Matthew 5:17-20
Jesus announces the great theme of his Sermon on the Mount: his teachings make it possible for God's people to understand and practice the Law in the full way that God intended.
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Matthew 5:13-16
Jesus introduced the famous images of "salt of the earth" and "city on a hill" in this early part of his Sermon on the Mount. He uses these images to teach his followers what he has called them to be for this world that is destined for destruction. If Jesus were to teach this lesson again today, rather than salt and lamplight, he might use the image of scented candles. Matthew 5:3-12
Jesus promises his followers that pursuing God's happiness will result in finding real and enduring happiness. Matthew 4:18-25
Matthew shows disciples of Jesus what it means to catch people by the Kingdom of God. In Matthew 4:1-11 Jesus is tested by Satan as to whether Jesus--unlike Israel before him--would live up to God's acclaim of Jesus as "My son, in whom I am well pleased." Matthew's narrative of how Jesus succeeds against Satan's powerful temptations instructs all of us that righteousness is the fruit of true and total love of the Father.
Matthew's account of Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist raises the question of why Jesus was baptized. In answering this question, we find that Jesus' baptism models the form of entering and living in the Kingdom of Heaven. For those who faithfully accept the calling to righteousness, Heaven responds with access, anointing, and acclamation for attaining still more righteousness, to the glory of God.
For centuries, the Jews anticipated the revelation of the next king to sit on David's throne. In the Gospel of Matthew, we learn that Jesus is that one that had been promised. This is great news for the whole world.
Maps of the nations around the world clearly depict the borders between them. Where is the border of the Kingdom of God? In a few places in the New Testament, God's messengers set standards for discipline of troublesome church members. These cases teach us how Jesus' defines the boundary of his own community.
Too often, the Father's children assert themselves to divide against one another. To reject the legitimacy of one another. Instead, we should look around those gathered around the Father's table to see whom the Lord has gathered there.
Mark 16:9-20
We are all a work in progress--God's work! This concluding section in the Gospel of Mark challenges disciples of Jesus to obey to the best of their understanding; to trust Lord Jesus (who loved them with his very life) to correct them and to help them grow in his way. |
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