Learning More about the Sermon on the Mount !

Sermon on the Mount is perhaps one of the most discussed discourses of Jesus Christ.

In the New Testament Bible, two gospels, namely the gospels according to St.Matthew and St.Luke describe this famous speach of Jesus.

If you are not familiar with it or want to refresh it up, please read it online here . You may also read some commentaries on this by eminent Christian theologians here. 

But I always felt that the Bible descriptions are incomplete as the gospel authors somehow could not make the reporting of the discourse in full. The background information also appeared hazy in the Bible.

But fortunately in our times, the situation has changed.

We now have the Urantia Book authored by more reliable super human authors which gives us more inputs and clarifications on this famous speech of Jesus Christ delivered some two thousand years ago.

The details of this is given in Paper-140 of the Urantia Book.

The authors of this paper clarify that the Sermon on the mount that we now know was in essence a sermon Jesus gave to his twelve chosen apostles during the occassion of their ordination as apostles to the world.

Let me reproduce below section 4 of Paper-140, which is a commentary by the Urantia Book authors on some aspects of this sermon:

The so-called "Sermon on the Mount" is not the gospel of Jesus. It does contain much helpful instruction, but it was Jesus' ordination charge to the twelve apostles. It was the Master's personal commission to those who were to go on preaching the gospel and aspiring to represent him in the world of men even as he was so eloquently and perfectly representative of his Father.

"You are the salt of the earth, salt with a saving savor. But if this salt has lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men."

In Jesus' time salt was precious. It was even used for money. The modern word "salary" is derived from salt. Salt not only flavors food, but it is also a preservative. It makes other things more tasty, and thus it serves by being spent.

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and be led to glorify your Father who is in heaven."

While light dispels darkness, it can also be so "blinding" as to confuse and frustrate. We are admonished to let our light so shine that our fellows will be guided into new and godly paths of enhanced living. Our light should so shine as not to attract attention to self. Even one's vocation can be utilized as an effective "reflector" for the dissemination of this light of life.

Strong characters are not derived from not doing wrong but rather from actually doing right. Unselfishness is the badge of human greatness. The highest levels of self-realization are attained by worship and service. The happy and effective person is motivated, not by fear of wrongdoing, but by love of right doing.

"By their fruits you shall know them."

Personality is basically changeless; that which changes— grows—is the moral character. The major error of modern religions is negativism. The tree which bears no fruit is "hewn down and cast into the fire." Moral worth cannot be derived from mere repression—obeying the injunction "Thou shalt not." Fear and shame are unworthy motivations for religious living. Religion is valid only when it reveals the fatherhood of God and enhances the brotherhood of men.

An effective philosophy of living is formed by a combination of cosmic insight and the total of one's emotional reactions to the social and economic environment. Remember: While inherited urges cannot be fundamentally modified, emotional responses to such urges can be changed; therefore the moral nature can be modified, character can be improved. In the strong character emotional responses are integrated and co-ordinated, and thus is produced a unified personality. Deficient unification weakens the moral nature and engenders unhappiness.

Without a worthy goal, life becomes aimless and unprofitable, and much unhappiness results. Jesus' discourse at the ordination of the twelve constitutes a master philosophy of life. Jesus exhorted his followers to exercise experiential faith. He admonished them not to depend on mere intellectual assent, credulity, and established authority.

Education should be a technique of learning (discovering) the better methods of gratifying our natural and inherited urges, and happiness is the resulting total of these enhanced techniques of emotional satisfactions. Happiness is little dependent on environment, though pleasing surroundings may greatly contribute thereto.

This Paper-140 is simply superb for those who are spiritually starved. It rejuvenates the heart. Why don't you take some more time to read it online here ?