In Monday’s post, we looked at Jesus’ confronting command, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (5:48). Is Jesus calling us to do the impossible? And what did he mean by saying that he’d come to “fulfill” the law (5:17)?

So far this week, we’ve seen how Jesus calls us to go beyond the letter of some Old Testament laws and obey the spirit behind it. You may have noticed that lots of questions were raised, most of which I didn’t even address. In fact, I’ve deliberately avoided getting involved in the more complex areas of applying these calls to truthfulness, non-retaliation, and love for enemies. Why?

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In Monday’s post, we looked at Jesus’ confronting command, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (5:48). Is Jesus calling us to do the impossible? And what did he mean by saying that he’d come to “fulfill” the law (5:17)?

So far, we’ve seen how Jesus calls us to go beyond the letter of some Old Testament laws and obey the spirit behind it. Yesterday, we saw that the OT law of “an eye for an eye” was intended to limit the scale of revenge. Jesus calls his followers to go further and forego revenge altogether. Today we look at a related idea: love for enemies.

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In yesterday’s post, we looked at Jesus’ confronting command, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (5:48). Is Jesus calling us to do the impossible? And what did he mean by saying that he’d come to “fulfill” the law (5:17)?

Hopefully, when you read 5:21-32 you started to see a pattern. Each time Jesus quotes an Old Testament commandment and, in a sense, “raises the bar.” The law says “You shall not murder.” But Jesus says don’t even indulge in the attitudes that lead to murder: hatred and anger. He looks beyond the letter of the law, and brings out the intent of the law. Murder is simply the (extreme) outward expression of hatred and anger. So to obey the spirit of the law, rather than just the letter, Jesus calls those in the kingdom to regulate not just their outward behaviour, but their inward thoughts and emotions.

Similarly, Jesus goes beyond the outward action of “You shall not commit adultery” and tells those who would follow him not even to look lustfully. And he gives a rather graphic description of the lengths one should go to, in order to avoid such lustful looks. Jesus is exaggerating to show the seriousness of it, because in reality it’s not the eyes or hands (though they are involved) but the mind that sins.

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Continuing in our series in The Sermon on the Mount, this week we look at Matt 5:17-48. Today is a bit of an aerial overview of this section as we try to figure out what it’s all about. Let’s look at the “bookends” of this passage now. It starts with this rather confronting statement:

Surpasses that of the Pharisees? They were pretty scrupulous about obeying the law, and here, Jesus is saying that our righteousness needs to exceed theirs! More than that: even the tiniest part of the law remains for those who wish to belong to the kingdom.

But it gets worse.

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See yesterday’s post for part 1.

Yesterday we read Matt 5:13-16 and spent some time reflecting on how well we’re being salt and light: and what we might need to change about our lives, to better reflect God to the world. But there is one part of this passage that we haven’t dealt with properly: verse 13. Let’s take another look:

Don’t you think that it’s a bit jarring? A bit out of place? I mean, the whole opening has been about good news: Rejoice! The kingdom of God’s at hand! And it’s your job, as the people of the kingdom, to live out kingdom values. Be salt and light! These are all positive messages. Then Jesus goes off on a bit of a tangent just for a second: this bit about salt losing its saltiness, and some kind of ominous warning about being trampled. Then he gets back on with the positive stuff again. What’s going on here?

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Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount that we, his followers, are salt and light. That’s supposed to be good, right? But if you’ve ever had a bright light shone in your eyes, or been forced to eat a salt sandwich at a youth group camp, you’ll know that salt and light aren’t always good things. And when we try to be salt and light, how often is that the result! We get in peoples faces, and leave a bad taste in their mouth. Is that what Jesus meant when he said that we are the salt of the earth, and the light of the world? What does it mean, exactly, to be salt and light?

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See part one yesterday.

Yesterday, we saw how the Beatitudes are essentially an announcement of good news for those in Israel who have been waiting for God to act. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Today, we look at the final two Beatitudes, which stand out from the rest. Given the good news of the first seven, these next two seem a little surprising:

 While Jesus’ audience would have agreed that being comforted, inheriting the earth, and being shown mercy were blessings, I wonder how they would have taken his statement that being persecuted was a blessing?

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