The Beatitudes...Are You Talking to Me?

The Jesus I Never Knew

by Philip Yancey

As I read this book I was fascinated with Yancey's discussion of the Sermon on the Mount. Here is an excerpt of his thoughts:

"For years I had thought of the Sermon on the Mount as a blueprint for human behavior that no one could possibly follow. Reading it again, I found that Jesus gave these words not to encumber us, but to tell us what God is like. The character of God is the urtext of the Sermon on the Mount. Why should we love our enemies? Because our clement Father causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good. Why be perfect? Because God is perfect. Why store up treasures in heaven? Because the Father lives there and will lavishly reward us. Why live without fear and worry? Because the same God who clothes the lilies and the grass of the field has promised to take care of us. Why pray? If an earthly father gives his son bread or fish, how much more will the Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him.

How could I have missed it? Jesus did not proclaim the Sermon on the Mount so that we would furrow our brows in despair over our failure to achieve perfection. He gave it to impart to us God's Ideal toward which we should never stop striving, but also to show that none of us will ever reach that Ideal. The Sermon on the Mount forces us to recognize the great distance between God and us, and any attempt to reduce that distance by somehow moderating its demands misses the point altogether.

Having fallen from the absolute Ideal, we have nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace."

Is that great or what?

Aside from the beatitudes, "The Jesus I Never Knew" also covers many other topics you probably wouldn't contemplate on your own. This author is famous for making you think about what you believe and why you believe it. Although it isn't always comfortable, I find his discussions filled with insight and wisdom.

For instance, Yancey discusses what it would have been like for him to live in Jesus' day. He asks himself about his own perceptions and what he would've believed about Jesus at that time. He makes you ask yourself what you would've believed had you been there. It's a rather sobering question when you think about it.

For those who want to go deeper, this is a GREAT book. At the very least, you'll come away feeling a whole lot better about your own ability to live up to those heaven sent beatitudes.