Sermon - 2/12/23

24 min•0 plays•0 favorites

Religion

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This past week was a challenging one for some of us. The incident at Okemos High School this past Tuesday created some real trauma within our community. So, I am ready for some good news! But, as I read today’s gospel, we receive words that do not appear to present us with the good news we seek. I don’t know about you, but today I don’t really like to hear Jesus’ words. Jesus is on a tirade, and he seems to be having an outburst of some kind. Jesus is not messing around and, quite frankly, he seems to have done an about face. He is still preaching his Sermon on the Mount which began with the Beatitudes – those beautiful words of promise and blessing. Then, last week he told us we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. And now we get this diatribe of seeming vitriol. What has happened? Why the dramatic change? One could almost think he is having some sort of meltdown as he quickly jumped from telling us that we are salt and light, to this message we hear today. Suddenly Jesus hits us with this eruption of words regarding judgement, murder, prison, divorce, lust, tearing out eyes, chopping off body parts, and being thrown into hellfire of the burning garbage dump outside the city! Frankly, I have to ask, “Jesus, why do you pronounce blessings and then proceed to let loose with this rant? Why are you getting so intense with us when we just want to sit at your feet and learn? After all, we are so hungry for some good news!” Well, today, Jesus seems to be giving us a heavy-duty dose of the law. He does this by delivering a new interpretation of the law as he addresses some of the more contentious issues of his day. And, as we take an initial look at both the Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy and Jesus’ words in the gospel of Matthew, it seems that we are given a hefty prescription of the law including some heavy penalties for disobeying the law. Yet, if we take a closer look, I think we can gain n

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