Owning a transforming initiative

I've written previously about the Sermon on the Mount and how the major section of it can be read as a set of transforming initiatives (thanks the Glen Stassen for the academic work behind this concept). This week at Solace, the staff sat down and worked through the Sermon on the Mount together, asking questions and seeking understanding together. We all liked the transforming initiatives, but some of the cultural gulf between us and the original readers prevented us from becoming fluent in the idea of transforming initiatives. We each attempted to write our own three-part teaching, to develop a better sense of what the Sermon on the Mount is about. Here's what I wrote.

You have heard it said that you should focus on your prosperity. But I say to you that only the control of all the world's resources and people can be considered truly prosperous. For true prosperity shall be measured by the removal of all threats to you and your families lives and lifestyles. So go, lose focus and be distracted by the scary and disaffected; waste your time on insoluble social ills, so that at least you can be part of the solution, rather than a cause, of the problem.

I must admit, I was quite pleased with my first effort! I tried to use the same sort of phrasing as I saw in the Sermon on the Mount and the result was a similarly confusing piece of writing. I picked a 'traditional righteousness' which is both common in our culture, but one that's actually pretty easy pick holes in (to give myself something easy to work with). I then explained how I thought seeking absolute prosperity can lead us down a vicious cycle of domination and greed and my transforming initiative is to relax about focusing on prosperity. I don't think my result is anywhere near as insightful as Jesus teachings! But it helped me understand how the teachings are communicated.

It's getting close to Christmas now, so this blog will start writing on that theme. We're hoping to take the theme of a transforming initiative into the season of Christmas. How could your experience of Christmas be made more joyful by sowing the seeds of the Kingdom?

Jesus wisdom teachings in the Sermon on the Mount

Most of the Sermon on the Mount contains radical and transforming teachings from Jesus. The longest section of the Sermon on the Mount contains teachings of Jesus; I'll call this section 'the teachings of Jesus'. The teachings are written in an unfamiliar style, and most western interpretations of them disregard the teachings as too hard for normal people to live by. However, recently a bible scholar from the Fuller Seminary in the USA, Glen Stassen, published an interpretation of the teachings which has helped unlock the teachings of Jesus for contemporary readers.

Stassen's contribution was to return to the way Matthew is written and take seriously the style of writing that Matthew uses. Matthew uses a three-part style to communicate wisdom and uses this three-part style consistently throughout the gospel of Matthew. The three-part style is used in other documents written at a similar time to Matthew's time of writing, making Stassen's interpretation a credible and persuasive approach. The three-part style includes reminding the audience of a conventional wisdom, illustrating how the conventional wisdom leads to a vicious and unhealthy cycle and offers a transformative initiative to break out of the vicious cycle.

The three-part style is most obvious in the first part of the teachings of Jesus section. The conventional wisdom is 'do not murder'. The vicious cycle is the festering hatred between men, which could lead to murder, in spite of the law against murder. The transforming initiative is to prioritise reconciliation above anything else, even practicing religious rituals of purification. I've laid this out below, adapted from a table in an academic paper by Stassen.

Traditional Righteousness
Matt 5:21 You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.”
In the Greek, “shall not” and “shall be” are futures, not imperatives; as translations of the Hebrew in the Ten Commandments, they do of course imply a command. Jesus is quoting commands rather than giving them.


Vicious Cycle
5:22 But I say to you that every one being angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!” will be liable to the hell of fire.”
There are no imperatives in the Greek, so this sentence isn't written as an instruction or command from Jesus.

Transforming Initiative
5:23-26 So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there... and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then coming, offer your gift. Make friends quickly with your accuser....
Explanation: lest your accuser hand you over to the judge... you won’t get out till you’ve paid the last penny.
(Italics mark the Greek imperatives. The words Jesus are using as direct instructions.)

Matthew doesn't follow the three-part form slavishly as we might if we used a code or a poetic structure; he follows the three-part form as a logical form of persuasion. Other parts of the teachings of Jesus section don't follow the three-part form as obviously. I have worked through the teachings of Jesus section on my own, highlighting what I thought were the conventional wisdom, illustrations of vicious cycles and transforming initiatives and I am satisfied the whole section uses the three-part form. Sometimes the transforming initiatives or the vicious cycles are omitted as they would be repetitive or so clearly implied that to state them would insult the audience's intelligence. If you are really keen, try to find all fourteen sub-sections and work out the three parts for yourselves. If you don't care for that kind of thing (I love it!) then Glen Stassen has written academic articles that are publicly available or some popular books including "Living the Sermon on the Mount: A Practical Hope for Grace and Deliverance (Enduring Questions in Christian Life)", available from Amazon.

The transforming initiatives taught by Jesus are incredibly helpful and are still radical in our contemporary world. I hope to unpack them further in coming blogs. A useful thing to ponder is whether laws (whilst absolutely necessary to bring justice for the victims) can hope to prevent injustice and harm - they may be a deterrent, but can law affect our passions and instincts?

The Beatitudes

The Sermon on the Mount is in Matthew 5-7. While it should be read as a whole, there are distinct sections within it. The first section is known as 'The Beatitudes'. I've put a copy of that text at the bottom of this.

The Beatitudes is a collection of statements, with the phrase 'blessed are...' being repeated. The people who Jesus say are blessed (or will be blessed) are the opposite of what we would call 'succesful'. Success is commonly held to mean wealthy, influential, comfortable. Instead, Jesus focuses on those who are enlightened, generous, vulnerable, dissatisfied. It's easy to say that the Beatitudes is a good list of what it is to be 'good' and that we all should try to be 'good'. However, it is much harder to commit to the Beatitudes as a set of core ethical principles.

