Standing Audience

 

 

Matthew 5:1

Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount

New International Version (NIV)

5 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him,

In 1896 Charles Sheldon published a novel entitled In His Steps in which he proposed that great good would come if we asked “What would Jesus do?” before making decisions in our lives. The question is a great one, and we would find a better life if we, too, asked the same question before proceeding.

The question is also a puzzling one. How do we determine what Jesus would do if he were in our shoes?

Many years ago we were young missionaries in the newly independent Republic of Tanzania. We were favored to have the president of the republic, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, visit a nearby school. The large crowd stood expectantly under spreading shade trees and out in the tropical sun. The president came out of a nearby school block, preceded by a couple men carrying a table and a chair. Nyerere sat down on the chair and spoke eloquently about his vision for the country, for peace, and for prosperity.

We all listened appreciatively, standing quietly and respectfully. Afterwards I went up and greeted the president and thanked him for his kind words.

But what I remember most about this presentation is this: the president came out and sat down in front of a table. He spoke eloquently, and the people stood and hung on his every word. I couldn’t help but draw a comparison to this experience and that of Christ’s followers at the sermon on the mount. Mwalimu Nyerere evidently got his idea of leadership from that of Christ.

What would happen if our churches removed the pews and placed a simple table and chair on the platform? Then the pastor would come in quietly, sit down, and humbly present his message. No one would fall asleep in the audience because they would be standing throughout. When I asked Google to show me a picture of a standing audience, it apparently had none. It finally told me, “Skip the standing!”

It’s just a thought. The pastors I’ve mentioned this to have looked on me as a starry eyed radical and given it no serious thought. What would Jesus do? What did Jesus do? Every time the text mentions what Jesus did when He was speaking, it indicates He was sitting, and the crowd was standing.

Help us, Lord, to contemplate Jesus and His life seriously and radically!

 

Rest Awhile

 

[1]

Mark 6:31 King James Version

³¹ And he said unto them, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while:” for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

 

We often join my brother Elwood and his family and friends for Friday evening dinner. At the last one I told some family stories, and the group seemed interested. I’m sure that if I gave a quiz afterwards, the group would fail it dismally—but one never knows.

I usually drive home through the back streets of Norco on a road that runs close to the Santa Ana River, the river that gives Riverside its name. Then we drove around the west and north sides of the La Sierra Hills.

We watched the setting sun as we drove along. The many small golden clouds in the western sky sported gilded linings, and golden rays of light shone in every direction. As the sun approached the western slopes of the Los Angeles Mountains, I stopped in the parking lot at the entrance to the Hidden Valley Nature Center.

Getting out of the car, I sat on a rock next to the car as we watched the sun slide slowly and inexorably behind the mountains. The glow of the clouds morphed gently from shining gold into a rich orange and then faded into grey as the clouds were engulfed by the earth’s shadow.

The impatience within me wanted me to drive on, but Christ’s invitation to His disciples who were so busy they didn’t even have time to eat, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while,” beckoned me to reflect on Christ’s experience.

I’ve been brought up on Rudyard Kipling’s philosophical poem, “If”—that ends with this:

“If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run

  Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!”

I asked myself what right I had to sit on a rock and watch the beauty of a sunset.

That, of course, is a standard question that was entirely out of place for the occasion. We may envision Christ as rising up long before daylight and working until long after dark every day. It is, however, a vision that only the great deceiver could thrust upon us. Christ’s life is better envisioned by His attending a days-long wedding feast and, as His first miracle, providing extra wine for the feast. I credit Him for the beautiful interlude into an altogether busy schedule and a gorgeous welcome into His day of rest.

 

Lord, thank You for creating rest while You were creating this earthly home for us.

 

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[1] https://www.pickpik.com/sunset-dawn-nature-mountain-turkey-landscape-73211