no families in heaven? Tim Mackie pointed out that we have umbilical cords for the first few months of life, and we absolutely need them. Then, after we are born, we no longer need what seemed so essential to us before. In some way, this is what marriage is like: it's necessary here on earth, but will give way to something better in heaven. I don't really understand that or like it, if I'm being honest, but I at least acknowledge it makes sense, and I need to remember that God's plans are always better for us than anything we could have thought of ourselves.
I’m blogging through the Gospels in 2019. Subscribe here to receive a weekday update on that day’s Gospel reading. (There is also an option to subscribe to non-Gospels posts as well through my plain ole Andrew Forrest Newsletter.)
Haven't you ever wondered why, since Jesus was such a nice guy, meek and mild; since Jesus is basically Santa Claus in sandals and a bath robe; since Jesus never wanted to hurt anyone's feeling--haven't you ever wondered why Jesus was killed? Jesus wasn't killed by accident; Jesus was killed because the things he did and said caused people to hate him. Matthew 19-20 is a good example of the sort of things Jesus said that got him killed, because these 2 chapters contain some difficult, explosive teachings from Jesus. In 2019 at Munger, we're reading through the Gospels over the course of the year, with short readings assigned each weekday. So, each weekday I've been trying to write a brief commentary to go along with that day's Gospel reading. I'm a few days behind, so I'm going to post my comments on Matthew 19-20 in 3 separate posts, one after the other; to understand Matthew 19-20, we need to look at all of Jesus's teachings together, so be sure to check out each of the 3 posts. This is Part 1: about Jesus, Marriage, and Divorce; Part 2 is about whether Jesus would ever turn someone away [the rich young ruler]; Part 3 is about a truly explosive, troubling parable [the laborers in the vineyard].
Jesus, Marriage, & Divorce
Matthew 19 is a hard passage. It is hard to understand, and even harder to live by. In Matthew 19, Jesus speaks to the topic of marriage and divorce. In this post, I am not going to offer a comprehensive theology of marriage and divorce, and there are lots of questions I'm not going to try to answer; what I will try to do is explain what I think Jesus is saying. Don't shoot the messenger! So, let's walk through this passage, verse by verse:
19 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan.2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. 3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
Matthew 19:1-3
Jesus has now begun his journey to Jerusalem. He's left the Galilee in the north, and has come south. Unsurprisingly, he has drawn a crowd. And, equally unsurprisingly, the Pharisees--who hate Jesus--have come to try to trip him up. Some things haven't changed; even today, talking about marriage can get you crucified!
The question about divorce is not an earnest, truth-seeking question, because the Pharisees who ask it are trying to set a trap for Jesus. Why is this question so controversial? In the time of Jesus, there were two rabbinical perspectives on divorce: one perspective (from Rabbi Hillel) said that men could divorce their wives for any reason, and the other perspective (from Rabbi Shammai) said that divorce should be reserved for cases of adultery. In both cases, it was understood that only a husband could seek a divorce, and not a wife. Unsurprisingly, the Hillel perspective was the popular one in the time of Jesus.
As he always does, Jesus uses scripture to frame his answer. In fact, he goes back to the very beginning of the Bible itself: Genesis 1-2. (Specifically Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:24.)
4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
Matthew 19:4-6
Note that Jesus doesn't actually answer their question directly, but instead talks about the purpose of marriage, as designed by God. I think there are 4 interesting implications to his answer:
Our identities as male or female are not an accident, but part of God's purpose for our lives.
Marriage makes new families. The husband comes from one family, the wife comes from another, but when they get married, a brand-new family is created through them.
The marriage union is meant to be total: in the biblical language, "one flesh." Marriage is a complete union: emotional, of course, but also, in some mysterious way, bodily as well. The physical result of that bodily union, obviously, is a child. A child is the "one flesh" that results when a husband and a wife come together through sexual intercourse. A child is one, though it comes from two: a mother and a father. Even at the molecular level, this is true: the child has one DNA sequence, but that sequence has been made from the DNA of two parents. There are billions of us on this planet, and every single one of us--without exception, and whether we know them personally or not--has a biological mother and a biological father. The fact that each of us is the fruit of our parents' union is really astounding, but because it is commonplace, we overlook it.
