Faith Venture

It seems as though I’ve been on constant business trips this month. Finally home for a while. My regimen of posting to four blogs while traveling sort of lapsed. Anyway, continuing in my study of Luke, I’m looking at his reporting of the Sermon on the Mount in Chapter 6. “Blessed are you who are poor”; Blessed are you who hunger”; Blessed are you who weep”; Blessed are you when men hate you”. On the other hand, “Woe to you who are rich”; “Woe to you who are well fed”; “Woe to you who laugh”; “Woe to you when all men speak well of you”.

It is probably impossible to overstate the impact of the Roman Empire, the god-like worship of Caesar, the culture of power that permeated society at the time. These words are revolutionary. It’s not so much political revolutionary suggesting the replacement of one government with another. It is Jesus saying that all people need to replace one worldview with another. Replace the attitude that rich people are somehow superior in every way to poor people. Replace the attitude of “if you’ve got it, flaunt it.” Replace the attitude of “I’ve got power over you, do what I say.”

I’m not so sure that humans have progressed all that much from Roman times. We still have a predominant society of “getting mine” and “screw the rest.” Even among Christ-followers, there has recurred a theme of “we’re better” or “we’ll get financially rich because we’re Christians.” On the other hand, perhaps the body of people who truly try to follow the teachings of Jesus (and Paul) is slowly growing over time and may perhaps see the eventual overturning of the Roman worldview replaced by a God worldview. I pray that it’s soon.

Gary Mintchell

Tags: Christianity, Ethics, Spirituality

This entry was posted on August 22, 2008 at 11:43 am and is filed under Christianity, Ethics, Spirituality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.