High ReDefinition
I like change. Sometimes I like change simply to change. Change doesn’t scare me, it exhilarates me.
For some, change is right up there with public speaking, horse flies, and mosquitoes in likability.
Jesus was all about change. Sometimes He was methodical and formulaic in proposing change and growth. The Sermon on the Mount is not one of those times.
What Jesus proposes and installs in the Sermon on the Mount is a lifestyle shift of epic proportions. Literally every aspect of religion and spirituality were affected by this teaching moment. Remember though, there had been 400 years of relative silence from God before this and the Pharisees were literally the best thing that happened during that time period for ensuring Jewish identity remained a part of history. Rome was swallowing cultures galore. For some reason (God’s reasons) the Jews were allotted their region and religious practice with relative disinterest.
All they had was the religious order of the time. Which means what Jesus does is truly revolutionary. He takes the power from the guys in the fancy (and kinda weird) robes and places His Kingdom in the hands of the poor, wretched, sick, and weak. Much more emphasis is placed on inner holiness than the outward expressions of faith.
So yes, change was the order of the day when the Sermon on the Mount was delivered. Change is the order of this day too. Do we hear the call of Christ from the Sermon on the Mount and turn toward Him with hopeful, willing hearts? Or have we heard His commands and returned to our own regimen of carefully measured holiness?
One more illustration to land this bird: Remember when you first saw your favorite sporting event in HD? I do. It blew me away. I could see the laces on the ball rotate; The breath of the offensive linemen was visible; and the grass looked crisp and beautiful. Going backward to standard definition felt like watching football through a milky pool of used hair gel. (Don’t get me started on how playing Skyrim on a 4K television has changed my life…).
Life redefined by Christ and His decrees in the Sermon on the Mount is a life redefined with the same crisp detail and attention to the minutiae that makes HD television so amazing. Are we willing, yes willing, to be redefined into HD? Are we ready to submit to the changes Christ lays before us?
Matthew 7: 24 – 27 24“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.25Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.26But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.27When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” (NLT)