Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Mahatma Gandhi, and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., all regularly read and were significantly influenced by the Sermon on the Mount. It was a prominent text that they frequently returned to as a source of their activism amidst their own troubled times. On Wednesdays through November 19 (just before Advent), Taizé will make its way through the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel, as our key text for mediation each week. My hope is that it will ground all of us in the radical teachings of Jesus, as we seek to be salt and light in our own troubled times. Here is a bit about each leader and how the Sermon on the Mount inspired them.
As a young man, Mahatma Gandhi discovered the Sermon on the Mount and found inspiration in the passage about turning the other cheek. He said, “it went right to my heart.” He believed that this teaching had the power to comfort and bring joy to his soul. Gandhi incorporated the principles of non-violence and resistance to evil, which he saw reflected in the Sermon, into his philosophy of Satyagraha and his struggle for Indian independence.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was deeply impacted by the Sermon on the Mount and considering it foundational to understanding what it means to be a Christian. He viewed the Sermon as a call to radical discipleship and insisted that its teachings should be obeyed literally in daily life.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., frequently cited the Sermon on the Mount as a key influence on his non-violent approach to the Civil Rights Movement. He believed that the Sermon’s message of love, particularly the instruction to love one’s enemies, provided the moral and spiritual foundation for his activism.
May Jesus’ words and God’s Spirit inspire us as they did these three figures, though different contexts, backgrounds, and faiths. May we too recognize the profound wisdom and transformative power of the Sermon on the Mount and apply its teachings to our current times. I hope you will join us at our Taizé service on Wednesdays, 7–8 pm, this late summer and fall.
—Pastor BJ
Pastor BJ, I hope recordings of these meditations will be available for those who can’t be present in person. I really enjoyed the recordings. Thank you!