Jesus' way is certainly not easy, but I agree that it is, by God's grace, possible to follow. We need to hang onto that possibility. We are made of flesh, for sure, "but greater is he who is in us than he that is in the world."
It is not only because Jesus spoke the words of the Sermon on the Mount that makes them vital and attainable, but that Jesus basically explained, after washing the feet of the disciples at the Last Supper, that what He had been doing in their midst, [in our midst], was to reveal 'Service is the full extent of Love." All what is shared even in the Sermon, is greater depth to that Service of Love, thereby making it attainable by those willing to "Take up [our] cross daily and follow [Jesus]. That does not make it easy; it does make it possible, though.
Since they read like straightforward commands, I take them to be just that. But they are impossible for us to follow if He had not asked the Father to give us another Helper after He ascended to the Father (John 14:15-17). As we grow in His grace, relying on the Helper, we yearn for the day we follow His commands with ease.
Jesus' way is certainly not easy, but I agree that it is, by God's grace, possible to follow. We need to hang onto that possibility. We are made of flesh, for sure, "but greater is he who is in us than he that is in the world."
It is not only because Jesus spoke the words of the Sermon on the Mount that makes them vital and attainable, but that Jesus basically explained, after washing the feet of the disciples at the Last Supper, that what He had been doing in their midst, [in our midst], was to reveal 'Service is the full extent of Love." All what is shared even in the Sermon, is greater depth to that Service of Love, thereby making it attainable by those willing to "Take up [our] cross daily and follow [Jesus]. That does not make it easy; it does make it possible, though.
Since they read like straightforward commands, I take them to be just that. But they are impossible for us to follow if He had not asked the Father to give us another Helper after He ascended to the Father (John 14:15-17). As we grow in His grace, relying on the Helper, we yearn for the day we follow His commands with ease.