Dare to Be Wisdom
The Gospel of Matthew and Luke
Fr. Donald Macdonald, SMM
I have read many biblical commentaries, possibly more than most, but I have not yet found one to give me a real understanding of the Sermon on the Mount and of the Beatitudes in particular. At one level I hear what they say, but what do they mean?
The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5—7, or, on the Plain, Luke chapter 6:20—49), has the core of the Synoptic Gospel teaching. It is easily read. The sentences are categoric. Take it or leave it, this is what Jesus said, is the implication. What does it mean to really want to absorb such teaching, to have a mind formed by what is said there?
“Blessed are you who are poor . . . you who are hungry now . . . you who weep now . . . ,” says St. Luke’s account of the Beatitudes, but St. Matthew is just as categorical saying, “Blessed are those who mourn … persecuted for righteousness’ sake. . . .” It is said that to really hunger and thirst for righteousness, is to obtain it! The meek, in a world which crucified Jesus in his mother’s presence, are told that they are to inherit the earth! What might the not—so—meek say to that?
Can it ever be true that to be persecuted, ridiculed or lied about on account of Jesus’ name is to be blessed? “Do not resist an evildoer . . . Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.” Is that practical common sense in the day to day world?
As children of the one Father we are to love and pray for our enemies. Simply to love those who love us is understandable perhaps, but not Christian life as the Sermon on the Mount understands it. “What more are you doing than others?,” who are not blessed with Gospel insight, is the challenge thrown down to disciples of Christ, who are invited, therefore, to be perfect as their heavenly Father. What can that possibly mean?
Do Not Be Anxious
What am I to make of teaching telling me not to be anxious? Never to ask, “‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’.” Anxiety seems so much a part of being human, and it often cripples. It is pointed out that plants are clothed in beauty by God’s gift, and as he cares for them so will he clothe me. Is life ever so simple? ‘The world belongs to everyone, the best things in life are free . . .’ sang the song, but does that include health, home, food, clothing for example? Is it fair to be labelled, ‘you of little faith’ (Jesus’ nickname for the disciples in Matthew), because I find this hard to understand in view of what I see about me?
The paradox is reinforced by the so familiar, ‘Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you . . .’ Does common experience know that to be true, since ‘everyone who asks receives . . .? Is such logic self evident in everyone’s life?
Painting: Sermon on the Mount: Carl Bloch (1834 -1890)
Carl Bloch, a Danish painter, originally painted this well known scene in approximately 1877. He went on to paint many of the scenes from the Life of Jesus.
This is the first in a series of articles entitled: Dare to Be Wisdom.
As children of the one Father we are to love and pray for our enemies… Simply to love those who love us is understandable perhaps, but not Christian life as the Sermon on the Mount understands it. “What more are you doing than others?,” who are not blessed with Gospel insight, is the challenge thrown down to disciples of Christ, who are invited, therefore, to be perfect as their heavenly Father. What can that possibly mean?
Dare to be Wisdom Today
These reflections are an initial response to a challenge given to the Daughters of Wisdom, the Congregation of sisters founded by St. Louis
Marie de Montfort. They were invited to ‘Dare to be Wisdom today’. What does this mean? For Montfort, ‘Wisdom’ was his preferred name for Jesus. To dare to accept this Challenge, therefore, means that my mind, outlook and way of life must reflect that of Jesus my Lord. To glimpse what this implies, must mean that first I steep myself in the Gospel where the authentic Jesus Wisdom is to be found. Even a glance at the Sermon on the Mount indicates that I face a formidable challenge in attempting to be Jesus in any sense, as outlined there.
I am wise, therefore, if I realize that there are depths in the Gospel that I have not sounded. In view of what is there in the Sermon on the Mount perhaps I am just paddling in the shallows as I live my Christian life. This is far from being a negative approach to the challenge. Indeed if I tend to assume that I understand the essence of the Gospel, it may mean that I am only willing to let God enter or influence me at the margins of my life. If I think that I have mastered the Gospel, it may be that the Gospel is a long way from mastering me. God’s room for manoeuvre may be like hanging a picture on a wall – a very little scope for movement.
The Sermon itself is blunt; ‘Enter by the narrow gate . . . For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. In that perspective, to ‘Dare to be Wisdom today’ is to be willing to try to change my way of life radically, root and branch, in order to approach the possibility of a mature Christian life. What is the Sermon but line after line of inescapable challenge. To whatever degree I try to take up the challenge, is, in that act, to be taken out of myself and into God in Christ.
The more I open myself to receive this teaching and try to live it, the greater will be my realisation of the challenge thrown down by the
Gospel: ‘You are the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world. Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.’ I may never have realised how narrow is the gate or hard the road until I accepted the challenge to dare to be Jesus Wisdom and try to follow where he leads. As I focus on God alone as ‘one who does the will of my (Jesus) Father in heaven,’ so shall I enter the kingdom of God.
Listen to Obey
To persevere in the challenge of daring to be Wisdom today, I should take to heart literally the advice with which the Sermon ends; ‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the wind blew . . . but it did not fall.’ I must then LISTEN not simply hear. How few do that in contemporary society. Unless I develop the capacity to listen like a disciple to Jesus Wisdom it will be almost impossible to take his words to heart in assimilation. If I do, I too may be ‘astounded at his teaching, for he taught . . . as one having authority. . . .’ If I then make an act of faith in what I hear from Jesus Wisdom I stand on firm ground, and in the light of that conviction can try to express it by my way of life. The Evangelist introduced the Sermon, remember, by saying Jesus formally sat down to teach. Where in the group around him might Jesus find me?
In Mary
The Daughters of Wisdom, and indeed all to whom the Gospel is addressed, can take heart from the experience of St. Louis Marie himself.
He was sharing what he himself found to be true, when he describes Our Lady as the place of transfiguration, where those privileged to be in her company are transfigured into Christ; “(Mary) is the mountain on which Jesus Christ, who dwells there for ever, will teach them in his own words the meaning of the eight Beatitudes. It is on this mountain that they will be transfigured as he was on Mount Tabor . . .” (Prayer for Missionaries, 25).
This must be true of time in Mary’s company since as the Sermon on the Mount has it—‘Blessed are the pure in heart; for they will see God.’ Such has been Our Lady since her conception. Now assumed, she sees the glory of God in the face of her Son. She can only share this with me, one with her in Christ through baptism, if I open myself to her influence. As she once lived the life in faith which she now lives in glory, perhaps her own experience can help me realize that ‘who dares, wins.’
Practical Exercise :
Read through the Sermon and allow a phrase or sentence to surface. Receive it now from Jesus Wisdom my risen Lord speaking from the
heart of the community which is the Church.
In the light of the phrase or sentence ask myself two questions:
What glimpse am I given here of Jesus Wisdom?
What glimpse am I given of myself?
