In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus gives five main discourses of teaching. The first and most famous of these, found in chapters 5 -7, has become known as “The Sermon on the Mount.” It has also been called “The Manifesto of the Kingdom of Heaven” because here Jesus lays out much of his core teaching about personal and community ethics, morality and spirituality. He used a powerful metaphor in his time to describe what life lived in harmony with God could look like—the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus dreams of and invites us into a future where the divine way (the way of heaven) is possible on earth. This “sermon” is given early on in the writer of Matthew’s account, and not long after Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness. We are currently marking the forty days of Lent, and this week we root Jesus’ teaching in the Lenten season of personal transformation. We explore the meaning and significance of Lent, and through this lens, consider how the Kingdom of Heaven is both upside down and inside out. It is upside down because people normally viewed as at the bottom of the pile are raised to the top; and also because it turns out that divine power is not domineering but expressed as empowering, life-giving love. It’s inside out because the way we behave is determined by the health of our inner motivations (which is where Jesus points); and also because how we live and behave really matters. So we begin with the end in mind by considering what kind of life Jesus is calling us to, and practicing stillness to be able to look at ourselves more honestly in God’s presence.

Related Topics: discipleship, fruit, God's love, Kingdom of God, Lent, silence | More Messages from Matthew Dyer | Download Audio