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