‘Take no thought for the morrow,’ said Jesus (Matthew 6.34). But we do. We insure our house and its contents. We pay in for a pension. We save for a rainy day. We pay in for a health service free at the point of need. Whether we regard ourselves as Christians because we live in a Christian country or because we have taken the momentous step of turning to Christ by a call from God, we can only say we fall short when we measure ourselves against the Sermon on the Mount. If we like to think that we live according to biblical principles we should think again.
Jesus did not give his support to a prudential life style. He did not advocate bourgeois priorities. His advice was hair-raising. And we who appreciate a secure routine in a property-owning democracy should remember that in some basic suppositions we are at variance with the free-ranging style Jesus appears to favour.
Needless to say, our capitalist society would not survive if we ceased to plan for tomorrow. And indeed many of the questions of government and order in society would be unanswered if we were to regulate our lives by the Sermon on the Mount. If we lived carefree lives like birds and flowers, we should enjoy the pastoral life in a Mediterranean climate until disease or famine struck. But we do no such thing.
Well then, does that mean Christianity is an idealistic dream that does not make contact with the raw material of life? True, as with all major religions or ideologies, the followers fall short of the standards set in the founding documents Like making an Airfix model or (I suppose) knitting a pair of socks (if any living person still does that kind of thing), performance leaves something to be desired. Major dramatic works get re-interpretations every day of the week and nobody suggests that the original text must be defective. A variety of outcomes is an indication that the writer was on to something, even if it takes a bit of unearthing.
The Christian faith is a bit like that. Our response may be to nibble at the edges of it or take a particularly juicy segment. Most of our friends probably seem to make a selective response. But if we imagine that we have taken the only possible serious step by taking it all hook, line and sinker, we should be careful before we publicise that view. We always have to measure our faith by the whole revelation. And we should not be backward in recognising our partial success in doing so.
BIRTHDAYS
Three famous musicians were born on 29 April: Thomas Beecham, Malcolm Sargent and ‘Duke’ Ellington.
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