The Sermon: INSIDE-OUT...

It seems we often get it upside-down. Maybe inside-out is a better description.

Beware practicing your righteousness... to be seen...

-- Matthew 6:1

The English word hypocrite comes from a compound Greek word used for actors in a play. It literally meant, "one who interprets from underneath." Ancient Greek actors wore large masks depicting their respective characters and hiding their true identities. They acted out their parts in the story according to the masks they wore.

The good thing about literal masks is they are easy to remove. Not so with the very real, but more subtle, masks most of us wear. It would be simpler if they were masks of paper mache, plastic or cloth. But these are masks of the heart. And often, having played the part to rave reviews, we eventually forget they exist. Or the masks become so comfortably worn, we choose to overlook them.

The SERMON ON THE MOUNT is incredibly deep. Yet it is simple. It is profound. Yet it is relatable. In these words spoken on an obscure hill two millennia ago, Jesus addresses the prevailing hypocrisy (acting) of religion, and in its place he promotes the beauty of of a better way.

The same masks exist today; the same parts being played out. We often find ourselves acting out a part for others to see. All the while, feeling empty or broken under the mask. It is not that we are truly living inside-out - that what is on the inside is being honestly displayed. Instead, we often portray on the outside what should be on the inside, what should be real... but isn't. And this is the ironic thing about inside-out spirituality: If we feel a compulsion to make a show on the outside of what is on the inside, what we really demonstrate is a lack on the inside... a void.

And there is a better way.

We (you and I) need to remove the (any and all) masks. Jesus see them anyway. (And frankly, the people that know us best do also.)

I've thought hard about how to phrase the core truth of the SERMON ON THE MOUNT in a few sentences. So here goes (and I may revise this if I get an inkling of inspiration).

I see you, I know you; 

I know your heart, it's joys and pain. 

And I love you... right now... who you are and where you are.

So stop pretending. 

You are worth so much more to me than you know.

Come to me... come with me. I have a better way...

A way of life, love and purpose.

Come on!   -- Jesus

God, show me my masks. I will lay them down.

For now...
D