Fulfilment

Matthew 5:13-20

We pick up the Sermon on the Mount just after the Beatitudes.   Jesus has started by announcing good news to all people.   This is his manifesto.   Next he teaches how he is not replacing or departing from their tradition of observing the Mosaic law.   He is not just another teacher with ideas of his own, offering an alternative to the Law of Moses.   The history of these people was studded with this approach.   Monarchs married foreigners who brought different religions or laws with them and the people were tempted to try out a new thing.   It was the experience of the prophets that they had strong competition when the often attractive foreign ways were offered to the people.   But now comes the new approach which is based on their understanding of the Law.   Now Jesus has arrived, the fulfilment of the Law.   It was to Jesus that the ancient Law had always been pointing.

I find it interesting that so many people who encountered Jesus did not see any evidence that said he was the one the prophets had spoken about for centuries.   Healing the sick and curing the blind may not have had much about them in terms of a clue, but his teaching of the scriptures and his part in them surely did have clues.   Perhaps it was their natural reluctance to accept anything new that prevented them seeing the true status of Jesus.   We know that the people called him rabbi or teacher so they certainly accepted that level of status.   He definitely was someone they were prepared to listen to but they seemed unwilling to take it further and accept the truth he gave them.

Jesus was teaching them about how the law they all followed featured himself as the Messiah.   There had always been this yearning for the day when God’s deliverer would appear to fulfil the Jewish law and prophecies.   Yet, there was a refusal to accept the Messiah when he came.   Quite what the people expected I don’t know.   How would this great person appear?   Would he be a human being like everyone else?   Would he have a father and mother who were just ordinary villagers?   In the story of the temptation in the wilderness we have Jesus considering a number of ways in which he might begin his ministry.   They are all rejected as being other than God’s plan.   So, yes, he does come as the son of a local carpenter and his wife in Nazareth.   He comes within an ordinary family to ordinary people.   Not for God the way of glorious way of battle to overthrow the authorities of the day.   He comes, not as an aggressor, but as a simple man telling the simple truth.   This is the truth that ultimately sets us free.

Whilst the Beatitudes are another lectionary reading it is worthwhile to consider them as the introduction to what Jesus has to say in his Sermon on the Mount.   The word “blessed” is translated by one scholar as “wonderful news”.

“Wonderful news for the poor in spirit!   The Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

Wonderful news for the sorrowful! They shall find consolation.

Wonderful news for the meek!   They shall have the earth for their possession.

Wonderful news for those who hunger and thirst for justice!   They shall be satisfied.

Wonderful news for the merciful!   Mercy will be shown to them.

Wonderful news for the pure in heart!   They shall see God.

Wonderful news for the peacemakers!   They shall be called God’s children.

Wonderful news for people who are persecuted for following God’s way!   The kingdom of heaven is theirs.

Wonderful news for you, when people slander and persecute you, and say all kinds of wicked things about you because of me!   Celebrate and rejoice for you have a rich reward in heaven.”

There are many, many rewards for those who seek to do the right thing.   In their times of difficulty there will be rewards for what they endure.   Even the weak are not forgotten but rewarded when rewards are considered appropriate only for the winners and strong people of life.   For those who always found themselves marginalised there was wonderful news.   In this way it shows that Jesus’ wonderful news was truly revolutionary.   The weaker ones of the world were to receive rewards of strength and constancy.   This was a revolution because these people had known only the opposite of what Jesus was promising.   It was a complete turn round!

As Jesus proceeds in his sermon he shows the listeners that this was always what they should have expected of the Messiah, long awaited.   They had accepted the general belief that the Messiah would be like King David, that he would be a warrior who would throw out the oppressors of Rome and their puppet king, Herod and his like.   That is what they saw as what truly beset them.   Yet Jesus had come to make a difference to every single man and woman, even those who expected nothing because they were abjectly poor in terms of wealth or intellect.

This was where Judaism had always been leading, even though a totally different construction had been espoused by the ones in power and authority.   The sermon leads on to so much more but this passage sets the scene.   The discourse has begun with two major declarations.   First there was wonderful news for all.   Secondly there was the news that this was where everything over the centuries had been leading.   A child had been born in a stable to two young parents who were mystified at the part they were playing in bringing God’s son into the world.   This child had grown into a man whose mission was to bring God to live among his people.   Born in a poor family in a typical village in Palestine, Jesus was to be the Saviour long awaited.   Wonderful news!

Look at the society in which we all live.   It is the Christian church that espouses those reverse values against others who truly believe that wealth is the only target worth striving for.   Each year, as Christmas approaches we are bombarded with invitations to spend huge amounts of money.   Black Friday is now part of the British shopping scene.   Our society is founded on the precept that wealth is the only target worth pursuing.   Gone has the hope of just managing as we inherit eternal life as the field preachers preached in the 18^th century.   Within our lifetime we have moved from shortage to plenty.  

In our gospel passage Jesus tells his listeners that they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.   He still speaks in the same vein today.   We too, here today, are the salt of the earth.   We are the ones who can make life come really alive and reach to a height that both amazes and satisfies.   When we use salt in cooking it is to give our food greater taste and satisfy us.   So we are called to put salt into life and make it really achieve something both for us and those we are alongside.   So too are we the light of the world.   We reflect the light of Jesus that illuminates the lives of people and displays them, warts and all.   We act as a light that beckons in the darkness, calling people everywhere to God and to sample the life and joy he offers.   Reflections of Christ, we act as a lighthouse showing the way past the rocks and the way into harbour.

In his painting “The Light of the World”, William Holman Hunt depicts Jesus knocking on a door which has no outside handle.   Much as been said about the onus being on the person inside to open the door to receive Jesus.   But, have you noticed that, in the gloom outside the house Jesus carries a lantern.   That lantern gives light.   It illuminates the world surrounding the one who carries it.   But have you ever wondered what would happen if the lantern were to fall on the ground?   If this happened it would be capable of setting the place on fire!

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”   Thus spoke Isaiah, foretelling the coming of Jesus.   We are the ones exhorted to reflect that light to make the world a better and safer place for people to live.   We carry this great burden of responsibility.   Yet we are privileged people.   God has called us and we have responded.    Our commitment says “Yes, Lord.   We will go!”

Always remember that the preaching of the Sermon on the Mount was not intended just for those present on the day.   It was meant to be a message picked up and carried far and wide for the salvation of all.   It remains the message we are called to spread wherever we go.   We are exhorted to show people the amazing possibilities for a lit up and enjoyable life that continues all the way to the throne of God.   This sermon of Jesus’ is a call to arms, a demonstration of how to live and what can be done as a result of following this way.

Ask yourselves: “Where does the world need salt and light right now, and how can we, through following Jesus, provide it?