A PRAYER TO START
Flannery O’Connor gives us a prayer that helps you and I take advantage of daily grace, especially when our convictions and our actions struggle to dance instep. Pray with her and your faith family…
My dear God, I am impressed with how much I have to be thankful for in a material sense; and in a spiritual sense I have the opportunity of being even more fortunate. But it seems apparent to me that I am not translating this opportunity into fact. You say, dear God, to ask for grace and it will be given. I ask for it. I realize that there is more to it than that—that I have to behave like I want it. ‘Not those who say, Lord, Lord, but those who do the Will of My Father.’ Please help me to know the will of my Father—not a scrupulous nervousness nor yet a lax presumption but a clear, reasonable knowledge; and after this give me a strong Will to be able to bend it to the Will of the Father. Amen.
TAKING A LOOK AHEAD
On any journey, whether a hike in the mountains or a trek to the grocery store, it is important to be aware of your surroundings, to be present. It’s also important to know where you are going! To look up, and take a peek at what is ahead.
This week our expedition slows. Having set off on a sprint through the inauguration of Jesus’ life and ministry (Matthew 1-4), we now begin to settle into our “20 mile march”, that steady rhythm of weekly discipline that will allow us arrive at our destination stronger for the journey undertook, not drained by it.
Read Matthew 5:1-12. As you are reading take notice and note of the following:
Who are the characters in the story? Explicitly named and those assumed.
Where does the story take place?
What repeats? Words, characters, actions/events, sayings, descriptions, etc.
What surprised you?
What might have surprised the people Matthew was writing to?
What questions does the story raise so far?
CONNECTING THE DOTS
Matthew is telling a story in a particular way. He is retelling the stories of Jesus for the purpose of praising the honor of his life and death. To possess honor, one must demonstrate a worth or value that is communally affirmed. But what if the community’s version of a good life is the wrong place to discover value and worth, even if it is the first place we look? Who in the beatitudes acknowledges the nobility of the actions and attitudes and ideals espoused? Why does that matter? Then and now.
Jesus does not say that honor is unimportant, nor that it is not the greatest good to be pursued. Rather, he reforms the means and mode of gaining honor. Think back on your answers from Week 1 | Learning, how is honor gained today?
Take a look at each of the actions, attitudes or ideals described as “Blessed”. In what ways might these be considered ‘shameful’ or weak in the days of Jesus? Which are considered less than ideal still today? Why?
Consider the affirmations, the benefits gained, for each of the actions, attitudes and ideals described. Which of these might be considered worthwhile to pursue, which ones would not? What’s the difference?
Look back over the final exhortation in verse 12. Who does Jesus say our lives will mirror when we value what he value?
Why is such comparison something to rejoice and be glad about?
Would you describe your life, and our life together as a faith family, as “different” as the prophets’ lives of old? Why?
A THOUGHT TO PONDER
The great British pastor and theologian John R.W. Stott once said that we should recognize that,
“…the activity of the Spirit who before he is the comforter is the disturber…”