Matthew 5-7 (cont.)

Funny where you sometimes find biblical commentary. Reading a review of Look to the Land by Lord Northbourne this morning in the online version of The Englewood Review of Books and came upon this:

His two agricultural rules are based not only on advanced agricultural theory, but on a more fundamental theological principle: “give and you shall receive.” “Love can express itself in many ways, but if it is genuine it means giving – not of gifts but of self” (113). One must be willing to sacrifice self by looking to land, with all the toil and difficulty that entails, for the sake of personal and communal wholeness.  Even as Axis planes were dropping bombs on London, James took comfort in the power of the virtues of farming to heal and restore human life. He wrote: “Death cannot be overcome with his own weapons, be they bullet or knife or poison, but only by the cultivation of the good in life” (61)

 "Death cannot be overcome with his own weapons...."

That's the Sermon on the Mount.