Scripture: Matthew 5:21-22
[Jesus said,] “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.”
Thought for the Day: In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), we find Jesus changing the whole landscape of how people had previously thought about their faith. In his book, Selling Water by the River: A Book about the life Jesus Promised and the Religion that Gets in the Way, Shane Hipps says, “One of the most difficult aspects of following Jesus is that he will often upend, strip, or remake the things we have grown attached to, dependent on, and comfortable with. Even the religion that bears his name is not immune from his subversive tendencies when Christianity becomes a force for preservation rather than creation. The excessive fixation on boundaries and preservation is often the very force that prevents people from find the river” (p.28). For Hipps, the ‘the river’ is his metaphor for what is life-giving about Jesus, yet to remain life-giving, this gift must often break-free from the desire among Jesus followers to control and dictate. The Sermon on the Mount, assuming we read it without explaining it away, will challenge any attempt we make to restrain or limit the remarkable and far-reaching character of the Jesus story.
Prayer: Lord God, when I begin to feel overly comfortable in my faith, and the river of life has become a dry bed, allow your spirit to confront the obstacles that restrict your life-giving grace. Amen.
