These verses are perhaps the most difficult in the teachings of Jesus to interpret and apply. They teach the highest ethic this world has ever heard. The religious leaders had been teaching that the Law says to love your neighbor (which it does) and to hate your enemy (which it does not). Jesus corrects the misunderstanding and calls for total commitment from His disciples. Loving our neighbors and even our enemies according to God's standards is impossible, except for one thing: we have Jesus living in us.

The religious leaders in Jesus' day had an elaborate system in which some oaths were binding and others were not. It was an absurd, complicated system that did not honor God's command not to bear false witness. Jesus insisted that His disciples be people of the Word and people who keep their word.

We live in a competitive world. Sometimes our relationship with competitors, or adversaries, becomes hostile, and they are determined to sue us or even put us in prison. Disciples who are peacemakers do not get angry or try to get even with their enemies. Instead, they determine never to be the source of conflict with adversarial people. Jesus also taught us how to relate to the opposite sex. As with other sins, Jesus goes to the source: our hearts. If we really want to be part of the solution as salt and light, we must learn how to control our sexual desires.

Jesus taught that it is critical for believers to cultivate and maintain strong, loving relationships. The religious leaders in the time of Jesus taught that as long as you did not murder or injure your brother, your relationship with him was acceptable to God. But those who have Jesus' attitude of mercy are to show it; not to do so will affect our private worship. We must make sure we are not alienated from anyone who Jesus calls our "brother." Anger and feelings of disgust toward our brothers and sisters must be addressed if we want to have a relationship with them that is pleasing to God.

Many people think Jesus was contradicting the Old Testament in these verses, but He was only confronting the teaching of the religious leaders. He was telling His disciples: "Everything I am teaching you is found in the Word of God, but what I am teaching is in direct conflict with what your religious leaders have been teaching you."

Salt is a preservative that keeps meat from spoiling, and Christians with the attitudes of Jesus are like salt to the world. When disciples with Christ-like attitudes are "rubbed into" the people of the world as salt is rubbed into meat, their influence will keep the world from total corruption. They become a valuable commodity Jesus uses to revolutionize the culture. The second metaphor indicates that Christians are the only source of light for multitudes living in darkness. As with the first metaphor, Jesus' words literally mean that "you and you alone" are salt and light. If His disciples do not fulfill their role as salt and light, no one else is left to fulfill it. The people who have Jesus' attitudes are sent into the world as God's solution in order to shine for all to see.

The Beatitudes were the essence and central part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. With these eight attitudes, He has described a godly character that can change the world. In this next section, He provides commentary and application on His sermon.

There is a reason the beatitude about peacemakers is followed by a beatitude about persecution. Those who become ministers of reconciliation often suffer painful consequences because they have identified themselves with Jesus Christ. Being a peacemaker may put Jesus' disciples in the middle of dangerous fighting. Sometimes they even lose their lives. The disciple who has the beautiful attitudes confronts people with a model of what they should be. When people in theworld are confronted with a true disciple, they can acknowledge that this is how they should live, or they can attack the disciple who is like Jesus. Very often, they do the latter.

Mankind is alienated from God. That's why those who are disciples of Christ have been to the top of the mountain must come back down with a purpose. If we have been reconciled with God, made right in our relationship with Him, it makes sense that God would use us to help others be reconciled with Him. He will also help us find reconciliation in our own relationships and use us to help others find reconciliation in theirs. The seventh beatitude speaks to the mission of those who are part of God's solution.

The word "mercy" means "unconditional love." When David writes in Psalm 23:6 that mercy will follow him all the days of his life, the word he uses for "follow" actually means "pursue." God's unconditional love will pursue David all of his life. This is the kind of love for others that we must have too, if we are to be like God.