christ's radical message - 02/16/2020

This is our third week reading the Sermon on the Mount.  And it suddenly gets decidedly more difficult this week!   While trying to lead into the spirit of the Beatitudes and trying to be the salt and light for the world aren't necessarily easy, the passage consists of four of the six phrases beginning:  "You have heard it said"...followed by "but I say to you..."  We read Jesus words on anger, adultery, divorce, and oath-taking.  Those first three, especially, are hard for us to hear today.  That is, unless you remember an important lesson from the previous weeks.  As we look at the Sermon on the Mount, we must remember that each week doesn't stand alone, but are a part of a larger narrative.  So the idea of looking at the will of God standing behind each commandment that we heard before helps us better understand these commandments.  When we do that--we will hear just how radical the teachings of Jesus were and still are to this day!

---

---