Brandon Boone

The King's Sermon Brandon Boone

"The most famous preacher ever. The most famous sermon ever. The most misunderstood message in history?Many, Christian and non-Christian alike, have read, studied, and appreciated Jesus of Nazareth's Sermon on the Mount. It has been called by no less a theologian than Augustine, "a perfect standard for the Christian life." Kurt Vonnegut, though not a Christian, wrote that, "if Christ hadn't delivered the Sermon on the Mount, with its message of mercy and pity, I wouldn't want to be a human being. I'd just as soon be a rattlesnake."But is that what Christ intended his sermon to be: a morality code on the one hand or an aspirational vision on the other? If it is either, its lasting impact is certainly summed up in the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes: "Most people are willing to take the Sermon on the Mount as a flag to sail under, but few will use it as a rudder by which to steer."As a moral code, it is impossible and as a humanist manifesto it is anemic. But if it is more, perhaps it can yet be redeemed from its place on the mantelpiece of human philosophy? And it is more: it is the radical declaration of a unique king calling people to join him in an unfamiliar kingdom, a place where weakness is strength, and humility is victory. It paints a picture of a nation whose territory encompasses not land but human hearts and whose borders extend beyond the edges of the cosmos. It depicts a king whose power is not that of the sword-clenching hand, but that of the dying martyr. And it extends a choice to all who hear: will you continue in the chaos and confusion of rebellion against this reality, or will you submit and enter the Kingdom of Heaven? The choice is yours."With that introduction, "The King's Sermon" begins a brisk walk through three chapters of the Gospel of Matthew, seeking both the meaning of Jesus' famous Sermon on the Mount and its application to life today. The author attempts to take what could be an interesting history piece and encourages the reader to treat it as an ever-current call to action. Treading a thin line between moralism and idealism, he argues that the message of the Sermon on the Mount is both spiritual and political and that wrestling with its tenets will eventually require a decision from the reader: Is this King (Jesus) correct and is this Kingdom (of Heaven) worth it?