The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached

“He went up a mountain and began to teach them.”
(Mt 5:1-2)

“The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached”

January 30, 2011, 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Zephanial 2:3; 3:12-13 I Corinthians 1:26-31 Matthew 5:1-12

Second reading from I Corinthians

Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God. It is due to Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Whoever wants to boast must boast of what the Lord has done.”

The Word of God
Thanks be to God
Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
Glory to you, Lord

When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up the mountain, and after He had sat down, His disciples came to Him. He began to teach them, saying:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Introduction
Matthew’s compilation

The Sermon on the Mount is a long section in the gospel of St. Matthew, running through chapters 5, 6, 7. The gospel reading for this Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time with its litany of eight Beatitudes is the opening volley of that long sermon. It is so long that it will be the gospel readings for the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th Sunday (until March 6, 2011) in Ordinary Time. Scripture scholarship tells us that the Sermon on the Mount is not one long series of teachings which Jesus gave on one occasion on a hillside overlooking Lake Galilee. Rather, it is Matthew’s compilation of the many moral teachings of Jesus, spoken throughout His whole life and ministry. It was St. Augustine of Hippo (400 AD) who first called this long discourse "The Sermon on the Mount." In it Jesus shines as the personification of the perfect preacher.

“The greatest sermon ever preached.”

In Matthew’s gospel Jesus is on a hillside where He delivers the Sermon on the Mount, while in Luke’s gospel He is on a level stretch of land down from a hill. (Lk 6:17) The long discourse opens with the eight Beatitudes. Jesus on a mountain is like a second Moses: just as Moses promulgated Old Testament Law from the lofty heights of Mount Sinai, so now Jesus promulgates New Testament Law also from a lofty height. Just as Moses held in his hands tablets of stone with Ten Commandments carved on them, so now Jesus, the Lawgiver of the New Testament, bears in His arms tablets of stone with the eight Beatitudes carved on them.

There are great sermons in the Bible. St. Stephen preaches a long sermon, which runs for 52 verses, before being stoned to death. (Acts 7: 1-52) St. Paul preaches a famous sermon in the Areopagus in Athens, where he tells the Greeks that the God they worship on an altar dedicated to an “Unknown God” is the God whom he preaches. (Acts 17: 22-32) Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount which opens with a litany of the eight Beatitudes tops all the great sermons in the Bible. In his Autobiography My Experiments with Truth, Mahatma Gandhi says that Sermon on the Mount by Jesus is “the greatest sermon ever preached.”

The Beatitudes: belittled and beloved

The Beatitudes are belittled by some who view them negatively and even cynically. Friedrich Nietzsche saw the Beatitudes (e.g. “Blessed are the meek”) as advocating “the slave morality” of Christianity. James Joyce saw them as advocating “a life without striving.” Some see the Beatitudes as advocating a double standard; they’re OK for those who want to be serious followers of Jesus but not for the general public. Some see `Aramaic exaggerations’ in the Beatitudes – overstatements to make a moral point. For Christendom, however, the Beatitudes (which set the tone of the entire Sermon on the Mount) are the most cherished gem of the New Testament, and its most quoted passage.

Three ways to treat the Beatitudes

There are three ways with which to proceed with Matthew’s eight Beatitudes. Some preachers choose to give time and attention to each Beatitude in one and the same homily. Jamming all eight into one homily makes for a very lengthy homily. What’s more, it violates a golden rule of homiletics: “One idea -- one sermon! Two ideas -- two sermons!” Some choose to give the Beatitudes separate treatment by means of eight separate homilies. That’s a good way to proceed. Or the preacher can search for the one golden thread that pervades all eight Beatitudes, and focus on it. That would require only one sermon. That too would be good way to proceed. And it would honor another golden rule of homiletics: ”One good idea makes for one good sermon!”

Counterculture - a recipe for happiness

The one golden thread pervading all the eight Beatitudes is a message of counterculture. That is to say, the Beatitudes swim upstream; they bless what our culture curses, and they curse what our culture blesses. At the end of the day, however, the counterculture of the Beatitudes is not a case of `cantankerous and dour Christianity;’ rather it is a recipe for happiness.

