Rich Dixon just keeps wondering things.

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My friend Paul offered a curious description of the Sermon on the Mount.

He said it was an unruly Rabbi on the side of a hill. His audience was mostly the poor, the sick, the marginalized.

This unruly Rabbi spent three years saying and doing outrageous things. Talking mostly to the outcasts, while a few of the folks in power stood around the outside and shook their heads – and all he did was change the world.

As a guy in a wheelchair, you might imagine I’m sensitive to notions of inclusive and exclusive. Jesus’ culture was remarkably exclusive, with clear lines indicating who was in and who was out. This unruly Rabbi completely ignored those lines. He talked about a kingdom where everybody was included. In fact, in the kingdom he described, the outcasts were somehow first in line.

And, he said something even beyond that. He said that kingdom started right here, right now.

Finally, of course, he stepped on too many powerful toes, so they conducted an illegal trial and eliminated him.

They thought.

In the study I’m doing on this challenging collection of teachings, the instructor posed a rhetorical question: Did Jesus really expect his followers to live like this? His answer, of course, was yes. In fact, he claimed we were MADE to live like this.

Jesus was telling his audience how to live out their identity as images of God.

I think about our 22 kids, about their abuse and trauma. I imagine this unruly Rabbi holding them in his arms, assuring them they are loved more than they can imagine. I see him turning to us and saying it’s our job to make sure they understand.

Honestly, I wish I had to the courage to be more like this unruly Rabbi I claim to follow. Mostly, I nibble around the edges, afraid to step too far over the lines.

Here’s a good question to ponder: What are we afraid of?