The Greatest Talk Ever Given

Bridge to Terabithia is the story of two young teenagers who are linked by their kindness and imagination. The boy, Jess, is shy and has a gift for drawing. Leslie, a girl, is brave and bold and has a gift for story. One Sunday she asks if she can go to church with Jess and his family. Leslie confesses that she and her parents never go to church. She would like to go with her friend to his church. When she tells Jess this, he looks at her like she has just said, “I am a dodo.”

But Jess agrees to take Leslie with them and they all go to church together. They sing hymns. They hear a sermon. And on the ride home they talk about it. Leslie says,

“I’m really glad I came. That whole Jesus thing –it’s really interesting, isn’t it?”

Jess’ little sister responds, “It’s not interesting. It’s scary!” and she goes on to talk about God damning people.

“You have to believe it and you hate it,” Leslie tells her friends. “I don’t have to believe it and I think it’s beautiful.”

Now, they may be confused about some things concerning Jesus and the Bible but no more confused than many adults. I’ve used this scene before as an example because I think it comes pretty close to capturing the attitude of that crowd of people who came to hear Jesus preach this talk called the Sermon on the Mount.

The people didn’t come because they had to. They came because they wanted to. They were the sinners, the tax collectors who cheated people of their money, the prostitutes, the criminals, the losers. These are not the bright shiny people. They are the masses of humanity. They are smelly and rude and impatient and impious. Nobody ever asked them to come to church and hear a good talk about God’s love. But from the moment Jesus began to talk it was clear that he was talking not above them or around them, but to them.

The Sermon on the Mount is the Greatest Talk ever given by the most influential person who ever lived on this planet. Jaroslav Pelikan says that Jesus has influenced so much of history and culture that if you removed everything that he has touched in some way, how much really would be left?

The people that heard this talk realized right away that they were in the presence of a person who taught like nobody else. His words were compelling. They spoke to real life and with the authority of one who knew what he was talking about. Here was a person of great wisdom and ability, greater than they had ever encountered. They didn’t listen because they had to- they concluded that they would be fools not to listen and follow. John Ortberg says that nobody in the crowd took notes. Today, a person may take notes to remember the information. When I go hear a speaker that I respect, I often take notes on the talk. But nobody took notes in this crowd, Ortberg says, because the words were so powerful that it changed their lives forever. And you don’t forget that.

What were you doing on September 11 2001 when you heard the news? I bet you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing. You didn’t have to write it down.

“When something changes your life, you remember. You just know.”

Jesus sermon was like that. Nobody who was there forgot it. And He began. . .

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

Jesus begins his talk with a series of blessings that have been called the Beatitudes. The beatitudes have become very pious sayings that people put on their walls but many do not really understand what they are about. First, of all they are about real people. Like most of his preaching, Jesus uses a “show and tell” method. Some of the people in the crowd he has probably spent time with and even healed. He might use someone in the crowd as an example and say, “Here, here is what I am talking. . .”

“Blessed are the poor in spirit. . .” The poor in spirit are the people who don’t know anything about church. They don’t talk the language. They don’t know their Bibles. Gallup did a poll a few years back asking people who gave the Sermon on the Mount. You know what the number one answer was? Billy Graham. Many people thought it was called the Sermon on the Mount because it was given from the back of a horse. The poor in spirit aren’t going to win any Bible trivia games. They are the spiritual zeros. There is nothing spiritually attractive about them. And Jesus continues this pattern of pronouncing blessings on people in unattractive and unenviable positions.

“Blessed are those who mourn. . .” Does this mean its good to be in mourning? Is it good to lose someone you care deeply about? No, of course not. Jesus is not saying you are blessed because of your mourning or your spiritual poverty – you are blessed in spite of. . .The Beatitudes are not a set of instructions who what to do or be, they are an announcement of Good News to all people.

This goes against the grain of our beliefs, religious and otherwise. Deep down, we subscribe to what I referred to the other evening as a theology of “Good things happen to good people/bad things happen to bad people.” If our lives are going fairly well then subtly we begin to believe that we deserve it. We’ve earned it. Of course things are going good – I’m a good person.

This is not really the way life works and the Bible tells us this. In the Old Testament book of 2 Kings we read the story of Naaman. Naaman had a “designer life.” He was commander of the army of Aram, what we now call Syria. He was one of the most powerful men of his time. He was the equivalent of prime minister. He was wealthy and well thought of. But there was a great challenge in Naaman’s designer life:

“The man, though a valiant warrior, suffered from leprosy.” 2 Kings 5.1

Leprosy was fatal in those days. If you got it, you went through a gradual wasting that slowly crippled, disfigured, and finally, killed you. The word had the resonance that cancer has in our day. All Naaman’s success and accomplishments couldn’t help defeat this enemy in his own body. But one day a young girl from Israel is taken captive in a raid by Naaman’s soldiers. The girl becomes a slave to Naaman’s wife. The observes who new master’s condition and says:

“If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 2 Kings 5.3

Naaman has nothing to lose really. So he decides to try to go see the prophet. And Naaman does it in a way that he knows best. He sends letters of reference through his king to the King of Israel. He brings a lot of money with him as well to give to the king. He figures with the money and the references, the King of Israel will command the prophet to cure him.

Naaman believed that if you live a good, successful life then God must bless you. If you show you are successful, you can get whatever you want from God. I mean, it worked in Naaman’s dealings with other successful people, why wouldn’t it work with God? But the man is in for a shock. Naaman goes to the prophet Elisha’s house and is greeted at the door by a messenger who says, “the prophet said to go wash yourself in the Jordan River seven times and you will be cured.”

Good news, right? Not to Naaman. He was angry. He was angry because he didn’t believe it could be that simple. He was expecting some kind of elaborate ritual. He was expecting that he would have to pay the prophet some money. He was expecting to have to do some mighty thing, as Timothy Keller says, “like bring back the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West or return the Ring of Power to Mount Doom.” Naaman took this as an insult. Any idiot can go splash in the river. In Naaman’s world, the mighty and successful are in the control.

“Just wash yourself,” was the answer he got instead.

Jesus looks at the unwashed and says, God doesn’t need you to do anything. There is nothing you have that God needs. God doesn’t bless you because you’re good looking or you’re wealthy or you’re successful. And God doesn’t bless you because you’re unattractive or poor or sorrowful. Here’s the good news: God blesses you because his kingdom is for everyone.

What might God’s blessings sound like today? Blessed are the those with bad breath. Blessed are those with no fashion sense. Blessed are those who can’t sing. Blessed are the divorced. Blessed are the unemployed, underemployed, overemployed, and unemployable. Blessed are the HIV positive. Blessed are the homeless. Blessed are the perpetually angry. Blessed are the lonely. You get the picture. No one is beyond God’s blessing. No one is excluded from the kingdom. Now it’s possible that you can be these things and turn your back on Jesus and His kingdom. God won’t force his blessing on anyone. But if we would see and hear what those first crowds saw and heard we will remember and not forget. We will begin to understand the words of the prophet Isaiah:

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the one who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation. . . Isaiah 52.7

“The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. . .” Isaiah 61.1-2

Someday we’ll see the feet of One who comes down from the mountain to tell us - Good news friends - it’s here! The kingdom is finally and fully here!” Who is that One? Some of you may recall that passage in Luke 4 when Jesus reads that scripture “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. .” in the synagogue and he finishes the reading and says, this scripture is fulfilled right now in me. He is the Lord’s anointed.

Over the next month we will continue to study Jesus’ great message of the kingdom. I encourage you to read it for yourself. I invite you to pray with me now.