Jesus spoke wisdom in the “sermon on the mount.”
We call it that because Matthew wrote, “Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said:” (Matthew 5:1-2)
In Luke’s Gospel, he wrote, “[Jesus] went down with [his disciples] and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all. Looking at his disciples, he said:” (Luke 6:17:20a)
Jesus then proceeded to tell one right thing to do after another.
It is important to realize that Jesus’ words had no impact on the disciples, as far as them doing the right things then. While they might have memorized what Jesus said, they were incapable (at that point in their lives, as disciples) of actually living their lives based on what Jesus said to do.
While countless pilgrims might have been filled with God’s Holy Spirit as Jesus spoke the lessons of God, we will never know. We will never know because ones who are filled with the Holy Spirit don’t run around bragging about how they know everything that is right to do. They simply live that way.
One of the things Jesus said while sitting on the mountain overlooking the plain of Bethsaida was [great acoustics there, especially when the wind blows westward – a cooler eastbound current higher crosses above the Sea of Galilee and then sweeps down the mountains to the east, blowing westward over the warmer air of the sea]:
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”
“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Luke 6:1-4)
This recommendation was not something that the Pharisees could ever live by.
If nobody saw them making proclamations in public, then nobody would ever think that they thought they were holier than the public. Without the public thinking that, the Pharisees were nothing more than those who are all dressed up with no place to go.
Of course, the Pharisees, like the disciples of Jesus, were far removed from the Holy Spirit. They could not act as holy as Jesus was. The Pharisees acted like all rich human beings act, at all times, when they are afraid of losing their wealth and influence.
The disciples did not act like the Pharisees; but they thought being rich like the Pharisees was what being blessed by God was all about. People not filled with the Holy Spirit, those who are not yet reborn as Jesus Christ, have a hard time not wishing for sins that they have been told, “You can’t touch that!”
Do not think the Pharisees and students of Jesus are not present in Christianity today. They are alive and well, playing the same roles. Today, many wear clerical robes and fancy hats, pretending to be holier than the rest of the public. They love to practice their religion publicly and get loud about it [nothing makes noise like the media trumpet], so they can be rich with the power of influence on earth.
Keep in mind that the pilgrims Jesus spoke to on that mountainside were ALL people that were Israelite descendants, foreigners and local Jews. There were no Romans checking out what lessons could be heard in Galilee. There were no Samaritans – the outcast Israelites –and no Palestinians , Arabian tribesmen, Persians, or Egyptians either. That absence means Jesus was not telling anyone else in the world how to be a good Jew [and there were no Christians at that time].
One can even assume that the Romans allowed immigration into Judea and Galilee back then. Certainly, all would have to show papers that allowed free travel, or they would be slaves taken there by Roman conquests, forced to serve their Roman masters as servants or laborers.
Jesus would have easily spotted foreigners who were not Jews; and, like all well-taught Jews, he would have avoided contact with Gentiles that did not seek him out [like some Greeks did]. Certainly, Jesus said nothing during his sermon on the mount that advised the Romans to “let the world’s people be free,” or Pilate would have just been given good reason to order Jesus’ death … before the high priests asked him to.
Recently in the news, an illegal alien in the United States was ordered to report for deportation, but some Episcopalians in North Carolina attempted to hide the alien, under the pretense that it is un-Christian to not allow illegally entered foreigners to stay, once they have reached a safe harbor [sanctuary city or church].
Some of those who supported the illegal alien’s stay in the United States were arrested for having broken U.S. laws in this matter. The liberal media and liberal Episcopalians have cried like Martha and Mary did, after Jesus came back to Bethany too late to save Lazarus.
Just as then, Jesus weeps; but not for poor deported illegal aliens or criminals caught aiding and abetting criminal activity.