The marriage union is meant to be lifelong.
The Pharisees reply with an obvious point:
7 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
Matthew 19:7
In other words, they say: "Jesus, that sounds really nice, but if marriage was meant to be life-long, why is divorce sanctioned in the Old Testament?"
8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
Matthew 19:8-9
Note that the Pharisees say that Moses "commanded" divorce, whereas Jesus corrects them by pointing out that Moses did not command divorce, but "permitted" it. Why? Because the presence of sin requires it, i.e., "because your hearts were hard." Because all people are sinful, divorce is necessary. Jesus implies that sexual immorality breaks the marriage covenant or somehow makes marriage impossible. In that case, then, divorce is a way of acknowledging that the marriage covenant has already been abrogated.
It is important to point out that since it is only men who were able to divorce their wives in the time of Jesus (and not vice versa), then the practical effect of Jesus's comments is that they protect women, who, without clear divorce laws, could be cast aside for any and every reason. Jesus's words sound harsh, but they are actually helpful to women whose husbands wanted to divorce them for any and every reason.
The disciples are shocked at the implications:
"The disciples said to him, 'If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.'"
Matthew 19:10
In response, Jesus says that they are correct: this is a difficult teaching:
11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”
Matthew 19:11-12
A "eunuch" is a man who has been castrated so that he is unable to reproduce sexually. Eunuchs were present in antiquity from the Middle East to China and they were often important members of a royal household; because they were obviously unable to found their own dynasties, they were often entrusted with important matters of state.
Note what Jesus is saying:
Some people are, from birth, either not able or not willing to procreate: "eunuchs who were born that way."
Some people will not procreate because of what other people have done to them. It is unclear to me if "eunuch" is in this instance only to be understood literally--that is, people whose genitals have been cut off or altered so that they cannot reproduce--or if it is also metaphor, referring to something else.
People who freely choose not to marry and reproduce for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Here, "eunuch" is obviously a metaphor. And, Jesus himself is in this 3rd category, since he never married.
This entire passage is extremely counter-cultural.
First, this teaching of Jesus flies in the face of our divorce culture. Since Governor Ronald Reagan signed the nation's first no-fault divorce law into effect in California in 1969, we have come to accept (not only in law, but in our understanding) that marriage is something that either party can end for any reason whatsoever, and once divorce papers are filed, then the marriage is over. Jesus says that, in effect, marriage is more durable than that, and that regardless of what the papers say, marriage can't be ended as easily as that. This is a radical teaching.
I am not trying to give a comprehensive Christian understanding of divorce in this post, but I also know that if you've read this far, you likely have many questions about grounds for divorce. Remember that this is just one scriptural passage in which Jesus is replying to a specific question put to him about a particular Jewish controversy. So, drawing from the rest of the Bible, here is one answer to the following question.
What behaviors break the marriage covenant and are grounds for divorce?
Adultery (Matthew 19:9);
Abuse (Exodus 21:10-11);
Abandonment (1 Corinthians 7:15).
The words of Jesus on divorce will seem radical to our culture, but his words on sex will seem INSANE. Our culture believes that a fulfilling and happy life must include sex. Think about our advertising--it's not that our advertisers use sex to sell things--though they do--it's that they also imply that a life without sex is a life not worth living. Jesus flatly contradicts this implication. In fact, he suggests that some people will choose not to marry and have sex and make these choices out of service to the kingdom of heaven.
One important conclusion we can draw from this passage is that Jesus saw both marriage and singleness as legitimate callings for his disciples. In different times in church history, we have favored one at the expense of the other. Nowadays, we clearly prioritize marriage over singleness, but over the last 2,000 years, there have times when the church has stigmatized marriage and over-praised singleness.
As for other conclusions, I will let you think on these issues yourself. This is just one passage in all of Matthew's Gospel, which is but one book in the entire Bible--on marriage and divorce, we need to take the whole counsel of scripture. But, what do you think--is Jesus right? Is marriage meant to be lifelong, or can it be ended when either spouse wants to end it? And, is it possible to have a fulfilled life without sex?
