Sermon - Matthew 5:1-12

<p>I love the gospel of Matthew.  Matthew was written to communicate the Jesus story to early Jewish Christians and, let me tell you, the writer of this gospel really knew how to tell a story!  Beginning with Chapter one, verse one, we hear Jesus called “The Messiah.”  The writer of Matthew begins by setting us up for something amazing, something big, something life changing and something surprising by naming <strong>Jesus</strong> as the Messiah.  At that point in time, there had been great expectation among Jewish people that a messiah would soon arrive.  However, the people expected a messiah who would use military might and <strong>power</strong> to <strong>free</strong> them from Roman oppression.  So, Matthew’s version of the Jesus story begins by latching on to that expectation and announcing <strong>Jesus</strong> as the long promised, awaited Messiah.  The writer of Matthew continues to build on that expectation by linking Jesus’ genealogy to royalty as King David is named an ancestor of Jesus.  The story even includes royal sages from the East who come to pay homage to this newborn Messiah.  Then, the knowledge of a newborn king is <strong>so</strong> threatening to the present Jewish king, King Herod, that Herod has all the infants he can locate massacred.  The presence of this newborn king Jesus is so compelling that even powerful Herod <strong>fears</strong> him. </p> <p>If that is not enough, the writer of Matthew then tells us about a <strong>mighty</strong> prophet who enters the scene, John the Baptist.  John arrives wearing strange clothing, living in the wilderness, and eating bugs, while shouting out and calling people to repent.  This wild prophet begins announcing that One who is even <strong>more</strong> powerful than <strong>he</strong> is coming, One who “will be powerful enough to bring justice on the wicked and set things right.” (Feasting on the Word, p. 239.)  John shouts out, “Turn around – if your life journey is <strong>going down the wrong road, turn around and go the other way!