Rich Villodas is a New York pastor faithfully and boldly leading a church in a tricky place. His ministry emphasis is spiritual formation, and his latest book is no exception, as Villodas offers a helpful set of reflections on and around the sermon on the mount.
There’s little new here – and that should be taken as a compliment. This is ancient wisdom applied to now. One particularly notable aspect of this book is Villodas’ disarming honesty about his own sins and struggles. This isn’t a scholar in an ivory tower but an author-shepherd who smells of his sheep and constantly points us to the Good Shepherd. The book covers a huge range of issues, likely because “the narrow way of Jesus gets to the core of what it means to be human, what it means to love well”.
The reader is invited to consider the genius of both Jesus’ teaching and the incarnation. A highlight is his discussion of anger and lament: “I’ve found that the practice of lament – voicing my pain, grief and distress to God – helps me defuse my anger. Anger closes us in; lament opens us up.”
Overall, this is an excellent book. It addresses Jesus’ teaching on how to live and love well in the light of who he is and what he has done. It is recommended both for the weary disciple struggling to believe that Jesus’ yoke is easy, and those who think that the narrow way is restrictive or outdated. It’s also a good read for those preaching on the sermon on the mount – both as a model of vulnerability and a way of wisdom and clarity.
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