I’m blogging through the Gospels in 2019. Subscribe here to receive a weekday update on that day’s Gospel reading. (There is also an option to subscribe to non-Gospels posts as well through my plain ole Andrew Forrest Newsletter.)
Storms are inevitable in life. And what's worse is that they are also unforeseeable. In literal storms, millions and millions of random occurrences come together to produce the winds and the waves; life's storms are also the result of random interactions of complex systems. So, how do you prepare for something inevitable that's also completely unpredictable and random?
In what follows, I want to talk about how we can become the kind of people who can weather life's storms by walking us through the Sermon on the Mount. I personally have been doing a lot of reading and studying recently of this famous set of Jesus' teachings (Dallas Willard's The Divine Conspiracy has been a particularly helpful source of ideas), and I finally feel as if I understand what he was getting at, which is exciting, because this is AMAZING stuff! (This will be a much longer post than I've been writing recently in my weekday commentary on the Gospel reading, but I want to help you understand how in Matthew 5-7 Jesus is giving his followers practical advice they can actually use to become the kind of people who survive life's storms.)
Amazed At What He Had To Say
There's this really fascinating aside Matthew gives us after Jesus wraps up the Sermon on the Mount.
When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Matthew 7:28-29
Having just heard Jesus give this famous set of teaching, his hearers are amazed. What Jesus has been saying was so insightful and unusual and so obviously cut to the heart of the matter of everyday life that it was nothing short of astounding. And you know what? Nothing has changed in 2,000 years--these words are still AMAZING.
The Two Kinds of People
Let's begin at the end. Jesus closes the Sermon on the Mount by saying that there are two options in life: the way that seems easy but actually ends in ruin, and the way that seems difficult and unpopular but actually results in blessing [Matthew 7:13-14]. He expands on this by talking about how it's not what people say that matters, but what they actually do (and how to tell between the talked and the doers) [Matthew 7:15-23], and then he sums up the entire set of teachings with a little parable:
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Matthew 7:24-27
In his conclusion, Jesus says that the difference between the people who are destroyed by life's storms and those who survive them are that the survivors actually do what Jesus said to do. But how do we actually do that? That's what he's been telling us in the previous 3 chapters of his famous sermon. In fact, the Sermon on the Mount is meant to be a How-To manual to becoming the kind of person who can weather any storm. And the first thing we have to understand is what Jesus meant when he talked about the "Kingdom".
What the Kingdom Is
Here's how Matthew sums up the central message of Jesus:
"Jesus began to preach, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.'”
Matthew 4:17 NIV
Another way of translating this might be:
"HEY! Turn around and change your mind: living in the reality of God is now one of your options."
Matthew 4:17 AFV [Andrew Forrest Version, in the vein of Dallas Willard]
A kingdom is wherever a king's will is done; beyond that frontier, it's no longer that king's kingdom. Queen Elizabeth reigns over the United Kingdom; she does not reign in France. Each of us has our own kingdom or queendom; where my will is done is my kingdom. So, my body is one part of my kingdom, for example: I command my finger to move, and it does; I command my mouth to speak, and it does. The kingdom of heaven is wherever God's will is done. The only place in the Creation where God's will is not done is here, where God has permitted for a while his human creatures to exercise their own reigns. This is why we pray in the Lord's Prayer "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth [as it already is] in heaven."
From the beginning, it was God's plan that men and women would exercise their free will and rule in his name over the earth [see Genesis 1:26]; it remains God's will that we would freely choose to align our kingdoms under his Kingdom.
So, the message of Jesus is that through him God's Kingdom is now available to anyone, anywhere, RIGHT NOW if they are willing to do what he says. Apprenticeship or discipleship to Jesus is learning to live your life in the reality of the Kingdom. In the Sermon on the Mount which follows, he provides some practical examples of what Kingdom life will look like.
The Introduction and Overview
Jesus begins the Sermon by telling people that there is no spiritual condition that precludes them from learning to live in the Kingdom now: not the spiritually poor, not the mourning, not the meek, etc. [We call this section "The Beatitudes", Matthew 5:1-12.]
Then, Jesus tells his followers that living in the Kingdom will make them distinct from people around them: it will be as if they are salt--thereby bringing out the flavor in life--or light--thereby showing others how best to live. [Matthew 5:13-16.]
