Daily Reflections

June 23, 2011
THE CONCLUSION OF THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT

Our Gospel reading today is the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, and a fitting conclusion it is indeed. We are reminded that all the many teachings we have received from our Lord Jesus might only end up to nothing if we reduce our Christian life to mere lip-service or activism.
Two points are crucial here, as hinted at by two verbs used by Jesus, in the passage:
• Know, in the Semitic sense of the term, connotes a deep personal relationship. Jesus’ “I never knew you” is therefore rendered more meaningfully as “You have never really been my friends.”
• Do, or put into practice, is not about exterior practices or interior feelings. It is rather an action coming from the whole person, involving one’s entire self (cf. James 1:22-25).
This is the kind of “living out” of Jesus’ teaching that ensures a solid foundation, guaranteed against torrents and winds.
Such an august teaching of Jesus Christ definitely cannot remain only in paper as “nice,” to be domesticated into some sort of an “à la carte” body of ethical codes that one can just whimsically take or skip. The famous indictment by the great Mahatma Gandhi comes to mind, if only to serve as a warning and a reminder to all of us. He remarked that it was the Sermon on the Mount that “endeared Jesus to me.” But at the same time, he gave a sharp, biting critique of us Christians: “The message, to my mind, has suffered distortion... Much of what passes as Christianity is a negation of the Sermon on the Mount.”
In other words, the conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount depends on us now. Fr. Martin Macasaet, SDB

Reflection Question:
How am I living out the teachings from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount?

Lord Jesus, turn me into a true Christian who does Your will and follows Your teachings, in season and out of season. Amen.

St. Libert, pray for us.