The Will of God

Gospel: Matthew 7: 21-29

At the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus ends with an uncomfortable truth: merely using the name of Jesus does not make one Christian.  How often is the name of Jesus invoked for unjust actions?  How often is the name of Jesus used to do good things but the one invoking Jesus' name really wants the attention and fame of performing the deed, having little care or regard for the person being cured or freed from their demons?  How often is the name of Jesus a mere prop in the showmanship of the preacher?

Once again, the Beatitudes must inform all we say and do.  The values of poverty of spirit, meekness, purity of heart, thirst for justice, peacemaking, mourning with and for others, and patient suffering are the criteria for Christian discernment and action.  Invoking the name of Jesus without these values is at minimum an act of little value and at worst an act of blasphemy.  The use of a name in the ancient world is one not to be taken lightly or cavalierly. 

Only the one who does the will of God is righteous, and the will of God is the work of mercy, the work of the Beatitudes.  This is the way of the Lord Jesus, who embodied the Beatitudes in all his words and deeds.  The Beatitudes and the example of Jesus are the standards of the Christian, not that of Moses, Joshua, Plato, or anyone else.  Let the Beatitudes and the way of Jesus be our method of examination and discernment in all we do.