The Sad-You-See Society
“When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. He opened His mouth and began to teach them.” Matthew 5:1-2.
The Sermon on the Mount was one of Jesus’ most profound teaching moments. In Matthew 5-7, Jesus teaches his disciples and the crowds following Him His revolutionary thinking. When we examine Jesus’ teaching we realize something. The same character traits the Jewish establishment believed were beneath them were the character traits Jesus taught them to develop, such as poverty, mourning, meekness and mercy.
Jesus was committed to confronting the traditional thinking of the day. One of the groups he was confronting with His revolutionary thinking was the Sadducees. They were the liberal wing of the Jewish establishment. They wanted everything to work out. They believed it was okay to believe anything.
But it’s not okay. Some call this group of religious leaders the Sad-You-Sees because their way of thinking is so sad. They are much like the culture we live in today. Much of our culture’s belief system functions on the self-centered belief of self-fulfillment.
That’s exactly the opposite of what Jesus taught. One of the inward principles Jesus taught was humility in the first and most foundational revolutionary thought: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Those who have the right view of themselves. To have the right view of ourselves, we recognize we have to do two things. We have to acknowledge our need for Christ and for a humble spirit. Then we have to depend totally on God to meet our needs in His time and in His way.
When we learn humility and Jesus’ revolutionary thinking, we will be much more sensitive to people and events around us. We will become aware of opportunities to love others as Jesus did. We will become equipped to confront our Sad-You-See culture with the love and compassion of Jesus.
Prayer: Dear Righteous Father, thank you for teaching us your revolutionary way of thinking. Lord, help us today to recognize our deep need to consider others more important than ourselves. Teach us, O Lord, to be humble in our thinking and humble in our actions. Make us sensitive to the wants and needs of those around us, O God. And help us to respond to others’ needs with the same love and compassion Jesus showed everyone with needs He encountered. In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen