In today’s Gospel Jesus is coming to the end of his Sermon on the Mount (5:1-7:28). In this Sermon Jesus teaches us God’s Will and the Way to God’s Kingdom (“Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done…”):
“When he 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…” (5:1-2).
Jesus’ Sermon runs for three chapters. Mathew indicates the end of this Sermon, the first of Five Discourses with the following formula:
“When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.” (7:28-29; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1).
As Jesus comes to the end of his Sermon, he exhorts his listeners to put his teaching into practice. Professions or Confessions of faith are important that that is not enough: we must practice what we profess as Jesus teaches: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”
St. Paul refers to one of the earliest confessions of faith in his letter to the Romans, written in the late 50’s:
“…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9).
As Jesus teaches in today’s Gospel it is not enough to “confess…that Jesus is Lord” one must put Jesus’ teaching into practice:
“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.”
What does it mean to act on Jesus’ teaching? In Jesus’ fifth and last discourse in Matthew’s Gospel (24:1–25:46) Jesus gives a concrete example:
“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me…Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least of mine, you did for me.” (25:35-40).
The way to salvation is to confess that Jesus is Lord and to recognize Jesus in the hungry, the leper, the outcast, the stranger and the immigrant. Jesus’ teaching was challenging in the 1st century, and it continues to be challenging today.
Image: “Christ Preaching the Beatitudes” by Lawrence OP is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.