The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher (New York: Sentinel , 2017)
I think most people would agree that our culture has gone crazy. So many things have happened in the past few months that are hard to get our minds around. It is tough to comprehend just where we are headed.
As crazy as it seems though, it’s not unexpected to those who have been paying attention to the trends our culture has been picking up over the past few years, and even for recent decades. Western culture seems to have been in a steady decline for a while, and recent events have shown that the pace is picking up.
That sounds a warning bell for western Christianity. And the warning comes in the form of a recent book by Rod Dreher, The Benedict Option. This was released in 2017, before all of the most recent craziness hit our world. But in the midst of bakers being sued for refusing to make cakes, and florists being vilified for not providing services to certain elements of society, Dreher opens our eyes to a world that is increasingly antagonistic to Christianity. So much so that it may be too late to change the direction we’re headed.
Is there a solution? Dreher thinks so. And he finds it in the most unlikely of places: the Benedictine solution from centuries ago. St. Benedict of Nursia was a sixth-century monk who, fearful of the direction his culture was headed, set about to do something about it. He created a community that was able to hold on to their faith in a word that was crumbling around them, and to do so with a longevity that still impacts our world today.
Today, we may need to do something very similar. Dreher is not calling us to escapism, leaving the world behind; because to do so would be to forsake the Great Commission. What he does urge is for the church to stop placing our hope in political leaders and the temporary reprieve that they may bring, and place our hope in something greater. He calls the church to focus on strengthening the local church body, to create new avenues of education, to develop disciplines that will carry us through crisis after crisis in this world, with our hope centered firmly on Jesus.
After all, he’s the only thing that will provide what the church needs to survive until he returns to claim his bride. Until then, we must continue to be ready.
I highly recommend you read The Benedict Option. You can purchase it on Amazon.
The remainder of Matthew 5 is an exposition on various portions of the Old Testament Law. Each segment contains immense amounts of information that one could dig out through diligent study. Over the next few posts, I hope to bring an overview of the entire passage, stretching from verse 17 through verse 48.
Matthew follows up his discussion of salt and light with a look at the Law. He begins this section by explaining the purpose of Jesus — why he came — in light of the Law. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus states this purpose quite clearly: “I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”
To abolish or destroy means to break something completely. To the first century mind, this conveyed images of trampling something underfoot. By contrast, to fulfill the Law is to maintain a total sinless obedience to it. Jesus did this, making him the perfect sacrifice of atonement on our behalf. But we often get caught up in our tendency towards legalism. It bears repeating: Jesus did come to perpetuate the Law. He came to complete it, to fulfill it. He was the end of the Law.
This is the whole point behind Paul’s discussion of the Law in Galatians 3. The Law was a “schoolmaster,” and its primary purpose was to illuminate Christ. But not that faith has come, we no longer need the schoolmaster. In Galatians 3:24, Paul states, “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.”
What keeps most of us from God is not the sin we know we have, but the righteousness we think we have.
Matthew 5 began with the Beatitudes. It carries on next with the Similitudes. These are a couple of brief comparisons found in verses 13-16.
According to the dictionary, a similitude is a “likening or comparison in the form of a simile, parable, or allegory.” This is the next literary device that Jesus employs after giving the Beatitudes. These two comparisons are probably some of the most recognized passages in Scripture.
First of all, Jesus compares his followers and disciples to the salt of the earth, in Matthew 5:13. Salt is a substance that helps to prevent decay. Pure salt does not lose its savor. It helps to preserve. However, salt that has been diluted with other elements, or has been in contact with the ground, loses its ability to preserve.
This is likely what Jesus had in mind when he gave this statement. As believers, if we become so diluted by the world, we no longer have the ability to make a positive contribution. To lose our “saltiness” is to lose our opportunities to be used by God as agents of renewal and restoration.
Once salt has lost its particular qualities that allow it to be used as a flavoring agent and as a preserving agent, it is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and discarded. So too with believers. A believer who isn’t “salty” doesn’t fulfill the purposes designed and assigned by God.
We must show sympathy with sinners, but not with their sins.
American Primitive by Mary Oliver (New York: Back Bay Books, 1983)
Most of what I read is geared around continually educating myself, primarily in the areas of spiritual growth. However, I occasionally read some fictional material, and have a few favorites. Another genre that I like to read often surprises many of my friends. I like to read poetry.
Several months ago, I purchased a book of the poetic works of Mary Oliver, called American Primitive. I promptly put it on my shelf and forgot all about it. But this week, I pulled it out and have spent some time reading through some of the selections offered. Her work is simple yet elegant, easy to read yet containing depths of meaning that strike you when you least expect it.
Oliver is a contemporary author, and has been publishing her work since the 1960s. Many of the poems in this volume are simple. But they speak right into the human heart will bless you as you read them. Containing an element of mystery, you might have to stop and consider what you read for a while,and allow it to sink in fully. But when you do, it will bring some relaxation to your soul.
I highly recommend you read some of her works. You can get a copy of American Primitive on Amazon.
The fifth chapter of Matthew begins what is known as the Sermon on the Mount. The three chapters that comprise this segment of Jesus’ teaching is perhaps some of the best known portions of the New Testament. And it begins with the Beatitudes.
The Sermon on the Mount is called this because this is where Jesus delivered these teachings, on a mountain plateau near Capernaum. Luke includes some similar segments of Jesus’ teaching, but he tells us that Jesus delivered that message form a plain. So it is very likely that Jesus gave these lessons on more than one occasion, to different listeners.
The nature of these teachings is very simple. They are profound statements, but very easy to hear and digest. That is why they are so memorable.
Matthew 5 begins by telling us that Jesus went up onto a mountain. And while it is clear that it was near the small community of Capernaum, we don’t know exactly what mountain it was. Apparently Matthew assumes his readers would know. Tradition states that it was a double peaked mountain with a level area near the top known as the Horns of Hattin. Wherever it was, it was convenient to Jesus and the crowds following him, so he used it.
The first thing Matthew gives is is a series of “Blessed are the…” statements. These are called the Beatitudes, quick and simple statements that convey a major truth. Jesus gives nine of them. The first seven relate to character, the last two deal with persecution. The reason for this is simple: those who display such character will suffer opposition from the enemy.
And while they are simple statements, they are both paradoxical and true. They may not make sense form a worldly perspective, but from God’s point of view, they make perfect sense.
