I have been a bit surprised at a pattern I have seen recently, especially among American Evangelicals. I see a trend of these Christians (and I generally can be described as an American Evangelical) have with  the message(s) of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7).

First, though, I should note an older view of the Sermon. When I was in church as a child, I would hear sermons on the Sermon. The common take was “Here is a challenging message from Jesus. …But not TOO challenging. We should avoid oaths… but sometimes it is okay. We should turn the other cheek… except when we shouldn’t. We should love our enemies… abstractly at least… but kind of angry with them also, as long as it is a righteous anger.” In other words, the words of Jesus were taken seriously, but interpreted flexibly so that it would not affect our behavior too much. The message can only be fully relevant in the next age.

You might have problems with this, but it is still better than the present spin. Numerous times I have heard that the Sermon on the Mount is not relevant for today. It is almost as if the 1980s rock group Twisted Sister provides a better message for today in its song “We’re Not Gonna Take It… Anymore!”

The message of Jesus must be something that made sense in the 1st century with its seeming pacifism and (scary word) socialism, but today is different and we need a different message to live by.

And I HALF agree with this message. The message of Jesus is not for today. But it wasn’t for people in the 1st century either. However challenging the Sermon may be for us, it was at least as challenging back then.

The Sermon was always counter-cultural, almost to the point of being anti-cultural. The people of the 1st century were called by Jesus to live in a way that was culturally foolish. That call is still for today.

We should be driven by the challenging message of Jesus, not by the manipulators of our fear and anger in the media. Following Christ feels hard because it is supposed to be hard. It is hard not because he places a lot of burdens, but because our own desires and societal pressures do.

There has been a strong move to focus our attention on Jesus as Savior, but not Lord. And if Jesus IS seen as Lord, He is a much more politically, and culturally unchallenging lord.

I think David Tracy has a point. When we read a challenging Scripture like the Sermon on the Mount, we should not go right to how to feel comfortable with the passage. Rather, we should focus on the discomfort. Explore how or why it challenges us, rather than simply slide into rationalizing.

Now I am not saying that rationalization is always wrong. I personally believe the call not to take oaths is really more about not having two levels of truth— “truth” versus “really really mean it truth.” Therefore, I don’t feel bad if asked to “swear” before the legal courts to tell the truth. But I could be wrong. The point is that we need to embrace the struggle when we hear Christ’s call to follow Him.

That is always better than shrugging it off.