Mountain Climbing

I heart Warren Carter.

Well, okay, I'm enamored of his opinions on Matthew's Sermon on the Mount. And you'll understand why once I start getting into detail. It's because he has such a wonderful grasp of liberation theology and the concepts of social justice. It's a message I embrace and want to share with the whole world. I'm going to share, but understand it's coming through a Missy filter. If you want pure Warren Carter you should check out some of his books. Like Matthew and the Margins: A Sociopolitical and Religious Reading (Bible and Liberation Series); What Are They Saying About Matthew's Sermon on the Mount?; or Matthew and Empire: Initial Explorations.

And there's another caveat. I can't possibly cover all the material Carter covered in a blog post. But I'll try to summarize.

So what is Matthew's Sermon on the Mount? Well you could start here if it's totally foreign to you, but I assume a basic knowledge of the Bible from most of my readers. What I'm getting at with the rhetorical question is what does Warren Carter think it's about?

Is it an impossible ideal; a crying out for mercy?

No.

Is it extra special instruction intended just for leaders or very spiritual or serious Christians?

No, that's not quite it either.

Is it a list of do's and don'ts? An instructional on how to live?

Well, not really, but that's maybe getting closer.

What Carter actually suggests is that it is an envisioning; an imagining, if you will, of a way to live, of God's kingdom here on earth. These are little vignettes that illustrate God's empire among us--what that looks like, what it means. And what we need to do to bring it about.

Most of the detail Carter begins with comes from the overall context of Matthew 5; you know, the fact that it follows chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4. So you have to look at what comes before, the setup; and what comes after, active discipleship that repairs damage caused by worldly empire. In this case, the Roman empire; but it's certainly not difficult to see similarities with our current society. In fact I was thinking about the imperial context--how the empire's message was that all life and goodness comes from Rome and how treasonous it was to consider that all life and goodness might be coming from somewhere else... Yes, Rome had the grain dole, thanks to the production of the empire. Empires control food resources in the form of tributes and taxes; Rome basically said, "Look, we'll take all the food and redistribute it." Now about 95% of the population was on the bottom of this society while a slim 2-3% were at the top. Tributes and taxes were a way of redistributing wealth from the bottom to the top, and no one had any illusions, really, about it being for the good of all people. It's the original voodoo economics. The original trickle down theory. It's not meant to benefit the bottom of society, but rather the top.

So what is the vision of Matthew's Gospel in that context? Well, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. But what does that look like? When you look at the Beatitudes, some are written in present tense and some in a future tense; so we're talking about the Now and the Not Yet. It is neither a false promise nor a vacuum; some of these things are not yet, but some are now. Look at verse 3 and verse 10. "For theirs is the kingdom of heaven." It's here. It's now. For the poor and the persecuted.

After that envisioning in chapter 5, Matthew 6:1-18 gives us 3 acts of justice; 6:2-4 Acts of Mercy and almsgiving, 6:5-15 Prayer, and 6:16-18 Fasting.

In the Gospel this is not assumed to be natural, but rather something we have to learn. Look at 9:13; look at 12:7; go and learn, Jesus tells us. Go and learn. But he's really quoting scripture--he's not telling them anything new. Go and learn. Find out what this means. Now look at Hosea 6:6; Look at Isaiah 58:3-8. Jesus is telling us, telling his followers that this is what justice, mercy, prayer and fasting look like.

So we're given an alternative imagining of the kingdom of God, not based on the earthly kingdoms (although in many ways Matthew has drunk of that kool-aid). And what sort of alternative would you expect? Are we not people who follow one who was broken and crucified by an empire?

This is not impossible stuff, it's just really, really hard. If you take it seriously as a Christian it's the sort of thing that can keep you up nights. Like the story of the rich young man in chapter 19. Jesus tells us what to do to enter the kingdom of heaven and he doesn't parse words: "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

That's hitting rather close, isn't it?

Yes. I've had a bit of that kool-aid, too.