To be clear, Jesus wants his followers to understand that he's not doing anything new, that this is ultimately what the Old Testament is all about, and that he's not come to abolish "the law and the prophets". [Matthew 5:17-20.]
With those remarks out of the way, Jesus explains what it looks like to put his words into practice and live in the Kingdom. What he is going to do is take familiar situations that arise and give an example of what Kingdom living would look like in each of those situations.
Here’s the point: it would seem at first that going along with the conventional wisdom in each of the examples that follow would be the best course of action; actually Jesus wants us to understand that if you just do what everyone else is doing—“the wide and easy path” he references in Matthew 7:13—it will be the equivalent of building a foundation on sand. Instead, if you do what he says to do, as counterintuitive as it might seem, you’ll be building your life on bedrock.
Here’s the point: it would seem at first that going along with the conventional wisdom in each of the examples that follow would be the best course of action; actually Jesus wants us to understand that if you just do what everyone else is doing—“the wide and easy path” he references in Matthew 7:13—it will be the equivalent of building a foundation on sand. Instead, if you do what he says to do, as counterintuitive as it might seem, you’ll be building your life on bedrock.
A Practical Plan for Becoming a Survivor
Anger
Jesus begins his advice by talking about anger. He tells his hearers that though it is obvious that murder will mess up your life, the anger and contempt that are behind and underneath murder are also spiritually dangerous. So, rather then indulging in anger, Jesus tells his followers that they should actually seek reconciliation with people with whom they have bad blood. Living in the Kingdom is trying as hard as humanly possible to be reconciled with others. [Matthew 5:21-26.] Building on Sand: anger and contempt. Building on Rock: seeking reconciliation.
Lust
Next, Jesus tells his followers that though it is obvious that adultery will mess up your life, what's really important is to rid your thoughts of lust. Lust is using someone else's image for your own gratification, which is evil because people were created in the image of God, and not for the purpose of pornography. Jesus says that Kingdom living, then, is about doing whatever it takes--he uses the hyperbolic image of cutting off your own hand!--to learn to see other people as God sees them, and not as objects of desire. [Matthew 5:27-30.] Building on Sand: indulging your thought life. Building on Rock: disciplining your thought life.
Marriage and Divorce
People have been having marital problems since the Garden of Eden, and they had marital problems in Jesus' day, too. But Jesus tells his followers that marriage is not primarily a contract between two people for the purpose of meeting their emotional needs; rather it is a covenant before God. And so Kingdom living is about being reconciled with your spouse (remember reconciliation is an important Kingdom value) as far as is in your power. Now, if your spouse persists in adulterous behavior, reconciliation is clearly outside of your power, but Jesus tells his followers divorce is a last resort. [Matthew 5:31-32.] Building on Sand: leaving a marriage when it doesn’t fulfill your emotional needs. Building on Rock: working towards reconciliation as far as is humanly possible.
Manipulation ("Oaths")
Then Jesus takes on a pervasive human behavior: that of trying to manipulate other people into doing what what we want them to do. In his day there had developed this convoluted practice of swearing on the Temple in Jerusalem to convince people you were sincere. ("I swear on the Temple I didn't take your money!") We don't do that, but of course we try to use language (social media posts?) to get other people to do what we want them to do. In contrast, Jesus says that kingdom living is much simpler: just say what you mean, and leave it at that. [Matthew 5:33-37.] Building on Sand: trying to manipulate others. Building on Rock: saying what you mean, and leaving it at that.
Vengeance/Retaliation/Enemies
You will have enemies; people will seek to do you harm. Though it seems natural to us to hit back and hate the people who hate us (the wide and easy path always seems "natural" to us at first), Kingdom living is about forgoing retaliation and instead seeking ways to bless the people who mistreat us, even to the extent of praying for God to bless them! Jesus makes the reason explicit: when you try to love the people who hate you, you are acting like God, who wants to bless all his children. So, Kingdom living is learning to act like God in the times of inevitable conflict we will encounter. [Matthew 5:38-48.] Building on Sand: vengeance and retaliation. Building on Rock: seeking to bless those that hate us.
