Imagine that you’re mowing your lawn one day when two police officers approach you. After clarifying your name, they handcuff and escort you to the police car while your house is searched. When the officers say they’re arresting you for robbery, you declare your innocence. “I don’t care whether you did it or not,” one of them replies. “You will be convicted.”

It gets worse. The charge of robbery becomes two counts of first-degree murder. But you were at work when the crimes happened, fifteen miles away. “If you didn’t do it,” a lieutenant quips, “one of your brothers did, because y’all always helping one another.” It starts to become clear your guilt is assumed because you are Black.

This horror story is a true one. In December 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was charged with the murders of two restaurant managers in Birmingham, Alabama—crimes he didn’t commit, bringing a sentence he didn’t deserve, robbing him of thirty prime years until the US Supreme Court overturned his sentence on Good Friday, 2015.

Struck by Injustice

Several things struck me when I first heard Ray Hinton’s story. First was the degree of injustice he suffered. Ray’s conviction had been based on a revolver found at his mother’s house, said to be the murder weapon. But the gun hadn’t been fired in over twenty years, and proper ballistics tests had not been done. Ray’s first lawyer was both prejudiced and incompetent, delaying Ray’s chance of a fair hearing by a decade. And when Ray passed a lie detector test, the results were conveniently ruled inadmissible in court.

Next was what Ray had to endure while living on death row. His cell was so small he slept in a fetal position on the floor. Inmates cried out at night from nightmares, and some took their lives. Since Ray’s cell was next to the execution chamber, when a prisoner was put to death Ray heard and smelled the effects.

But something else struck me about Ray’s story. During a radio interview, a journalist noted that Ray didn’t seem bitter toward those who’d wronged him. “I cannot hate [them],” Ray said, “because my Bible teaches me not to hate.” Given what he’d endured, it was quite a statement to make.

Courtroom Grace

On his final day in court, Ray addressed each person involved in his trial. “Do with me what seems good to you,” he told the judge, “but as sure as you put me to death, you bring blood upon your hands.” Ray then told the judge he’d be praying for him.

“I’m just one black man, and that don’t mean nothing to you,” Ray told the prosecutor, who’d been particularly cruel. Then he added, “I don’t hate you… I love you. You might think I’m crazy for telling a man that I love him that’s done prosecuted me and is trying to send me to the death chair, but I love you.”

Ray also turned to the District Attorney, the bailiffs, and the police detectives who had all lied about him on oath. “I’m praying that God will forgive you all for what you have done,” he said. “You’re going to die just like I’m going to die… But one thing—after my death, I’m going to heaven. Where are you going?”

Ray Hinton didn’t know then how deeply his ordeal would scar him, or how difficult his desire and willingness to forgive would be. He ended up praying for those men every day of his twenty-eight years on death row. And the result?

He survived a living hell without rage or bitterness.

Where did Ray get this strength from?

Secret Strength

“There is a man up above who knows I didn’t do it,” Ray told the court that day, “and one day . . . he’s going to show you that I didn’t do it.” Ray’s belief in a God who would ultimately vindicate him gave Ray hope and strength. But there was something more.

Listen closely to Ray’s words and we find them echoing Another’s:

“I don’t hate you… I love you.”

“I tell you, love your enemies… ”

“I’m praying that God will forgive you… ”

“and pray for those who persecute you.”

As Ray awaited God’s justice, he acted on the words of a speech that showed Gandhi how to protest peacefully, Dietrich Bonhoeffer how to oppose the Nazis, and made phrases like “turning the other cheek” and “going the extra mile” part of our everyday vocabulary: the Sermon on the Mount.

Spanning just three chapters of Matthew’s gospel (chapters 5–7), the Sermon on the Mount can be read in about fifteen minutes. But in this succinct portion of Scripture, Jesus addresses everything from prayer to conflict to relationships to possessions. Yet an underlying theme runs through it all:

Resilience.

Jesus reveals this theme at the end by telling a now-famous tale of two builders. One builder constructs his house wisely, digging below the surface sand to build on the bedrock, while the other just builds on the topsoil. The storms come, the second house collapses, and Jesus uses the image to complete his teaching:

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock (Matthew 7:24–25).

At times the Sermon on the Mount makes for uncomfortable reading. Some have judged its ethics impossible to live up to. Challenging though they are, Ray Hinton’s life shows they can be lived now, however imperfectly. As we let the Sermon shape our priorities and direct our steps, Jesus says we will build lives that can withstand life’s storms.

Ancient Strength

Resilience has become a big topic in recent years, with researchers investigating what helps people stand strong through turbulent times. Psychologists like Martin Seligman suggest the most significant factors include:

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock (Matthew 7:24–25).

At times the Sermon on the Mount makes for uncomfortable reading. Some have judged its ethics impossible to live up to. Challenging though they are, Ray Hinton’s life shows they can be lived now, however imperfectly. As we let the Sermon shape our priorities and direct our steps, Jesus says we will build lives that can withstand life’s storms.

Ancient Strength

Resilience has become a big topic in recent years, with researchers investigating what helps people stand strong through turbulent times. Psychologists like Martin Seligman suggest the most significant factors include:

1. Positive emotions: Resilient people amplify positive feelings like peace and hope, while managing negative ones like sadness and anger.

2. Accomplishment: Resilient people can look at something in their life—whether work, a hobby, or another activity—and feel they do it well.

3. Relationships: Resilient people develop good friendships, family cohesion, and connections with their community.

4. Meaning: Resilient people have a sense purpose by belonging to and serving something greater than themselves.

A healthy heart, significant achievement, strong relationships, a sense of meaning. As it turns out, the Sermon on the Mount shows us how each of these factors can develop in our lives through divine means rather than purely human. And as we shall see, it’s the weak and inadequate who are best placed to receive God’s strength.

Perhaps you’ve been tossed by the torrents of divorce, unemployment, tragedy, or injustice. Or perhaps right now your skies are blue, and your future looks bright. Jesus never said we’d be spared the storms of life. At some point we will be tested and stretched. Whatever your situation, now is a good time to strengthen your life’s foundations.

Let’s journey through the Sermon and discover how.