Oh snap, I think this is Sermon on the Mount. This chapter is some of Christianity’s greatest sound bites. The stuff we quote all the time.
When Jesus saw how many people were following him he realized he needed a big dramatic venue to preach from. I suspect there might have been a threat of jail or something in the big cities, so he found a natural venue… a mountain.
He told the folks:
Heaven will reward the poor. Mourners will be comforted. The meek shall inherit the earth. You will be good, if you try to be good. If you give mercy you’ll receive mercy You’ll see god if you are pure of heart. Peaceful people are the children of god. You’ll go to heaven if you are persecuted while perusing righteousness.
Okay I think those are the beatitudes. They are quotable, concise, and deal with common issue of being human. Then it gets a little more um verbose. Still really quotable stuff though, salt of the earth, light of the world stuff.
If you are falsely persecuted in my name, you will be rewarded, like the other persecuted prophets. You are the salt of the earth, but we have to cast out the salt that’s lost it’s flavor, it’s no good to us. You are the light of the world, you can’t hide a city on a hill. Don’t put a candle under a bushel, put it in a candlestick and use it to light your home. Let men and god see your light.
I am not here to destroy but to fulfill. Listen to what I’ve said and spread this information, so everyone can have the keys to get into heaven. Don’t beak these little commandments I’ve given or you won’t get into heaven.
And then there is a section about the old way versus the new way of doing things.
Thou shalt not kill, you will be judged for it, but now if you are angry you will be judged and might go to hell!
Back in the day if you angry at someone you could leave and offering at an altar to resolve the issue with god, but now you should first make peace with that person and then leave the offering.
If you get caught up in something, that eventually causes you to go to jail, you must pay before you are released.
In the past it was good enough not to commit adultery, but now if you look lustfully at a woman it’s adultery already.
Okay so if your right eyes is, indiscriminate? It’s better to pluck out the eye than to let your whole body get dragged to hell for that eye’s behavior. Or your hand… or any part of your body to save the rest of it. Yikes! I mean that might be a metaphor, but I don’t know how to metaphorically pluck out an eye!
It used to be if you were done with your wife, the honorable thing to do was to write her e divorce. But no longer. Now only if she has fornicated with someone else, can you divorce her, but who ever marries her is committing adultery. I think this was to protect women at the time, I’m not sure what the property laws were but… I think JC was looking out for the ladies by saying this.
In old days you could swear to god, but now don’t swear at all! Keep your answers to yes or no because more than that invites evil. Back in the day, it was an eye for an eye, and a tooth for tooth, but now I say turn the other cheek. If someone asks you to go a mile with them , go even further, and give to those who ask.
It used be love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but now love everyone, and bless those who curse you, pray for those who hurt you. God make the sun shine on the good and the bad and the rain fall on them too. Even the Roman contractors/tax collectors (Publicans) love, and have family.
In conclusion try to be as perfect as god.
Ugh. You see, this is what has always gotten me. I have a snowball's chance in hell of controlling my actions, but there is no way I can control my wandering thoughts. I think things before I even know I'm awake! JC really knows how to make it hard on us. Interesting to note where the whole "no divorce" thing came from.
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