It is here on the Mount of Beatitudes that many witnessed Jesus’ teaching on the Beatitudes. Here his voice carried over the hills, between the trees, mixed in the air with the sun, the hills, the birds, the grass and the people.
We tend to want to picture and pray about this moment with a cinematic type of perfection, where we see everything like a film, and where everyone knew exactly what part they were playing in the whole scene, where everything is scripted and perfectly placed.
But step back for a moment, and put yourself here... right here. This was just an ordinary hill in an ordinary part of life for the Galileans.
But Jesus intended to speak and teach something new and lasting to everyone here, and to everyone who learn what he taught here.
He made eye contact with them, he would have walked around them, between them. He may have even paused to hold a child or to pet an animal. Jesus’ voice had to carry through the air, he had no microphone, and he would have made a particular effort to be heard. He would have occasionally stopped among the crowds of listeners, or paused his teaching and traced his steps back to a higher ground. He made this simple hill into His auditorium.
As Jesus taught, I can imagine Jesus would have been interrupted by questions or even frustrations!
“How do you mean blessed are the poor now? Must I become a beggar?”
“Shall I allow my enemy to continue persecuting me?”
“I have been weeping for my husband all my life, is what you say true?”
Jesus would have watched attentively as he spoke to those who listened. He was a teacher, he cared deeply for the hearts of those who listened. Each and every person there was dear to him, and how could he not want them to know that?
What really strikes me about being here, on the Mount of Beatitudes, is what it would have been like to hear Jesus’ voice carry and echo through this beautiful space. There would have been a unique acoustic to hearing his voice right here. Carry within you, what I just experienced being here, Jesus spoke to not only our hearts, but to our ears, eyes and hearts, right here, in this place.
Here, standing on the Mount of Beatitudes in Galilee, I am Chris Adamczyk.
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Chris Adamczyk is the Manager of Marketing and Communications for Salt + Light. Follow him on
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