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2. According to the Sermon on the Mount, how does God desire to be among us?
God desires to live among us as we, through our lives, help to build the
Kingdom of God. God wants us to strive for human excellence – not to sell
ourselves short with mere pleasures. God wants us to strive for human excellence,
not settle for mediocrity. He/She desires a relationship with us and to be part of our
human experience. Life is a gift given from a loving, generous God who asks us to
respond to His/Her call by loving one another the way God loves us (the Sermon on
the Mount).
3. Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus mentions the Father. Some of the
sayings either directly cited or implied include:
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God is related to light – One who has the Father is one whose “light
shines before others.”
The Father is righteous
The Father is a judge
The Father is a great King
The Father has dominion over the natural world: “for he makes his sun
rise… sends rain on the righteous”
The Father is perfect: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is
perfect.
The Father sees all: “your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
The Father “knows what you need before you ask him.” Also “your
heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”
The Father is a provider: “Give us this day our daily bread” and “yet
your heavenly Father feeds them.”
The Father is forgiving: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your
heavenly Father will also forgive you”
Father knows the heart of his children
4. Reflect on the saying: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
We need a relationship with God/Abba in order to lead a truly moral life. God is
pure love and is perfect in the way He/She loves us. As children of God, we are
called to strive to live in God’s love and practice that love by the way we conduct
ourselves. We cannot separate our love of God with our love of neighbour. As we
strive to live a life reflective of God’s love for us, we get a glimpse of heavenly
perfection.
5. What is the image of goodness that Jesus uses to describe the Father?
Jesus gives us an image of a loving, caring parent when he describes the Father. At
a time when the Jews were extremely legalistic and focused on the Mosaic rules
rather than the heart of God’s teachings, Jesus re-established that personal
relationship with God. God created us and therefore is our parent who loves us
unconditionally.
6. How can these saying become a way of life? How are they ethical?
For the Sermon on the Mount (encompass Jesus’ ethics) to become a way of life, we
must begin to see a link between our lives and actions and our relationship with
God. As children of the Father, we must strive to model God’s message (definition
of ethics) to us as found in the Sermon on the Mount – be generous, forgiving,
compassionate, merciful, etc. The sermon is a call to be ethical and it defines what is
ethical by providing a definition of ethical behaviour as defined by God.
7. What is meant by righteous?
Righteousness – “to be put in the right” – to act with justice. It means being
upright, blameless and morally right. Being righteous is not only about what we do,
but is also something we receive. Like any true relationship, it is a give and take. In
order to act righteously, we must be first made righteous by the love of the Father.
Only then, when we are cleansed of our sins and made blameless through the mercy
of God, can we proceed to act with righteousness towards others. As recipients of
God’s love and mercy as well as the Holy Spirit, we learn how to share and give love
and mercy to others.
8. How does the Sermon on the Mount make us right before God?
We are made right before God because Jesus’ message and his Holy Spirit dwell in
us. Therefore, God lives in us and our lives become reflections of the Kingdom of
God.
9. What is meant by eschatological?
Eschatological refers to the end of time when the fullness of God’s plan is revealed.
At present, we can see only glimpses of God’s fullness, since sin is still with us. With
the help of God’s grace (Holy Spirit) and the Church, we can help bring the fullness
of the Kingdom to completion by our good (ethical) actions.
10. How is the ethics of the Kingdom of God eschatological? Give some examples.
The fullness of the Kingdom of God will only be completely revealed at the end of
time (parousia – the second coming of Christ at the end of time). And yet God
decided to have a personal encounter with us in the form of Jesus Christ. As a
result, the Father (perfect love and infinite goodness) has shown us what we can
expect as the Kingdom of God materializes fully. This goodness differs from our
capacity to love and be good. Jesus made us aware of the distance separating our
goodness with that of the Father. By becoming one of us and showing us how to live
perfectly, Jesus sets an example of how we should aspire to be. He is the bridge sent
by God to show us the path we must follow in order to motivate us to live a life of
love and goodness. While we will never be perfect (God knows and understands this
aspect of human nature), our lives show glimpses of God’s goodness when we follow
Jesus’ example. This is an ethical guide by which to live.
11. Why does Jesus not seem to give us exact ethical norms? How do we know what
Jesus wants us to do in a particular circumstance?
Jesus shows us how to live perfectly but understands that we cannot consistently live
by such standards because of sin in the world. Jesus does not seem to give a specific
outline to ethical norms because he does not want to limit one’s capacity to love.
Give what you have, forgive, love. To put a ceiling on any of these universal moral
values would reduce Jesus message. We cannot measure generosity, love, mercy,
compassion, etc., and therefore cannot reduce Jesus’ teachings to an exact ethical
norm. Jesus wants us to give with the measure that has been given to us. Since God
has given us steadfast love, mercy, compassion, generosity, etc., what is our calling
when we give to others?