Too often various forms of religion insist that everyone must subscribe to what they believe or think, and that if that doesn’t happen, they declare that the non-subscribers shall be consigned to the lowest depths of the unredeemed

Jeremiah was surely the most gloomy of all the biblical prophets. This is linguistically validated by the fact that a caustically carping criticism of anything is often called a “jeremiad.” Furthermore, the passage I chose to illustrate today’s sermon title was such a severe criticism that it is repeated verbatim in both the 6th and the 8th chapters of Jeremiah’s prophecy. But then, biblical prophets always appeared when things were bad, not when things were good, and things were really bad when Jeremiah came along.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could know exactly when and where you were going to die? Wouldn’t it be keen if you could be certain of the specific cause of your inevitable demise? Wouldn’t it somehow be reassuring to know whether your death would be peaceful or painful, a quiet termination or a tumultuous denouement?

In many ways the Jews are the most remarkable ethnic and religious group of people every to have inhabited this planet. They are by no means the largest nationality there ever was, or the strongest, or the most widespread (although for their numbers they are astonishingly widespread). Nobody else in world history has had as much influence on the entire human race as the Jews: not the Mesopotamians or Egyptians or Romans or Chinese or Indians or Russians or Germans or French or British, and certainly not the Americans. The Mesopotamians and ancient Egyptians and Romans are long gone, and the Russians and Europeans and Americans are decidedly johnny-come latelies compared to the Jews.

According to the superscription at the beginning of Psalm 25, it says that it is a Psalm of David. David, as I have said on many previous occasions, was a psychological and theological piece of work if ever there was one. He was a very complex man. Among other things, he had a greatly unpredictable degree of self-awareness, depending on what mood he was in when he wrote each particular Psalm which is ascribed to him.

The Book of Psalms is the Bible’s hymnal. Originally all of the Psalms were sung. They still are sung every day in every monastery and convent around the world. I chose Psalm 8 for today’s sermon theme specifically because it is a paean of praise to the human race. Presumably it was David who wrote it, or at least that’s what the superscription at the beginning says. In any case, this is the quintessential hymn to biblical humanism.

This is the last in a series of eight sermons about the Sermon on the Mount. I did not cover everything in these three highly condensed chapters in the Gospel of Matthew. If I had done that, we would likely be going until late August or sometime into September, and I might have lost at least half a congregation in the process. The Sermon on the Mount, in its totality, is about twice too long for the average person to be willing --- or able --- to absorb it quickly. But I hope we have covered most of the important sections of this very influential portion of scripture.

The subject for our consideration today is the matter of judging others. And the first question we need to address is this: When we judge people, do we judge their behavior, or do we judge them as persons? When we judge behavior, we are making assessments of their actions, and that may be not only justified, but necessary. In a classroom of young children, the teacher must make judgments on how each child is learning the material, and also how they are treating the other children. If there is misbehavior, the teacher must correct bad actions, but must never treat the student as a bad person. Those who are made to believe they are bad may subconsciously reflect that belief by continuously engaging in bad behavior. They feel obligated to live up to their reputations. Young men who take AR-15s and kill or injure lots of people are like that.

Jesus of Nazareth was also a master psychological counselor. A number of the issues he addressed in what Matthew put together as “the Sermon on the Mount” were questions of how his listeners and we ourselves can deal with some of the matters that affect all of us in our daily lives. The two passages from Matthew 6 that were read earlier this morning are examples of that.

“But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall, be liable to judgment, whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire.” – Matthew 5:22 (RSV)

Almost certainly, the Sermon on the Mount was not spoken by Jesus as it was written in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus likely said this collection of saying over the entire three years of his ministry, but Matthew put them together as though he did it, as Shakespeare said, in one fell swoop. Probably he didn’t. Jesus likely said these things in many different places and to many different kinds of audiences.

Jesus told a parable about a farmer who sowed seeds in his field. Because the field did not have uniformly good soil everywhere, some seeds produced far more grain than others. People are like seeds, said Jesus. “As for what fell among thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature” (Luke 8:24).

Let’s face it. There are many other ways of learning about God and Jesus Christ than just sermons. People can read the Bible or other books, they can attend classes or lectures, they can participate in discussion groups. Through these and other methods, they can hear about God and learn about Him. Then why have sermons? Why go through this exercise once a week, fifty-two weeks a year?

Text – “For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” – Matthew 25:29

In this series of teaching sermons I have given many of my own thoughts on the themes of the sermons. I’ll give another one now. I do not believe Jesus rose from death on Easter; I believe he was raised. He was resurrected by God; he did not resurrect himself by his own power. That is a teaching I hope you will ponder long and hard, whether or not you agree with it. But what I just said (which I have said before) is an opinion; it is not what I or anyone else would claim to be an undeniable Gospel truth.

Here is a possible explanation for Jesus’ command to the disciples to remain silent if they thought he was the Messiah. He himself was not certain of that, and therefore he didn’t want anyone else claiming it to be true. Many of you may disagree with that idea, and I well understand why. But having thought long and hard about this issue for years, I am not convinced Jesus did perceive himself as the Anointed One of God, although I personally am convinced that is who he was and is. Mark probably believed Jesus was the Messiah, although he never said so, but Jesus may have been agnostic on that claim; he didn’t know whether or not it was true. It may have been a secret even to Jesus.

Xenophobia usually is resisted with more xenophobia. Peoples who innately fear other peoples tend to disdain or even commit war against one another. Nationalism comes much more readily to most of us than does internationalism. Currently the Ukrainians are being viciously reminded of that every day. However, Isaiah had previously written that the Messiah would be “a light to the nations.” Isaiah did his best to try to establish strong ties between Israel and their neighbors, but it was always a hard slog.

The Gospel of Mark is what might be called “the lean” Gospel. That is, of all four Gospels, it usually supplies the least amount of background information about the life of Jesus. For example, when it tells how Jesus called a tax collector named Levi (better known to us as Matthew) to become one of his disciples, it just says he did it. Specifically, Marks says that Jesus “saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed him” (2:14.) Period; end of story. No explanation of why Jesus called Matthew, or why Matthew (Levi) agreed to become a disciple; he just got up from his tax office, walked out the door, and presumably never went back again. There had to be much more to that story than Mark wrote, but he didn’t bother to fill in any of the blank spaces.

According to the Gospel of Mark, after Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, he was tempted for forty days in the wilderness by the devil. And after that Jesus returned to the region of the Galilee, where he had grown up in Nazareth. Mark tells us that he began preaching “the gospel of God.” Note: Mark does not say, “the gospel of Jesus Christ”; he says, “the gospel of God.” Immediately after that Jesus says, “The kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). In Mark, as in the other two Synoptic Gospels, “the kingdom of God” is the primary thrust of Jesus’ preaching. Please keep that always in the forefront of your mind.

For the past five weeks I feel as though I have been contending in a hellish situation against 21st century technology. I found out that the telephone company with whom I had my email account is going out of the email business. Therefore I need to establish a new email address with a new phone company. However, to connect with them both Lois and I had to buy new cell phones, she because she has an old flip-phone, and I because I have the oldest Iphone ever invented. Furthermore, before I can hook up with the new company and have a new email address, I must wait until March 8 to get the two technological devices necessary to go online. I might note I was never thrilled to be online in the first place, although I realize its many advantages. Still, it seemed to me, and it still seems to me, that my world is going to hell in a handbasket.