Faith's Wisdom - The Beatitudes - Part 1

Dear friends,

Often it seems that meditation has an eastern flavour,

And many of my own meditations seem to reflect a Buddhist point of view.

There's no problem at all with this,

But it is useful to remember that there is wisdom available to us in many different traditions.

So I thought it would be good to direct my attention today to what we might find when we look at some of the teachings of Jesus.

The most well-known of these teachings is probably the list of what are called the Beatitudes.

These are part of the Sermon on the Mount.

You may remember something along these lines.

Now when Jesus saw the crowds,

He went up on a mountainside and sat down.

His disciples came to him and he began to teach them.

He said,

Blessed are those who are persecuted in the cause of right,

Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you,

Persecute you,

And falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Rejoice and be glad,

Because great is your reward in heaven.

For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Much more is offered in the Sermon on the Mount.

And here are some paragraphs that you might like to reflect upon.

You are the salt of the earth.

But if salt loses its saltiness,

How can it be made salty again?

It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

You are the light of the world.

A city built on a hill cannot be hidden.

Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.

Instead they put it on a stand and it will give light to everyone in the house.

In the same way,

Let your light shine before others,

That they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Jesus had this to say about taking an oath.

But I tell you,

Do not swear an oath at all.

Either by heaven,

For it is God's throne,

Or by the earth,

For it is his footstool,

Or by Jerusalem,

For it is the city of the great King.

And do not swear by your head,

For you cannot make even one hair white or black.

All you need say is simply yes or no.

Anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

And what does Jesus say about repaying wrong with wrong?

You have heard that it was said eye for eye and tooth for tooth.

But I tell you,

Do not resist an evil person.

If anyone slaps you on the right cheek,

Turn to them your other cheek also.

And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt,

Hand over your coat as well.

If anyone forces you to go one mile,

Go with them two miles.

Give to the one who asks you.

And do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

There is much wisdom and advice for life contained in religious teachings from various traditions around the world.

These teachings can provide us with guidance on moral and ethical principles,

Personal conduct,

Relationships,

And the search for meaning and purpose in life.

I hope you have found these ideas from the Beatitudes to be helpful.

Something to be thought about,

Questioned maybe.

Do you agree with them?

Do you think they go too far?

My plan is to take a look over time at advice for living that is offered to us in the Christian and other traditions.

It will often be found that the same teaching comes to us in different formats.

For example,

Almost everywhere you will see the Golden Rule,

The instruction not to do to another person anything that you would not like done to yourself.

Is reputation like this a waste of time?

It's no harm at all.

It probably does us much good if we see old wisdom coming to us in new forms.

We can all do with hearing a little bit of good advice again and again.

Namaste.