Matthew 5-7
Many of Jesus’ most familiar teachings come from the Sermon on the Mount,
the aim here is not to treat it as a list of moral instructions, but to
understand the new day Jesus was announcing. Set against a deeply divided
and oppressed Israel, Jesus’ announcement that “the kingdom of heaven has
come near” was not a threat of judgment, but a declaration that the long
wait for God’s action was over. The Sermon re-centers the Law, not as a
path to salvation, but as a vision of life under God’s reign—and Jesus’
rhetoric shows it was never meant to be achievable through human effort.
From the opening line of the Beatitudes onward, He makes clear that the
kingdom is available to all who can admit they can’t do this on their own
(spoiler - that’s all of us - that’s the whole point!) Rather than driving
us to despair over our shortcomings, the Sermon on the Mount trains us to
live within a reality Jesus opened up to every one of us, through God’s
presence and the power of His Spirit.
By Hannah Flint
Books referenced:
The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God by Dallas
Willard
The Narrow Path: How the Subversive Way of Jesus Satisfies Our Souls by
Rich Villodas