Peripatetics: The Art of Walking
Monday, September 06, 2004
I'm a sucker for stupid movies. Dumb and Dumber. This Is Spinal Tap. Napoleon Dynamite. Raising Arizona. Caddyshack. I can actually label them "classics" and purchase them for my DVD collection. I have no idea what this says about me.
The Monty Python comedy troupe has their own stupid movies out there. Almost everyone in America can quote these British comedians in their search for the Holy Grail. One of my former teenagers actually downloaded the entire script from the Internet. You never know when a quote from that movie at the proper time might come in handy.
One of those stupid movies is called "The Life of Brian." Basically, a guy named Brian is strolling through the Holy Land during the time of Christ and the Python cast skewers all sorts of religions with witty insights.
And one of the stupid scenes in that movie shows Brian and his mom, and an assortment of other characters at the back of the crowd while Jesus was giving The Sermon on the Mount. To show you how silly the scene is, the first words Brian's mom yells during the scene are "Speak up!" Brian quiets his mom, and this cast of characters start "shushing" each other. Because they're so busy shushing, they don't exactly get Jesus' words correctly, asking each other why "cheesemakers" are so blessed, or who the "Greek" is that is going to inherit the earth. I still think it's a funny idea.
Anyway, the shushers have enough of each other and one guy calls another "big nose" and the next thing you know a full-blown brawl ensues, complete with women getting punched and highlighting the reality that the point of the sermon was entirely missed. Some religious leaders walk by, witnessing the fight, and note that what Jesus failed to take into account was that apparently the meek are the ones with the problems. Everyone missed the point.
That's the problem with the Sermon on the Mount. It throws everybody off with all the wonderful words about the mourners, the meek, the pure in heart, the poor in spirit...They're beautiful words, and the underdogs are all welcome.
The reality of the Sermon on the Mount is that these words would've been highly offensive to those within hearing. The people that would've come up on that mountain in the first century were outlaws and ruffians who were looking for the Messiah to come and lead the Jewish nation into revolt against the Roman occupation. It was common practice in those days to try to start a revolution in the hillside. And that's what the multitudes in Matthew 5 would've been itching to hear. You can almost hear swords being sharpened in the background.
Then Jesus blesses all the "wrong" people. How can the meek lead a revolt? The persecuted? The mourners? The thirsty for righteousness? And then to follow that up with those salt and light references...that basically told Israel that you were supposed to be the light of the world and they were stinking at it.
No. This was no polite "feel-good" message. It was a call to revolution. The new King would indeed be ushering in His Kingdom, however, this revolution was for people's hearts and minds. The Kingdom is coming. Just differently than you think. There's a new way of being God's people in this world, and it involves you making a decision of sorts. Don't believe me? Read chapter 7 again.
The people were amazed at his teaching (7:28). But note that not all of them jumped on board. I'm sure many people left disappointed, or confused, or angry, or whatever.
But if you want to move from information in your head to a genuine walk with Christ, it's going to involve revolution...
And that's a dangerous thing: Following a revolutionary. Heady stuff on Labor Day, I know. But take some time to think about what it would take for you to follow a revolutionary, and why, exactly, you might feel compelled to do so. Could it be that the deeper, abundant life involves a change in the status quo of our lives?
Brent 6:12 AM
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