All Soul’s Day
Father Richard Rohr writes about the radical message of the Sermon on the Mount.
In his teachings, and in the Sermon on the Mount in particular, Jesus critiques and reorders the values of his culture from the bottom up. He “betrays” the prevailing institutions of family, religion, power, and resource control by his loyalty to another world vision, which he calls the reign of God. Such loyalty costs him general popularity, the support of the authorities, immense inner agony, and finally his own life. By putting the picture in the largest possible frame, he calls into question all smaller frames and invites his hearers into a radical transformation of consciousness. Many were not ready for it—nor are many of us today.
To understand the Sermon on the Mount, we need to clarify where Jesus is leading us.
It’s not to the old self on the old path, which would be non-conversion and non-enlightenment.
It’s not to the old self on a new path, which is where most religion begins and ends. It involves new behavior, new language, and practices that are sincere, but the underlying myth/worldview/motivation and goals are never really changed. My anger, fear, and ego are merely transferred to now defend my idea of God or religion.
Jesus is leading us to the new self on a new path, which is the total transformation of consciousness, worldview, motivation, goals, and rewards that characterize one who loves and is loved by God.
Matthew sets the stage for the Sermon with three simple sentences: “Seeing the crowds, he went onto the mountain. And when he was seated his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak” (Matthew 5:1–2). Remember, Moses came down from the mountaintop with the Ten Commandments. For Matthew’s Jewish audience, the message is clear: This is the new Moses going back to the mountaintop, reproclaiming the truth, bringing down the new law. That is a very important context: In a certain sense, the Sermon is Jesus’ revisioning of the Ten Commandments.
The Beatitudes (sometimes translated as “happy attitudes,” or even congratulations in a secular sense) are addressed not to the crowds but to Jesus’ disciples. Later in the Gospel, the most demanding teaching— “take up your cross”—is reserved for an even smaller group, the twelve apostles. The Sermon is addressed to the larger second circle of disciples, those who are still being initiated. That’s us!
It seems there is a very real plan in Jesus’ initiation. He is aware of timing, readiness, and maturation. At the early stages, we are not ready for the hard words of the gospel; we are unable to hear the message of the cross. It is only in the second half of life that we come to understand that dying is not opposed to life. Dying is a part of a greater mystery—and we are a part of that mystery. In my experience, it is usually the older psyche that is ready to hear such sober truth.
Reference:
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Jesus’ Alternative Plan: The Sermon on the Mount (Franciscan Media, 2022), 71, 103, 137–138.
Image credit and inspiration: Rachel Spina, untitled (detail), 2023, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. The woman watches the child marvel at the flowers—each of them practicing the Beatitudes by noticing and honoring what is small and vulnerable.
Story from Our Community:
Like the man with leprosy in Luke’s Gospel, healing starts with the desire to be healed. The challenge is finding the patience and investment to allow the healing, piece by piece. It’s taken years after my mother’s passing to forgive her anger and to realize her mental illness was her burden, not her choice. A whole lot of continuing prayer, good therapy, a dear husband and family have been my blessed recipe.
—Toppie B.
