In the interview, Hybels asked Curtis what motivates him to work so hard for disadvantaged people around the world. Curtis answered with the story of his mother's example - specifically of the time she "canceled Christmas" so that their family could give to famine victims what they would have spent on each other. Then he added, "The Sermon on the Mount is absolutely fundamental" to all of his motivation to use his wealth and influence on behalf of the poor and marginalized.

He described it as "the truest thing" he had ever read.

This is my feeling exactly. This tightly-integrated, brilliantly-structured work of poetry, art, and spiritual/social revolution - found in Matthew 5-7 of the Bible - continues to inspire me to be a lifelong follower of Jesus. It puts into words what Jesus lived in deed, and it keeps surprising me with new levels of meaning - and challenge.

From the beatitudes (Blessed are the poor in spirit ...) to the "how much more" re-imagining of the Law to the radical call to love enemies and transcend violence, from the Lord's prayer to the command not to judge to warnings against hypocrisy, this passage from the Gospel of Matthew is the one passage I would plead to retain if I had to lose everything else.

I hope it will have the same kind of impact on me, and on more and more of us, as it is having on Richard Curtis.