Now that we’ve read the Sermon on the Mount in its entirety, let’s go back and focus this week on the first part, the Beatitudes. Read Matthew 5:1-12 and do the following exercise:
Clarence Jordan was an American New Testament scholar who lived in the first half of the 20th century. Among other accomplishments, he wrote a series of translations of several NT books called “The Cotton Patch translations.” Being from the south, Jordan felt the words of the New Testament we’re especially applicable to the turmoil that was occurring there at that time (1940′s through 1960′s), and so, should be written and read in the vernacular of the south. And so, Jordan wrote several translations of NT books in the slang of the south, even substituting place names for familiar areas on the Southern United States. In the Cotton Patch version of Luke Jordan renders Luke’s version of the beatitudes in a mid-century southern accent:
Then he fastened his eyes on his students and said to them:
“The poor are God’s people, because the God movement is yours.
You who are now hungering are God’s people, because you will be filled.
You who are now weeping are God’s people, because you will laugh.”
You are God’s people when others hate you and shun you and pick on you and blacklist you just because you bear the name if the son on man.
Be happy at that time and jump for joy, for your spiritual pay is high. Why, their fathers did the same things to the men of God in their day.
But…
It will be hell for you rich people, because you’ve had your fling.
It will be hell for you whose bellies are full now, because you will go hungry.
It will be hell for you who are so gay now, because you will sob and weep.
It will be hell for you when everybody speaks highly of you, for their fathers said the very same thing about the phony preachers.
Take some time to learn about Clarence Jordan. How was his life consistent with the beatitudes, and Jesus’ gospel message of the Kingdom (4:17)?
jkshanklin said...
1“God is not in heaven with all well on earth. He is on this earth, and all hell's broken lose.”
Love it.
10/6/09 6:37 PM | Comment Link
Mervin said...
2The more I read the beatitudes, the less I find that I understand what Jesus is really trying to say. They seem simple on the face of it, but there's something about them that makes me think there's a deeper lesson here. I think that probably all “hell” (in many different ways) would break loose if we really tried to take them literally and live them out to the best of our understanding, as apparently Clarence Jordan tried to do.
10/6/09 7:07 PM | Comment Link
jkshanklin said...
3I was wondering Merv, what the equivalent action would be in today's world. What could be done today, in the name of love, that would draw such ire and disgust from others, others who themselves claim to follow the same Jesus. I think I agree with what you are saying, that the revolutionary love that Jesus is inviting us to in the sermon on the mount, is just that, revolutionary. Where there is revolution there is something, someone, some force, being revolted against. That usually doesn't go over well.
10/7/09 5:27 AM | Comment Link
Ben Sternke said...
4One way that Jordan's life was “consistent with the beatitudes” was that he was persecuted – interesting that Koinonia Farm's commitment to racial equality was perceived as a “threat.” They were bombed and boycotted, and the authorities did nothing to help. We could perhaps say:
“Blessed are you when you are bombed and boycotted for your commitment to racial justice, for in the same way they bombed and boycotted righteous people before you.”
10/7/09 7:17 AM | Comment Link
Mervin said...
5I can think of two areas where persecution has come: the pro-life movement and the creation movement.
10/7/09 8:51 PM | Comment Link