In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says that those who
live the Beatitudes will be “the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13). What does
he mean by such an image?
First of all, he’s not saying that those who live this
way are going to heaven. He is saying that they will be a certain kind of gift
for the earth. What a misinterpretation has been handed on, again and again! We
think of Jesus’ teaching as a set of prescriptions for getting to heaven (even
though we haven’t followed them). No, the Sermon on the Mount and especially
the Beatitudes are a set of descriptions of a free life.
When we can weep, when we can identify with the little
ones, when we can make peace, when we can be persecuted and still be
joyful—then we are doing it right. He’s saying this is what holiness will look
like. When we act this way, “the reign of God is among you” (Luke 17:21).
Richard
Rohr (12/30/2024)
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I have a dream
The dreamer said
That we will be free, free at last
Free to?
Free from?
Free to be?
Free to control?
Free from pain and despair
Free to be
What?
Powerful? Rich? Dominant?
Perhaps the critical question is this
To what are we bound?
What controls, traps, and limits us?
From what do we need to be set free?
A need for power?
Fear?
Hate?
Bias?
Greed?
Perhaps when we are free
We
step away from the self
To find the self
We are free (and blessed) when we can let go
Of all
those standard definitions
Of
greatness, freedom, safety, blessing
And engaged the world in a new way
We are free when we can weep,
identify
with the little ones
exchange
power for servanthood
ache for equity, equality and justice
When we can embrace
the
poor and the mournful
the
oppressed and excluded
This makes us salty, the spice of the earth
It makes us yeast, the leaven of the world
People who bend the arc of the universe
Toward love