The golden thread of counterculture pervades not just the Beatitudes but the entire Sermon on the Mount, which is really one long comprehensive treatise on Christian counterculture. In the 5th chapter of Matthew Jesus is spelling out a long litany of counterculture when He says six times: “You have heard it said….but I say to you.” (Mt. 5:21, 27, 31, 33, 38. 43) Jesus swims upstream throughout the entire Sermon on the Mount, and He invites us to join His countercultural swim.

The countercultural eye of Jesus

Jesus who preached “Blessed are the poor” practiced what He preached. One day He and the apostles were in the Temple near the treasury. The apostles were feasting their eyes on the rich and famous tossing in their huge donations. But the eye of Jesus alighted upon a poor little widow dropping in her two copper coins. Jesus called over to the others saying, "Come here and feast your eyes on this: this little lady gave more than all the others put together." (Mk 12: 38-44) Our culture with its mighty mass media has our kids and us feasting our eyes upon the rich and famous -- upon movie stars and sport stars (all of whom are overrated and overpaid). Jesus is truly countercultural as His eyes feast upon a poor widow casting two copper coins in the Temple treasury, and as He invites the apostles to feast their eyes on her as well.

A countercultural parable

Jesus tells a countercultural parable. One day a Jew was going from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell in with robbers who left him half-dead. Along came a Jewish priest and Levite who passed right by the poor man. Then along came a Samaritan toward whom Jews had a cultural disdain; Jews considered Samaritans to be mongrels and heretics. (Jn. 4: 20) The Samaritan stopped and poured the oil of compassion into the poor Jew’s wounds, then hoisted him onto his beast of burden and hastened him off to the nearest inn where he provided for his care and cure. (Lk l0: 25-37) Jesus telling His fellow Jews a good story about a disdainful Samaritan was indeed countercultural. Just as it was countercultural for the Samaritan to stop and pour the oil of compassion into the wounds of a disdained Jew.

A countercultural superstar

Jerry Quinn followed the example of the countercultural Samaritan. Quinn is the owner of a bar and restaurant in Boston. Reading the newspaper one morning, he came upon a brief item about Franklin Piedra, an Ecuadorian, 33 years old, suffering from chronic kidney failure. His mother wanted to give him one of her kidneys. The transplants would have cost at least $100,000, and she had no health insurance. The Ecuadorian Consulate suggested that he go home and die. Quinn had a better idea. He had been saving his money for a major down-payment on a two-bedroom apartment in a suburban part of Boston with a river view and all. He decided to forfeit a brand new home he was planning to build, and to donate $100,000 for the kidney transplant. “I’m not a very wealthy guy,” he said. “I’m comfortably well-off. I need only one car, one kitchen, one bathroom, and I can eat only so much. So what more do I need?”

Our culture entices us and our kids to go down the path of wild consumerism in which we buy not only the things we need but also all the things we want and all the things we don’t need. In such a milieu, Quinn is absolutely a countercultural superstar. Yes, he is rich (he owns a bar and a restaurant), but he is also truly “poor in spirit.”

Conclusion
Beatitudes - a strange recipe for happiness

The Beatitudes, though eight in number, have one golden thread weaving through them all; they bid us to go countercultural. They bid us to bless what the culture curses, and to curse what the culture blesses. They bid us to do that for our own sake first, and then for the sake of our children who won’t go countercultural, if we don’t show them the way. The Sermon on the Mount in general and the Beatitudes in particular bid us to go countercultural, not because Christianity has a masochistic streak to it (as is sometimes charged), but because the Sermon on the Mount, very strange to say, is a recipe for happiness.

Jerry Quinn donated his $100,000, which he was saving for a nice new house, so that Piedra could have the operation he desperately needed. The operation successfully took place and Franklin Piedra was restored to health. The two later met. Quinn said of the meeting, “He hugged me and kissed me and told me I was an angel. As I thanked him I could feel the shivers going up and down my back.” The Beatitudes are a recipe for happiness: in this case they had Piedra happily hugging and kissing Quinn as an angel, and they sent shivers going up and down Quinn’s back.