Jesus appears to be concerned with two things: overthrowing erroneous traditions, and indicating authoritatively the real direction toward which the Old Testament Scriptures point.

At base, sin is nothing other than doing what God forbids and failing to do what God commands. God in all his being, God as he is, God in his resplendent holiness establishes the lines. Outside of those lines is everything that is wrong. Therefore, holiness is bound up with what we call morality.

The discovery of the opened tomb and the absence of Jesus’ body threw the women into confusion and set the stage for a surprising and completely unexpected experience.

Here, in this public place where all could see him, the soldiers crucified him. In the ancient world, this most terrible of punishments is always associated with shame and horror.

What Jesus does is something quite different. He says, “If you’re going to talk about death, you’d better talk about me, because I’m the only one who can answer it. I give life now, and I resurrect people to life, resurrection life, on the last day.

So here Jesus says, in effect, that he has not come to abolish the Law, but to do something quite different: to bring to pass all that the Law predicted.

Salt has always been valuable in human society, often much more so than it is today. During a period of ancient Greek history it was seen as divine. The Romans held that, except for the sun, nothing was more valuable than salt. Often Roman soldiers were paid in salt, and it was from that practice that the expression “not worth his salt” originated.

To one degree or another all who are serious about putting God first in your work and home and school and leisure will bump into some form of opposition sooner or later. And none of us knows when our freedoms may cease or when we may be called by God to go to a dangerous place or take a stand here that will cause many to dislike us.

This principle says that resemblance to God is an indispensable prerequisite for fellowship with God. We cannot really see God unless we become like him. It asks questions like, “What do you think about when you slip your mind into neutral?”

When the disciples said to Jesus, “Show us the Father,” He answered them by saying, “Have I been so long with you and you still don’t know?” You’ve been seeing the Father. You see, purifying the soul cleanses the vision of the soul so that we see God.