Virtue-Signaling (e.g. Giving and Fasting)
Jesus tells his followers next that they should be careful of trying to impress other people with how they help the poor or do "spiritual" things like fasting. Instead, those should be personal practices and a way of life that's more private than public. In other words, learning to live in the Kingdom is learning not to need to impress other people with how good you are. (Think of all the virtue-signaling on social media.) [Matthew 6:1-4, 16-18.] Building on Sand: virtue-signaling to impress others with your goodness. Building on Rock: doing the right thing because it’s right, not because people will see you do it.
Prayer
Jesus tells his followers how to pray. Learning to live in the kingdom is to make prayer a habitual action ("When you pray, go in your room and shut the door....") and to use Jesus as a model for prayer. [Matthew 6:5-15.] Building on Sand: praying haphazardly. Building on Rock: having a plan for habitual prayer.
Money/Wealth
It seems that having more money will make you happier, but Jesus points out that which we all already know: more stuff won't necessarily make you happier. (If that were the case, then the people in Beverly Hills would be the happiest people on earth, but we know that isn't true.) Living in the Kingdom is learning to trust God more than our own stuff. [Matthew 6:19-24.] Building on Sand: thinking more stuff will make you happier. Building on Rock: learning that trusting God actually makes you happy.
Worry!
If there were ever a topic for practical pastoral advice, it would be worry! Jesus tells his hearers that worry, which seems so natural ("the wide and easy path") will actually be harmful. So, he tells his followers to focus only on the problems of that particular day (over which they actually have some measure of control), and leave the rest of God. [Matthew 6:25-34.] Building on Sand: getting worked up and worried over things you can't control. Building on Rock: focusing on what you can control today, and working to trust God with everything else.
Other People's Behavior and Hypocrisy
Jesus tells his followers that though discerning between good and bad, right and wrong has a place, focusing on other people's behavior and ignoring our own is foolish. Rather, kingdom living is about turning most of your attention on your own shortcomings and working on those. [Matthew 7:1-6.] Building on Sand: judging other people by their actions and yourself by your intentions; getting all worked up over other people's hypocrisy. Building on Rock: focusing on your own actions and shortcomings.
Asking God for Stuff
Which brings us to the final bit of practical advice in the sermon: definitely ask God for stuff you need! Lots of folks think "I don't want to ask for the wrong thing; I'll just pray a generic prayer for God's will to be done." Instead, Jesus tells his hearers to ask boldly. [Matthew 7:7-12.] Building on Sand: refusing to ask and not persisting in prayer. Building on Rock: asking and persisting in prayer.
Two Kinds Of People
All of the above is Jesus providing his hearers of examples of what Kingdom living looks like. Each topic he covers is a topic that each of us encounters all the time; doing what Jesus said is putting his principles into practice when you encounter anger, lust, worry, etc. Anyone can choose to participate, because Jesus came to bring the good news of the Kingdom to everyone. But, he concludes with telling his followers that hearing is not the point: actually practicing what he said is the point.
The people who actually do what he says will be the kind of people who, rather than going along with everyone else by taking "the wide and easy path" will be the kind of people who take the narrow, hard path that actually leads to life.
The people who do what he says will be able to survive any storm--even death!--because they are learning to live the eternal life of the Kingdom RIGHT NOW.
If you want to learn how to survive life's storms, start doing what Jesus says. Go down the list, and begin to practice the kingdom response or mindset. It works.
The Sand Palace of Mexico Beach
In October of 2018, Hurricane Michael came ashore in the Florida Panhandle. It made landfall on the town of Mexico Beach. When the winds died down and the sun came out afterward, this is what remained:
The Sand Palace of Mexico Beach. [credit: Johnny Milano for The New York Times]
This house, called "The Sand Palace", was built by two men in 2017. They didn't do whatever everybody else did, they built their house their own way, to withstand the storm of all storms. What they didn't know was that that storm would arrive just a year later. When it left, all the houses around theirs were destroyed, whereas the only damage the main structure of their house retained was one cracked shower window.
Storms in life will inevitably come; no one is exempt. Jesus says the only way to prepare is to start learning to live in the Kingdom now, and the Sermon on the Mount offers advice how to do just that.
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