<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2QQdjM_0vWkdtg600" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2QQdjM_0vWkdtg600" width="2048" height="2048" ></figure>In our midday bible class, we have been walking through the Sermon on The Mount in the New Testament. What is fascinating about the sermon on the mount is how subversively revolutionary it is. Many have been taught and curated to believe that the bible and Jesus in particular did not address politics, social justice consciousness or power structures but that is far from the truth about Jesus and the bible.In his incarnation, Jesus walked among the poorest of the poor while in the flesh. Jesus interacted mostly with the downtrodden and the oppressed people of Northeast Africa. We did not learn this in Sunday school because it causes critical reevaluation of the evangelical and conservative notions of the bible that favor the wealthy over the poor. Oppressors do not want the oppressed to read the sobering reality that much of Jesus’ harshest criticisms were against those in political and religious leadership who made it difficult for the peasant class in Judea and the surrounding regions.The sermon on the mount is an example of Jesus addressing the political, social and economic inequalities of a Roman dominated region in Northeast Africa. The sermon on the mount starts in chapter 5 of Matthew’s gospel and extends to chapter 7. It is broken up into five discourses or discussions that Jesus had on that day. The discourses or discussions are Matthew 5:3-16 which includes the blessings and sayings (Beatitudes); Next section is 5:17-48 where Jesus gives six interpretations of scripture by Jesus; In chapter 6:1-18 of Jesus examines 3 discipleship practices; We then come to chapter 6:19-7:12 where Jesus teaches on social and economic Justice practices and finally in chapter 7:13-27 Jesus closes with end time discussions or eschatological destiny observations.Take a look at what we call the Beatitudes or blessings that begin the sermon on the mount. There are nine blessings that Jesus declares and those blessings are broken up into two sections; verses 3-6 and 7-12. In the first three blessings Jesus demonstrates that God prioritizes the poor over the prosperous. The society of Northeast Africa had been dominated by the imperial structure of the Roman empire that prized and privileged the powerful, the wealthy and the well to do over the poor. Jesus in this first section of the Beatitudes list three examples of those the society would demean and look down upon; the “poor in spirit,” those who “mourn,” and the “meek.” There is a much deeper analysis of each of these categories that I cannot address right now because of space that would further show these are societal inequities and not spiritual issues. However, they show that God favors the powerless, the poor and peasant class of people, over the powerful. Now juxtapose the text here with how this present society values people. In the United States of America, the wealthy, the well to do, the rich, the popular, the privileged are valued over the poor. In political campaigns going back to the 1970’s neither party candidates mention the poor. It is always what can be done for the middle class and the wealthy class that receive tax breaks, incentives and attention at the expense of the poor. In the second half of the blessings Jesus declares that God is going to bring about a change and a demonstrative reversal of the imperial conditions. Again, Jesus is pronouncing God’s displeasure with the way the society tramples the poor. Jesus is showing that God’s way of ordering a society will be victorious over the oppressive way the present society operates. Jesus is subversively identifying the negative consequences of the way Rome has ruled the society and that the change that God is making has already begun in Jesus’ arrival in flesh. I call it God’s divine reversals. Remember what Jesus said “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.” That’s not indicating that people in line for heaven are being reordered. That’s societal conditions on this earth.Jesus also hinted at another divine reversal when he said “the stone that the builders rejected has now become the chief corner stone.” Who has been rejected in the building of America but who were forced to build America? Who has been historically segregated, marginalized and denied in America? Who has been defined as 3/5th of a human and forced to work for free for 250 years and then subjugated another 100 years in “black codes, Jim Crow and legal segregation in America? Who has been lynched, burned, and beaten with impunity in America? Whose women were raped at will by their oppressors, forced to raise their oppressors’ children, forced to work in their oppressor’s cotton fields, tobacco fields and cane breaks but were also forced to go back to those fields the next day after giving birth? What women have had to bury fathers, husbands, sons and daughters because of racial violence and still expected to scratch out an existence while bearing the heart wrenching pain of unjust deaths of their men and children?Think about that as we consider the present reality and Jesus’ words “the stone that the builders rejected has now become the chief capstone,” and “the first shall be last and the last shall be first.” Be well! Uhuru Sassa! Rev. Dr. John E. Jackson, Sr. is the Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ-Gary, 1276 W. 20th Ave. in Gary. “We are not just another church but we are a culturally conscious, Christ-centered church, committed to the community; we are unashamedly Black and unapologetically Christian.” Contact the church by email at <a href="https://chicagocrusader.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection">[email protected]</a> or by phone at 219-944-0500.<img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1xb0Cd_0vWkdtg600" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1xb0Cd_0vWkdtg600" width="900" height="900" ></div></body>

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What did you learn in Sunday School – Part 4

In our midday bible class, we have been walking through the Sermon on The Mount in the New Testament. What is fascinating about the sermon on the mount is how subversively revolutionary it is. Many have been taught and curated to believe that the bible and Jesus in particular did not address politics, social justice consciousness or power structures but that is far from the truth about Jesus and the bible.