Jump Start # 67

Matthew 5:1-2 “When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,”

  The greatest sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount, begins with our verses today.  Matthew covers this sermon in the next three chapters. The sermon opens with those innocent eight beatitudes, “blessed are”. Topics range in this sermon from attitudes, religious practices, the proper response to opposition, the golden rule and ends with the famous wise man and foolish man parables. Multiple themes and serious subjects are the heart of this sermon. The relationship with God, fellow man and self and the underling foundation to this sermon. Jesus doesn’t spend much time explaining nor proving things, He just states them as  “this is the way it is” in the Kingdom. This is life for the citizen of the kingdom. The disciples of Christ will act differently than the world. Many of the themes introduced in this sermon will surface again in the teachings of Jesus.

  But what immediately grabs my attention is how it begins. Jesus went up on the mountain and SAT DOWN. Jesus did this often. In Mt 13:2-3, “And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach. And He spoke many things to them in parables…” In John 8:2 we find, “Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them.” The sitting teacher. Jesus sitting and teaching. That is the opposite of the way we do things. In school, the students sit at their desks and the teacher stands and teaches. In politics, the President stands behind the podium. In our church services, the preacher stands behind the pulpit as the congregation sits in the pews.

  There may have been some reasons for this. Today, we stand so people can see us and hear us. Jesus may have been on terrain that made a natural “amphitheater” concept, with the audience above the teacher. This is better for sound and it allows the crowd to see the person teaching.

  But somehow I think there was a deeper reason. When a person stands and the audience sits, there is a sense of authority. His presence commands. He is in charge. Although Jesus had such power and authority, He didn’t demand attention. The sitting Jesus was humble. This act invited a sense of warmth and caring. The sitting Jesus “wasn’t in your face” as we use that expression today. His authority wasn’t in his posture but rather in His words. A person is more comfortable with someone sitting than they are someone who is standing. The emphasis is not upon the person who is standing, shouting and pointing fingers, but the one who is sitting and teaching. Too often we remember the speaker and not what was said. Jesus wanted the audience to grasp what He said.

  You will find little details throughout the gospels like this one, the sitting Jesus, that are too natural to be planned and too obvious for us to avoid looking at. Speaking to the dead, touching the lepers, inviting Himself to the home of a tax collector are all the things that made Jesus the real deal. He invites you to listen, to obey, to become.

  Notice today those that use their position by standing and those that influence even though they “sit.”

 Roger