You see, Jesus never told anyone to break the laws of a nation. The Laws of Moses were what God told His servants they must live by [the Covenant]. The vast majority of Jewish laws are based on failures to live up to the base Laws. Anyone who lives within the Ten Commandments will always obey any national laws, unless a nation’s laws say:
1. No belief in YHWH elohim allowed; the State [nation] is your god; 2. You must worship the National Party [politicians] and wear emblems that announce to others your patriotism; 3. You must judge anyone negatively who does not swear allegiance to your National Party; 4. Every day of the week is sworn to the National Party, with no rest or free travel allowed; 5. The State is your parent, with all humans commanded to turn all children over to the State, for indoctrination to begin by age three; 6. You might be selected by the State to spy on other nations and ordered to kill suspected spies; 7. You might be asked to use sex to spy on other nations, regardless of one’s marital status (spy or spied upon); 8. You might be trained to steal information from other nations and illegally enter foreign lands for the purpose of recruiting spies; 9. You might be asked to spy on neighbors and testify falsely against them, in order for the State to convict them of serious crimes; 10. You will be taught that evil nations have evil possessions, which you may only possess if you commit fully to the downfall of those evil nations, as they are all our enemies.
When a nation’s laws stipulate how immigration is to be controlled, then there is nothing Jesus said that tells anyone to help an illegal alien steal into anywhere. Nothing Jesus said tells anyone to falsely testify to the agents of a nation that have been given a legal role to uphold.
As far as is known, no one in Homeland Security or I.C.E. is forced to become atheist, so they can have no religious beliefs that would hinder their doing their jobs according to the letter of the immigration laws. Therefore, there certainly have to be Christians working in those law enforcement agencies.
The Episcopalians in North Carolina that broke the Laws of God can be allowed to do so if they stop calling themselves believers of YHWH elohim. Despite all their public outcries, they are proving they are lying, while also using the Lord’s name in vain by acting as if they were in the name of Jesus Christ (able to say what Jesus would do if in North Carolina today). Thus, they are harming their souls by doing what they are doing, saying they are doing that because Jesus would do the same.
That is speaking for God, which means having a god before God – oneself, one’s political persuasion, one’s hatred of others calling themselves Christians, and so on and so on and so on. It is blasphemy.
Consider this: If one thinks Jesus judges community organizers with favor, then why would Jesus not also show favor for those who would defend their property against thieves. Neither are yet filled with the Holy Spirit. Neither have been reborn as Jesus Christ, so organized communities have crime and possessive land owners are not quite able to give away those things hard work went into earning.
Try this: Give up everything you own and give it away: job, house, car, land, etc. Do just like Jesus told the young rich ruler [a Pharisee]. Then, go around asking others to let you live off them for a while.
See what response you get; but do not pretend to do that. Do it for a year minimum. Perhaps, leave the country and go some place where illegal immigrants are leaving. Take over their hovel or hut. Then, go tell those who live there what Jesus would do.
In the mean time, try to think very hard if there are any poor people who were born in the United States of America and are living in threatening environments, such as slums and ghettos. Ask yourself, are there poor people in this country that feel they have no place to run? Do they seek asylum here? Ask still, are there not already enough children abused in this country that need helping hands?
Perhaps, it would be more believable if people who say what Jesus would do actually did what Jesus said to do, because they were filled with the Holy Spirit and were Jesus reborn? Someone like that could work a miracle AND not tell a soul he did it, because he did it for God.
God knows who needs help. Us mere humans have no clue, unless we are filled with the Holy Spirit and sent to save someone as Jesus Christ reborn.
It is one thing to turn over the vendor’s tables on the steps of the temple and to curse a fruitless fig tree for not bearing fruit. Being Jesus Christ has its anger moments, for sure. However, it is another thing entirely to call Christians in a Christian nation evil, simply because they do not think like one does.
Did Jesus slap Pilate around for not being able to see Jesus was not a King of the Jews? No? Maybe being reborn as Jesus Christ means dying for one’s faith, from time to time. Maybe being Christians and being persecuted to death is a good thing? Maybe Jesus never told anyone to lie, cheat, and steal, just don’t suffer?
The answers to those questions [and more] can be grasped; but this is where one needs to remember to always love God with all you heart, all your mind, and all your soul. Then you love other Christians just like you love God, because they are like you – all reborn as Jesus Christ, knowing what Jesus would do too.