As the Sermon on the Mount draws to a close (Matthew 7:21-23), Jesus gives us a sobering scenario to consider. We approach him in prayer and, miracle of miracles, receive an audible response, but not the one we wanted: “I don’t know who you are.” But we protest. “Didn’t we speak powerful words and cast out demons and perform mighty works in your name?” “Not ringing a bell,” he replies, “goodbye.”
Might we be so good at pretending to follow Jesus that we fool even ourselves? Since the beginning of Matthew 5, Jesus has been showing us the good life, life as God designed us to live it, what it looks like to be truly at home with our heavenly Father. That life looks like this:
Forgiveness. Reconciliation. Deep faithfulness in marriage. Integrity. Generosity. Secrecy (not the bad kind, but the humble, non-attention seeking kind). Prayer. Relinquishment of desire (for both things and people). Being a non-anxious, non-judgmental presence. And a radical trust that asks God, seeks God, knocks on God’s door for all our needs.
Notice that all of this is missing from Jesus’ hypothetical scenario. Powerful, impressive words are mentioned. Casting out demons is mentioned. The working of mighty deeds is mentioned. But Jesus very easily could respond, “But did you forgive the people that hurt you? Did you reconcile with the people you hurt? Did you live your life ruled by anger, worry, and desire? Did you show compassion to your neighbor (and your enemy), or just judge them? Did you actually do the Sermon on the Mount?” It is all too possible that we in the Church today might like to tell Jesus, “Didn’t we attend worship every Sunday in your name, and read the Bible in a year in your name, and get baptized in your name?” And he could reply, “But did you forgive the people who hurt you? Did you reconcile…”
I never knew you, Jesus says. But what does it mean to be known by Jesus? Living the Sermon on the Mount is the will of God is heaven is being known by Jesus. For good measure, let’s do that in reverse. Being known by Jesus is heaven is doing the will of God is living the Sermon on the Mount. This should be our definition of the Church, that we are the Christ-centered community in which we hold each other accountable to the life described in the Sermon. If the Church doesn’t have the Sermon at the center of its self-understanding, we’re standing on shifting sand.
The Sermon on the Mount does not end with an uplifting and hopeful invitation, as much as we might wish it did. No happy ending. No rally cry. Instead, it ends with a series of dire warnings. A warning about an easy road that leads us to the destruction of our souls. A warning that we might not get the validation from Jesus we thought we were owed. And a warning that a bad enough storm will bring down a poorly built house.
Jesus doesn’t end the Sermon this way so that we will worry about God’s love, provision, and faithfulness to us; the whole Sermon reveals the God whose love, provision, and faithfulness is unconditional. But Jesus ends the Sermon with these warnings so that we will consider whether or not we actually trust that that is who God is, and whether or not we will put that trust into practice. And if we will not, we won’t like where the road leads us.
We’ve been warned.