Platitudes

The teachings of the Sermon on the Mount are familiar to many, but are so obscure that most take them as platitudes, trite sayings without meaning. (Platitude is from the French word for flat, "plat".) His noble thoughts are taken to be two-dimensional, without depth. No one could expect people to live by what He taught. In some cases, what He taught is viewed as destructive: "give to him who asks of you".

What Jesus teaches are either meaningless platitudes, or His teachings are profound. He is either teaching about nothing, or He is teaching about something that no one else has ever taught.

As Jesus did from the beginning of His ministry, He is focusing on the kingdom of God. He is teaching how it works when the heavens have bowed down to a man; He is teaching how to live when the kingdom of heaven is near. What He teaches should be meaningless apart from the kingdom of God. If we do not see the dimension of the kingdom of God, then everything He says is flat, a platitude. If we are seeking the kingdom of God, everything He says is profound.

Things are different when the throne, the cherubim, the wheels within wheels, and the fire are at work inside. The paradigms of the usual world do not work; we need these new paradigms.