Dave Andrews of Brisbane has teamed up with the Bible Society to create a great resource for engaging with the wisdom in the Beatitudes. Dave's reading of the Beatitudes is that Jesus intended them to be a core set of ethical principles, and the adoption of these ethical principles was an important aspect of what Jesus meant by 'salvation'. Dave has worked hard on producing a rational and comprehensive theology supporting his view, and also an accessible set of resources that you can find at www.wecan.be. I particularly like Dave's riff on the name: he calls them the 'Be Attitudes', uses the phrase 'Be the change you want to see' (borrowed from Gandhi, I believe) and describes Jesus' intention as 'Plan Be'.

In contrast to Dave Andrew's reading of the Beatitudes is the view that the Beatitudes represent an unattainable ideal, which will only become a reality in an after-life. I don't find the 'unattainable ideal' view convincing. I think that Jesus intended the Kingdom of Heaven to become a reality in our current lives, even if only in an imperfect form. Given that I'm keen to somehow be pro-active in participating in the Kingdom of Heaven in my own life, I'd prefer to take the Beatitudes as the basis for my own ethics - as challenging as that may be.

As a middle-class male in a democratic and capitalist society, the Beatitudes present me with a different set of challenges and hopes than they would have to the peasants and aristocracy of 1st century Judaism. I think our political and economic freedoms are great; however, our reliance on individual consumption and our willingness to have economic losers in order to create more economic winners are challenged by the Beatitudes.

So, the Beatitudes have become an important part of my study and worship in recent times. They are both a comfort and a challenge for me. I think they raise difficult questions for anyone who chooses to engage with them; but those difficult questions are the kind that can really energise our lives.


Matthew 5.1-10

Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

How I encountered the Sermon on the Mount

Once upon a time, only a few weeks ago, I was pondering how I could find new inspiration in my own spiritual life, and to bring that inspiration into the Sunday Stuff community that I lead.

Every day I would read opinion pieces and study spiritual practices and theological themes and positions, and they were all good, but they lacked the spark I was looking for.

Until one day, I looked at a bible reading daily reading guide that my wife was reviewing for her work, and it struck me that most of the readings were either in the Old Testament, or from the Epistles, with only about 4 weeks of the year spent in the Gospels, looking directly at Jesus’ teachings and actions. It struck me that focusing my own spiritual journey on Jesus, and encouraging others to do the same, would be best inspired by actually focusing on Jesus.

Because of this, I did some research into the Gospels and discovered that they contained large chunks of teachings from Jesus, as well as stories about healing, leadership and the ultimate story of Jesus death and resurrection. The first chunk of teachings, and one of the most famous, is a set of three chapters from Matthew (6-8), which is the first gospel in the New Testament, known as the Sermon on the Mount. So I read the Sermon several times, and started researching, looking at how others have understood the it through history and how the Sermon on the Mount has shaped the Christian Tradition.

Because of this, I discovered the complicated and disputed nature of the Sermon on the Mount. It is probably the most read text, not only in the Christian Tradition, but also in Western thought (perhaps globally). The Sermon on the Mount is hard to read: there are apparent contradictions, some parts seem to be metaphors, other parts are meant to be taken literally, it’s a big chunk of text presented in a way that is very foreign to me, there isn’t the structured argument or the story-telling conventions that I’m used to. The fact that the Sermon on the Mount has inspired so many people through history was both a big selling point and a barrier to getting to grips with it. Opinions, books, papers, ideas, and things written on paper started to rise on my digital and hard-light desktops, rising above my head and continually growing. There came a point when I despaired: would my attempt to understand the Sermon on the Mount be overwhelmed by a mountain of sermons?

Until finally I concentrated on the first little bit of the Sermon on the Mount: the Beatitudes. I thought about them as something that could be done right here and now, something that described an inspirational and tantalizing concept: the Kingdom of God. The rest of the Sermon on the Mount started making more sense and I found that thing I was looking for: a source of inspiration and a rich insight into Jesus’ teachings, ministry, purpose, spirituality and passion.

And ever since that day I’ve been excited about what I’ve been reading, both the raw text of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, and also the writings and thoughts of many humble servants and great leaders in the Christian Tradition. I suspected that focusing on Jesus would bring inspiration to my spiritual journey, and it has. The Sermon on the Mount is now a rich source for ongoing inspiration, learning and contemplation.

I'll be blogging more about the Sermon on the Mount over the next weeks - join in the conversation!

The Kingdom of God parables

I'm doing the research and early writing for a new theme across the Solace network: the Kingdom of God. It's a foundational concept in Jesus' teachings and well-worth studying.

We'll also use it as a theme in our contemplative practices: at the moment I'm preparing a contemplative time on the parable of the Mustard Seed from Luke 13:18-19. A tiny seed (most people get the symbolism here) grows into the gnarliest, weediest, tree that's actually very healthy for you (know that's symbolism).

Right now, we're stilling rolling out our theme on 'The Sermon on the Mount' across the Solace network. Sunday Stuff used it for the Winter 2010 term, Tuesday Stuff is looking at it for the next of their cycles and I'll be posting regularly to our blog, Solace Facebook group and online community over the next couple of months. It's a great theme and is really developing into a lived thing as people incorporate into their spiritual practices.