We’ve
see places where the biblical story might
have happened, but probably not this time. For at least 1600 years, this is the
hill where Jesus preached the sermon we love to call The Beatitudes. This
palm-studded bulge in the land is also called the Mount of Blessing where Jesus invited people to share the
blessings of the Kingdom by living the life of unexpected contrast.
Today it is a garden spot. Green lawn. Flowering bushes. Regal palms. Pathways marked by signs review the blessings one by one. Of course there is a church here with pristine arches and a dome.
Jesus invited the crowd to live the blessed life, but at the price of sacrifice and surrender. It was an invitation and a calling. It was a hearing and a seeing.
The
day we walked the paths of the Mount of Blessing it was hot. I couldn’t help but believe it was hot the
day the crowd gathered to hear Jesus deliver these blessings for the first
time. And if they didn’t bring water or
food, I am amazed that they listened in spite of discomfort, hunger, and heat.
I
cannot escape comparisons here. Have we heard too much so that we listen
more to our distraction that to message?
Are our standards so high, so specific that the message must be shaped
and marketed to fit our needs.
But what
if God has already shaped the message for us and we miss it?
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| The View from Mount of the Beatitudes |
O God, take me to the Mount of Blessing every Sunday. Clear my head of expectations preferences, and any other distraction that makes me blind and deaf as any Pharisee. May I hear your Kingdom call, surrender to the uncomfortable contrasts, and live the life you call blessed.
