Matthew 5-7
We press the pause button on the narrative, near the beginning of the first gospel, to get a taste of Jesus’ teaching. It comes at us like the slap in the face the sergeant gives the soldier who panics in a World War 2 film, and with him, we say, “Thanks, I needed that!”
There is no way to emphasize the kind of explosive impact these three chapters of Matthew have had upon the church and the world. We call them, The Sermon on the Mount, and bring to mind a pastoral hillside with quiet listeners and a bubbly stream in the background. But these words would have incited and challenged Jesus’ listeners, especially the really religious ones, and turned their world up-side-down.
Nothing I say can take the place of a humble, open-hearted reading. So, do it now! Read the Lord’s teaching. Let it break your heart and shape your life. Let it help you to understand God’s ways, shine the Lord’s light, live the principles of the law, love the unlovable, pray and devote yourself to God effectively, find freedom from worry and judgmentalism, receive God’s best gifts, and bear God’s best fruit.
STOP READING THIS BLOG and read Matthew 5-7 now!
Your fellow pilgrim through the New Testament,
Pastor Gary
P.S. November 1-2, Pastor Paul Walles, Pastor David Motta (my brother from Fargo), Pastor Aaron Yoder and I will be leading our annual Men’s Retreat. We will immerse ourselves in this passage, the Sermon on the Mount, that weekend!
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