The Christian Gadfly

It’s always interesting to see what lengths Christians will go to in order to make what the Bible says fit their own interpretation. A very good case in point is Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. For purposes of this article, I’m focusing specifically on Matthew 5.1:

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. (Matthew 5.1, ESV)

Over the years I’ve heard many explanations of what this verse means, but most seem to focus on the idea that Jesus, in His Sermon on the Mount, spoke directly to the large crowds that were following Him. One explanation places the location for the Sermon in a place where the natural terrain forms a sort of amphitheater which is supposed to provide the acoustics necessary to carry His voice to the entire crowd. Another idea suggest that Jesus used His divine power to ensure He was heard by everyone or, alternatively, the Holy Spirit provided that service.

But what if Jesus went into the hills, not to gain a better vantage point from which to speak to the crowds, but to get away from the crowds? Note in the verse quoted above that it states that Jesus’ disciples came to Him, but doesn’t say the same for the crowds.

Over the centuries, we have developed this picture of Jesus as a great orator, speaking to huge crowds wherever He went. Reality is a whole different matter. The idea that Jesus spent more time trying to get away from the crowds simply doesn’t fit the picture we’ve developed. Yet that is precisely the picture that the gospel writers have provided. A consequence of this is that we may be forced to also change some of our ideas of the meaning behind what He said, an idea that we are even less willing to consider.

The simple truth is, Jesus wasn’t laying out for us a program for how to become some kind of super Christian, or perhaps more appropriately, a super humble saint. Jesus was, however, doing the one thing that mankind has yearned for throughout the ages and that is speaking to people’s current circumstances, their hopes, their dreams, their hurts, their failures, in other words, He was, and is, speaking to everyday lives. We have spiritualized the message so thoroughly that it takes a great amount of effort now to interpret it so that it can make sense to our lives today. Why should this even be necessary?

We have, quite effectively, placed Jesus on a high shelf, well out of reach of grasping hands and well out of contact with our everyday lives. God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, into this world to live, work, and minister among us, touching us where it most mattered to us. However, since His resurrection, we’ve worked very hard, and with great success, keeping Him in heaven where He belongs so that He doesn’t get soiled by our everyday existence. We have taken Christ out of Christianity and it is well past time to put HIm back in again.

Paul spoke about situations like this in his first letter to Timothy. Although I admit I’ve taken this somewhat out of context, I think it still illustrates what I’m trying to say:

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. (1Tmothy 1.5-7, ESV)