The sermon on the plain. Probably something I should read and re-read and read again on a regular basis - parts of the words were familiar -but not familiar enough. And I found myself making excuses even while I was reading it.
"Woe to you who are rich" - I'm not rich - not in comparison to those in my neigborhood - or in Boston/metro. But globally? I'm obscenely rich. What do I do with this "woe to you" sentence of Christ?
"do good to those who hate you" -I'm pretty good and not returning evil for evil or anger for anger or hatred for hatred - but to actually deliberately do good to those who hate me? Those who "hate" me generally fall into 2 categories - those who hate me simply because I am an American and don't actually know me at all - and those who know me very well and temporarily "hate" me (I'm thinking primarily of raising a very tempermental daughter here). In both cases, doing good to those who hate me is difficult, dangerous, and exposes me to risk. But there are logical reasons in both cases to do this, besides it being the mandate of the gospel.
"do not judge, and you will not be judged" - yeah, again, I need some serious work here. And I'm making excuses (I need to judge some people in able to make proper decisions about how to run my life....) but in truth I move beyond judging actions and my own best course and move into judging the worth of people.
The list keeps going on....hard words today - and I make too many excuses for my own behavior.
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